OPINION

Photo: ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, presents her Office’s 19th report on the Situation in Libya remotely. © ICC-CPI

ICC Prosecutor Reminds the Security Council of a Special Responsibility for Libya

By Fatou Bensouda

The following are extensive excerpts from the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Ms Fatou Bensouda's statement by video to the UN Security Council on May 5.

NEW YORK | THE HAGUE (IDN) – Despite some inevitable limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, my Office's Libya team is forging ahead with its judicial work and investigations, managing to remain active and productive in these exceptional times. The Libya situation remains a priority for my Office, and I seize the opportunity in this forum to announce that my team is working on applications for new warrants of arrest.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 06 May 2020

Photo: War crimes include the use of child soldiers; the killing or torture of persons such as civilians or prisoners of war; intentionally directing attacks against hospitals, historic monuments, or buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes. Credit: ICC

Limited Progress Achieved in Deterring War Crimes

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – With a bit more pushing and, after, unfortunately, a bit more killing the three remaining serious wars on the planet, in Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen, should come to an end. Then it will be time to take stock on what caused the killing, especially why so many innocents lost their lives and whether wars of this kind can be deterred in the future.

The world has already made a lot of progress over the last few decades: there are no interstate wars and the number of civil wars has steadily fallen, (albeit the graph has begun an upward turn in the last two years mainly because of mini-wars in West Africa).

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 05 May 2020

People in the Global South Don't Need Debt Relief, They Need a New System

Viewpoint by Meera Karunananthan*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News

OTTAWA (IDN) – "Those who led us into debt were gambling, as if they were in a casino … there is talk of a crisis. No. They gambled. They lost … We cannot repay the debt because we have nothing to pay it with. If we do not pay, our creditors will not die. We can be sure of that. On the other hand, if we pay, it is we who will die. Of that we can be equally sure." [Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso, 1983-87]

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 05 May 2020

Photo: U.S.-Sri Lanka month-long military training continued in March and April at Sri Lanka's strategic Trincomalee air and naval base despite travel sanctions and Covid-19 spread on the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier based in the Indian Ocean - Guam. Credit: Sri Lanka Navy.

Time to End the COVID-19 Fear Psychosis & Militarized Curfews

Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

The writer is an anthropologist affiliated with the International Center for Ethnic Studies in Colombo.

"The claim that coronavirus would kill millions without shelter-in-place orders and quarantines is highly questionable .. there's little evidence to confirm that premise ..and current estimates about the Covid-19 fatality rate may be too high by orders of magnitude' – Dr. Eran Bendavid and Dr Jay Bhattacharya, Professor of Medicine at Stanford University.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 May 2020

Photo (cropped): Portrait of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820. Source: Wikipedia Com-mons.

Remembering Ludwig van Beethoven – A Genius with a Disability

By Heike Kuhn

The writer, Dr Heike Kuhn, is Head of the "Human Rights Gender Equality, Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities" of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Bonn, the capital of divided Germany. The other part of the BMZ is in Berlin, the capital city of unified Germany since 3 October 1990.

BONN (IDN) – The year 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven, the famous composer and pianist‎, well known all over the world. He was a genius with a disability. Germany's UN City Bonn is very proud of its famous son, born here, next to the river Rhine.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 04 May 2020

Image: Collage of the Globe in Hands with 'Agora'

Manifesto 2020 Calls for A Trans-National Citizens' Alliance

Viewpoint by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. of the Inhabitants of the Earth

BERLIN (IDN) – A new public declaration of policy and aims, Manifesto 2020, has issued a clarion call for declaring poverty Illegal. Poverty Is the product of labour regulation within the context of unequal economic growth. It is the result of global pillage of life in the interests and survival of the powerful, declares the Agora of the inhabitants of the earth.

It also calls for a global campaign for the design, manufacture and use of a global, common, public, free vaccine against Covid-19. Humanity does not need a vaccine war.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 May 2020

Photo: The white Mayadevi temple where Gautama Buddha was born in Lumbini on Vesak full moon day.

COVID-19: We Need A Vaccine for The Mind

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 40th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports.

SYDNEY (IDN) – Today the global media reports daily about the race to develop a vaccine against COVID-19, but what they fail to understand is that this vaccine may not help us to overcome the severe human security crisis we face today. Rather than a vaccine for the body, we need a vaccine for the mind.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; COVID-19; 03 May 2020

Photo: Container line shipping has been hard hit by COVID-19. Source: The European Shippers' Council (ESC).

COVID-19: Europe Must Regain Sovereignty Over Key Industries

Viewpoint by Camille Rustici

The writer is chief editor of the e-magazine DirectIndustry. This article was first published on the online journal of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung's Brussels office, International Politics and Society on April 28.

MARSEILLE (IDN) – Since the outbreak in China, which led to the closing of a large number of factories in the country in late January, not a single industrial sector in the rest of the world has been spared. The automotive, electronics and textile industries, among others, have suffered and continue to suffer colossal losses unheard of in peacetime.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 May 2020

Photo credit: Pxfuel / (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

COVID-19: Can Technology Become a Tool of Oppression and Surveillance?

Viewpoint by Petra Molnar*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News

TORONTO (IDN) – Refugees, immigrants, and people on the move have long been tied to tropes of bringing disease and illness. From pandemics to genocides, people crossing borders whether by force or by choice are talked about in apocalyptic terms like ‘flood’ or ‘wave,’ underscored by rampant xenophobia, racism, and elemental fear of ‘The Other’. Not only are these formulations blatantly incorrect, they also legitimise far-reaching state incursion and increasingly hard-line policies of surveillance and techno-solutionism to manage migration.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 01 May 2020

COVID-19 Shows How Ecosystems and Human Health Intersect

Viewpoint by Dominick A. DellaSala, William J. Ripple, and Franz Baumann*

This article is being re-published by courtesy of The New Republic, which carried it first on April 20.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The butterfly effect is a thought experiment about how a small change in a system— a butterfly flapping its wings — can ripple through complex, interconnected systems, eventually cascading into larger events, like a tornado in Oklahoma. Despite having been popularized by the 1993 Jurassic Park movie, it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.