By Jeffrey Moyo

BEITBRIDGE (ACP-IDN) – At the age of 39, Ndikonyaga Muleya hailing from Beitbridge, Zimbabwe’s border town with South Africa, has found illegal crossing into South Africa convenient.

Over the years he became experienced crossing into the neighboring country looking for casual jobs in Musina, also a South African border town with Zimbabwe, which he now frequents as an illegal transporter of undocumented Zimbabweans itching to cross into South Africa fleeing from this country’s mounting economic woes.

“I earn money from transporting people through unmanned crossing points into South Africa. I was also helped before when I started crossing to SA,” Muleya told IDN.…

By Alyn Ware

The author is Coordinator of the World Future Council Peace and Disarmament Program, Global Coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, and International Representative of Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace (the New Zealand affiliate of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms).

GENEVA (IDN) – The threat or use of nuclear weapons is “incompatible with respect for the right to life” and “may amount to a crime under international law,” warns the UN Human Rights Committee’s new General comment No. 36 (2018) on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), on the right to life, adopted on October 30, 2018.…

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Natalia Kanem

Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Dr. Natalia Kanem is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Ministers and senior policymakers across Asia and the Pacific are gathered in Bangkok up to November 28 to focus on population dynamics at a crucial time for the region. Their goal: to keep people and rights at the heart of the region’s push for sustainable development. They will be considering how successful we have been in balancing economic growth with social imperatives, underpinned by rights and choices for all as enshrined in the landmark Programme of Action stemming from the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, or ICPD.…

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is crucial  in attainment of not only health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) but also all SDGs.

Participants in the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) Regional Conference 2018, that was held in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, from November 11-15, noted that achieving UHC can aid in tackling the growing disease burden and extreme poverty in Afrcan countries and other poor nations. 

Christine Sadia, President of Kenya Medical Women’s Association (KMWA)  said governments, policy makers, donors and development partners should not waver in supporting women’s health issues with the aim of alleviating problems that face women and girls across the globe.…

By UN Women

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – To commemorate this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Secretary-General’s UNiTE Campaign is calling upon us to stand in solidarity with survivors and survivor advocates and women’s human rights defenders who are working to prevent and end violence against women and girls. Our duty is not only to stand in solidarity with them but also to intensify our efforts to find solutions and measures to stop this preventable global scourge with a detrimental impact on women’s and girls’ lives and health. JAPANESE…

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Ark of Return by Rodney Leon, an American architect of Haitian descent, at the UN Headquarters in New Yok honours the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade that was perpetrated for over 400 years.

The permanent memorial was erected on March 25, 2015 – the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The Day also aims to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice manifesting itself in racial discrimination in the hands of populists in several European countries and the U.S. JAPANESE…