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Reporting the underreported about the plan of action for People, Planet and Prosperity, and efforts to make the promise of the SDGs a reality.
A project of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as the Flagship Agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.


SGI Soka Gakkai International

 

Image credit: Oxfam International

Viewpoint by Sonali Kolhatkar

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations.

LOS ANGELES (IDN) — At a recent virtual gathering of parents and faculty at my children’s school, one parent who is a teacher and therefore eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine mentioned that she got her first Pfizer shot at a local pharmacy, and when she asked about a leftover dose that could be given to her husband rather than thrown away, her husband got lucky.

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Photo: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. (file) Credit: UN News/Daniel Johnson

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) — Providing a global update to the Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet has said that as the COVID-19 pandemic gathers pace, people worldwide are “being left behind — or pushed even further behind”; they are being excluded from not only development but also opportunities. At the same time, civil society activists are being denied the right to voice opposition to the government.

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Image: Sunrise, Fog, Landscape, Mountains, Mist, Morning, Dawn as in diplomacy. Source: Pixabay.

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — Russia is committed to helping eradicate the rapidly increasing coronavirus infections in Africa amounting to approximately 3.8 million with its latest developed Sputnik V vaccine. Such a step will enable Russia to reassert its geopolitical influence that involves a keen competition with other foreign players on the continent.

An official media release in mid-February said that the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team — set up by the African Union to acquire additional vaccine doses so that Africa can attain a target immunization of 60% — has received an offer of 300 million Sputnik V vaccines from the Russian Federation.

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Photo: Some countries using COVID vaccine to enhance their soft power. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Viewpoint by Michael Jennings*

LONDON (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to various new, repurposed or newly popular terms. The newest entry to the pandemic lexicon might be “vaccine diplomacy”, with some countries using their jabs to strengthen regional ties and enhance their own power and global status.

In early February, half a million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Pakistan, before soon also reaching 13 other countries including Cambodia, Nepal, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe.

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Photo: Scores killed in a stampede at a church crusade in Tanzania. Source: africanquarters.com

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — For months, Tanzanian President John Magufuli stuck to a controversial stand that COVID-19 would only be defeated by prayer.

This Sunday (February 21), the President amended his position. He urged citizens to wear masks — only locally made ones — and take other preventive measures against the virus.

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Photo: Workers construct a solar panel array structure in Malawi. CC BY-SA 4.0

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) — The past year is one that few of us will forget. While the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have played out unevenly across Asia and the Pacific, the region has been spared many of the worst effects seen in other parts of the world. The pandemic has reminded us that a reliable and uninterrupted energy supply is critical to managing this crisis.

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Photo: Munir Akram, Seventy-sixth President of the Economic and Social Council. Credit: UN ECOSOC

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Munir Akram has called for a 'Coalition of the Willing' to promote agreement at the global level, on a specific set of early actions to provide fiscal space and supplementary liquidity to developing countries suffering the disastrous impact of COVID-19.

In an email interview with IDN, Mr Akram said speedy actions should include comprehensive debt suspension, debt restructuring for countries in current or potential debt distress, creation of new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) worth $500 billion and redistribution of unutilized SDR quotas to developing countries. (P 30) CHINESE | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN | P0RTUGUESE | TURKISH

Project Articles

Photo credit: WHOAFRO

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – The World Bank has expressed readiness to commit US$12 billion as concessional loans to assist African countries access foreign vaccines.

During a virtual meeting on the Africa COVID-19 Vaccine Financing and Deployment Strategy, the World Bank informed that the emergency vaccine financing projects in Africa, include Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Niger, Mozambique, Tunisia, Eswatini and Cabo Verde.

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Photo: Two boys making paper masks at the Al-Tah IDP camp in Idlib Governorate, Syria. Credit: United Nations

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has told the UN’s 193 Member States that in the wake of an “annus horribilis” of death, disaster and despair, 2021 must be a year of transformation. “We need to move from death to health; from disaster to reconstruction; from despair to hope; from business as usual to transformation.”

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Photo: Kamukunji Community gathering.

By Francis Kinyua*

NAIROBI (IDN) – After being closed for nine months, schools in Kenya reopened to start a new term and resume the school year that was disrupted in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the morning of January 4, the streets were swarmed with elated children wearing colourful uniforms marching to their schools. (P29) GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | THAI

Project Articles

  1. Superare le disuguaglianze del vaccino e facilitare il recupero post-Covid19 dei piccoli Stati
  2. COVID-19 Decimating Ranks of Zimbabwe’s Government
  3. Overcoming Vaccine Inequities and Enabling Small States' Post-Covid19 Recovery
  4. People’s Movement Launched in South Africa To Defeat Covid-19
  5. One Planet Summit on Biodiversity Pledges Action Commitments

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