Somali Youth Educator Bags Major UN Refugee Award
November 29, 2023
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | 29 November 2023 (IDN) — Abdullahi Mire, a former child refugee from Somalia, is this year’s United Nations Nansen Refugee Award winner.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recognized the 36-year-old Mire for providing 100,000 books to Somali refugees in camps in Kenya.…
The Killings of Women and Girls Hit Record Levels
November 27, 2023
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK | VIENNA | 27 November 2023 (IDN)— Almost 89,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2022 across the globe, the highest yearly number recorded in the past decades. Besides, available data suggest that while the total number of homicides globally has begun to fall in 2022 after a spike in 2021, the number of female homicides is not decreasing.…
COP28: Global Faith Leaders Concerned About Grave Challenges
November 26, 2023
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | 26 November 2023 (IDN) — In the lead-up to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) that will take place in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December, the Global Faith Leaders Summit has warned that we “stand at the precipice of history, considering the gravity of the challenges” ahead, and expressed concern for “the escalating climate impacts that imperil our cherished planet”.…
A new Global Age of Peace and Sustainable Development
November 21, 2023
By Jeffrey D. Sachs
Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs testifies to the UN Security Council Session on “Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Sustaining Peace through Common Development” in New York on 20 November.
UNITED NATIONS | 21 November 2023 (IDN) — In my testimony I will refer to four (wars): the Ukraine War, which started in 2014 with the violent overthrow of Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovich; the Israel-Palestine War, which has flared repeatedly since 1967; the Syrian War, which began in 2011; and the Sahel Wars, which began in 2012 in Mali and have now spread throughout the Sahel.…
African Youths Want More Adaptation Finance as Climate Change Bites
November 19, 2023
By Ngala Killian Chimtom
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon | 19 November 2023 (IDN) — More than 150 young African leaders have called on the international community to prioritize and increase climate adaptation finance flows to Africa by more than double. (P24) French | Japanese | Swahili …
Humming a New Tune on World Toilet Day
November 18, 2023
By Professor Lyla Mehta and Dr Alan Nicol*
BRIGHTON/LONDON, UK | 18 November 2023 (IDN) — A hummingbird is the symbol of 2023’s World Toilet Day. (19 November). Fabled as a small actor in a huge drama—putting out a fire with tiny droplets of water—the analogy appears to be that every one of us doing our bit can make positive change happen in the sanitation world.…
Gaza Genocide? UN Chief Says International Court Has to Decide
November 17, 2023
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS | 17 November 2023 (IDN) — Are the killings of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza an act of genocide or “genocide in the making”?
According to a legal definition, genocide includes violent attacks with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
A Group of UN experts* say that grave violations committed by Israel against Palestinians in the aftermath of 7 October, particularly in Gaza, point to “a genocide in the making.”…
A Loss and Damage Fund in the Pacific?
November 16, 2023
By Kate Higgins*
Toda Peace Institute issued this article, and it is being republished with their permission.
VICTORIA, Australia | 16 November 2023 (IDN) — At last year’s COP27 in Egypt, an agreement was reached to establish a Loss and Damage Fund for countries, such as those in the Pacific, vulnerable to the “adverse effects” of climate change. Pacific leaders were among the leading voices advocating for the establishment of the fund. Potentially, this fund will exist in addition to the international aid the Pacific receives for disaster response, mitigation, adaptation, and climate “resilience”.…
PCC at COP28: Advocating for Phasing Out of Fossil Fuels, Funding for Loss and Damage, and Peace
November 11, 2023
By James Bhagwan*
SUVA, Fiji | 11 November 2023 (IDN) — For the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), the ecumenical alliance for the Pacific region, it was a very difficult decision to go to this year’s COP in Dubai, a conference chaired by the CEO of Dubai’s national oil company who is a significant figure in the global fossil fuel industry, which takes place in one of the major oil producing countries. PCC’s focus has always been on climate justice, and our colleagues in different collaboration spaces for climate justice spent a lot of time reflecting on whether they will attend COP28. …
Why War and How Peace – the Nordic Perspective
November 5, 2023
By Lowana Veal
REYKJAVIK, Iceland | 5 November 2023 (IDN) — While the global media is focusing on the decision of Finland and Sweden to join NATO against the backdrop of the Ukraine War, along with the Israel–Palestine conflict, little attention is paid to the Nordic Council of Ministers and the vision of the Nordic Council —which involves Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland—to make the Nordic region the most sustainable and integrated region in the world. (P23) German | Japanese