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."
Positions on the treaty
On 7 July 2017, an overwhelming majority of the world’s nations voted to adopt the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – a landmark international agreement that outlaws the ultimate weapons of mass destruction and establishes a pathway to their elimination. This page summarizes government positions on the treaty.
OCTOBER 9, 2018
Signature/ratification status of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons opened for signature at United Nations headquarters in New York on 20 September 2017 and will remain open indefinitely. Once 50 nations have ratified or acceded to it, it will enter into force.
There are currently 69 signatories and 19 states parties.
September 26th is the International Day for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and called on world leaders gathered at the UN to join the Treaty on the...
Full statement by Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of ICAN, and by Ray Acheson, Director of Reaching Critical Will (ICAN partner organisation), and member of ICAN’s steering group:
by Philip Giraldi 28.6.2018 : "The United States has decided to no longer participate in the United Nations 47-member Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The number one reason cited by U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley was that the council is unfairly critically focused on Israel [...] the U.S. withdrawal from U.N. agencies is, if anything, a sign of weakness rather than strength. If Washington were indeed confident in its own brand of international leadership it would welcome the opportunity to sit on panels and help shape the views of other countries with which it has a politically neutral or adversarial relationships. That it does not choose to do so suggests that there is an understanding that what Washington is selling no one is buying. The complete isolation of the United States at the United Nations and also elsewhere, to include G-7, was exhibited recently during June 1st votes at the U.N. Security Council. A resolution sponsored by Kuwait seeking an inquiry into the Israeli killing of unarmed demonstrators in Gaza and a motion by Haley seeking to blame Hamas for the deaths both were voted on. Haley’s was the only vote against the former and the only vote in favor of the latter. She predictably commented afterwards that “Further proof was not needed, but it is now completely clear that the U.N. is hopelessly biased against Israel.”
Trump's bellicose statements about North Korea and the recent false missile alert in Hawaii have raised global alarm over nuclear war. Now, in an unprecedented step, a draft of the new U.S. Nuclear Posture calls for authorizing nuclear weapons use even in response to a non-military attack
12.8.2017. Ydinaseet uhkaavat koko ihmiskunnan olemassaoloa. Maailman 15 000 ydinkärjen tuhovoima riittää moninkertaisesti maapallon tekemiseksi elinkelvottamaksi.
Publicerad 30 oktober 2017
Bakgrund I linje med Sveriges långa engagemang för nedrustning och icke-spridning deltog Sverige i den multilaterala förhandlingsprocess som i juli...Uppdraget ska redovisas senast den 31 oktober 2018 till Regeringskansliet (Utrikesdepartementet).
The United States has withdrawn from Unesco over what it claims is the organisation’s “continuing anti-Israel bias” – a move that has just been followed by Israel itself. The US State Department recently announced its intention to withdraw from the UN’s cultural, scientific and educational organisation and become a permanent observer instead.... The US has withdrawn from the organisation once before, during the Reagan administration. Former President Ronald Regan pulled the country from Unesco in 1984, claiming the body was biased in favour of the Soviet Union.
President George W Bush rejoined the organisation in 2002, but the US pulled its funding less than 10 years later after the organisation accepted Palestine as a member... the decision to withdraw from Unesco may also have been a financial one: the US owed more than $500m in arrears to the organisation and was at risk of losing it voting rights, according to Unesco documents. According to Foreign Policy, Mr Tillerson simply wanted to stem outgoings.