By Kwame Buist

ROME (IDN) – In its recently released Annual Report 2017, the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – a specialised agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries – promises to leverage core resources of 1.2 billion dollars to fund a programme of loans and grants totalling 3.5 billion dollars over the 2019-2021 period.

Ninety percent of these core resources will be allocated to low-income and lower-middle-income countries, with about 45 percent being channelled to sub-Saharan Africa, and 50 percent to Africa as a whole.…

Viewpoint by Roberto Savio

The writer is publisher of Other News and an eminent proponent of “information that markets eliminate”. This article is being reproduced courtesy of Other News with the writer’s permission.

ROME (IDN) – The latest statistics show that the total flow of immigrants so far in 2018 is 50.000 people, compared with 186,768 last year, 1,259,955 in 2016 and 1,327,825 in 2015. The difference between reality and perceptions is so astonishing that we are clearly witnessing one of the most brilliant manipulations in history.

The latest survey carried out of 23,000 citizens of France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States shows an enormous level of disinformation. In five of those countries, people believe that immigrants are three times higher than they actually are. JAPANESE…

By Ramesh Jaura

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) spanning an area home to 4.1 billion people, or two thirds of the world’s population, sprang a surprise when it admitted that at the current rate of progress in the region only one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Goal 4 on achieving quality education and lifelong learning – is on track to be met by 2030.

This astonishingly forthright message was delivered at the 2018 High-level Political Forum (HLPF 2018) at the UN headquarters in New York on July 16 when participants were briefed on the outcomes of the Fifth Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD), held in Bangkok, from March 28-30, 2018 in preparation for the HLPF.…

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – When Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the agreement an all-encompassing Global Compact to better manage international migration, address its challenges, strengthen migrant rights and contribute to sustainable development, calling it “a significant achievement” and General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák described it as a “historic moment,” it was far more than a rhetorical posture aimed at giving themselves a pat on the back.

Though, the Global Compact presents a non-legally binding, cooperative framework, it is the first time ever that the text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration has been agreed after discussions and consultations among member states, local officials, civil society and migrants themselves, spread over more than one year.…