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Photo: In the Harat Al-Masna’a slum in Sana’a, Yemen, a man walks with his three-year-old daughter. On the left is a former textile factory which hosts 231 families of former factory workers. Photo: Giles Clarke for UNOCHA

UN Worried about Persistent Humanitarian Disaster in Yemen

By Santo D. Banerjee

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – As Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, enters the third year of a cruel military conflict with no end in sight to the suffering of the people caused by a humanitarian catastrophe, a senior UN official has urged the Security Council members to use their political and economic powers to pressure warring sides to commit to a path of peace.

7,600 people have been killed and 42,000 injured since March 2015. According to the UN, more than 60% of civilian deaths have been the result of air strikes by a Saudi-led multinational coalition that backs President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi against the Houthi rebel movement.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 12 October 2017

Photo: Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, 16 March 2017. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Yemen War Brings Saudi Policies under International Scrutiny

Analysis by Emad Mekay

CAIRO (IDN) – As the then 29-year old young prince Mohammed bin Salman started to prepare himself for the eventual ascension to the throne of Saudi Arabia, his retainers advised him to give TV interviews to win public support. When he did, many Saudis were disappointed. Instead of reigniting pride, the young prince came out bland and unimpressive. His retainers had to find a way to re-catapult him. The Yemen war was hatched.

The young Salman's self-styled “liberal” marketers came up with the idea of a war that the young prince would win quickly. They tried to sell the young royal as a gallant fighter who does not flinch on using Saudi military muscle, buttressed by decades of costly Western arms purchases that former senile rulers balked at using. So, with much fanfare at the time, they chose to introduce a war on – of all countries – Yemen, the region's weakest and poorest nation.

: Emad Mekay; ARMAMENTS; Arms Trade; 11 October 2017

Photo: The United Nations Complex in NYC. Photo via Outlook

Sudanese Diplomat at the UN Accused of Sexual Harassment

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Geneva-based UN Watch, a non-governmental human rights organization, has called for the removal of the Sudanese diplomat Hassan Salih, who in May was elected vice-chair of the UN committee that oversees the work of 4,500 human rights NGOs.

Salih grabbed a 23-year-old woman's buttocks and breast while dancing at Third Avenue’s Bar None around 2:25 a.m., the New York Post reported. While police were interviewing him and the woman, he tried to escape. The police chased and handcuffed Salih and put him in a police cruiser, according to media reports. But Salih invoked diplomatic immunity, and was allowed to go free after police confirmed his credentials as a diplomat at the United Nations.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 11 October 2017

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres addresses Security Council meeting on Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Preventive Diplomacy and Transboundary waters. To his right is President Evo Morales Ayma of Bolivia. UN Photo/Kim Haughton

UN Chief Opts for Preventive Diplomacy Over Post-Conflict Peacekeeping

By Shanta Roy

NEW YORK (IDN) – Faced with an increasing number of unresolved political and military crises – including in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Kashmir, Palestine, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed a High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation to guide him on the road ahead.

The primary mandate of the Board will be preventive diplomacy – based on the age-old axiom that prevention (diplomacy) is far better than the cure (post-conflict peacekeeping).

The creation of the new Board has been prompted mostly by the paralysis of the 15-member Security Council – the UN”s most influential body with power to declare war and peace – which remains deadlocked even as the five veto-wielding permanent members, namely the U.S., UK, France, Russia and China, are more pre-occupied protecting their own political, economic and military interests than saving the world at large.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 10 October 2017

Nuclear Strike No Longer an All-Encompassing Taboo

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - In the Cold War days, some of us used to say, “Better red than dead” – to rebuff those who believed in nuclear deterrence as a way of political life that gave them security. Now those of us who are frightened that Trump could start a nuclear war over Iran or North Korea should coin a new phrase. How about: “Better alive than going to the grave with Kim Jong-un”? Admittedly that doesn’t have the same snappy ring, but get my point?

At the UN recently, President Donald Trump (aka Fire and Fury) threatened to “totally” destroy North Korea if the U.S. was forced to defend itself.

: Jonathan Power; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 10 October 2017

Photo: Dorothy Githae, founder and chief executive officer of the Kenya-based 360 Degrees International. Credit: A.D. McKenzIe.

Forum Calls for More Support to African Entrepreneurs, Youth

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN) – Africa is the world’s most entrepreneurial region, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), but “manufacturing is receding”.

To discuss solutions as well as highlight some of the challenges facing the continent, the organisation’s 17th International Economic Forum on Africa brought together government leaders, businesspeople, civil society and others in Paris on October 4, with a focus on entrepreneurship and industrialisation.

“Of the 25 countries with the strongest economic growth between 2004 and 2014, 10 were African,” says the Paris-based OECD. Yet, “not enough jobs have been created for the rapidly expanding youth population” and “growth has not been inclusive enough,” the organisation adds.

: A.D. McKenzie; THE WORLD; Africa; 09 October 2017

Photo: Sergio Duarte, incoming President of Pugwash, and his predecessor Jayantha Dhanapala who headed the organisation for ten years, with a painting by Kazakh artist and anti-nuclear activist Karipbek Kuyukov in Astana end of August 2017. Credit: Pugwash

Nobel Peace Prize for ICAN Significant for Nuclear Disarmament

By Sergio Duarte, President of Pugwash

NEW YORK (IDN) - For the third time since the creation of the Nobel Peace Prize a civil society organization dedicated to nuclear disarmament has received this prestigious honor. The 2017 Prize has been awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a coalition of non-governmental organizations in 101 countries launched in 2007. Before ICAN, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs also were recipients of the Prize, respectively in 1985 and in 1995 for their actions in favour of peace and nuclear disarmament.

: Sergio Duarte; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 08 October 2017

Photo: Courtesy Tenure Facility / Madre de Dios region, Peruvian Amazon.

Giving Visibility – and Land Rights – to the Indigenous

By Fabíola Ortiz

STOCKHOLM (IDN) – Indigenous peoples are all but invisible on the development agenda but a hoped for change is on the cards with the launch of the world’s first and only funding institution to support the efforts of local and native communities to secure rights over their lands and resources.

“Include us, so that we can protect our lands for our children and protect the planet’s biodiversity for all the world’s children,” said by Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples during the launch. Recognising the land rights of native and traditional peoples is a low-cost solution toward achieving the world’s development, environment and climate agendas.

: Fabiola Ortiz; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 07 October 2017

Photo: A portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, painted by Raghuvar Dayal, which was presented by India's Minister of Foreign Affairs to the UN General Assembly President on the occasion of the International Day of Non-Violence. Credit: UN Photo/Cia

UN Observes Mahatma Gandhi's 148th Birthday Reaffirming Commitment to Non-Violence

By Joan Erakit

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - During a country music festival outside of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas, a gunman opened fire on concertgoers killing 50 and wounding over 200. Hours later, some 2230 miles away, the United Nations commemorated the International Day of Non-Violence at its headquarters on October 2, remembering Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of non-violence, born 148 years ago.

According to General Assembly resolution A/RES/61/271 of June 15, 2007, which established the commemoration, the International Day is an occasion to "disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness". The resolution reaffirms "the universal relevance of the principle of non-violence" and the desire "to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and non-violence".

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 06 October 2017

Photo: 5th Meeting of ACP Ministers in charge of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Nassau, the Bahamas. Credit: ACP Press.

79 ACP Countries Resolve 'Blue Growth Initiative'

By Jaya Ramachandran

BRUSSELS (IDN) - The African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, constituting the ACP Group of States, are determined to develop the fisheries and aquaculture sector in their countries, and unlock the potential of the ‘blue economy’ through a new 40 million Euro (about US$46.8 million) "ACP Blue Growth Initiative".

The decision to that effect was announced at the conclusion of the 5th ACP Meeting of Ministers in charge of Fisheries and Aquaculture, who gathered in Nassau, the capital city of the Bahamas – the coral-based archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean Bahamas with 700-plus islands – from September 18 to 21, 2017.