Nearly half of the countries listed under United States President Donald Trump\u2019s newly launched \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d are currently subject to travel restrictions to the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump signed the charter establishing the body, which is designed to help resolve international conflicts, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He described the initiative as potentially \u201cone of the most consequential bodies ever created.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the signing ceremony, representatives of 19 countries, largely from the Middle East, Asia and South America, stood alongside the US president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those present included officials from Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Jordan, Argentina, Armenia, Morocco, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Hungary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel, Albania, Vietnam, Indonesia and Belarus reportedly agreed to join the initiative but were absent from the ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, several of the participating countries face restrictions that limit their citizens\u2019 ability to travel to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, the US State Department instructed consular officers to suspend immigrant visa processing for 75 countries from January 21, pending a comprehensive review of screening and vetting procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tightened measures were introduced over concerns relating to welfare dependence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the affected nations are Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Jordan, Armenia, Morocco, Azerbaijan, Albania and Belarus \u2014 12 countries that are members of Trump\u2019s Board of Peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It remains uncertain whether participation in the initiative will ease these restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nigeria is also affected by the visa suspension, but the West African country was not invited to join the Board of Peace, ruling out any leverage from membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WHAT IS THE BOARD OF PEACE?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The initiative forms part of Trump\u2019s 20-point roadmap for peace in Gaza, drafted last September for Israel and Hamas to endorse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the proposal, the Board of Peace would consist of international leaders tasked with ensuring Hamas plays no governing role in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, governance of the territory would fall to the board, working alongside a \u201ctechnocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The United Nations Security Council endorsed the plan in November, though its expansion now mandates the board to promote stability, peace and governance \u201cin areas affected or threatened by conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Concerns have been raised that the body could duplicate the functions of the United Nations, an organisation Trump has frequently criticised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the charter, the US president will serve as chairman of the board indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Member states will initially serve three-year terms, after which they must pay $1 billion to secure a permanent seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A US official told CNN that funds generated through the arrangement would be directed towards rebuilding Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nearly all of twelve nations on Trump\u2019s Board of Peace are currently affected by US visa restrictions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2181],"tags":[1790,1553,2223],"class_list":["post-61680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-donald-trump","tag-palestine","tag-united-states-of-america","resize-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61682,"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61680\/revisions\/61682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideemlawful.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}