Peace & Justice

Doha Hosts High-Level Meeting of the UNODC's Global Judicial Integrity Network

By Bernhard Schell

DOHA | VIENNA (IDN | UNIS) —The second high-level meeting of the Global Judicial Integrity Network of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has launched in Doha under the patronage of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, with hundreds of chief justices and senior judges from around the world in attendance.

Until February 26, the conference will take stock of the achievements of the Network since its launch and discuss existing and emerging challenges related to judicial integrity, exploring the efforts made by judiciaries to address them, and identify priority areas for the Network.

: Bernhard Schell; UN INSIDER; 25 February 2020

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres attends the High Level Segment of the 43rd Regular Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Credit: UN Photo/Violaine Martin

UN Chief Launches Call to Action at Boosting Equality

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – During the 75th anniversary year of the United Nations, "because of the centrality of human rights in all UN does, and because human rights are under assault", UN Secretary-General António Guterres has launched a Call to Action aimed at boosting equality and reducing suffering everywhere.

"Human rights are our ultimate tool to help societies grow in freedom," he told Member States on the opening day of the UN Human Rights Council’s 43rd session on February 24 in Geneva.

: Jamshed Baruah; UN INSIDER; 24 February 2020

Photo: Wang YI, State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China (left) with French President Macron (right) at the MSC 2020. Source: MSC/Hennemuth

East-West Divide Marks the Munich Security Conference

Viewpoint by Pepe Escobar, Global Research

MUNICH (IDN) – Few postmodern political pantomimes have been more revealing than the hundreds of so-called "international decision-makers," mostly Western, waxing lyrical, disgusted or nostalgic over “Westlessness” at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) from February 14-16, 2020.

"Westlessness" sounds like one of those constipated concepts issued from a post-party bad hangover at the Rive Gauche during the 1970s. In theory (but not French Theory) Westlessness in the age of WhatsApp should mean a deficit of multiparty action to address the most pressing threats to the "international order" – or (dis)order – as nationalism, derided as a narrow-minded populist wave, prevails.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 21 February 2020

Photo: Collage of Biram Dah Abeid from Mauritania and Shaparak Shajarizadeh of Iran.

Mauritanian Anti-Slavery and Iranian Women Rights Activist Presented Awards

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – Biram Dah Abeid, a descendant of former slaves who has been called "the Nelson Mandela of Mauritania", and Shaparak Shajarizadeh, a prominent Iranian women's rights activist have been honoured for their courage to fight gross violations of human rights

Abeid, founder of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA), has mobilized tens of thousands of Mauritanians to protest slavery and the government's failure to apply anti-slavery laws.

: Jamshed Baruah; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 20 February 2020

Photo: Presidential and legislative elections in DR Congo. Credit: Africa Renewal.

2020 Is Election Season Across Africa

By Franck Kuwonu, Africa Renewal

NEW YORK (IDN) – Voters across the continent will be heading to the ballot box this year to choose their leaders in presidential, parliamentary and local elections ending with Ghana in December.

Comorians will be electing a new 33-member national assembly following presidential elections in 2019 while Ghanaians will select their parliamentarians and president on 7 December.

: Africa Renewal; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 February 2020

Photo: People march against pipelines in Smithers, British Columbia, in May 2014. Credit: Office of the Wet'suwet'en/Francois Depey. Source: indianz.com

Canada's Colonial Settler Policies Alive and Well

Viewpoint by Jim Miles*

MONTREAL (IDN) – There is a lot of obfuscation and sloganeering about the Canada wide protests in support of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation of British Columbia and their resistance to corporate and governmental greed in pushing a natural gas pipeline through their traditional territory. On February 17, 2020 a CBC reporter cited – and probably paraphrased closely – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as saying his "most important relationship is with indigenous people".

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 19 February 2020

Photo: Agba Jalingo, publisher of Cross River Watch, faces trial over a report written by the newspaper alleging that Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade diverted 500 million naira meant for the establishment of Cross River Microfinance Bank. Credit: Cross River Watch.

Nigeria Rounding Up Journalists for Exposing Corruption

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Nigeria is rounding up journalists who investigate corruption – jailing them for indefinite periods of time and accusing them of treason.

Agba Jalingo, publisher of Cross River Watch, was arrested and jailed in August 2019 until this month when a Cross River court granted bail. He faces trial over a report written by the newspaper alleging that Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade diverted 500 million naira meant for the establishment of Cross River Microfinance Bank.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 February 2020

Image credit: A march of 2,000 anti-conscription protesters in London,1939. © IWM

Why the Peace Movement Must Be Intersectional

Viewpoint by Tim Gee*

LONDON (IDN) – In 2011, after a racial slur was used on a women's rights march, writer Flavia Dzodan wrote a blog called, 'My feminism will be intersectional or it will be bullshit'. The framing was picked up by others, adapting the title to environmentalism and to activism more broadly but it was far less talked about in the peace movement.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 16 February 2020

U.S. Abrogation of Iran Deal Leaves a Puzzling Legacy

By Bernhard Schell

ISTANBUL (IDN) – Iran has been bashed for its January 5 announcement that it would no longer abide by certain "operational restrictions" on uranium enrichment in the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. The declaration has also prompted doubts about the regime's activities and intentions and the fate of the nuclear deal.

: Bernhard Schell; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 14 February 2020

Photo: SGI president Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

Buddhist Leader Calls for Nuclear Weapons Free Security

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – An eminent Buddhist philosopher and nuclear disarmament advocate has tabled four critical initiatives to "contribute to the creation of a sustainable global society where all can live with dignity and a sense of security". The initiatives cover four major areas: building support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW); multilateral negotiations for nuclear disarmament; climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR); and education for children in crisis.