The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted a landmark resolution on the promotion of “safe, secure and trustworthy” artificial intelligence (AI) systems that will also benefit sustainable development for all. |
Allan Carlson, Ph.D.: Speeches: The Howard Center
"A talk for the Charismatic Leaders' Fellowship, 12 Jan 2004, Jacksonville, FL"
Vad betyder ":::THC:::" som tydligen är talarens titel?
Reuters The United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Wednesday [18.10.23] that would have called for humanitarian pauses in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants to allow humanitarian aid access to the Gaza Strip.
Jeffrey Sachs: The nations of the world, operating under the UN Charter and defending the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, must move urgently to help save both Israel and Palestine.
Focus on the Global South , July 2023: we delve into our recent activities around the UN Food Systems Summit, where as part of People’s Autonomous Response to the UN Food Systems Summit, Shalmali Guttal participated in critical public discussions on "Multilateralism vs Multistakeholderism — The Case of Food" and "Multistakeholderism and the Corporate Capture of Food Governance.". We were also part of the press conference, "Calling for True Food Systems Change", and we share with you the press release and statements stemming from these engagements. As part of our regional work, we also share insights from Joseph Purugganan, who discussed advancing accountability and justice via a legally binding instrument for the Business and Human Rights Resource Center Roundtable Series on Binding Treaty.
Iain Davis and Whitney Webb
June 5, 2023The United Nations claims that the purpose of Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG16) is to promote peaceful and inclusive societies and to provide access to justice for all. Hiding behind the rhetoric is the real objective: to strengthen and consolidate the power and authority of the "global governance regime" and to exploit threats—both real and imagined—in order to advance regime hegemony.
Dissecting and digesting what's behind the controversy-ridden 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.
Powerful Northern governments and large scale corporations are behind the summit. The Summit was initiated just after the United Nations signed a strategic partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF), a platform of the 1000 leading corporations, and early documents indicated the WEF as a co-organizer of the summit.
Agnes Kalibata, the president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), was named as the Special Envoy for the Summit. This has been another source of controversy, because AGRA is an organization, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates and Rockefeller Foundations (as well as many governments), that promotes a high-tech, high-cost approach to agriculture, heavily reliant on agrochemical inputs and fertilizers.
They have been at the forefront of predatory seed laws and policies that marginalize and disenfranchise peasant farmers on a massive scale. Despite USD$1 billion in funding, food insecurity has increased by 30% in the countries in which they operate.
june 7, 2022. A silent revolution is underway at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Corporations are being given increasing influence at the expense of states, small scale food producers, Indigenous Peoples and civil society.
Stockholm+50 äger rum den 2-3 juni 2022, i nära anslutning till FN:s årliga
Regeringen.se : I juni 2022 arrangerar FN högnivåmötet Stockholm+50 där Sverige står som värd, tillsammans med Kenya. Då är det femtio år sedan FN:s första...
Världsmiljödag den 5 juni och till femtioårsjubileet för Stockholmskonferensen. Mötet hålls på Stockholmsmässan i Älvsjö i Stockholm. Det är troligt att mötet innehåller en hel del digitala inslag och sändningar.
The nine nuclear-dependent nations and their supporters face a future in which they will be increasingly isolated.
Illustrating the complexity of differing positions on the treaty are the 43 nations under the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD). More than one-third of the 43 countries have ratified the TPNW, but the bloc also includes four nuclear-armed states: China, North Korea, India and Pakistan.
Yuriy Kryvonos, director of UNRCPD, said nuclear-armed states often claim their arsenals serve as a deterrence tool. “Against whom [does] this deterrence tool exist? Against other nuclear-armed states.” The argument, he said, is “nonsense” because a nuclear war cannot be won; claiming protection from nuclear weapons is an illusion. Arguments that the TPNW undermines the NPT, Kryvonos insisted, do not hold water.
The General Assembly commemorates 26 September as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. This Day provides an occasion for the world community to reaffirm its commitment to global nuclear disarmament as a priority.
Gunhild Stordalen blir en av fem temasjefer når FN avholder toppmøte om mat og bærekraft i 2021, skriver E24. Stordalens kommentar er at dette er litt surrealistisk. Det er en kommentar vi kan slutte oss til, om enn på en annen måte enn det hun ønsker å formidle.
Gunhild Stordalen og hennes EAT Foundation har fått stor mediadekning for sine ytterliggående forslag om hvordan verdens kosthold bør være.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond of Chile as his Envoy on Technology. Taking into account the growing prominence of technology issues and the recognition that the United Nations must enhance its efforts on digital cooperation and global connectivity, the Envoy will lead the implementation of the
The Guardian November 20, 2018: Erik Solheim quits after Guardian reveals excess travel and rule breaking which led to withholding of funds.
"Numerous Unep staff have contacted the Guardian criticising Solheim’s perceived closeness to China and the project he initiated related to the environmental sustainability of China’s huge infrastructure Belt and Road Initiative. The US in particular was concerned and its representatives raised a long list of questions as far back as April, including about how the project was funded and how intellectual property rights would be protected."
"Another concern to staff was the $500,000 sponsorship Solheim agreed to give the Volvo Ocean Race, despite it not being mentioned on the VOR sponsors’ web page or announced by Une"
China Daily December 11, 2020. Erik Solheim, the former head of the UN Environment Program, said that by showing the world a green recovery from the pandemic is possible, China can provide global leadership in sustainable development in the post-COVID-19 world.
The Transparency, Accountability, and Participation (TAP) Network is a broad international coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs) working together to advance SDG16+ to promote peace, justice, and inclusive societies, and to help enhance accountability for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
NYT article: "The Nobel committee said the U.N. agency’s work to address hunger had laid the foundations for peace in nations ravaged by war. .... "the agency [WFP] has met with criticism that its food sourcing methods hamper already weak local food markets. The organization buys most supplies on the global market, and development experts have criticized it for offering contracts to major donors —
like the United States — in what has come to be known as “tied aid,” or the practice of tying humanitarian donations to purchasing contracts. In response, it has pledged to eventually 10 percent of its supplies from smaller local farms.
Nobelin rauhanpalkinto YK:n ruokaohjelmalle – Tylsältä vaikuttavaa valintaa selittää huoli nationalismin noususta.
”Ruoka on paras lääke kaaosta vastaan, ja ruoan puute synnyttää epävakautta ja konflikteja. Ruoka on yksi perustarpeistamme”, Nobel-komitean puheenjohtaja Berit Reiss-Andersen perusteli valintaa tiedotustilaisuudessa.
WFP:n palkitsemisella on selvä tarkoitus tukea multilateraalia politiikkaa ja instituutioita niiden heikolla hetkellä.
”YK:n sisällä toimivat sanovat, että rahoitusta on vaikeampi saada. Järjestö on riippuvainen rahoituksesta”, Reiss-Andersen sanoi.
Juuri tämä lienee pihvi komitean valinnan taustalla, arvelee Ulkopoliittisen instituutin johtaja Mika Aaltola. Nationalismin nousu ja valtapeli vie pohjaa tärkeää perustyötä tekeviltä organisaatioilta.
Mika AaltolaKuva: Roni Rekomaa / Lehtikuva
”Tuosta se poliittinen viesti löytyy. Se ei ole mikään kompromissiratkaisu, vaan palkinto annettiin lähettämään viestiä.”
Rauhanpalkinnolla on tarkoitus tukea multilateraalia politiikkaa ja instituutioita niiden heikolla hetkellä. Erityisesti Yhdysvaltojen ja Kiinan valtataistelu näkyy järjestöissä, ja ne ovat politisoitumassa.
YK varoittaa ”raamatullisesta” nälänhädästä – 300 000 ihmistä voi kuolla nälkään joka ikinen päivä
Ville Similä HS 22.4. 2020
Koronakriisin aiheuttama talouslama voi sysätä heikoimmin toimeentulevat maat nälänhätään, jossa ihmiset joutuvat myymään viimeisen omaisuutensa hengissä pysyäkseen.
Hengityssuojaimia käyttäneet YK:n ruokaohjelman WFP:n työntekijät jakoivat hätäapua kodeistaan paenneille jemeniläisille pääkaupungissa Sanaassa lauantaina.Kuva: Essa Ahmed / AFP
Koronakriisin käynnistämä talouslama uhkaa aiheuttaa kesään mennessä ”raamatullisen” nälänhädän, YK varoittaa. ”Olemme maailmanlaajuisen nälkäpandemian kynnyksellä”, YK:n ruokaohjelman WFP:n johtaja David Beasley sanoi Genevessä tiistaina YK:n turvallisuusneuvostolle.
By Alexandra Brzozowski | EURACTIV.com 17 jan. 2020
It's one of Belgium's worst kept secrets. Lawmakers on Thursday (16 January) narrowly rejected a resolution asking for the removal of US nuclear weapons stationed in the country and joining the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
JENNY CLEGG looks ahead at a year where an increasingly multipolar world will challenge US dominance
"The founding proclamation of the UN: “We the peoples … determine to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” also reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights, and committed to establish conditions of respect for international treaties and laws, and to promote social progress and better standards of life.
It is now time to reassert the role of the UN at the centre of world politics by reclaiming the “We the people” declaration from below in a grass-roots movement for international co-operation on climate change alongside the fundamental principles of peace and social justice.
"The UN is being turned into a public-private partnership": An interview with Harris Gleckman
Lynn Fries speaks to Harris Gleckman about the growing corporate influence over our global governance system.
Workshop report - Amsterdam, March 2019
10 September 2019
There are now over 45 global standard-setting multistakeholder initiatives (MSIs) establishing guidelines and rules for a wide range of products and processes. What is the driving force behind these initiatives? To whom are they accountable? What are the implications for social movements seeking to challenge unjust power relations within states and globally?
Scientists call for Protection from Non-ionizing Electromagnetic Field Exposure
"Since there is controversy about a rationale for setting standards to avoid adverse health effects, we recommend that the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) convene and fund an independent multidisciplinary committee to explore the pros and cons of alternatives to current practices that could substantially lower human exposures to RF and ELF fields. The deliberations of this group should be conducted in a transparent and impartial way. Although it is essential that industry be involved and cooperate in this process, industry should not be allowed to bias its processes or conclusions. This group should provide their analysis to the UN and the WHO to guide precautionary action."