Suntosh Pillay speaks to fellow psychologist Anton Botha, who is also a former UN staff member, about Israel and Palestine and whether or not the United Nations is abdicating its duties to maintain peace
UN
Posted inEquality, General
South Africa’s voracious ambition in Namibia and the few who came between it : Part Two
Troubling Power: Michael Scott and the Herero mission to the UN
Posted inBusiness, Equality, News/Politics
Why the new sustainable development goals won’t make the world a better place
The world’s governments are preparing to finalise the sustainable development goals at the United Nations this month. It is set to be a major international event, and the goals will be ushered in with tremendous fanfare. They are widely regarded as a historic step toward building a better world, and toward eradicating poverty and hunger […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Do economic sanctions go against WTO rules?
Economic sanctions are international measures that are usually used as punitive or corrective procedures. When one hears of economic sanctions countries like Russia, Sudan and Iraq come to mind, with the US being the chief instigator of such sanctions. Economic sanctions are penalties applied by a country or countries on another country or countries. Economic […]
Posted inNews/Politics
SA’s failures in the international human-rights system
South Africa is increasingly failing to report to the UN international treaty monitoring bodies, prompting the UN Human Rights Committee to take the exceptional measure of reviewing South Africa in respect of its performance under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) without receiving an input from the government. It has not submitted […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics, Tech
On voluntary tech servitude
I’m one of the many Android users who recently installed the Blackberry Messenger (BBM) application on their phone. Big deal. Doing this as I did, however, on the day Germany and Brazil were introducing a draft resolution on the Right to Privacy in the Digital Age at the UN General Assembly, I found myself confronting […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Time to rethink justice in Africa
I recently attended a public lecture by acclaimed author, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, titled The Language of Justice in Africa. The lecture was on how the English language has assumed its powerful status in Anglophone Africa and how the justice systems in these countries, premised on English codes, may actually be miscarrying justice by virtue of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Where is Somalia’s Marshall Plan?
On the bright side, the Nairobi Westgate mall tragedy must bring Kenyans together again and perhaps even go some distance to heal the wounds from their recent internal conflict. Conflict, in general, including the very thing that has just happened to the Kenyans at the hands of al-Shabab, has been a prolific source of underdevelopment […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The arms trade treaty: Panacea or paradigm-shift in addressing mass atrocities?
By Clare da Silva and Sara Kendall The arms trade treaty, which was adopted during the United Nations General Assembly’s session in early April, opened for signature on June 3 at the organisation’s headquarters in New York. Already 73 states have signed the treaty. After years of negotiation and drafting, the treaty represents the first […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
Time is running out – even Charles of Wales is worried
When Britain’s Prince of Wales shows clear signs of agitation at world leaders’ curious paralysis in the face of the rapid deterioration of planetary ecological conditions, it should send a message to everyone concerned. And that means every human being on the planet, where humans are (supposedly) the custodians of planetary “health” but have been […]