DRC to become 7th member of East Africa trading bloc
23/3/2022: Ministers of the East African Community have recommended the admission of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The bloc has been implementing protocols on a customs union and a common market in order to improve trade and investments in the region.
Source: The Conversation
NGOs seek a summit on financing for development
23/3/2022: Twenty years ago, world leaders adopted the UN’s Monterrey Consensus, with commitments to financing for development of an equitable global economic system. The hard lessons that led to the Monterrey Consensus are still very valid, namely that non-inclusive decision-making leads to an unfair global economic system and never-ending political power struggles between countries.
Source: Inter Press Service
Environmentalism after Ukraine
21/3/2022: The modern environmental movement has taken the rules-based system for granted, trusting in national commitments even when they came from authoritarian states. But Russia has exposed the fragility of the global order, what now?
Source: Eco-Business
Why we must remember Afghanistan
17/3/2022: There was no reference to Afghanistan in US President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech. The chaotic US withdrawal of August 2021 sent Afghanistan’s already flagging economy into freefall. Women’s rights activists have been jailed by the Taliban without explanation. Several have disappeared. Press freedom has undeniably been rolled back.
Source: Inter Press Service
UN chief wants Amisom to remain in Somalia
10/3/2022: UN chief Antonio Guterres has recommended to the Security Council that the African Union maintains its current Mission in Somalia. Amison is tasked with supporting the country's fragile government in the fight against insurgents.
Source: The East African
Is Russia sabotaging the Iran nuclear deal?
9/3/2022: After eleven months of talks negotiators appear close to striking a deal to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal which lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. But the negotiations have been complicated by a last-minute demand from Russia which the US has rejected.
Source: DW
China rejects UN text on North Korea missile test
8/3/2022: US and European allies on the UN Security Council have failed to convince China and Russia to back a text noting North Korea's "violations" of resolutions on missile technology. The US Ambassador to the UN expressed concern that such inaction erodes the credibility of the Security Council.
Source: CNA
Ukraine challenges legitimacy of Russia’s UN membership
7/3/2022: The overwhelming condemnation of the invasion of Ukraine has raised challenging questions about the legitimacy of UN memberships of both Russia and China which are permanent members of the Security Council.
Source: Inter Press Service
Time for a multi-phased reform strategy of the WTO
2/3/2022: The rules-based trading system is losing steam. If the World Trade Organisation is to reassume its role as the regulator of rules-based trade changes in both its substantive rules and institutions must take place.
Source: East Asia Forum
UN sets up emergency General Assembly on Ukraine crisis
27/2/2022: Only 10 such emergency special sessions of the General Assembly have been convened since 1950. The text gives the Assembly the power to take up matters of international peace and security when the Security Council lacks unanimity among its five veto-wielding permanent members. Last week Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have deplored the aggression against Ukraine.
Source: UN News