Number 21 | 2022

By Thalif Deen  

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The world’s growing environmental crisis—including climate change, which has resulted in widespread droughts, floods and heatwaves threatening major food crops—is escalating security risks worldwide.

A new policy report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), titled Environment of Peace: Security in a New Era of Risk,‘ points out that between 2010 and 2020 the number of state-based armed conflicts roughly doubled (to 56), as did the number of conflict deaths. At the same time, the number of refugees and other forcibly displaced people also doubled, to 82.4 million.

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The upcoming visit to China by Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has come under critical US scrutiny.

Asked about the proposed visit, US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on May 20: “We are deeply concerned about the upcoming visit. Our understanding of the planned restrictions that she will be subjected to during the visit—based on that, we have no expectation that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will grant the necessary access required to conduct a complete, unmanipulated assessment of the human rights environment in Xinjiang”.

By Devendra Kamarajan

ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire (IDN) — The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), concluded in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, has concluded with a united global pledge to boost drought resilience and invest in land restoration for future prosperity.

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — While arms control and disarmament efforts have come to a halt, civil society organisations are insisting that nuclear policies contravene the right to life. “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life,” declares Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — 2017 Nobel Peace laureate, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and its partner organisations are carrying out activities across Africa to promote adherence to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and to raise awareness of the grave threat that nuclear weapons pose to all humanity.

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — The latest United Nations forecast warns that growth prospects have weakened significantly amid the war in Ukraine, upending the fragile economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, triggering a devastating humanitarian crisis in Europe, increasing food and commodity prices and exacerbating inflationary pressures worldwide.