THE WORLD

Photo: The FEALAC 8th Foreign Ministers' Meeting & 16th Senior Officials' Meeting took place on August 29-September 1, 2017 in Busan, Korea, under the theme "One Vision, New Action." Credit. FEALAC

Little Known FEALAC Promotes Asia-Latin American Cooperation

By Tae Han Goo

SEOUL (IDN) – South Korea's large port city Busan hosted end of August the meeting of Foreign Ministers and Senior Officials of the little known Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) constituting 36 countries of East Asia, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Though comprised mainly of developing countries, the two regions did not have an official cooperative mechanism bridging the two continents together until in September 1998, the then Prime Minister of Singapore Gho Chok Tong tabled a concrete proposal to enhance the relations. Subsequently, the EALAF (East Asia-Latin America Forum) Senior Officials' Meeting was held in Singapore in September 1999, marking the beginning of FEALAC.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 31 August 2017

Photo: UK aid and UNFPA support the construction and rehabilitation of eight health care facilities in Sierra Leone in July 2017. UNFPA Sierra Leone representative is in the centre. Credit: UNF PA Sierra Leone.

UN Responding to the Humanitarian Crisis in Sierra Leone

Interview with Dr. Kim Eva Dickson, Representative of the UNFPA Sierra Leone

NEW YORK | FREETOWN (IDN) - UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is paying specific attention to the needs of women and girls affected by the floods and mudslides in the country's capital city Freetown that killed over 495 people on August 14, 2017. Joan Erakit, UN correspondent of IDN, flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate (INPS) Group, spoke with Dr. Kim Eva Dickson, Representative of the UNFPA Sierra Leone. Following is the full text of the interview.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 August 2017

Photo: View of Shahr-i-Zohok (the "Red City") in Bamyan Province. The color comes from the red clay used in construction; the dry climate has allowed for the remarkable preservation. Source: CIA Factbook.

America Should Get out of Afghanistan Before it's Tool Late

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - It’s the most repeated maxim in all the reporting on Afghanistan: “The Americans have the watches, the Taliban have the time.”

Dead right! This is America’s longest war ever, 16 years and counting. President Donald Trump, admitting he was reversing his campaign call for pulling out, has now decided to stay in, sending to Afghanistan another 3,900 troops to reinforce the 8,400 there now.

Trump doesn’t claim it will do the job of defeating the Taliban. In fact he lays out no long-term strategy at all. It’s not difficult to imagine that in a decade the same stalemate will exist.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 29 August 2017

Photo: Slums like this have emerged over the years as poverty erupts in an area called Lion's Den, 20km outside Chinhoyi town in Mashonaland West province in Zimbabwe. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IDN-INPS

Poverty Swoops on Southern Africa's Urban Dwellers

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – At one stage in her life, she was a top accountant with the National Railways of Zimbabwe. Now, domiciled in Epworth, a crowded informal settlement in south-eastern Harare Province, 25 kilometres outside Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, hers has turned out to be a riches-to-rags tale.

Shuvai Chikoto, a 48-year-old mother of three who was widowed five years ago, is just one of millions of other Southern African urban dwellers who have plunged into poverty over the years – and she is not particularly impressed that the United Nations has set the goal of ending poverty in all its forms everywhere within the next 13 years.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 August 2017

Photo: Harvesting rice in Viet Nam. Global rice consumption trends are rising. Photo: FAO/Hoang Dinh Nam

Climate Change Threatens Agriculture in Pacific Rim Economies

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Global warming is expected to have a significant impact on future yields of everything from rice to fish, particularly in countries situated closer to the equator, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned, and urged the Asia-Pacific economies to take a leading role in adaptation and mitigation.

“Many APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] economies have already felt the full force of agricultural losses from natural disasters in recent years, with the vast majority of these being climate related,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, reported UN News.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 27 August 2017

Photo: Miroslav Jenca (right), Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, addresses the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East. At his side is Ambassador Abdel Latif Aboulatta, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the UN and President of the Council for August. UN Photo/Kim Haughton

Senior UN Official Urges Security Council Support for the Two-State Solution to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

By Santo D. Banerjee

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Despite the scepticism – if not opposition – of the veto-wielding United States to realizing a two-State solution, a senior United Nations official has urged the parties to the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict to recommit to that solution and to ending the occupation of Palestinian lands.

This view was unequivocally supported by the representatives of Bolivia and Uruguay, two of the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council in addition to five permanent members (P5): China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 24 August 2017

Photo: The 383rd meeting of the Committee took place on 8 August 2017. Over 36 Committee Members/Observers were in attendance in addition to several civil society organizations.

UN Committee Highlights Activities Marking 50 Years of Israeli Occupation of Palestine

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - Fifty years after Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it continues to control these areas through repression, institutionalized discrimination, and systematic abuses of the Palestinian population’s rights.

Many of Israel’s abusive practices have been carried out in the name of security. Palestinian armed groups have carried out scores of lethal attacks on civilians and launched thousands of rocket attacks on Israeli civilian areas, also in violation of international humanitarian law.

But activities to mark 50 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine and support the two-State solution took the centre stage in recent efforts to quell tensions, especially in Jerusalem, and create conditions for mutual respect, the Palestinian Rights Committee heard on August 8, 2017.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 21 August 2017

Photo: An internally displaced woman and her daughter look over the city of Sana’a, Yemen, from the roof of this dilapidated building they call their new home. Photo: Giles Clarke/UN OCHA

UN Helpless While 'Death Looms For Yemenis'

By Bernhard Schell

AMMAN (IDN) – The United Nations is apparently incapable of pushing for a political solution to the more than two-year-old conflict plaguing Yemen, one of the Arab world's poorest countries, which has been devastated by a war between forces loyal to the internationally-recognised government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and those allied to the Houthi rebel movement.

More than 7,600 people have been killed and 42,000 injured since March 2015, the majority in air strikes by a Saudi-led multinational coalition that backs the president, according to independent sources. The conflict and a blockade imposed by the coalition have also triggered a humanitarian disaster, leaving 70% of the population in need of aid.

: Bernhard Schell; UN INSIDER; 21 August 2017

Photo: The DPRK Civil Aviation Bureau Chief Kang Ki Sop at airports and airfields – together with Kim Jong-un – controlled by the North Korean People’s Army Air Force, underlining, according to the Panel, that the Korean airlines Air Koryo is integrated into the military of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and that the airline’s assets are actively utilized for military purposes. Credit: KCNA and the UN Panel.

Serious Doubts Whether Sanctions Against DPRK Are Effective

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) maintains a tight spider network around the world that enables it "to employ great ingenuity in using formal banking channels and bulk cash transfers to facilitate illicit endeavours," a close look at the Report of the UN Panel of Experts monitoring the implementation of Security Council sanctions against North Korea reveals.

An analysis of the Report covering the period from February 6, 2016 to February 5, 2017 does not give cause for hope that the expanded sanctions imposed unanimously by 15 members of the Security Council on August 5 would achieve the declared objective, which the Resolution 2371 (2017) defined as follows:

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 20 August 2017

Image credit: Asia Foundation | United Nations

Violence Against Women Is Still An Unresolved Issue

By Afreeha Jawad

COLOMBO (IDN) - Having grown up in a biological family unit that upheld male domination, envied and resented female intellect, with a mother that declared in no uncertain terms that even though crestfallen a male is a male, Fathima's ears soon were not alien to such sexist remarks but the bitterness that swelled inside was inexpressible.

Maternal discriminatory insistence that even vehemently once asked, "if they can tame a wild elephant then why not you?" simply threw this child off board. There was no one in whom she could have faith to spell out all her agony. Fathima's utter consternation, dismay and disgust over maternal sexist expressions licensed continuous harassment even assaults from her biological membership which term she even resents to this day.