SDGs for All is a joint media project of the global news organization International Press Syndicate (INPS) and the lay Buddhist network Soka Gakkai International (SGI). It aims to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets. It offers in-depth news and analyses of local, national, regional and global action for people, planet and prosperity. This project website is also a reference point for discussions, decisions and substantive actions related to 17 goals and 169 targets to move the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.
【ニューヨークIDN＝ラメシュ・ジャウラ】
新年が明けようとする中、世界に蔓延る「信頼欠乏症」の問題に対処しようとのアントニオ・グテーレス国連事務総長のアピールと、国連総会を「世界の主要な平和構築機関」にしようとのマリア・フェルナンダ・エスピノサ・ガルーセ国連総会議長の訴えは、国際社会による緊急の行動を世界に呼びかけるものとなるだろう。２０１８年の国連総会第７３会期が、単独行動主義の台頭と大規模な移住が発生する中で開催されただけに、これらの訴えには一層切実なものがある。
国連総会に出席した各国政府首脳らは、国連をすべての人々にとって意義あるものにするとういうテーマのもとでまとまり、国際社会はルールに基づく多国間の秩序を通じてのみ変化する諸問題に対応できるという考えを強調していたが、この圧倒多数のコンセンサスは、米国やハンガリー、イスラエルによる反対意見によって損なわれた。
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of Germany, which takes up its seat as a non-permanent member of the 15-nation United Nations Security Council on January 1, says the current composition of the Council is "outdated" and that it needs be reformed.
He told the German news agency DPA that "the balance of power in the world needs to be reflected much more adequately than is currently the case," and insisted that Germany should hold a permanent seat.
By Ramesh Jaura
NEW YORK (IDN) – As the new year unfolds, UN Secretary-General António Guterres' appeal for addressing the "trust deficit disorder" plaguing the world, and General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés' plea for stressing the need to enshrine the General Assembly as the "chief peacebuilding organization in the world" will serve as a clarion call to urgent action by the international community. All the more so because the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 was held against the backdrop of burgeoning unilateralism and large-scale migration. (P20) CHINESE | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN | SPANISH
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The general election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has been postponed yet again – to December 30. Will this country, the largest and potentially the richest in Africa, ever escape from its continuous dictatorship, and its propensity to civil war? It’s not so long ago that Susan Rice, then the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, was talking about the Congo as the site of “Africa’s First World War”.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – The possibility of a negotiated end to the conflict in Afghanistan has never been more real in the past 17 years than it is now, according to the United Nations top envoy in Afghanistan.
Tadamichi Yamamoto told the Security Council on December 17 he is encouraged by several recent developments, including the appointment of a team to negotiate with the Taliban, the announcement of a peace advisory board representing a broad set of Afghan politicians and recent initiatives by key international partners.
By Katsuhiro Asagiri
TOKYO (IDN) – When the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in Paris on December 10, 1948, it came up with a milestone document in the history of human rights that took into account the horrendous experiences of the Second World War.
With the end of that war, and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow atrocities like those of the Second World War happen again. It pledged, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. (P19) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH
By Aleksandra Gadzinski
KATOWICE (IDN) – Nuclear weapons and climate change are the two major existential threats to the survival of humanity, civilization and the planet Earth. With this in view, in January 2018 the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the legendary Doomsday Clock to 2 minutes to Midnight, due to the threats from nuclear weapons and climate change, said Alyn Ware, Global Coordinator of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) at an event on December 9.
John Avery interviews David Krieger
COPENHAGEN | SANTA BARBARA, CA (IDN) – One of the five “M’s” can trigger a nuclear war any time: malice, madness, mistake, miscalculation and manipulation. "Of these five, only malice is subject to possibly being prevented by nuclear deterrence and of this there is no certainty. But nuclear deterrence (threat of nuclear retaliation) will not be at all effective against madness, mistake, miscalculation or manipulation (hacking)," David Krieger tells John Scales Avery in an exceptional interview.
By Neena Bhandari
SYDNEY (IDN) – More investment is needed in human rights education and strengthening of civil society to address inequality and sustainability – the main objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This was the key message from the Ninth International Conference on Human Rights Education (ICHRE) held in Sydney, Australia.
Drawing inspiration from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which marks its 70th Anniversary this year, the ICHRE 2018 (November 26-29) recommended all stakeholders to mainstream human rights education as a tool for social cohesion towards peaceful coexistence; and strive to bridge the significant gap between integrating human rights education in the curricula and its implementation. (P18) CHINESE | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN | TURKISH
By Jeffrey Moyo
BEITBRIDGE (ACP-IDN) – At the age of 39, Ndikonyaga Muleya hailing from Beitbridge, Zimbabwe’s border town with South Africa, has found illegal crossing into South Africa convenient.
Over the years he became experienced crossing into the neighboring country looking for casual jobs in Musina, also a South African border town with Zimbabwe, which he now frequents as an illegal transporter of undocumented Zimbabweans itching to cross into South Africa fleeing from this country’s mounting economic woes.
“I earn money from transporting people through unmanned crossing points into South Africa. I was also helped before when I started crossing to SA,” Muleya told IDN.
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