Peace & Justice

Mozambique Imposing Hefty Fees on Local and Foreign Media

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Press freedom in Mozambique just got a lot less free. Under a new government decree, local and foreign journalists must now pony up thousands of dollars for the right to report in this Southern African country.

The little dribble of news about Mozambique in the foreign press could disappear altogether, ending press freedom at a crucial time. Human rights groups call it an attempt to discourage reporting from the country.

"We think this is completely exorbitant and out of any reasonable proportion," said Arnaud Froger, head of the Africa desk for the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 August 2018

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (front left) views an exhibit at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum on 9 August 2018. UN Photo/Daniel Powell

73 Years On, a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World Remains a Mirage

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) – Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda recall a quote from Martin Luther King Jr – "We are always on the threshold of a new dawn" – and aver that the adoption of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in July 2017 is such a 'threshold'.

In a joint appeal 'To the Youth of the World', released to the media and wider public in Rome, and handed over to Pope Francis, they note that the Treaty "is an international legal instrument that establishes the absolute illegality" of nuclear weapons.

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 20 August 2018

UN Determined to Protect Civilians, Humanitarian Aid Workers

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Fifteen years ago, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Iraq's capital Baghdad killed 22 humanitarian aid workers, including the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. The Brazilian United Nations diplomat had been working for the world body's humanitarian and political programs for more than 34 years.

"The Canal Hotel bombing was," according to Secretary-General António Guterres, "a massive loss for the United Nations and the humanitarian community, and it marked a turning point for the need to increase the protection of humanitarian operations in Iraq and worldwide."

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 18 August 2018

Photo: Kumi Naidoo. Credit: Amnesty International

Kumi Naidoo Wishes a 'Bigger, Bolder & More Inclusive' Amnesty

By Devendra Kamarajan

NAIROBI (IDN) – The human rights movement needs to be bigger, bolder and more inclusive if it is to tackle the challenges that people face today, says life-long social justice campaigner Kumi Naidoo as he officially starts his four-year tenure as Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Amnesty is the largest human rights movement worldwide, with a global presence including offices in more than 70 countries, 2,600 staff and seven million members, volunteers and supporters worldwide. Naidoo wants more.

: Devendra Kamarajan; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 16 August 2018

Photo: Emmerson Mnangagwa speaking in Headlands on Didymus Mtasa as Vice President of Zimbabwe in 2015. CC BY 3.0

'Skulduggery' Foils Zimbabwe Inauguration Of Mnangagwa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | HARARE (IDN) – The hastily organized inauguration of Emmerson Mnangagwa as president of Zimbabwe has hit a brick wall.

Invitations to the heads of diplomatic mission, international organizations and consulates were pulled back after challenges to July 30 general election put a question mark around the slim victory of Mnangagwe over his rival Nelson Chamisa.

Mnangagwa allegedly beat Chamisa with 50.8 percent of the vote to Chamisa’s 44.3 percent.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 August 2018

Photo: UN Peacekeepers serving with the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) patrol the city of Bangui in 2017. UN Photo/ Hervé Serefio

Security Council Calls for Better UN Agency Cooperation in Central Africa

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – In view of "the volatile and fast‑evolving nature of the political, security and social situation" in Central Africa, the United Nations Secretary-General has asked the Security Council to extend by three years from September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2021 the mandate of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA).

Created on January 1, 2011, and operating under the purview of the Department of Political Affairs, UNOCA covers the 11 member States of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS): Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, and Sao Tome and Principe.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 August 2018

Photo: Casa Rosada, executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina, viewed from Plaza de Mayo. CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

G20 Anti-Corruption Commitments At Risk

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – As governments across the globe crack down on citizen groups, stifling their ability to speak out and hold governments to account, the role of civil society is more important now than ever.

With his in mind, activists from more than 600 civil society organisations and more than 45 countries worldwide gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from August 6 to 7 for the sixth annual Civil 20 summit. The meeting came at a critical time prior to the meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) in November.

Civil 20 (C20) is one of the seven engagement groups of the G20, conceived as an instrument through which civil society organisations (CSOs) from different parts of the world can contribute in a structured and sustained manner to the G20, thus ensuring that world leaders listen not only to the voices representing the governmental and business sectors, but also to the proposals and demands of civil society as a whole.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 12 August 2018

Photo: Uniformed children in class in Ha Nqabeni primary school, Lesotho. CC BY-SA 2.0

UN Supports Comprehensive Reform Process in Lesotho

By Ntsoaki Nkoe

MASERU (IDN) – Lesotho has launched a landmark project with the European Union willing to provide Euros 12.5 million (approx. USD14.4 million) and the United Nations USD 2 million. Known as the Lesotho National Dialogue and Stabilization Project (LNDSP), the initiative aims to stimulate a comprehensive national reforms process the southern African country is undertaking.

Explaining the genesis of the project, UN Resident Coordinator Salvator Niyonzima said the launch of the project was the result of several months of consultations, project formulation and fund raising going back to September 2017 when Prime Minister Thomas Thabane wrote to the UN Secretary-General requesting UN support to Lesotho’s long-anticipated national reforms.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 August 2018

Photo credit: Lesotho's MMN Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Thirteen-Year-Old Defies Family, Escapes Forced Marriage

By Billy Ntaote

This report is part of a series on Human Trafficking by MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism in Lesotho.

MASERU (IDN) – For people living in the rural parts of the country, early child marriage doesn't exist – but when a teenager is impregnated, families rush to organise a traditional wedding ceremony and it's a deal done.

This common, yet cruel practice perpetrated on the girl child continues in rural parts of Lesotho with the unsuspecting victims – socialised to believe it is their only way out of poverty and hunger – married-off in exchange for either a herd of cattle or cash in bride-wealth.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 August 2018

Photo: Michelle Bachelet of Chile, newly-appointed as the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights by Secretary-General António Guterres. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre.

Kudos and Criticism for New UN Human Rights Chief

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Moments after the UN General Assembly unanimously agreed on August 10 to appoint Chile's former President Michelle Bachelet as the seventh UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted: "Ms. Bachelet is a pioneer, a visionary, a woman of principle, and a great human rights leader for these troubled times." He had had put forward her candidacy to the General Assembly on August 8.

The United Nations Association – UK (UNA-UK) Executive Director, Natalie Samarasinghe, agreed: she is "certainly a strong choice", and added: "She has experience at the highest level of government in Chile, at the highest level of administration within the UN system as the first head of UN Women, and of working with civil society under the shadow of oppression."