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.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Do kids work in coal mines?
In 1910, an estimated 2 million American children under the age of 15 were working in factories and mines for low wages and long shifts. Photographs by Lewis Hine of New York revealed the depraved exploitation of children, some as young as 8 years of age, in fields and in mines. Child labor was finally outlawed in 1938.
By Katsuhiro Asagiri
TOKYO (IDN) – An international conference "No Justice Without Life" has called on Japan to halt all executions next year, the year of the Olympic Games. Japan is one of the 56 nations which retains capital punishment, also known as the death penalty or death sentence for capital crimes. In fact, Japan, the United States and South Korea are the only nations in the group of developed economies that mete out death penalty. (P23) GERMAN | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – Some of the 80 ethnic groups that form the nation of Ethiopia are demanding great autonomy and are voting with their feet for self-government. The Sidama people voted overwhelmingly in November to become self-governing, casting 98.5 percent of the votes backing the change.
The Sidama – who number about 3 million – represent close to four percent of Ethiopia’s 105 million population. By creating their own federal region, the Sidama hope to regain control of land resources, political representation as well as to reaffirm their cultural identity.
By Arul Louis *
NEW YORK (IDN) – The terrifying potential for cyberwar between nations and also asymmetrical cyberwar by non-state actors now looms over the world with the same intensity of the threat of a nuclear holocaust.
The danger was writ large in a recent cyber intrusion into a nuclear power plant in India and the planting of a virus in an Iranian nuclear facility.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK | BRASILIA (IDN) – Leaders of BRICS states comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have called for strengthening and reforming the multilateral system, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international organizations, and reiterated their commitment to shaping a more fair, just, equitable and representative multipolar international order.
By Sean Buchanan
NEW YORK (IDN) – The experts who fan out across the world to research, hold consultations and gather information on a vast range of human rights violations often find themselves caught in the crosshairs of international and domestic politics. Independent of governments and institutions – including the UN’s Human Rights Council which appoints them.
Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens
GENEVA (IDN) – The entry of Turkish troops into what they call a "safe zone" on the frontier of Turkey and northeast Syria and especially the actions of Turkish-backed Syrian militias has raised in a dramatic way the issue of respect of international humanitarian law. Regular military personnel of all countries are theoretically informed of the rules of the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 and the Protocol Additional adopted in 1977. (P19) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | TURKISH
Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn *
NEW DELHI (IDN) – Dealing with numbers can take a toll and might make one seek fulfillment in other spheres. No wonder the most influential poet of the last Century penned The Waste Land in 1922 when he was dutifully employed with the foreign transactions department of Lloyd’s, an austere English bank in London. (P18) HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN
“Some people change when they see the light; others when they feel the heat”. – Caroline Schoeder, former U.S. Congress member
Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens
GENEVA (IDN) – The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 of 2000 is a commitment to work resolutely toward greater protection of women and girls in conflict zones, to appoint more women in UN peacekeeping operations and ensuring that women would increasingly become more active participants in decision-making processes, especially at “peace table” negotiations.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – In the midst of multiple crises compounded by paucity of funds threatening the very functioning of the United Nations, Secretary-General António Guterres has announced plans emphasizing the vital significance of the world body. Commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations in 2020, he said, will feature a large and inclusive global conversation on the role of global cooperation in building the future we want. (P17) CHINESE | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH
