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INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2017

Nov 2017

Jan 05, 2021

India, Mexico, Norway, Ireland and Kenya Join Polarized United Nations Security Council

Five new countries, India, Mexico, Norway, Ireland and Kenya, formally joined the UN Security Council on Monday at a time of growing polarization in the body charged with keeping world peace and security.
They took part in a first meeting aimed at approving an agenda proposed by the current chair of the council, Tunisia.
The new countries will hold non-permanent seats on the 15-member council for two years.
The Security Council is active in many conflict zones and crises around the world, mainly through more than a dozen peacekeeping operations involving some 100,000 soldiers from UN member states.

India Becomes Co-chair of Asia Protected Areas Partnership (APAP)

India has been chosen as the co-chair of the IUCN-supported Asia Protected Areas Partnership (APAP) for a period of three years till November 2023. India will replace South Korea, which held the post for 3 years until November 2020. As a co-chair, India would be responsible to assist other Asian countries in managing their protected areas. The APAP is chaired by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Asia and co-chaired by an APAP nation member on a rotational basis.
The APAP was formally launched in 2014, at the IUCN World Parks Congress in Australia.
It is a regional platform to assist governments and different stakeholders to collaborate for more practical administration of protected areas (PA) within the area.
Currently, there are 21 members from 17 international locations.

Central African President Touadéra Wins Re-election

The President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, has been re-elected after securing nearly 54% of the votes.
The electoral commission said that the results made a second round runoff unnecessary.
Former Prime Minister, Anicet George Pologuele, finished a distant second with just 21% of the votes, while Martin Ziguele finished third with 7% of the votes.
There were a total of 16 candidates running for President - including three women.
The vote took place despite an offensive by a coalition of armed rebel groups which left thousands unable to cast their ballots.
The government has accused the former President François Bozizé, who was barred from standing in the poll, of staging an attempted coup.

Saudi Arabia to Lift Qatar Embargo, Easing the Gulf Crisis

Saudi Arabia will open its airspace and land border to Qatar in the first step toward ending a years-long diplomatic crisis that deeply divided US defence partners, frayed societal ties and tore apart a traditionally clubby alliance of Gulf states.
Qatar's only land border has been mostly closed since mid-2017, when Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain launched a blockade against the tiny Gulf state, accusing it of supporting Islamist extremist groups and of having warm ties with Iran.
While the Saudi decision marks a major milestone toward resolving the Gulf spat, the path toward full reconciliation is far from guaranteed. The rift between Abu Dhabi and Doha has been deepest, with the UAE and Qatar at sharp ideological odds.
The lifting of the embargo by Saudi Arabia paves the way for Qatar's ruler to attend an annual summit of Gulf leaders that will be held in the kingdom's ancient desert site of Al-Ula. The summit would traditionally be chaired by Saudi King Salman, though his son and heir, the crown prince, may instead lead the meeting.

Jan 04, 2021

Kazakhstan Abolishes Death Penalty

Kazakhstan abolished the death penalty, making permanent a nearly two-decade freeze on capital punishment in the authoritarian Central Asian country.
As per a notice, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had signed off on parliamentary ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights -- a document that commits signatories to the abolition of capital punishment.
Executions were paused in Kazakhstan from 2003 but courts continued to sentence convicts to death in exceptional circumstances, including for crimes deemed acts of terror.
Ruslan Kulekbayev, a lone gunman who killed eight policemen and two civilians during a rampage in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty in 2016, was among the convicts set to be executed if the moratorium were lifted.

Bill Introduced in US House to Terminate Designation of Pak as Major Non-NATO Ally

On the first day of the 117th Congress, a lawmaker has introduced a bill in the US House of Representatives to terminate the designation of Pakistan as a Major non-NATO Ally.
Introduced by Republican Congressman Andy Biggs, the bill removes Pakistan's designation as a major non-NATO ally, a status that allows for various benefits such as access to excess US defence supplies and participation in cooperative defence research and development projects.
The bill also notes that the US President cannot issue a separate designation of Pakistan as a major NATO ally unless a presidential certification that Pakistan continues to conduct military operations that are contributing to significantly disrupting the safe haven and freedom of movement of the Haqqani Network in Pakistan.

Jan 03, 2021

Gibraltar Gets UK-Spain Deal to Keep Open Border

Spain has reached a deal with the UK to maintain free movement to and from Gibraltar after the UK formally left the EU.
To avoid a hard border, Gibraltar will join the EU's Schengen zone and follow other EU rules, while remaining a British Overseas Territory.
The deal was announced by Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya, just hours before the UK exits the EU.
The Rock voted Remain in 2016 and about 15,000 Spanish workers go there daily.
The Gibraltar deal will mean the EU sending Frontex border guards to facilitate free movement to and from Gibraltar. Their role is planned to last four years.
Gibraltarians are British citizens. They elect their own representatives to the territory's House of Assembly, while the British monarch appoints a Governor.

Finance Minister Rod Phillips Resigns

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the resignation of his Finance Minister who took a trip to the Caribbean while the province remained under lockdown.
Minister Rod Phillips apologised and called the travel a dumb mistake.
Canada's most populous province has discouraged all non-essential travel amid record-high new case counts.
Mr. Phillips, who is a member of the Progressive Conservative Party, had taken a personal trip to St Barts.
Ahead of the holiday season, Ontario health officials had urged residents to stay at home when possible amid an ongoing rise in Covid-19 cases.

Jan 02, 2021

Tehran to Enrich Uranium to 20%, UN Says

Iran intends to start enriching uranium to 20% purity, the UN's atomic watchdog said that its most significant breach of an international nuclear deal so far.
This remains short of the 90% required to make a nuclear bomb. But under the 2015 agreement Iran was supposed to keep enrichment below 4%.
Iran began breaching the deal after President Trump took the US out of it and re-imposed crippling sanctions.
However, the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China all hope it can be revived.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had informed it of its plans to enrich to a purity of up to 20% at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, a facility built deep inside a mountain.

Australia's National Anthem Sees a Change after 36 Years

The lyrics of Australia's national anthem have been changed by one word for the first time since 1984 to reflect what Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls "the spirit of unity".
The PM on the New Year's eve announced that the second line of the anthem has been changed from "For we are young and free" to "For we are one and free".
Governor-General David Hurley agreed to the Commonwealth's recommendation for the amendment.

Jan 01, 2021

CAR Opposition Call for Poll Repeat

Opposition parties in the Central African Republic (CAR) have called for a re-run of Sunday's election saying it was marred by insecurity and fraud.
Ten parties, known as the Democratic Opposition Coalition, say only about a-third of all voters were able to take part.
The country is still extremely fragile as a result of the civil war that broke out after a coup in 2013.
Militias still control about two-thirds of the country.
In the days before the election some of the militias launched an offensive and advanced towards the capital Bangui in what appeared to be an attempt to postpone the vote.

EU and China Seal Investment Deal

Top European Union officials and Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded a business investment deal that will open big opportunities to European companies, but has the potential to irk the new American administration.
Amid concerns about the human rights situation in China, the EU said that the seven-year-long negotiations were concluded in "principle" during a video-conference involving Xi, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council president Charles Michel.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, and French President Emmanuel Macron also took part in the discussions with the Chinese President.

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