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
By Ronald Joshua
ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Africa’s future economic and social progress is under threat from alarmingly high levels of child hunger, and the severity and scale of the problem is such that it requires nothing short of a radical and transformative political and economic agenda, according to a new study released at the Eighth International Policy Conference on the African Child.…
By Sean Buchanan
NEW YORK (IDN) – Like many of the world’s low-lying islands, Tuvalu, the South Pacific island whose highest point is less than five metres above the waves, faces the threat of being submerged under rising seas.
“We must stop Tuvalu from sinking and the world from sinking with Tuvalu,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a tweet posted during a recent trip to the South Pacific.…
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK | JUBA, South Sudan (IDN) – “Cambodia received peacekeeping troops in 1993, and we feel that we have to contribute in the same way as other countries did when they worked in the UN mission in our country,” remembers Colonel Channy Vongvannak. “So, we understand that countries and people suffer during conflict – and they need help.”
UN peacekeepers from around the world were deployed to Cambodia between February 1992 and September 1993 as part of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) which was established to ensure implementation of a political settlement of the conflict in the south-east Asian country.…
Viewpoint by Michael W. Lodge and Vladimir Ryabinin
The following is a joint op-ed by Michael W. Lodge, Secretary-General of International Seabed Authority, and Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary of IOC-UNESCO.
KINGSTON, Jamaica (IDN) – There has never been a time of greater promise or greater challenge for the future of our oceans. This is the topic on everyone’s minds as the international community gathers in Copenhagen (May 13-15) for the first Global Planning Meeting for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).…
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) – ‘Towards durable solutions for forcibly displaced persons in Africa’ is the overarching theme of the African Dialogue Series (ADS 2019) being organized by the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) from May 21 to 23, 2019 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The three-day ADS will coincide with the celebration of Africa Day on May 24, 2019, organized by the AU Permanent Mission to the UN, and the events will feature Member States, the African Union, The United Nations System Entities, Members of the Diaspora, Civil Society (including women and youth groups), Private Sector, Media and Academia as well as development partners.…
By Sean Buchanan
BONN (IDN) – The SDG Global Festival of Action, which takes place in Bonn every year, is an occasion for bringing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) campaigners and multi-stakeholder partners together for inspiring and broadening the global movement to take action for the SDGs.
It provides a dynamic and interactive space to showcase the latest innovations, tools and approaches to SDG advocacy and SDG action.…
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK | PARIS (IDN) – UN biodiversity experts have warned in a hard-hitting report into the impact of humans on nature that “the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide” are being eroded. Current efforts to conserve the earth’s resources will likely fail without radical action, said Sir Robert Watson, chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).…
By Sean Buchanan
NEW YORK (IDN) – Following a recent series of hate-fuelled attacks on places of worship around the world, a forum on intercultural dialogue was told May 2 that “in all these heinous and cowardly attacks… we see a common pattern: hatred of the ‘other’. These criminals are hijacking entire faith communities, pitting religions against each other.”
Miguel Angel Moratinos, High Representative for the Alliance of Civilisations (UNOAC), who was addressing the UN-backed 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku, Azerbaijan, said that the problem is never faith, it is “those who manipulate the faithful and turn them against each other by their perverted interpretations of holy texts.” (P05) HINDI | INDONESIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
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By Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE (IDN) – All that she has now is her 12-year old daughter. Her home, and almost all her belongings were destroyed by Cyclone Idai in March. Over a month ago since the tragedy struck, 35-year old Teresa Chizimu who hails from Chikwawa district in Malawi, has sunken deeper and deeper into desperation since she had an encounter with the cyclone.
Not only Chizimu is in this crisis in the southern hemisphere, but also Mozambique’s 71-year old Aderito Abdala from the port city of Beira, is faced with a catastrophic situation, with all his four grandchildren and wife, killed by Cyclone Idai.…
By Jeffrey Moyo
CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe (IDN) – The cyclone will affect the region for months to come after it impacted key livelihoods of fishing and agriculture in the largely rural region, the World Food Programme (WFP) said commenting the havoc caused by Cyclone Kenneth that struck Mozambique on April 25, nearly five weeks after the Cyclone Idai that lashed Southern Africa.
Some 31,000 hectares (76,600 acres) of crops were lost at the peak of the harvest season. “The area is already very vulnerable to food insecurity,” spokesman Herve Verhoosel said. (P04) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SWAHILI
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