UN Insider

EU and 79 ACP Countries Aim at New Partnership to Address Global Challenges

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The heads of state or government of the 28 EU member states, constituting the European Council, have authorized the European Commission to open negotiations for a new partnership agreement with 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). The Group's Secretary-General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes has greeted the decision.

The European Commission announced the Council decision on June 22, two days after the conclusion of the June 18-20 ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, where representatives of the European Commission stressed that future partnership should be "a genuine, open and constructive dialogue, and not just going through the motions".

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 23 June 2018

Photo: Whether adding a constant background din or sudden bursts of explosive noise, this pervasive form of pollution is taking its toll on marine animals. Source: CMS.

Underwater Noise – The Not-so-Silent Killer

By Bradnee Chambers

Marine experts gathered at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from June 18-22, 2018 to discuss anthropogenic underwater noise. Dr. Bradnee Chambers, Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), describes the impacts of this type of pollution on marine wildlife and sets out some of the solutions.

BONN (IDN) – Humanity's achievements are incredible – the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, literature, music, telecommunications, medicine and a few decades after the first powered flight, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

: Dr. Bradnee Chambers; OPINION; 22 June 2018

Photo: Jacek Czaputowicz (left), Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland and President of the Security Council for the month of May, chairs the Security Council meeting on 29 May 2018. At right is Rosemary A. DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

Kazakhstan Pleads for Resolving Ukraine Conflict Through Peaceful Means

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Kazakhstan has expressed concern for "the unpredictable and volatile situation" in eastern Ukraine and the frequent ceasefire violations, which have a direct impact on the civilian population. "These violations result indeaths and injuries, along with many humanitarian consequences," said Ambassador Kairat Umarov, the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations headquarters in New York.

He was addressing the Security Council meeting on May 29, 2018 which discussed the situation in Ukraine in the face of civilians bearing the brunt of four-year-old conflict in Ukraine, bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively.

: J Nastranis; CENTRAL ASIA; 21 June 2018

Photo: Joseph Owona Kono. Credit: La Tribune Afrique

Playing A Decisive Role In Shaping Global Governance

By Joseph Owona Kono

The author is Co-President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement opening the 35th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 19 June 2018 in Brussels. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – I have been associated with the Joint Parliamentary Assembly for a while. I have found this assembly to be a great opportunity for parliamentary exchanges on development and democratic processes. As representatives of our various peoples and as policy and decision makers overseeing government functions, we are in a unique position to engage with policy makers in ACP and EU institutions.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 21 June 2018

Photo: Neven Mimica. Credit: EU Commission

ACP and the EU Should Stand United, Shoulder-to-Shoulder

By Neven Mimica

The author is EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement opening the 35th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 18 June 2018 in Brussels. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – First and foremost, 2018 is a defining year as we get ready to discuss together the shape and direction of the partnership between the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the European Union beyond 2020.

Uniting over a hundred countries and around one and a half billion people, our longstanding partnership is unique one not only in terms of its cultural richness and diversity, but also in terms of its geographical scope and potential.

: Jaya Ramachandran; OPINION; 20 June 2018

Striving For Modernized Partnership

By Yuri Sterk

The author is Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement opening the 35th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 18 June 2018 in Brussels. He represented the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The 35th session of the Joint ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly is of particular importance. The opening of negotiations on our future ACP-EU relations, after the expiry of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, is fast approaching and negotiations are due to start by September 1, 2018. The outcome of parliamentarians' deliberations will feed into the shaping of our future ACP-EU relations.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 20 June 2018

Photo: The writer addressing UN Open-ended working group on nuclear disarmament on May 2, 2016 in Geneva. Credit: Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy.

Nuclear Ban Treaty Beacons the End of Nuclear Age

By Rebecca Johnson

Dr Rebecca Johnson is founding President of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy. She contributed this viewpoint as foreword to the publication titled 'Toward A World Without Nuclear Weapons' published by the International Press Syndicate Group with IDN-InDepthNews as its flagship agency, and the Global Cooperation Council as part of a media project with Soka Gakkai International (SGI). – The Editor.

LONDON (IDN) – If we survive this turbulent period, histories may record that 2017-18 marked the end of the nuclear age and the beginning – we hope – of a new era of peace-building and security.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 20 June 2018

Photo: Kim and Trump before the start of their one-on-one meeting. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Grand Peace with DPRK would be a Victory for the UN Charter

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Give the man a break. Donald Trump found out in Singapore that, as Churchill said, “Jaw-Jaw is better than War-War”. If war can be avoided by a warm, long, very private chat without advisers, with effusive body gestures and promises of a world stage when his opponent, Kim Jong Un, is invited to the White House, then Trump has showed the way.

It was learning the hard way because a few months ago when Trump threatened to incinerate North Korea he met counter threats from North Korea that could have led to the deaths of 30 million people in South Korea alone, never mind what numbers might die in an attack on American troops stationed in Japan and Guam naval base.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 19 June 2018

Photo: The “Non-Violence” (or “Knotted Gun”) sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd on display at the UN Visitors' Plaza. Credit: UN

A Call To 'Action Now' On United Nations Disarmament Agenda

By A.L.A. Azeez

The writer is Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva. While analysing the UN Secretary-General António Guterres' new disarmament agenda entitled, Securing Our Common Future, Ambassador Azeez calls for" the increased availability of disarmament education and fellowship opportunities" to make up for the loss of a generation of professionals and experts in many countries, resulting from "the inaction or lack of progress in disarmament over two decades.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 18 June 2018

Photo: François Loucény Fall, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), briefs the Security Council on the situation in the Central African region. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

Kazakhstan Pleads For Coordinated International Response To Security Challenges In Central Africa

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Underlining interest in cross-border security challenges in Central Africa, as during UN Security Council presidency at the beginning of the year, Kazakhstan has stressed the importance of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), its work in the field of preventive diplomacy and mediation, as well as the support it provides to regional and sub-regional organizations in achieving durable and long-term peace.

Kazakhstan is the first Central Asian country to have been elected to the Security Council as a non-permanent member for the two-year period 2017-2018. Beginning of 2018, Indonesia will step in its toes on behalf of the Asia-Pacific region.