OPINION

Photo: Gustavo Zlauvinen of Argentina, president-designate of the 2020 NPT Review Conference (meanwhile postponed to 20201), addresses the UN Security Council in February. Credit: Evan Schneider/UN).

Postponement of NPT Review Conference Offers an Opportunity

Antagonisms, Conflicts and Nuclear Risks After the Pandemic

A Pugwash Document

Signed on May 6 by Sergio Duarte (President of Pugwash), Paolo Cotta Ramusino (Secretary-General of Pugwash), Steven Miller (Chair of the Pugwash Executive Committee), and Saideh Lotfian (Chair of the Pugwash Council). Download a copy [PDF]. As of May 10, 135 eminent personalities including ministers had endorsed the document.

ROME | GENEVA | WASHINGTON | LONDON (IDN) – The new coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has already inflicted great damage on a number of nations and on the world at large, resulting not only in many tens of thousands of deaths but also in economic, financial and social crises.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 May 2020

Image credit: The German Medical Association

Close Encounters of the COVID Kind

The what, where, when, why, who, and how of the coronavirus pandemic

Viewpoint by Dr. Dilkhush Panjwani *

TORONTO (IDN) – Humanity is facing close encounters with the unfolding crisis of the novel coronavirus SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, and many other essential service providers are on the frontline, risking their lives to save lives through their selfless and dedicated service in their communities and hospitals. These frontline heroes are facing many challenges in performing their noble tasks. Notwithstanding the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), and ventilators in intensive care units (ICUs), they face the risk of contracting the COVID-19 disease due to extensive exposures in their line of duty.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 May 2020

Image: Collage of pictures about biomedical research. Source: Delhi Posr

COVID-19: An Opportunity to Fix Dysfunctional Biomedical R&D System

Viewpoint by Sreenath Namboodiri*

The author is Assistant Professor of Law at School of Ethics, Governance, Culture & Social Systems, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth (deemed to be university), Ernakulam, Kerala, India. He can be reached on twitter @SnathNamboodiri

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Failures of the patent system to meet the public health priorities demand a new approach in research and development (R&D) financing and incentive to pharmaceutical innovations. An R&D model delinking the cost of R&D from the price of the product is the way forward.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 May 2020

Photo: "You should ask China," said Trump and terminated press conference on May 12 after clash with reporters – video

In Africa, Trump’s Fate Is Worse Than a Laughingstock

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – In a recent article in The Atlantic also widely used elsewhere, American journalist, Anne Applebaum, described the pathetic meltdown of US President Donald Trump, especially since the outbreak of the global health crisis, COVID-19.

On April 29, the US President phoned his Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari, and promised to help with some ventilators. The next day, an irreverent mascot in a cartoon strip in Leadership, a Nigerian newspaper, asked if Trump was also going send “Dettol vaccines,” a sarcastic reference to the President’s claim that disinfectants could mitigate the effect of Coronavirus.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 14 May 2020

Our Oceans Keep Our Health, The Economy and Our Lives Above the Waves

Healthy oceans: keeping Asia and the Pacific afloat

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP.

BANGKOK (IDN) – Memories of idyllic beaches and sonorous waves may seem far away while we remain at home. Yet, we need not look far to appreciate the enduring history of the ocean in Asia and the Pacific. For generations, the region has thrived on our seas. Our namesake bears a nod to the Pacific Ocean, a body of water tethered to the well-being of billions in our region. The seas provide food, livelihoods and a sense of identity, especially for coastal communities in the Pacific island States.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 13 May 2020

Photo: Transporting new migrant workers to Doha, Qatar. Source: tellmemoreblogger.com

COVID-19: Should Economy Have Priority Over Migrant Workers' Health?

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) – Many critics have described labour migration as the 21st-century slave trade and Covid-19 crisis has exposed this stark reality. Eastern European migrant labour in Europe. Unpaid construction workers on the brink of starvation in the Middle East. Hundreds of South Asian dormitory locked down migrant labourers infected with Covid-19 in Singapore. Global economy’s lack of compassion for the migrant workers that drives its engines is very much in display today.

Speaking on Al Jazeera’s Inside Story, Thulsi Narayanasamy, head of labour rights at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) argued that the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the structural inequalities that face migrant workers all over the world.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 13 May 2020

Photo: A detention camp for immigrants and asylum seekers in Greece. Source. Human Rights Watch.

Greece Extends COVID-19 Lockdown at Refugee Camps

Viewpoint by Eva Cossé, Human Rights Watch

The writer is Western Europe researcher, works on issues related to discrimination, migration, asylum and minority rights, with a focus on Greece. This article first appeared on Human Rights Watch, and is being reproduced with the author's permission.

LONDON | ATHENS (IDN) – The Greek government has begun easing lockdown measures, given the country’s success in keeping Covid-19 under control. Starting last week, people could leave their homes without authorization, most shops have re-opened, and older students have returned to the classroom.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 12 May 2020

Photo: President Richard Nixon met with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on October 8, 1973, in Washington in the Oval Office of the White House and said that the U.S. intended to make every effort to bring an end to the fighting in the Middle East. Nixon did not detail the Administration’s position to be put forward in the UN Security Council on that day but said that the US would not make a grandstand play. (UPI Photo/Files)

Tale of a Machiavellian US in the Middle East

The US Has to Work with Russia, Not Against It

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – The war in Syria has dropped out of the news, like almost everything else, in a time when the Coronavirus seems to dominate all discourse and reporting. But the regime of Bashar al-Assad continues to strangle its own country. The Russians continue to bomb on his behalf, terrifying civilians and hospitals. The Americans work semi-clandestinely to undermine both the regime and its Russian backers.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 12 May 2020

Image credit: Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York.

Non-Aligned Movement Aligned Against COVID-19

By Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sr Lanka President

The following is the text of the Sri Lankan President's address on May 4 to the online summit meeting of the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) under the theme "United Against COVID-19":

COLOMBO (IDN) – I am pleased to be participating at this Summit, in support of global solidarity, unity and renewed multi-lateral cooperation in overcoming COVID-19.

Sri Lanka firmly believes that this Summit will serve as an important platform for the NAM Member States to support collective global action in combating this deadly virus and sharing best practices and lessons learnt.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 11 May 2020

Photo: Opening of the Review and Extension Conference of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 17 April 1995. Seated on the podium from left to right: UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali; President of the Conference, Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala (Sri Lanka); Secretary-General of the Conference, Prvoslav Davinić. Credit: UN Photo by Evan Schneider # 68537.

25 Years After the Indefinite Extension of The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: A Field of Broken Promises and Shattered Visions

By Tariq Rauf*

VIENNA (IDN) – "I long ago took to heart the words of Omar Bradley, spoken virtually a half century ago, when he observed, having seen the aftermath of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thus: 'We live in an age of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We live in a world that has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. We've unlocked the mysteries of the atom and forgotten the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living'."