By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Multilateral lenders and investors are being asked to pony up a modest stimulus package that would halt the spread of the coronavirus in Africa and keep economies from crashing under the weight of debt-servicing costs.
African finance ministers, at a virtual conference on March 23, calculated that an injection of $100 billion – including $44 billion in debt-servicing wavers – would put off the likelihood of a recession and protect growth rates from falling further behind – now at 1.8% from 3.2% earlier in March.
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) – In a clarion call for "an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world", UN Secretary-General António Guterres on March 23 urged warring parties across the world to lay down their weapons in support of the bigger battle against COVID-19: the common enemy that is now threatening all of humankind.The ceasefire would allow humanitarians to reach populations that are most vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19, which first emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and has now been reported in more than 180 countries. (P33) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | THAI
- Ramesh Jaura
- Goal 3
By Bernhard Schell
DOHA | KABUL (IDN) — Women, youth as well as community and religious leaders in Afghanistan have been craving for peace and earnestly preparing for it long before the United States signed a landmark agreement with the Taliban on February 29.
The deal sets the stage to end America's longest war stretching over more than 18 years and allow President Donald Trump to begin the promised withdrawal of American troops. U.S. forces and their allies have been present in Afghanistan since 2001. (P32) ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | TURKISH
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. (P31) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | TAGALOG | THAI
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) – With the international community persistently striving for a world free of nuclear weapons, verification systems and methods are crucial to understanding the complex challenges of accurately monitoring and verifying future nuclear disarmament activities which will likely subject countries to more intrusive verification than ever before.
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. JAPANESE |
- Ramesh Jaura
- Goal 16
By Zipporah Musau, Africa Renewal
NEW YORK (IDN) – Realising a conflict-free Africa is the dream of every African. In this edition, we highlight the current hotspots; the root causes of conflicts; the various efforts in search of peaceful co-existence and development and the African Union’s quest for silencing the guns by 2020.
In 2013 African Union (AU) member state representatives gathered at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the Organisation of African Unity was established in 1963, to celebrate the body’s 50th anniversary.
By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA | COLOMBO (IDN) – In an exceptional move, Germany has granted funds to Sri Lanka’s Forum on Disarmament and Development (FDD) for the translation of the texts of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) to the island state’s official languages Sinhala and Tamil. NPT and CTBT texts were until now available only in official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Sri Lanka has signed and ratified the NPT; it has signed the CTBT but not yet ratified the Treaty.
- Ramesh Jaura
- Goal 16
By J C Suresh
TORONTO | WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) —In yet another move to reverse former President Barack Obama’s strategies for a more humane world, the Trump administration is poised to rescind his predecessor's 2014 directive to no longer “produce or otherwise acquire any anti-personnel landmines,” known as APLs, according to several media reports. APLs are small explosive devices placed under, on, or near the ground. The new policy would reportedly lift current restrictions on deploying landmines outside the Korean Peninsula.
Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*
MOSCOW (IDN) – If education is the ultimate gift one can give a child, then, the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia has given that gift to more than 150,000 deserving young men and women from many countries around the world – who otherwise would never have had the opportunity to receive higher education — especially in a foreign country.
- World Court Gives Myanmar 4 Months to Put Its House in Order
- Climate and Nuclear Weapons Are the Focus of Buddhist Leader's Peace Proposals
- Politics-Big Money Nexus Feeds Corruption
- Berlin Conference on Libya Sparks Expectations of an End to Protracted Conflict
- Militant Youth Pin Hopes on Uganda’s ‘New Nightmare’
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Newsletter April 2023
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