UN Insider

Image: North Korea Test-Fires New 'Long-Range Cruise Missile': KCNA

North Korea Flexes its Nuclear Muscles – and Defies the Western World

By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK (IDN) – North Korea, long dubbed as a "hermit kingdom" has continued to remain cut off from the rest of the world—politically, economically and geographically.

But neither rigid sanctions, nor international isolation and growing food insecurities, have prevented the country—officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)—from making significant advances as the world’s ninth nuclear power, along with the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel.

: Thalif Deen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 17 October 2021

Volunteerism Must be at the Centre of Our Common Agenda

Viewpoint by Simone Galimberti

The Co-Founder of ENGAGE, a not-for-profit NGO based in Nepal, Simone Galimberti, is one of the participants at the IVCO 2021 conference.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (IDN) — The ambitious plans put forward by UN Secretary-General António Guterres with the recent launch of Our Common Agenda, are based on key universal values and principles fostering better humane relationships.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 October 2021

Public Development Banks Fail to Meet Commitments to Human Rights & Community-led Development

Viewpont by Siddharth Akali

The writer is an international lawyer who has been trained by local communities, Indigenous governments and peoples in Canada, India and Nepal. He works as director of the Coalition for Human Rights in Development, a global coalition of social movements, civil society organizations, and grassroots groups working together to ensure that development is community-led and that it respects, protects, and fulfills human rights.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 October 2021

Photo: Bali opened the country for tourism on October 14. Source: Travelling Lifestyle.

As Asia Grapples 'Living With COVID-19' Media May Need to Shed Adversarial Culture

Viewpoint By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — Indonesia’s popular tourism islands of Bali opened for tourism October 14, while Thailand announced that from November 1 vaccinated travellers from 19 countries will be allowed to visit the kingdom including its tourism island of Phuket. Both those countries’ tourism industry, which is a major revenue earner, has been devastated by over 18 months of inactivity that have impacted on the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 15 October 2021

Photo: NZ Broadcasting and Media Minister Kris Faafoi's ambition is to “reflect the cultural diversity of New Zealand”. Credit: Samuel Rillstone/RNZ

With Public Interest Journalism Fund, NZ Seeks To 'Normalise' Diversity

By Sri Krishnamurthi

The author wrote this article for the IDN partner Asia-Pacific Report on October 13.

WELLINGTON (IDN) — The announcement in February of a new $55 million, three-year Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF) by Minister for Broadcasting and Media Kris Faafoi suggested a revitalisation of tired old traditional media models.

Since then it has been viewed suspiciously by journalists with right-leaning tendencies and denizens of the dark who contend the government is attempting to curry favour with this bauble.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 15 October 2021

Photo: Mwala Mooto of Mooto Cashew Suppliers Ltd., a tree nursery focusing on drought-resistant crop trees to help depleted ecosystems. Source: Mootoo Cashew Suppliers Limited

How Hyperlocal Businesses can Save Biodiversity

Viewpoint by Julia Rohe-Frydrych and Luis Ebert

BERLIN (IDN) — Markets have not been kind to biodiversity. Activities up and down the economic value chain take an enormous toll on the planet’s ecological riches, and many people believe conservation and private-sector commerce are mutually opposed. In recent years, some conservationists and economists have started to argue that biodiversity is essential to long-term business survival.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 October 2021

Image: The Islamic Bomb. Credit: The Conversation

About the First Islamic Bomb and Its Father

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Whenever I introduced Munir Khan to a friend I would say light-heartedly “and this is the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb,” just to enjoy the pleasure of watching the reaction. Khan himself would give a self-deprecatory smile. As Hans Blix, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the world’s nuclear policeman, put it to me, Khan was “a cheerful soul.”

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 12 October 2021

Photo: The pyre of light weapons being readied ahead of a ceremony in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire at which small arms and light weapons were set alight and destroyed in April 2013. Credit: The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS)

A Senior Kenyan Ambassador Stresses the Need to Tackle Illicit Weapons, Ammunition

By Franck Kuwonu, UN Information Officer

NEW YORK (IDN | Africa Renewal) — BMS7 took place in New York, in July. In this interview with Africa Renewal’s Franck Kuwonu, Ambassador Kimani, chair of the Seventh Biennial Meeting of States (BMS7) to consider the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA) and its international Tracing Instrument (ITI), talks about the proliferation of dangerous firearms in Africa, and welcomes efforts to trace ammunitions. These are excerpts from the interview.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 12 October 2021

Image: The artwork was created by Sara Wolman from Alaska, U.S.A. and depicts a small selection of the migratory birds which travel along three of the major flyway systems found in the world: The Americas Flyway, the African-Eurasian Flyway and the East-Asian Australasian Flyway.

Hundreds Of Events Mark World Migratory Bird Day

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) — People all over the world celebrated on October 9 World Migratory Bird Day, a global campaign that aims to raise awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them.

Two environmental treaties—the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) — and the non-profit organization, Environment for the Americas (EFTA), joined the UN-backed campaign.

: Rita Joshi; SUSTAINABILITY; Forests, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity; 10 October 2021

Coastal Developing Countries Count on A Sustainable Ocean Economy in the Aftermath of COVID-19

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN | UNCTAD) — Barbados, Belize and Costa Rica are looking beyond the pandemic and climate shocks by developing and implementing national trade strategies strongly linked to resilience, conservation and the sustainable use of their marine resources.

A regional experience-sharing workshop held on September 23-24 highlighted the need to adopt, elaborate and implement evidence-based and policy-coherent oceans economy and trade strategies (OETS) under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) framework.