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Photo: The eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly, which convened on 15 September 1953 at UN Headquarters, elected Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit of India as its President. She is photographed here with UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. She was the first woman president ever elected by a UN General Assembly. Credit: UN Photo # 372908/AF

UN Positions Pose a Dilemma for 'Rising Power' India

By Shastri Ramachandaran

NEW DELHI (IDN) - The Government of India has no clear-cut stand and approach when it comes to campaigning for positions in the United Nations including specialized agencies of the world body and formations such as the Group of 77 (G77). The reason, according to informed sources and diplomats who have had a ringside view of past campaigns, is that the “calculated ambivalence” has served India’s interests “up to expectations and beyond”.

What importance does New Delhi attach to the G77? How much is India interested in G77 comprising 134 developing countries including China? When posed these two questions, all officials -- both serving and retired diplomats -- agreed to respond on condition of anonymity. The only exception was India’s former UN Under-Secretary General Shashi Tharoor, currently Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, capital of the southern state of Kerala.

In Memoriam: Remembering Ernest Corea

BERLIN | WASHINGTON | COLOMBO - Ernest Corea, one of Sri Lanka’s most distinguished journalists and diplomats died on May 11, 2017 after a long illness. Throughout his career, he worked to maintain a free and independent press, advocated for the interests of the Sri Lankan people, and worked to improve conditions for the poor worldwide. He was awarded the Deshabandu Class 1 National Day honour for meritorious diplomatic service.

Artist Horace Van Ruith’s Untitled (A Brahmin Household) “Courtesy Sotheby’s

South Asian Art Market Is Upbeat

By Raj S. Rangarajan*

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) - Collecting art has been an interesting hobby and investment among South Asians here in North America and in India, and currently, with a revived interest in art collection, as evidenced at recent successful art auctions in New York and London, it’s a cinch that this interest is here to stay.

At the Asia Week auction of South Asian art held in March 2017 at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York, several paintings sold at prices much higher than the indicated bid prices. At Sotheby’s. a Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) painting of Untitled (Damayanti), ca. 1890-1900 – an oil on canvas – was bought by a European private collector for USD 1.69 million.

Photo: ACP Secretary General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes.

Building ACP-EU Development Cooperation on a Heritage of Genuine Partnership

By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

Following are extensive excerpts from a statement by the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) at the high-level Conference – titled 'Sixty Years and Beyond: Contributing to Development Cooperation' – in Rome on 27 April 2017 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome. – The Editor

BRUSSELS (IDN-INPS) - The Treaties of Rome provided the historic foundations that enabled the fatal conflicts of war to be overcome by the spirit of peace and solidarity for the common good of all Europeans. Among the most undeniable success of the Treaties of Rome is the European Integration Project with its four freedoms - of goods, capital, services and people. We can together rightly celebrate one of the greatest landmarks of the post World War II era.

Photo: Miguel Marin Bosch. Credit: Pugwash

In Memoriam: Remembering Miguel Marin Bosch*

Pugwash President Jayantha Dhanapala reflects on the life of Pugwash Council Member Miguel Marin Bosch.

KANDY - I am personally grieved to learn of the death of Ambassador Miguel Marin Bosch, a redoubtable champion of disarmament throughout his distinguished career as Mexico’s Disarmament Ambassador in Geneva and other multilateral fora.

Miguel Marin Bosch was closely associated with me in several Review Conferences of the Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) where he stood steadfast against any compromise on fundamental principles. With his prodigious expertise and mordant wit, he was the bane of some of the nuclear weapon states who shamelessly lobbied to silence him, especially at the NPT Review and Extension Conference of 1995.

UN Commission Adopts Measures on Conventional Weapons

By Katherine Prizeman | UN Office for Disarmament Affairs

This report by Katherine Prizeman first appeared on April 24, 2017 on the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) website under the title 'UN Disarmament Commission adopts by consensus “Practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional weapons', – The Editor

GENEVA (IDN-INPS) - For the first time since 1999, the United Nations Disarmament Commission adopted consensus recommendations for transmittal to the General Assembly. The final report of the 2017 Commission contains recommendations on practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional arms.

The 2017 substantive session of the Commission was chaired by Argentina's Gabriela Martinic.

Havana to Stage International Jazz Day Global Concert

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN | SWAN) – The “musically vibrant and culturally rich city” of Havana, Cuba, will host the main concert of this year’s International Jazz Day, to be celebrated worldwide on April 30, according to the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

In a joint announcement, the agency’s director-general Irina Bokova and American jazz musician Herbie Hancock (a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador) said that the day will culminate with an All-Star Global Concert presented at the Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso.

UNEP Invites IDN-INPS Correspondent Stella Paul

Award winning Stella Paul, IDN-INPS roving correspondent in South Asia, was part of an international journalists' team invited by the UNEP to Sri Lanka. "The journalists were selected for this trip on the basis of their prior reporting excellence and experience," she says.

She filed for us an absorbing report on a theme that usually escapes general attention, a report on how the world’s only vegetarian sea mammal, the dugong living at a depth of 5-15 meters, feeding on sea grass, is being saved from extinction by resorting to hi-tech such as drones. Dugong's natural habitat is vast – stretching from Eritrea in East Africa to Vanuatu in the Pacific.

Photo: UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Credit: Marco Grob.

Wanted Constructive Impatience for Change in Women's Status

By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Following are excerpts from the opening statement on March 13 by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women for the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) - The Commission concerns itself with the status of women. It reviews the progress made by women and girls, and assesses the remaining challenges. It is a barometer of the progress we are making on achieving a world that is free of gender discrimination and inequality, a world that leaves no-one behind. It will help us measure achievement of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also helps us to pursue action in priority areas and benefits from the Commission’s Agreed Conclusions.

Photo: IDN-INPS' Ramesh Jaura (ledt) with UNOSSC Director Jorge Chediek at his office in New York

Getting to Know UN Office for South-South Cooperation

IDN-INPS Editor-in-Chief and Director-General Ramesh Jaura met with Jorge Chediek, Director of the UN Office for South Cooperation (UNOSSC) at his office in New York on February 17, 2017 to acquaint himself with activities of this important constitutent of the UN system.

Among the issues discussed was what South-South Cooperation really means.