Peace & Justice

Photo: Western States Legal Foundation Executive Director Jackie Cabasso, second from left, at the press conference at the United Nations on March 28. On her right is John Burroughs, and on her left are: Holger Guessfeld, Gene Seidman and Alyn Ware.

Experts Stress Importance of UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – The increasing fragility of international peace and security is accentuating the critical need for persistent dialogue and relentless diplomacy to deter multiple conflicts triggering nuclear confrontation, disarmament experts and campaigners say.

Conflicts related to nuclear weapons, including in Northeast Asia, between the U.S. and NATO on the one hand and Russia on the other, they say, should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy and every effort must be undertaken to make the UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament from May 14 to 16, 2018 in New York a success.

: Santo D. Banerjee; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 01 April 2018

Photo: Ambassador Hahn with MA students from Harvard University majoring in international education policy. He gave them a special lecture on global citizenship. Credit: Hyun June Chung, MA student from Harvard University.

The Importance of Global Citizenship in Multilateral Diplomacy

By Hahn Choonghee

Hahn Choonghee was Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to the United Nations in New York for four years until early 2018. He is now Special Advisor to the Speaker of the National Assembly for Foreign Affairs, ROK. This article first appeared in UN Chronicle, Vol. LIV No. 4 2017 January 2018. – The Editor

NEW YORK, SEOUL (IDN-INPS) – We are currently facing unprecedented challenges, including continued conflicts, increased violent extremism and obstacles to sustainable development such as extreme poverty, gender and economic inequality, refugees and internally displaced persons, and climate change. These challenges are global in their scope and interwoven in nature.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP; 30 March 2018

Photo: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, ex president of Argentina, with Pope Francis. CC BY-SA 2.0

How Francis Could Become to be Seen as One of the Greatest of all Popes

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – This present pope – Francis – is probably the most powerful man in the world, in the round.

Stalin once asked when confronted with the argument about the Pope’s reach and influence, replied, “How many divisions has the pope got?” He missed the point. The pope does not work these days in the world of hard power. He is a peddler of soft power.

Francis has much more power, maybe because of the strength of his convictions, than any of his predecessors, with the exception of the Polish pope, John Paul II, who played a front-line role in triggering the events that brought down communism.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 27 March 2018

Social activities with NGOs - GBSH Consult - Johannesburg (South Africa)

The Role of NGOs in Africa: Are They a Force for Good?

By Sally Matthews

Dr. Sally Matthews is Senior Lecturer in Politics, Rhodes University, South Africa. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – Non-governmental organisations have become key actors in responding to poverty and related suffering. In Africa, NGOs play a leading role in providing health care and education.

The non-profit sector continues to grow rapidly in Africa and around the world. In South Africa alone, there are more than 100,000 registered non-profit organisations and in Kenya the number of NGOs grew by over 400% between 1997 and 2006. And for most observers, they seem to be well-intentioned actors who do a lot of good on the continent.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 March 2018

Photo: In May 2015, on the 70th anniversary of Korea’s division into two separate states by cold war powers, 30 international women peacemakers from around the world walked with thousands of Korean women, north and south, to call for an end to the Korean War, reunification of families and women’s leadership in the peace process. Credit. San Francisco based Niana Liu.

In 2018, Who Will Speak Up for Peace in the Korean Peninsula?

By Rick Wayman

Rick Wayman is Programs Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF). In April 2016, he received the 'Activist of the Year' award from the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) for "dynamic leadership in bringing the Marshall Islanders' Nuclear Zero litigation to world attention, activating the next generation of peace leaders, and guiding ANA as board member and tech guru." – The Editor

SANTA BARBARA, CA (IDN) - A possible summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un is just weeks away. Questions abound: Is it a good idea? When and where will it take place? What will they talk about? Who, if anyone, is preparing the U.S. president for this high-stakes meeting? Will it be a success?

: J C Suresh; OPINION; 23 March 2018

Photo: Panellists discussing UAE initiative to enhance access to justice for foreign workers. Credit: Geneva Centre.

UAE Lauded for Enhancing Access to Justice for Foreign Workers

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – Labour law experts have praised the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for launching an initiative to facilitate access to justice for foreign workers, and expressed the hope that this initiative would be replicated by the other five Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.

In doing so, they would be helping achieve Goal 16.3 of the Agenda for Sustainable Development endorsed by the international community in September 2015.

: Jaya Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 22 March 2018

A New Book Shows Ways to 'Decolonize' the Minds of Asian Communicators

By Kannan Salazar

Mindful Communication for Sustainable Development: Perspectives from Asia
Edited by: Kalinga Seneviratne - Lecturer, Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. February 2018 | 372 pages | SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd. Electronic version: £38.00
https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/mindful-communication-for-sustainable-development/book261649

BANGKOK (IDN) – The book tries to wean away the reader from the old paradigm of development communication, which was designed to "educate" the peasants to abandon their traditional ideas – such as subsistence farming – and embrace a consumerist lifestyle. With its subtle promotion of sufficiency economics and the use of modern communication tools with a traditional leaning to spread the message, this book in fact tends to go back to tradition, but make it relevant to the 21st century.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 21 March 2018

Photo: Australian High Commission in Pretoria. CC BY 3.0

White Australians Debate Fast-Track Visas for Afrikaners Fleeing Land Reform

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Australia’s national security minister has proposed fast-tracking immigrant visas for white South Africans facing "horrific circumstances" under Cyril Ramaphosa, the country's President since February 15, 2018. He was elected head of the African National Congress in December 2017.

Barely a month into his presidency, Ramaphosa vowed to speed up the seizure of land from white owners and turn the properties over to blacks. "This original sin that was committed when our country was colonized must be resolved in a way that will take South Africa forward," he declared.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 March 2018

– 15 March 2018] Photo: Some of the shops that were set on fire at Katugastota near Sri Lanka’s Kandy city on March 7, 2018. Credit: Meera Srinivasan | The Hindu

Sri Lankan Academics Abroad Condemn Violence Against Muslim Community

By Shanta Roy

NEW YORK (IDN) – A group of Sri Lankan academics teaching in educational institutions abroad – and numbering about 50 – has written to condemn ongoing violence against Sri Lanka’s Muslim community, especially the “brutal attacks” perpetrated early March.

In a letter published by 'Groundviews', they say: “We are outraged that the government has failed to act speedily and decisively to stop the violence and bring those responsible to justice. The government must act firmly to prevent more destruction and bloodshed.”

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 March 2018

Photo: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first President of the Turkish Republic, visiting Istanbul University after its reorganization in 1933 as a mixed-gender institution of higher education with multiple faculties. Wikimedia Commons | Public Domain

Reflections on Turkey: From Mustafa Kemal To Recep Erdoğan

Viewpoint by Pier Francesco Zarcone*

ROME (IDN) – Has Turkey changed under Erdoğan? The question may seem absurd due to the habit of considering Turkey a secular and Westernised country before Recep Erdoğan came to power.

However, this consolidated image turns out to be false. There has been a change, but not in substance: what has changed is its exteriority. In fact, albeit with periodic recourse to elections, the country has always been governed in an authoritarian way, and today this feature is only more evident and its quality is more pronounced.