Home - IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters

Photo: According to a UNDP survey, the textile, tourism, hospitality, and construction sectors have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic and the political upheaval, as have small and medium enterprises. Credit: UNDP Myanmar.

Urban Poverty Rates in Myanmar Set to Triple, Warns New UN Survey

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK | YANGON (IDN) — By early 2022, nearly half of Myanmar’s 55 million population—some 25 million people—will be living below the national poverty line, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A survey leaves no doubt that the country’s poverty headcount is likely to return to levels not seen since 2005, effectively erasing 15 years of pre-pandemic economic growth.

“The rising levels of poverty is not just about the lack of incomes to survive but we are also seeing a significant risk to nutrition, health and education, which will negatively impact on the human capital of the next generation,” said the survey report.

: Caroline Mwanga; UN INSIDER; 28 December 2021

Photo: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu during the Seeds of Compassion Interfaith Dialogue held in Seattle, Washington, USA on April 15, 2008. Photo by Tomas/Seeds of Compassion

Archbishop Desmond Tutu Was a "True Humanitarian and A Committed Advocate of Human Rights" — Dalai Lama

THEKCHEN CHÖLING, Dharamsala, India (IDN) — Immediately on being informed that his “respected elder spiritual brother and good friend” Archbishop Desmond Tutu had passed away, His Holiness the Dalai Lama composed a letter to the Archbishop’s daughter, Rev. Mpho Tutu.

“Please accept my heartfelt condolences,” he wrote, “and convey the same to your mother and other members of your family. I pray for him.

: Admin; OPINION; 28 December 2021

Photo: The report projects that in the last six years the crisis has caused Yemen to miss out on US $126 billion of potential economic growth. Credit: UNDP Yemen

New UN Report Hopeful of Recovery in Yemen by 2047 Once the War Ends

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) — Yemen, currently among the poorest countries in the world, continues to be mired in a conflict underway since 2015, which in addition to the loss of life is tearing apart livelihoods, social fabric, causing Yemen to teeter on the brink of famine, and resulting in widespread reversals of development progress.

: Radwan Jakeem; UN INSIDER; 27 December 2021

Photo: Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Venezuelan migrant refugees have faced numerous challenges in Colombia. PAHO/Karen González

UN Underlines Need For ‘Solidarity with Migrants'

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — Expressing solidarity with migrants on the move, “has never been more urgent”, said the United Nations Secretary-General in a message just ahead of International Migrants Day, celebrated on December 25. This year, International Migrants Day falls almost exactly 70 years since the historic Brussels conference that led to the establishment of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 27 December 2021

Photo: Gabriel Boric, Chile's Left-wing leader, designated President. Source: CounterCurrents.org

Chile's Left-wing Leader Wins Presidential Elections

Viewpoint by Yanis Iqbal

ALIGARH, India (IDN) — The 2021 presidential election in Chile has resulted in the victory of the Left candidate Gabriel Boric. With nearly 56% of the vote, he has won by a margin of more than 10 percentage points—most presidents had hitherto secured only four or five point leads.

In absolute terms, this is a record majority, with some 4.6 million votes cast for Boric, putting him almost 1 million votes ahead of the pro-Pinochet candidate, Juan Antonio Kast, who obtained 44%. These electoral outcomes were marked by political polarization.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 December 2021

Photo: Gathering of Stockholm Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament against the backdrop of the city of Stockholm (August 2020) showing the Kastellet, Vasa Museum, and Nordic Museum.

Stockholm Initiative Determined to Achieve the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | STOCKHOLM (IDN) — The 16-nation Stockholm Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament has urged the upcoming Tenth Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) from January 4-28, 2022, "to demonstrate political leadership, honour commitments and achievements made under the Treaty, and set ourselves on a decisive path towards a world free of nuclear weapons, in the interest of preserving humanity".

: Ramesh Jaura; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 25 December 2021

Image: The Sahel Region is of immense interest to Russia. Wikimedia Commons.

Collective Sanctions Isolating Mali in the Sahel Sahara as Russia Rides the Wave of Anticolonialism

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW I BAMAKO (IDN) — The Republic of Mali, a landlocked West African state with an impoverished population, faces increasing isolation from the international community over the political power grab. Even as the African Union (AU), the continental organization, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional bloc, both suspended the membership of the Republic of Mali following military coups in August 2020 and May 2021, the ruling military officials are still holding onto political power by delaying the proposed elections earlier next year.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 25 December 2021

Photo: Lake Chad desertification water seedlings. UNDP Chad

A New Programmatic Offer for the Sahel Region

By UNDP

NEW YORK (IDN) — In A Special Online event featuring voices from the Sahel, from top-level officials to artists and activists in the region, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presented on December 9 its new programmatic Offer for the Sahel region: A Regeneration. Covering ten countries—Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and The Gambia—the programme is a call for new partners to join local actors and the United Nations in a unique contribution to the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS) to regenerate this great land of opportunity.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 23 December 2021

Photo: Myanmar on the left and India on the right bank of Tio River. Rihkhawdar is the busy trading broader town on the Chin State of Burma side and Zokhawdar on Mizoram State of India side. CC BY-SA 4.0

India’s Marriage of Convenience with Myanmar

By Niranjan Marjani

The writer is an independent researcher and columnist based in Vadodara (formerly Baroda), India.

VADODARA, India (IDN) — The November 13 attack on an Assam Rifles convoy by two Manipur insurgent groups—the People’s Liberation Army and Manipur Naga People’s Front—in Churachandpur district of Manipur has the potential to further destabilise Northeast India. Insurgent groups’ links in the region to Myanmar mandate a rethink of India’s approach to the issue.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; South Asia; 23 December 2021

Photo: Visit by the Secretary-General to the newly renovated GA Hall, 15 September 2014. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

UN Members Should Stand Strong on Human Rights Funding

Viewpoint by Louis Charbonneau

The writer is United Nations Director of Human Rights Watch.

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — United Nations member countries currently haggling over the organization’s 2022 budget should stand firm against Russia and China-led efforts to slash funding for UN human rights work.

Every December, diplomats on the UN General Assembly’s fiscal body, the Fifth Committee, hold negotiations on the UN budget. As in past years, China and Russia have been pushing to cut funding for a number of budget items related to human rights, according to sources familiar with the discussions.