Home - International Press Syndicate GmbH

Photo: Miroslav Jenca describes Kazakhstan "an important global actor on several issues of significance to the maintenance of peace and security" as Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York, looks on. Credit: Kazakh Permanent Mission.

2030 Agenda A Roadmap For Conflict Prevention

By Miroslav Jenča

Miroslav Jenča is UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. Following are his keynote remarks originally delivered on February 17, 2017 at a working luncheon at the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the UN in New York under the title 'Political and Economic Reforms: Steps in implementing SDG 16'.

NEW YORK (IDN) - More than 150 world leaders came together in New York in September 2015 and adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a historic pledge to end poverty, hunger and inequality; take action on climate change and the environment; ensure inclusive access to health and education; promote sustainable economic growth for all; and build inclusive, just and peaceful institutions and societies. As we survey the world today – inundated with conflict, crisis and turmoil – delivering on the promises of the 2030 Agenda has greater urgency than ever.

Securing ACP Economic Interests After BREXIT

By Dr. Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

Following are extensive excerpts from a presentation by the ACP Secretary-General during launch of the book AFTER BREXIT - SECURING ACP ECONOMIC INTERESTS by The Ramphal Institute on February 17, 2017 at King's College London.

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) - Eight months have passed since the British voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. A lot has since been written and debated on the impact and implications of the vote. This is yet another occasion to join the discourse on BREXIT and to acknowledge and appreciate the work done by the Ramphal Institute by this seminal study.

Photo: Cristina Gallach, UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, at a press conference in Gyeongju, South Korea on June 1, 2016. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri | IDN-INPS

Young People Drivers of UN Sustainable Development Agenda

Interview with Cristina Gallach, UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information

NEW YORK (IDN) - Representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academia adopted a global education action agenda affirming the importance of Sustainable Development Goal 4 – ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong opportunities for all – at the 66th United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) / NGO Conference that concluded on June 1, 2016 in Gyeongju, South Korea.

Photo: CTBTO Executive Secretary with Robin Perry and CTBTO GEM members Foreign Minister of Argentina Susana Malcorra, former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry, former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and Under-Secretary-General Angela Kane and former UN Under-Secretary-General Jayantha Dhanapala

Relationship Between the CTBTO and OPANAL

By Lassina Zerbo

Lassina Zerbo is the Executive Secretary of Preparatory Commission for the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Following are excerpts from his statement at the XXV Session of the General Conference of the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL) in Mexico City on 14 February 2017.

VIENNA (IDN) - Mexico’s historical role in advancing non-proliferation and disarmament is well recognized, not least through the work of Nobel peace prize laureate Alfonso García Robles in the creation and adoption of the Treaty of Tlatelolco.

Celebrating Tlatelolco – The First Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone

By Jayantha Dhanapala*

KANDY, Sri Lanka (IDN) - The commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the signature of the Treaty of Tlatelolco could not have come at a more opportune moment. In the UN General Assembly last year, Mexico and a number of Latin American and Caribbean countries joined with countries from other regions – including my own Sri Lanka – to ensure the adoption of the Resolution “Taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations”.

Photo: The ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

The Importance of the UN as a Moral Compass

By Jayantha Dhanapala*

COLOMBO (IDN) - Throughout my life I have had an abiding faith in the United Nations Organization which, three years hence, will celebrate its 75th anniversary. The foundation document of that unique world body – the Charter – is not only the bedrock of international law, but also the most inspiring document that can hold the international community together amidst its diversity and conflict.

Image: Trump reality check. Credit: Medium.com

Trump Presidency Might Herald Reality Check On 'Liberal' Media

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) - Donald Trump calls the so-called ‘liberal media’ the “bad guys” and since he was elected President two months ago – in fact even before that with the Brexit vote in June 2016 – the “Liberals” in the West have been chest-beating complaining about misleading social media messages to unfairness of the electoral systems as their preferred candidates or platforms are defeated by grassroots voter revolts.

Photo: António Guterres taking the oath of office as UN Secretary-General and delivering remarks to the General Assembly. UN Photo/ Eskinder Debebe

Huge Challenges Ahead For New UN Chief António Guterres

By Sebastian von Einsiedel and Cale Salih*

With the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States on 20 January 2017, the United Nations is headed toward a new and potentially challenging relationship with its largest funder. This article refers to four areas that may be especially affected by the change of guards in Washington DC – Security Council dynamics; funding; climate change; and human rights – and makes concrete recommendations for the new Secretary-General António Guterres on how he can best protect the UN from "beginners’ mistakes all around" in the new U.S. Administration.

Photo: An optimist and a pessimist, Vladimir Makovsky, 1893. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Why We Should Be Optimistic About 2017

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - What you see depends on where you sit. There are the pessimists who see President-elect Donald Trump who said in his tweet about the need to engage in a new arms race. There are the optimists, sitting on the other side of the room, who believe the kind words uttered by President Vladimir Putin and Trump to each other mean that there well could be a new agreement on reducing their nuclear armories. 2017 will be a lot better than 2016.

When I wrote my history of Amnesty International (“Like Water on Stone”, Penguin, 2002) I was struck both by the staff and activists how positive they were, despite dealing with some of the worst horrors in the world.

Photo: Kaaba at the heart of Mecca. As the night goes on pilgrims visiting the Holy House. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Do Not Fear Islam But Fear Itself

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - An abiding fear for Donald Trump is that the Middle East dictators' successors in power will be militant Islamists who once elected will stop at nothing. At one time in the presidential campaign he threatened to “nuke” them. Even though the secular-minded President Bashar al-Assad appears to be winning the civil war in Syria the Islamists will sit on his tail.

Violent-inclined Islamists point to the Koran and the Hadith to justify their violence. Indeed, there are sentences in both that are close to their interpretation. Even though they may hype up these passages and ignore other more peaceful ones the truth is that Islam does have a tradition of the hard school. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of Muslims today don’t subscribe to it.