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By Kalinga Seneviratne
SUUSAMYR, Kyrgyzstan (IDN) – Travelling on the new Silk Roads recently upgraded by the Chinese, one drives up through stunning mountains that are still covered by snow even as summer approaches. The road from Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek climbs up to a peak of about 4.000 meters before descending over 1500 meters to a picturesque valley to reach one of the remotest communities in the country, the village of Suusamyr home to about 1,300 traditionally nomadic people.
By ACP Press
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Recent studies have shown that overhunting for wild meat is threatening hundreds of wildlife species with extinction, with the result that many indigenous peoples and rural communities are deprived of food and income.
An initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme, established to tackle these challenges, has published their first newsletter to bring attention to these issues.
Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne
SYDNEY (IDN) – The reporting of the attack in New Zealand on March 15, 2019 where a White terrorist of Christian background mowed down over 50 Muslims praying at a mosque in Christchurch has obviously focused on religion and migrants.
In a statement released following the Christchurch massacre, Australian senator Fraser Anning from Queensland blamed the New Zealand immigration program which “allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate” who promote a “violent ideology” as the cause of the attack. He was condemned widely in Australia for spreading such hate speech, but his diatribes distracted attention from the socio-economic issues that have fuelled the attack.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – An estimated 30,000 refugees have been uprooted by officials in Cameroon and Nigeria this month and sent to known hotbeds of insurgents including Boko Haram on the Nigerian side of the border.
Humanitarian groups including Action against Hunger are questioning the wisdom of forcing refugees to move to the city of Rann in Borno state, the epicentre of the decade-long insurgency that has killed more than 27,000.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – It’s time overdue that the misleading myths on immigration are thrown into the trashcan. They are causing untold damage. The fact is that President Donald Trump’s own government research shows that Mexican migration has dropped sharply in recent years.
In Britain, the Brexit debate which began with a whipped up crisis about immigration has now moved to a level where it’s tearing the country apart. In France and Belgium immigrants are falsely blamed for Islamic terrorism. In Sweden and Denmark the myth-makers have pushed traditionally left of centre electorates rightwards.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – A British mining company has agreed to pay over $7 million to settle claims including allegations of torture and murder at ruby mines in the northeast of Mozambique. The brilliant red stones, worth millions, have been worn by international actresses Mila Kunas, Bel Powley, and Sophie Cookson, among others.
The company, Gemfields, chose to pay community members living near its Montepuez ruby mine on a “no admission of liability” basis that settles a claim of human rights abuses over a decade brought against it by local villagers.
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-INPS) – 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.
By Dimitris Avramopoulos
The following are extensive excerpts from keynote speech by the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, on Europe’s response to the challenges of migration and security at the London School of Economics on 23 January 2019.
BRUSSELS (IDN-INPS) – In the year 2015, Europe was confronted with a large number of vulnerable and desperate people seeking refuge on its shores.
At that time, the European Union and its Member States were unprepared and taken by surprise.
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.
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK | BANGKOK (IDN) – Lack of territorial access to the sea, isolation and remoteness from world markets impose constraints on trade competitiveness of the 32 landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and their overall socio-economic development.
In addition to the geographical impediments, LLDCs face challenges linked to high trade and transport costs, limited or low-quality infrastructure, delays at borders, bottlenecks related to customs procedures and border crossing regulations, and productivity constraints.
