COVID-19

A Nobel Peace Laureate Calls for Slashing Military Spending and Investing in Healthcare

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN (IDN) – The world's oldest peace NGO, the 1910 Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Peace Bureau (IPB), is calling for a "dramatic reduction" of military spending in favour of healthcare and meeting social needs. A petition launched on March 27 and signed by all interested will be submitted to the United Nations General Assembly on the first day of the next session opening on September 15, 2020.

"The world spends 1.8 trillion dollars on military expenditure every year and is scheduled to spend 1 trillion dollars on new nuclear weapons in the next 20 years," notes the IPB in the petition and a statement earlier from its headquarters in Germany's capital city, Berlin.

: Jutta Wolf; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 02 April 2020

Photo: Buses are being disinfected a couple of times a day in Moscow. Credit: Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA

COVID-19 Could Derail Russia's Constitutional Reform Vote

Viewpoint by Ben Noble*

LONDON (IDN) – Russia's nationwide vote on controversial constitutional reforms is likely to be postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The vote is currently scheduled for April 22.

The vote is the last hurdle before this set of reforms – including a change allowing Vladimir Putin to stay in the presidency beyond 2024 – can come into force.

Russian press has reported that a decision to postpone the vote has already been taken by the Kremlin, but a new date has yet to be selected.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 02 April 2020

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres briefs the media on the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. UN Photo/Mark GartenPhoto: Secretary-General António Guterres briefs the media on the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. UN Photo/Mark Garten

The Impact of COVID-19 on the World's Vulnerable a Major Priority of the UN

By Daniel Johnson of UN News

GENEVA (IDN) – The impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the elderly, the world's poorest, and the asylum seekers as well as the ways and means of addressing the after-effects are some major priorities of the United Nations.

Abandoning elderly at risk from coronavirus is 'criminal', the UN human rights office, OHCHR, has said. The rights of all people and particularly the elderly and infirm need to be respected at a time of crisis such as the ongoing pandemic, the OHCHR said, amid concern that some countries are doing too little to look after their senior citizens.

: UN Bureau; COVID-19; 02 April 2020

Photo: When UK prime minister Boris Johnson argued to "get Brexit done", he was making the case against parliamentary politics. Credit: Houses of Parliament.

There's Nothing So Political as a Pandemic – Part 2

Viewpoint by Adam Ramsay*

This is the second of a two-part article originally published on openDemocracy. Click here for the first part. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News.

LONDON (IDN) – Given that people feel deeply alienated from our political institutions, it's not surprising that the many will rally behind the idea that we shouldn't politicise crises. Politics, as people experience it, is utterly awful.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 01 April 2020

Photo: Responding to Opposition Labour Party's Jeremy Corbyn's demands of the UK government in light of the coronavirus outbreak, Tory MP Jonathan Gullis accused him of try to "play party politics with a health crisis". Credit: eremycorbyn.org.uk

There's Nothing So Political as a Pandemic – Part 1

Viewpoint by Adam Ramsay*

This is the first of a two-part article 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.

LONDON (IDN) – The technocrats are on the rampage.

When [British Labour Party leader] Jeremy Corbyn produced a list of fairly moderate demands of the UK government in light of the coronavirus outbreak, ITV's Paul Brand argued that if such proposals were 'too political', they would look opportunistic. Tory [Conservative Party] MP Jonathan Gullis branded Corbyn "the biggest disgrace to British politics I have known in my lifetime. To try to play party politics with a health crisis", he raved, "is disgusting."

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 01 April 2020

Women Peace and Security in the Time of Corona

Viewpoint by Sanam Naraghi Anderlini MBE*

With over 70% of the global healthcare workforce made up of women and many more shouldering caregiving roles, women are at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, but the consequences and new realities of our world have gendered implications that need to be understood. Sanam Naraghi Anderlini MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire), calls our attention to these impacts, the realities of women living this pandemic, and the relevance of the women, peace and security agenda now more than ever.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 31 March 2020

Photo: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the 2010 High-level Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Challenge for the NAM: Move the NPT Review Conference to 2021 in Vienna

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf*

VIENNA (IDN) – It is sometimes said that it is easy to try to herd cats than to get the States parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to agree on anything practical! This certainly seems to be the case now, as after dithering for several weeks the earth shaking announcement coming out of New York on March 27 is that "In light of the situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, States Parties have decided to postpone the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to a later date, as soon as the circumstances permit, but no later than April 2021. Information on the new dates of the Review Conference will be posted in due course".

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 30 March 2020

Photo: A woman has her samples taken for COVID-19 testing upon arriving at Noi Bai International Airport, Hanoi, March 18, 2020. Credit: VnExpress/Giang Huy.

Vietnam Readies 90,000 Doctors for Combating Coronavirus

By Le Nga and Le Phuong, VNExoress International

HANOI (IDN) – Vietnam has readied as many as 90,000 doctors and 125,000 nurses as also turned many facilities into zones for quarantining and treating COVID-19 patients.

On March 18, 90,000 doctors and 125,000 nurses nationwide had been positioned to be deployed in case Vietnam sees a spike in COVID-19 patients.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 March 2020

Mexicontagion: Coronavirus & Mexico's Economic Vulnerability

Viewpoint by Bill Dahl

The writer is a former Senior Vice President for Bank of America in Los Angeles, CA. He currently resides in Queretaro, MX. His insightful analysis of global economic affairs have been published widely. He is a contributing columnist for Mexico News Daily, IDN-InDepthNews and Wall Street International Magazine.

REDMOND, Oregon, USA (IDN) – The Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic has revealed that there are certain human beings more susceptible to heightened risks of infection, serious illness and death.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 29 March 2020

COVID-19: The Indian State of Kerala is a Beacon to the World

By Vijay Prashad and Subin Dennis *

This article is taken from Countercurrents which published it on March 27. The article was produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

KOLKATA (IDN) – K.K. Shailaja is the health minister in the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala, the state in the southwest of India that has a population of 35 million people. On January 25, 2020, she convened a high-level meeting to discuss the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. What had particularly worried her is that there were many students from Kerala studying in that province of China.