Goal 16 - SDGs for All

Photo (from left to right): Noboru Yamaguchi (Japan); Yang Xiyu (China), Chung-in Moon (South Korea), Kevin Clements (Coordinator: Toda Institute), Joseph Yun (USA), Georgy Toloraya (Russia). Credit: Yukie Asagiri.

Experts Discuss Prospects of Peace on The Korean Peninsula

By Katsuhiro Asagiri

TOKYO (IDN) – Nearly 66 years have passed since the Armistice Agreement formally brought about "a complete cessation of hostilities" of the Korean War. One year later, Chinese Premier and Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai proposed a peace treaty. But U.S. Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, refused – leaving a final peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula hanging in the air.

The signed Armistice established the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the de facto new border between the two nations, put into force a cease-fire, and finalized repatriation of prisoners of war. The DMZ runs close to the 38th parallel and has separated North and South Korea since the Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953.

: Katsuhiro Asagiri; Goal 16; 20 February 2019

Photo: Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar to safety in Cox's Bazar. Credit: UNHCR/Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo

Rohingya Refugees Remain in a Perilous Situation

Viewpoint by Vincent Auger*

United Nations aid agencies and partners launched an appeal on February 15 to raise $920 million to assist more than 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and the more than 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis hosting them.

MACOMB, Illinois, USA (IDN) – Eighteen months after being driven from their homes in Myanmar by what UN officials described as a campaign of genocidal violence by the military, the situation facing Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh remains perilous. Hundreds of thousands of people live in camps (the camp in Kutupalong alone houses more than 600,000 people), relying on aid from the World Food Program and help from the government of Bangladesh.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 8; 16 February 2019

Photo: Numbers of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean may have dropped in 2018, but at a heavy human cost. Source: MSF Sea.

Europe’s Invisible Wall Whets Human Trafficking

By Klara Smits

BRUSSELS (IDN) – After his visit to Austria, Libya’s foreign minister Mohammed Sayala told the Kuwaiti News Agency on January 31 that Libya’s southern borders have now become Europe’s borders. Illegal migration could not be stopped at the Mediterranean Sea, he argued. Therefore, he promised that on the February 20, Libya will present the EU with a policy to cooperate on ‘protecting’ those southern borders. The plan will also include border agreements with Chad, Niger and Sudan.

: Ramesh Jaura; Goal 8; 15 February 2019

Photo: Weak checks and balances threaten anti-corruption efforts in Eastern Europe & Central Asia. Source: Transparency International.

Democracy Under Threat from Corruption

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – Amid a deterioration of trust in democracy, people around the world clearly disillusioned with formal political institutions are turning their anger into protest.

Besides being self-seeking, the political class is seen as riddled with corruption, leading to a situation where democratic progress has slowed to a near halt. Indeed, even some countries which had been demonstrating robust and open governance systems are now starting to backslide with democratic norms, while their institutions are under threat.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 09 February 2019

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (right) briefs the UN Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security. The focus of the meeting on February 4 was on mercenary activities as a source of insecurity and destabilization in Africa. UN Photo/Evan Schneider.

Mercenaries Undermine Rule of Law, Perpetuate Impunity

Viewpoint by António Guterres, UN Secretary-General*

NEW YORK (IDN) – The use of mercenaries dates back through the ages. From antiquity to the medieval era to the present day, those who fight for financial reward or other material compensation have been a near constant on the battlefield. The shadowy nature of the practice makes data hard to come by. Reports suggest a surge in the use of mercenaries and other foreign fighters. While the numerical picture may be murky, the impacts of mercenaries today are all too clear.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 06 February 2019

Photo: The index highlights the relationship between gender-based violence and child sexual abuse, says Dr. Joanna Rubinstein, President and CEO of the World Childhood Foundation USA, top left with children in the collage by IDN-INPS.

New Study Highlights Efforts To End Child Sexual Abuse And Exploitation

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – In Out of the Shadows 2017 thriller, a newly married detective and his pregnant wife move into their dream home unaware of its dark history. When his wife claims their baby is being tormented by a supernatural force and seeks the help of a renegade demonologist, he must investigate the past to save his family.

Out of the Shadows, released by the World Childhood Foundation USA (WCF) on January 15, is a thriller with a difference. Shining light on the response to child sexual abuse and exploitation, it declares: Sexual violence against children takes place mostly in the shadows, but it is happening everywhere, regardless of a country’s economic status or its citizens’ quality of life.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 17 January 2019

一部の勢力を除き、世界の指導者らは多国間主義を支持

Photo: María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the seventy-third session of the General Assembly, gavels to a close the General Assembly’s annual general debate. UN Photo | Cia Pak 【ニューヨークIDN＝ラメシュ・ジャウラ】

新年が明けようとする中、世界に蔓延る「信頼欠乏症」の問題に対処しようとのアントニオ・グテーレス国連事務総長のアピールと、国連総会を「世界の主要な平和構築機関」にしようとのマリア・フェルナンダ・エスピノサ・ガルーセ国連総会議長の訴えは、国際社会による緊急の行動を世界に呼びかけるものとなるだろう。２０１８年の国連総会第７３会期が、単独行動主義の台頭と大規模な移住が発生する中で開催されただけに、これらの訴えには一層切実なものがある。

国連総会に出席した各国政府首脳らは、国連をすべての人々にとって意義あるものにするとういうテーマのもとでまとまり、国際社会はルールに基づく多国間の秩序を通じてのみ変化する諸問題に対応できるという考えを強調していたが、この圧倒多数のコンセンサスは、米国やハンガリー、イスラエルによる反対意見によって損なわれた。

: Katsuhiro Asagiri; Languages; Japanese; 16 January 2019

UN Security Council Reform Back On The Table Again

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of Germany, which takes up its seat as a non-permanent member of the 15-nation United Nations Security Council on January 1, says the current composition of the Council is "outdated" and that it needs be reformed.

He told the German news agency DPA that "the balance of power in the world needs to be reflected much more adequately than is currently the case," and insisted that Germany should hold a permanent seat.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 16; 29 December 2018

Photo: María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the seventy-third session of the General Assembly, gavels to a close the General Assembly’s annual general debate. UN Photo | Cia Pak

Except A Few Dissenters World Leaders Pledge To Bolster Multilateralism

By Ramesh Jaura

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the new year unfolds, UN Secretary-General António Guterres' appeal for addressing the "trust deficit disorder" plaguing the world, and General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés' plea for stressing the need to enshrine the General Assembly as the "chief peacebuilding organization in the world" will serve as a clarion call to urgent action by the international community. All the more so because the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 was held against the backdrop of burgeoning unilateralism and large-scale migration. (P20) CHINESE | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN | SPANISH

: IDN-INPS Editor; Project Articles; 28 December 2018

Photo: President Joseph Kabila Kabange of the Democratic Republic of the Congo addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2018. UN Photo/Cia Pak

UN Intervention In The Congo Appears To Be Successful

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The general election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has been postponed yet again – to December 30. Will this country, the largest and potentially the richest in Africa, ever escape from its continuous dictatorship, and its propensity to civil war? It’s not so long ago that Susan Rice, then the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, was talking about the Congo as the site of “Africa’s First World War”.