Goal 16 - SDGs for All

Photo: Regional meeting of religious leaders, Treviso, Italy. Credit: UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect.

Religious Leaders Plan Action Against Inciting Atrocity Crimes

By Jaya Ramachandran

VIENNA (IDN) – The United Nations has taken an important step towards preventing incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes. More than 150 religious leaders from around the world, member states and UN officials, gathered in Vienna to discuss the implementation of the Plan of Action launched by Secretary-General António Guterres in July 2017 at a meeting of the world body's Headquarters in New York.

Guterres said: "All religions teach respect for life and recognize human beings as fundamentally equal. These principles summon us to show respect for all human beings, even those with whom we might profoundly disagree or whose cultures might seem alien."

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 16 February 2018

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres (at podium, right) and Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, address the press following the signing of a Joint UN-AU Framework for Enhancing Partnerships on Peace and Security in April 2017 at UN headquarters in New York. UN Photo/Manuel Elias.

UN, African Union Partnership Key to Success of Peacekeeping

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Strong partnership between the United Nations and African Union is a key to the success of peacekeeping operations of the Joint Task Force on Peace and Security, particularly in view of an increasingly complex nature of conflict and the lack of progress of political processes, a consultative meeting at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has stressed.

The Task Force welcomed the determination of the African Union to continue developing its compliance framework in line with the African Union Peace and Security Council communiqué of May 30, 2017.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 02 February 2018

Nuclear-Weapons Ban Will Help Usher In Peace, Human Rights

By Jamshed Baruah

NEW YORK | TOKYO (IDN-INPS) – Eminent Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), has welcomed the July 2017 adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as a turning point in the global history of efforts to achieve peace and disarmament, emphasizing that while nuclear weapons exist, a world of peace and human rights will remain elusive.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 5; 29 January 2018

Photo: A general view of the Vienna UN Conference. Credit: Robert Bosch AG/APA-Fotoservice/Schedl

Bodies as Battlefields – Dangers Women Face During Conflicts

By Julia Zimmerman*

This is the second in a series of reports on the Vienna UN Conference from January 10-12, 2018, which discussed actions and challenges linked to the Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) and in the spirit of SDG 17. The Vienna Liaison Office of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) organized this Conference co-ordinated by Heather Wokusch. – The Editor

VIENNA (IDN) – When thinking of war and its inherent dangers, the first thought is probably death on the battlefield and the profound loss of human life that accompanies it; however, soldiers are not the only victims of war. Civilians are also greatly affected, and the impact can be especially devastating for women. (P42) HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH | TURKISH | URDU

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 5; 26 January 2018

Photo: The Vatican Conference in session. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri | IDN-INPS.

Landmark Vatican Conference on Nuclear Disarmament Brings a Breeze of Expectation

By Ramesh Jaura

The following article is based on an interview with Hirotsugu Terasaki, the Director General of Peace and Global Issues of the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International (SGI), in Tokyo, Japan. SGI was the sole Buddhist organization that participated in the Vatican Conference on nuclear disarmament on November 10-11, 2017.

BERLIN | ROME (IDN) – There was an air of surprise when religious leaders and representatives of civil society, officials of State and international organizations, eminent academics, Nobel Laureates, and students, gathered in the Vatican City against the backdrop of an escalating face-off between the U.S. and North Korea.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 05 January 2018

Photo: The scale of destruction in Aleppo is massive and heavy equipment is urgently needed to remove debris. Credit: UNHCR/Bassam Diab

Focus on Prevention As Conflicts Become More Intractable

By António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

Following are extensive excerpts from UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks at open debate of the Security Council on 'Addressing complex contemporary challenges to international peace and security' on December 20, 2017 during Japan's presidency of the Council for the month. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) – I would like to make three main points today. First, we are seeing not only a quantitative but also a qualitative change in threats to international peace and security. The perils of nuclear weapons are again front and centre, with tensions higher than they have been since the end of the Cold War.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 20 December 2017

U.S. Politics Increasingly Governed by Policy of Unilateralism

By Rodney Reynolds

NEW YORK (IDN) – The politics of the Trump administration are being increasingly governed by the twin policies of unilateralism and isolationism.

After Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, he withdrew from a historic 2016 climate change agreement signed by 195 countries – and the only signatory to do so.

And this year, he announced plans to dilute the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal signed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC), namely the U.S., UK, France, China and Russia, plus Germany and the 28-member European Union (EU) – much against warnings by all the other signatories. (P37) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 20 December 2017

More Steps Forward on Human Rights than Backwards

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - When Donald Trump stretched his hand across our television screens on Sunday (November 12) to shake the hand of the Philippines’ president, Rodrigo Duterte, and then said he had “a great relationship” with him I felt my gorge contracting.

Having tasted the great, if sometimes flawed, (remember the totally counterproductive policy of arming the Afghani mujahedeen against the Soviet invaders) campaign of another U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, to put human rights at the centre of American foreign, to see this bald regression is a bitter fruit to swallow.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 14 November 2017

Photo: A view of the Vatican Conference on November 10-11, 2017. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri | IDN-INPS

Vatican Conference Underlines Nexus Between Sustainable Development and Nuclear Weapons Ban

By Ramesh Jaura

VATICAN CITY (IDN) – When world leaders approved 'Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development', as an outcome document of the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development two years ago, they designated it as "a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity" that "also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom".

The document, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, is based on a consensus emerging from protracted discussions within the Open Working Group. It meticulously avoids words such as "a world free of nuclear weapons". (P31) FRENCH | INDONESIAN | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | THAI

: Ramesh Jaura; Goal 16; 12 November 2017

New Report Tells Business How It Can Help Build Just, Peaceful and Strong Institutions

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Hundreds of millions of people in civil society contribute to peace and justice every day, by public service, supporting thousands of public and private organizations, solid citizenship or leadership, and perhaps most importantly of all, by simply practicing peaceful behaviour in all situations.

However, in an era dominated by large organizations, whether governmental or private, individual contributions to social stability have their limitations. A new report says that companies can play a critical role in helping achieve particularly Goal 16 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).