Peace & Justice

Photo: Polish border guards pushing-back refugees on the Polish-Belarusian border, Usnarz Gorny, Poland. Credit: Karol Grygoruk/RATS Agency

People as Pawns to Power: The Unfolding Humanitarian Crisis on the Belarusian Border Needs Urgent Attention

By Anna Alboth

The writer is Anna Alboth is Media Programmes Coordinator, Minority Rights Group International, Warsaw.

WARSAW (IDN) — For an organisation established on the back of a humanitarian disaster that shocked the world, the lack of discussion at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly about events unfolding on the Polish-Belarusian border is deeply disappointing.

As feeble international efforts to hold Lukashenka to account failed, he instead consolidated power extending a vice-like grip on power in Belarus.

: Europe Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Poverty; 23 September 2021

Collage: Title of 'No Comment' (left) Thalif Deen (right)

Veteran Journalist Thalif Deen Takes Over as IDN Advisor

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) — Veteran journalist Thalif Deen has been appointed IDN-InDepthNews Advisor on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Arms Control Issues & Senior Writer at the United Nations. IDN is the flagship of the Non-profit global media agency International Press Syndicate. He has been covering the United Nations since the late 1970s.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 19 September 2021

Photo: UN Human Rights Council. Wikimedia Commons.

Fifteen Countries Ask UN Human Rights Chief To Leave Sri Lanka Alone

By Sugeeswara Senadhira

COLOMBO (IDN) — The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet delivered her oral update on Sri Lanka on September 13 at the 46 Session of the UNHRC in Geneva, which went beyond the council’s mandate in commenting on a member country that has not gone unnoticed by at least 15 member countries that have come out in support of Sri Lanka.

: Asia Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 18 September 2021

Photo: Navy Commander at Sampoor with US Marines. Credit: Sri Lanka Navy

Sri Lanka’s Valorous Battle Against a Separatist Insurgency

Viewpoint by Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne

The writer is former Chief of Defence Staff and Retired from the Sri Lanka Navy

COLOMBO (IDN) — The month of August 2006, fifteen years ago was a very eventful month for Sri Lanka Navy. I was the Commandant of Naval and Maritime Academy (NMA) and Flag Officer Naval Fleet (FOCNF) based in Trincomalee; both were busy appointments. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a Tamil separatist group, was very active in Eastern area in 2006. They had their Grand Strategy very well laid, with plans to capture Trincomalee harbour and thereby cutting off the lifeline to North, Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC). As no land route to North, (Vanni was under LTTE Control then), Trincomalee was vital to keep our ships and craft to carry men and material to North by sea.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 18 September 2021

Photo: Herero prisoners of war, around 1900. CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Germany’s Forgotten Genocide in Namibia

Viewpoint by Adekeye Adebajo

Professor Adekeye Adebajo is Director of the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation in South Africa.

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) — As some world leaders gather in New York for their annual United Nations General Assembly rituals, the September 22 debate on “Reparations, Racial Justice, and Equality for People of African Descent” to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 2001 Durban Racism Conference, will be particularly significant. While at the Durban conference itself, the issue of reparations was not allowed to be debated by former Western slaver and imperial powers, this issue is now firmly on the agenda.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 17 September 2021

Photo: A market in Igwuruta, Nigeria's Rivers State, which has started a war with the Federal Government over the collection of Value Added Taxes (VAT). CC BY-SA 4.0

A VAT War Between Nigeria's Federal Govt. and Rivers State

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — The guns of Nigeria’s three-year civil war were silenced 51 years ago, but in the battle for a truly federal state, the echoes of warfare have never been more resonant.

On August 10, Rivers State, which at an average monthly federal receipt of N12b, is the third richest by dole amongst Nigeria’s poor 36 states, started a war with the Federal Government over the collection of Value Added Taxes (VAT).

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 September 2021

Photo: G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors gathered in Venice for their third official meeting under the Italian G20 Presidency on July 9-10, 2021.

The G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative Is a Fiasco

Viewpoint by William N Kring

The writer is the Assistant Director for the Global Development Policy Center at Boston University. This article first appeared on EastAsiaForum on September 7, 2021.

BOSTON (IDN) — As the more lethal and contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 rips across the globe, the prospects of multilateral efforts to combat the virus, tackle the looming global debt crisis and mount a sustainable economic recovery are dim. Nowhere is the insufficiency of the multilateral response more apparent than on the issue of debt relief.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 September 2021

Photo: Asian Nobel prize winner, Muhammad Amjad Saquib, the founder of Pakistan’s biggest community development network Akhuwat. Credit: Akhuwat.

Alternative Noble Prize Recognition for Pakistan's Islamic Community Development Pioneer

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — One of the five winners of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Awards—known as Asia’s Nobel Prizes—is Dr Muhammad Amjad Saquib the founder of Pakistan’s biggest community development network Akhuwat that is based on Islamic principles of sharing and brotherhood.

Launched in 2001, hundreds of thousands of poor families have been supported through Akhuwat’s interest-free microfinance loans. Islamic law prohibits interest on loans, but Islamic teachings that encourage followers to set aside a portion of one’s wealth to help the needy assist to finance this model.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 September 2021

Photo: Grand Synagogue of Edirne, Turkey. The Ottoman Empire created by Turkish tribes in Anatolia (Asia Minor) grew to be one of the most powerful states in the world during the 15th and 16th centuries. CC BY-SA 4.0

The Western Debate About Islam Is Frankly Uninformed, Sometimes Infantile

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Once again the CIA and MI6 are publishing dire warnings of the vitality of Al Qaeda. Once again the Islamic world as a whole is being tarnished by association. Are we returning, as we sadly commemorate the destruction of New York’s Twin Towers on 9/11, to what the late U.S. presidential contender John McCain said: “America needs a leadership to confront the transcendent challenge of our time: the threat of radical Islamic terrorism".

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 14 September 2021

Photo: King Mohammed VI appointed Akhannouch Prime Minister Friday, two days after the RNI party swept the 2021 general election. Photo Credit: Atalayar.

Billionaire To Lead Morocco After Defeat of Islamists

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A billionaire appointed by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, will lead a new government after long-ruling Islamists were defeated in parliamentary elections.

Businessman Aziz Akhannouch of the National Rally of Moroccan Independents (RNI), one of the country’s richest men with a fortune estimated at $2 billion, called his victory a win for democracy.