Category Archives: United Nations

Making history in the United Nations: the General Assembly adopts a Declaration on the Right to peace promoted by civil society organizations

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An article by David Fernández Puyana from Elaph

On 19 December 2016, the plenary of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) ratified by a majority of its Member States the Declaration on the Right to Peace as previously adopted by the UNGA Third Committee on 18 November 2016 in New York and the Human Rights Council (HRC) on 1 July 2016 in Geneva. This Declaration was presented by the delegation of Cuba with the support of many other delegations and some civil society organizations.

Along the inclusive and transparent negotiation process of the Declaration, conducted by the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) on the right to peace Ambassador Christian Guillermet-Fernández of Costa Rica, all delegations and some civil society organizations actively participated in the three consecutive sessions of the OEWG in Geneva (2013-2015).

Thanks to this consensual approach, a majority of Member States supported the Declaration on the Right to Peace, which is the clear result of a complex and difficult negotiation process. This positive approach was elaborated in light of the following elements: firstly, international law and human rights law; secondly, the mandate of the HRC in the field of human rights and thirdly, the human rights elements elaborated by the resolutions on the right of peoples to peace adopted by the HRC in the past years.

As indicated by a Group of Western States within the Third Committee, the Declaration has some value because it develops the New Agenda 2030 and also reinforces the three UN pillars – peace and security, development and human rights-. Also they pointed out that the Preamble of the Declaration additionally contains many elements that will benefit for the clarity and greater balance in order to ensure and to represent the full range of views among memberships.

In the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Peace by the Third Committee and the plenary of the UNGA, the mobilization and strong voice of some civil society organizations was properly heard in its 71st session, when they openly called on Member States to take a step forward by adopting a declaration that can be meaningful for generations to come.

The UNESCO Chair on Human Rights, Democracy and Peace at the University of Padova (Italy) in a legal study about the Declaration adopted by the HRC concluded in November 2016 that «the conjunction of Article 1 with the very title of the Declaration presupposes that a human right to peace does already exist as implicitly proclaimed by Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized”.

As suggested by the Foundation Culture of Peace, this Declaration will pass to the UN history for being the first peace Declaration adopted by the General Assembly in this new Millennium. They also stressed in its statement that “the UNESCO initiative in which in 1997 Member States were invited to discuss a draft Declaration on the Human Right to Peace soon will be realized within the General Assembly”.

On 2 September 2016 the International Association of Peace Messenger Cities adopted the Wielun Declaration in Poland by which it welcomed the adoption by the HRC of the Declaration on the Right to Peace contained in the annex to its resolution 32/28 and called upon the General Assembly of the United Nations to adopt this Declaration by consensus.

An important group of civil society organizations, led by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII (APG23) and the UN Network of United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY), stressed in an Open Letter addressed to the diplomatic community of November 2016 that: “in today’s world, devastated by armed conflicts, hate and poverty, the recognition and declaration by an overwhelming majority of states that “Everyone has the right to enjoy peace”, would send to Humanity, and in particular to young and future generations, a very much needed message of peace and hope …. The adoption of the UN Declaration on the Right to Peace will represent a little step forward toward the fulfilment of the solemn promises we made in 1945”. This letter was supported by some 60 NGO with UN-ECOSOC Status and well-known peace and human rights activists.

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What is the United Nations doing for a culture of peace?

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In parallel, the Chairperson of the Drafting Group on the right to peace at the Advisory Committee (AC) of the HRC, Ms. Mona Zulficar, and the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the OEWG at the HRC, Ambassador Christian Guillermet-Fernández, published in the Arab newspaper Elaph in December 2016 a reflection in which they stressed that the OEWG witnessed that the text presented by the AC was not properly supported by Member States. For this reason, the Chairperson-Rapporteur decided to promote the effective implementation of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, taking into account that all the main elements on the right to peace identified by the AC had been elaborated in the Programmes of Action on Vienna and Culture of Peace.

Finally, on 22 October 2016, Paz sin Fronteras (PSF), created by Mr. Miguel Bosé and Mr. Juanes, began the campaign called #RightToPeaceNow by which well-known personalities urged Member States of the Third Committee of the General Assembly to adopt a Declaration on the Right to Peace at the end of the 71th regular session. Throughout this campaign, several personalities of the world of culture and art raised their voices to demand a Declaration on the Right to Peace through their media and social networks. They expressed their support so that the process was definitively closed in New York with the adoption of a Declaration on the Right to Peace, such as occurred in this case.

It is strongly desirable for the promotion of peace worldwide to strengthen the positive trend on this matter already initiated by Cuba within the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2002 and after developed at the HRC in 2006. In particular, some Latin American, African and Asian States, which currently support the right to peace, abstained on this topic in both the Commission and the HRC. However, after many years of intensive work by different stakeholders, at present all the Latin American, the African and most of the Asian States positively support this notion. In addition, it should be taken into account that currently an important number of Western States abstained for the first time ever in the General Assembly.

In order to strengthen the positive trend and to move towards a more consensual and inclusive approach, the legislator desired to stress the idea that everyone has the right and is entitled to enjoy and access the benefits stemmed from peace, human rights and development, founding pillars of the whole UN system. Denying this access to the three pillars is to deny the same existence of the United Nations.

The three UN pillars have been recognized by the HRC as a fundamental element aimed to promoting the right of peoples to peace. In particular, resolutions 11/4 of 2009, 14/3 of 2010 and 17/16 of 2011 on the right to peace have constantly stressed these pillars in its operative sections. In this line, the resolution 60/251 of the HRC adopted by the General Assembly on 15 March 2006 recognized in its preambular paragraph 6 that “peace and security, development and human rights are the pillars of the United Nations system and the foundations for collective security and well-being, and recognizing that development, peace and security and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing.”

In 1996, the General Assembly recognized by consensus in its resolution Resolution 48/126 the human rights approach of the right to in peace. In particular, art. 1.4 of the UNESCO Declaration of the Principles of Tolerance states that “human beings, naturally diverse in their appearance, situation, speech, behaviour and values, have the right to live in peace and to be as they are”.

And as indicated by Oscar Arias, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former President of Costa Rica, “Peace is a never ending process… It cannot ignore our differences or overlook our common interests. It requires us to work and live together”.

* Christian Guillermet Fernández, former Chairperson/Rapporteur of the Working Group on the Right to Peace (2013-2015)

* David Fernández Puyana, former legal Assistant of the Chairperson/Rapporteur (2013-2015)

(Thank you to the Global Campaign for Peace Education for calling our attention to this article)

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, United Nations,

Civil Society and the UN High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

December 2016 Newsletter of UNFOLD ZERO

On December 3, 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted ground-breaking Resolution 71/71, supported by over 140 countries, calling for the start of negotiations on an international treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons, and affirming its earlier decision to hold a High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament no later than 2018 to review progress on such a treaty.

The UN has previously held high level meetings on nuclear disarmament, but these were not much more than talk-shops.

In contrast, the 2018 event will be the first time the UN General Assembly has held a high level conference on nuclear disarmament. Such an event carries with it the expectation of deliberations to reach an agreement or agreements on concrete nuclear disarmament measures.

The 2018 UN Conference, and its preparatory process, provide a unique opportunity for civil society and like-minded governments to elevate the issue of nuclear disarmament globally and build political pressure on the nuclear-reliant States to agree to specific nuclear disarmament proposals at the conference.

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Question related to this article:

Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

A UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament: Distraction or progress?

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Similar UN high level conferences on other difficult global issues – such as sustainable development, climate change and refugees – have had considerable success engaging all relevant States and civil society to achieve concrete results.

The UN conference on nuclear disarmament could, for example, aim for:

• Non-nuclear States (and maybe others) to announce at the conference their ratification of the nuclear prohibition treaty which will most likely be negotiated by 2018 (see UN agrees to nuclear prohibition negotiations);

• Agreement by the nuclear armed and allied States that their sole purpose for nuclear weapons is to deter other nuclear weapons and that they would never use nuclear weapons first;

• A decision to convene a conference for the establishment of a Middle East Zone free from nuclear weapons and other WMD;

• A framework agreement (or political declaration) to achieve the prohibition of any use of nuclear weapons and the phased elimination of nuclear weapons.
 
UNFOLD ZERO is organising a number of private meetings on the UN High Level Conference with governments, as well as open consultation meetings with non-governmental organisations in Geneva, London, New York, Vienna, Washington and other locations in early 2017.

At these meetings we will discuss strategy and campaign activities to build success for the UN High Level Conference.

For more information see UN to hold High Level Conference on nuclear disarmament.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, United Nations,

Over 100 countries sponsor annual resolution on the culture of peace at the UN General Assembly

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The following is adapted from emails received from Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the UN

Dear activists — The 71st session of the UNGA has adopted its resolution on the follow up of the UN Programme of Action on Culture of Peace on 23 December by consensus with a final total of 102 co-sponsors.


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Ever since the initiative taken in 1997 to include a separate agenda item on the culture of peace and the UNGA decision to do so allocating the item to the plenary of the General Assembly, every year the Assembly has adopted by consensus a comprehensive, self-standing resolution on the culture of peace.

The text of the draft resolution issued by the UN as an L. document is attached. Attached also is the full list of 102 Member States which joined Bangladesh as co-sponsors making it possible for crossing the century mark.

[Editor’s note: Conspicuously absent from the co-sponsors are the United States and its principal allies such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Australis.]
 
Please note additional elements and changes over the resolution (A/Res./70/20) adopted last year in  the following:

– preambular para 9 (adding the two UN proclaimed days in addition to International Day of Non-Violence at the proposal of Armenia);

– preambular para 17 (adding the increased interest, particularly of the Member States to make country statements in its Plenary segment of the High Level Forum and the President’s Summary issued for the first time in the Forum series);

– operative para 6 (adding reference to vulnerable children in the of the UNICEF’s Early Childhood Peace Consortium);

– operative para 8 ( adding “global citizenship” overcoming insistence by Myanmar and Cuba on referring to only “active citizenship”),

– operative para 12 ( adding the International Day of Non-Violence to the International Day of Peace requesting all to accord increasing attention to their observance); and

– operative para 13 (requesting the Secretariat to support the effective organization of the High Level Forum). 

Wishing you all the best for 2017 in every way

— Anwarul Chowdhury

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Building on gender promise, Guterres names three women to top UN posts

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from the UN News Centre

The United Nations Secretary-General-designate, António Guterres today [December 15] announced that he will be appointing Amina J. Mohammed of Nigeria as the UN deputy chief, on his assumption of office as the ninth chief of the global Organization in January 2017.


Amina J. Mohammed of Nigeria. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Ms. Amina J. Mohammed is currently the Minister of Environment of Nigeria, where she steers the country’s efforts to protect the natural environment and conserve resources for sustainable development, read a statement issued by Mr. Guterres’s office.

She also served as Special Advisor to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Post-2015 Development Planning, where she was instrumental in bringing about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Before joining the UN, Ms. Mohammed worked for three successive administrations in Nigeria, serving as Special Advisor on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She is also an Adjunct Professor in Development Practice at New York’s Columbia University, and serves on numerous international advisory boards and panels.

Born in 1961, and educated in Nigeria and the UK, Ms. Mohammed is married with six children.

The Secretary-General-designate also announced the appointment of Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil as his Chef de Cabinet and that he will create the position of Special Advisor on Policy, and appointed Ms. Kyung-wha Kang of the Republic of Korea to this new role.

“I am happy to count on the efforts of these three highly competent women, whom I have chosen for their strong backgrounds in global affairs, development, diplomacy, human rights and humanitarian action,” said Secretary-General-designate Guterres, in the statement adding:

“These appointments are the foundations of my team, which I will continue to build, respecting my pledges on gender parity and geographical diversity.”

Ms. Ribeiro Viotti is presently the Under-Secretary for Asia and the Pacific at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A career diplomat since 1976, she served most recently as Brazil’s Ambassador of to Germany (from 2013 to 2016) and as Brazil’s Permanent Representative to the UN (from 2007 to 2011).

Ms. Kang is currently the Chief of the Secretary-General-designate’s Transition Team. She has served as Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator since April 2013, and was Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights from January 2007 to March 2013.

Question for this article:

Proposals for Reform of the United Nations: Are they sufficiently radical?

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, United Nations,

UN Women: 16 days of activism against gender violence

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from UN Women

From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world. The international campaign originated from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute coordinated by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991.

In 2016, the UNiTE campaign strongly emphasizes the need for sustainable financing for efforts to end violence against women and girls towards the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
One of the major challenges to efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls worldwide is the substantial funding shortfall. As a result, resources for initiatives to prevent and end violence against women and girls are severely lacking. Frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals, which includes a specific target on ending violence against women and girls, offer huge promise, but must be adequately funded in order to bring real and significant changes in the lives of women and girls.

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(Click here for a Spanish version of this article or here for a version in French.)

Question related to this article:

Protecting women and girls against violence, Is progress being made?

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To bring this issue to the fore, the UN Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women’s call for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in 2016 is ‘Orange the World: Raise Money to End Violence against Women and Girls’. The initiative provides a moment to bring the issue of sustainable financing for initiatives to prevent and end violence against women to global prominence and also presents the opportunity for resource mobilization for the issue.

Join us!

Share your photos, messages and videos showing how you orange the world at facebook.com/SayNO.UNiTE and twitter.com/SayNO_UNiTE using #orangetheworld and #16days. For more information about “Orange the world,” see this year’s Call to Action and download the fundraising toolkit. For more information about Orange Day, please contact Anna Alaszewski, UNiTE Campaign Coordinator,  anna.alaszewski[at]unwomen.org

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

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‘Fascist Rhetoric’ Becoming Commonplace in US and Europe: UN

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article by Nadia Prupis for Common Dreams (reprinted according to provisions of Creative Commons)

The “rhetoric of fascism” is on the rise in the U.S. and Europe, a United Nations official warned on Thursday, a disturbing trend that puts “unprecedented pressure” on human rights standards around the world.

“Anti-foreigner rhetoric full of unbridled vitriol and hatred is proliferating to a frightening degree, and is increasingly unchallenged,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the U.N. human rights chief. “The rhetoric of fascism is no longer confined to a secret underworld of fascists, meeting in ill-lit clubs or on the ‘Deep Net.’ It is becoming part of normal daily discourse.”


People protest in the wake of Donald Trump’s election. (Photo: Ben Alexander/flickr/cc)
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Speaking ahead of International Human Rights Day on December 10, Zeid warned that “if the growing erosion of the carefully constructed system of human rights and rule of law continues to gather momentum, ultimately everyone will suffer.”

The failure of global leaders to deal with complex social issues like the massive wealth gap, discrimination, and climate change have led to growing numbers of people to turn to “the siren voices exploiting fears, sowing disinformation and division, and making alluring promises they cannot fulfill,” he said, in a nod to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

“Discrimination, yawning economic disparities, and the ruthless desire to gain or maintain power at any cost are the principal drivers of current political and human rights crises,” he said.

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What is the state of human rights in the world today?

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Zeid’s warning came just before far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders—who is widely expected to win the upcoming March election for Prime Minister—was convicted of inciting discrimination for saying the Netherlands would be better off with fewer Moroccans.

During a municipal election campaign in the Hague in March 2014, Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom, asked a crowd of people attending a rally if they wanted “more or fewer Moroccans in this city and in the Netherlands.” The crowd chanted back, “Fewer! Fewer!” Wilders, smiling at the reaction, responded, “We’re going to take care of that.”

Friday’s verdict indicated that Wilders had planned the comments as a stunt, with the judges finding evidence that his team had coached the crowd how to respond, and saying that it was intended to be insulting to Moroccans.

Although Wilders was convicted of inciting discrimination, he was acquitted of hate speech charges, and the panel rejected prosecutors’ requests to fine or jail him. As the BBC reports, the verdict will have little impact on Wilders’ political aspirations.

Zeid has previously named Wilders, among other high-profile politicians such as Trump and the U.K.’s Nigel Farage, as demagogues whose rhetoric is poised to bring about “colossal violence” against minorities. He has also said Trump was “dangerous” for the international community. Under Zeid’s leadership, the U.N. human rights office is readying to condemn Trump if he puts any of his xenophobic or discriminatory policies into effect.

On Thursday, Zeid urged all people to “push back the violence and hatred which threaten our world.”

“Human rights are for everyone, and everyone will be affected if we do not fight to preserve them,” he said. “They took decades of tireless effort by countless committed individuals to establish, but—as we have seen all too clearly in recent months—they are fragile. If we do not defend them, we will lose them.”

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UN Adopts Cuban Resolutions on Peace and Rejection of Mercenaries

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An article from Prensa Latina

The Third Committee of the UN General Assembly has adopted today [November 18] by large majority two draft resolutions submitted by Cuba, which advocate for the right to peace and reject the use of mercenaries.

resolution

The text of the Declaration on the Right to Peace was supported by 116 countries, 34 rejected it and 19 abstained, following a vote requested by the United States, despite Cuba’s call to adopt it by consensus, considering the importance of the issue for humanity.

As usually occurs here, given the marked difference in positions between the North and the South, the document has been supported by the nations of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia. Australia, Canada, the United States, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the members of the European Union were opposed.

The initiative states that all people should enjoy the right to peace, in order to guarantee human rights and development, without exclusion.

It also calls on the States to respect, implement and promote equality, justice and non-discrimination; and defend tolerance, dialogue, cooperation and solidarity.

Several countries co-sponsored the text submitted by Cuba, among them Belarus, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Syria, South Africa, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Cuba’s project has been already adopted at the Human Rights Council in Geneva in July, when the international community was called for the first time to declare the existence of the right to peace on a planet scourged by wars, conflicts and crises, which cause suffering to tens of millions of human beings.

The Cuban delegation defended in the vote the right of all inhabitants of the planet to live without the impact of the scourge of war.

[The other] draft resolution introduced by Cuba, with the co-sponsorship of Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, China, Chile, Ecuador, India, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Syria, Uruguay, Venezuela and other States, obtained 117 votes for, 51 against and 5 abstentions.

Cuba has presented a similar initiative every year at the Third Committee.

Both projects will be submitted next month to the decision of the UN General Assembly, in the context of its 71st Session.

(Click here for an article in Spanish)

Question(s) related to this article:

What is the United Nations doing for a culture of peace?

[Editor’s note: Here is information about the anti-mercenary resolution, drawn from the UN website: In other action, the Committee approved a draft resolution on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right to self-determination, by 117 votes in favour to 50 against, with 6 abstentions. Among other things, it would have the General Assembly call upon States to take legislative measures to ensure that territories under their control were not used for — and their nationals did not take part in — the recruitment, assembly, financing, training, protection or transit of mercenaries. Slovakia’s representative, speaking for the European Union, explained that the bloc had voted against the draft because it would add private security firms to the mandate of the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on those issues.]

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UN votes to outlaw nuclear weapons in 2017

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

The United Nations today [October 14] adopted a landmark resolution to launch negotiations in 2017 on a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons. This historic decision heralds an end to two decades of paralysis in multilateral nuclear disarmament efforts.

icanw

At a meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, which deals with disarmament and international security matters, 123 nations voted in favour of the resolution, with 38 against and 16 abstaining.

The resolution will set up a UN conference beginning in March next year, open to all member states, to negotiate a “legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”. The negotiations will continue in June and July.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a civil society coalition active in 100 countries, hailed the adoption of the resolution as a major step forward, marking a fundamental shift in the way that the world tackles this paramount threat.

“For seven decades, the UN has warned of the dangers of nuclear weapons, and people globally have campaigned for their abolition. Today the majority of states finally resolved to outlaw these weapons,” said Beatrice Fihn, executive director of ICAN.

Despite arm-twisting by a number of nuclear-armed states, the resolution was adopted in a landslide. A total of 57 nations were co-sponsors, with Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa taking the lead in drafting the resolution.

The UN vote came just hours after the European Parliament adopted its own resolution on this subject – 415 in favour and 124 against, with 74 abstentions – inviting European Union member states to “participate constructively” in next year’s negotiations.

Nuclear weapons remain the only weapons of mass destruction not yet outlawed in a comprehensive and universal manner, despite their well-documented catastrophic humanitarian and environmental impacts.

“A treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons would strengthen the global norm against the use and possession of these weapons, closing major loopholes in the existing international legal regime and spurring long-overdue action on disarmament,” said Fihn.

“Today’s vote demonstrates very clearly that a majority of the world’s nations consider the prohibition of nuclear weapons to be necessary, feasible and urgent. They view it as the most viable option for achieving real progress on disarmament,” she said.

Biological weapons, chemical weapons, anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions are all explicitly prohibited under international law. But only partial prohibitions currently exist for nuclear weapons.

Nuclear disarmament has been high on the UN agenda since the organization’s formation in 1945. Efforts to advance this goal have stalled in recent years, with nuclear-armed nations investing heavily in the modernization of their nuclear forces.

Twenty years have passed since a multilateral nuclear disarmament instrument was last negotiated: the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which has yet to enter into legal force due to the opposition of a handful of nations.

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Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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Today’s resolution, known as L.41, acts upon the key recommendation of a UN working group on nuclear disarmament that met in Geneva this year to assess the merits of various proposals for achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world.

It also follows three major intergovernmental conferences examining the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, held in Norway, Mexico and Austria in 2013 and 2014. These gatherings helped reframe the nuclear weapons debate to focus on the harm that such weapons inflict on people.

The conferences also enabled non-nuclear-armed nations to play a more assertive role in the disarmament arena. By the third and final conference, which took place in Vienna in December 2014, most governments had signalled their desire to outlaw nuclear weapons.

Following the Vienna conference, ICAN was instrumental in garnering support for a 127-nation diplomatic pledge, known as the humanitarian pledge, committing governments to cooperate in efforts “to stigmatize, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons”.

Throughout this process, victims and survivors of nuclear weapon detonations, including nuclear testing, have contributed actively. Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing and an ICAN supporter, has been a leading proponent of a ban.

“This is a truly historic moment for the entire world,” she said following today’s vote. “For those of us who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is a very joyous occasion. We have been waiting so long for this day to come.”

“Nuclear weapons are absolutely abhorrent. All nations should participate in the negotiations next year to outlaw them. I hope to be there myself to remind delegates of the unspeakable suffering that nuclear weapons cause. It is all of our responsibility to make sure that such suffering never happens again.”

There are still more than 15,000 nuclear weapons in the world today, mostly in the arsenals of just two nations: the United States and Russia. Seven other nations possess nuclear weapons: Britain, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

Most of the nine nuclear-armed nations voted against the UN resolution. Many of their allies, including those in Europe that host nuclear weapons on their territory as part of a NATO arrangement, also failed to support the resolution.

But the nations of Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific voted overwhelmingly in favour of the resolution, and are likely to be key players at the negotiating conference in New York next year.

On Monday, 15 Nobel Peace Prize winners urged nations to support the negotiations and to bring them “to a timely and successful conclusion so that we can proceed rapidly toward the final elimination of this existential threat to humanity”.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has also appealed to governments to support this process, stating on 12 October that the international community has a “unique opportunity” to achieve a ban on the “most destructive weapon ever invented”.

“This treaty won’t eliminate nuclear weapons overnight,” concluded Fihn. “But it will establish a powerful new international legal standard, stigmatizing nuclear weapons and compelling nations to take urgent action on disarmament.”

In particular, the treaty will place great pressure on nations that claim protection from an ally’s nuclear weapons to end this practice, which in turn will create pressure for disarmament action by the nuclear-armed nations.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, United Nations,

Pangolins, elephants win big protections at United Nations wildlife gathering

.. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ..

An article from Humane Society International

There’s mostly good news, but also some disappointing outcomes, coming from Johannesburg and the meeting of delegates from 183 nations at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In a marker of continuing momentum for our anti-ivory-trade campaign, the parties have approved a resolution recommending the closure of domestic ivory markets that contribute to poaching and the illegal ivory trade. This is the first time that a United Nations body has agreed on the urgency of shutting down ivory markets worldwide, and the resolution comes in the midst of a dramatic rise in poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. Legal markets have served as a convenient cover to launder illicit ivory and to perpetuate market demand, and there is no excuse to permit these markets.

wildlife
The parties rejected a proposal to allow limited international trade in rhinoceros horn. Bob Koons

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The delegates have also recommended that all eight species of pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammals, should be given the highest protection under Appendix I. Pangolins are covered by keratin scales, and these and other body parts are used in medicines and tonics in some Asian and African countries. The United States imports tens of thousands of pangolin products every year, which find their way into markets around the country, including in Oregon where The HSUS is working to pass a measure protecting 12 types of animals affected by the global poaching epidemic, including elephants, sea turtles, and pangolins. HSI led the fight at CITES for the pangolin proposal.

The parties to CITES also rejected a proposal from Swaziland to allow limited international trade in rhinoceros horn, which could have had potentially disastrous consequences for the remaining global rhino populations. The proposal would have legitimated rhino horn as a commodity, increasing demand in consumer countries, complicating enforcement, and opening a loophole through which horns from poached rhinos could be laundered into the legal trade. This proposal would have also undermined the commendable efforts undertaken by consumer countries to reduce demand for rhino horn, as exemplified by HSI’s demand reduction education campaign, waged in cooperation with the government of Vietnam.

Three other big wins today were the recommendations to list silky sharks, thresher sharks, and devil rays on Appendix II of CITES, which would provide protections for these species from overexploitation for international trade. These two species of shark are in decline due to finning and overfishing, and devil rays are being increasingly targeted for their gill plates, which are virtually indiscernible from manta ray gill plates, a species already protected under CITES.

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Question for this article:

What is the relation between the environment and peace?

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Besides these victories, we have helped secure greater protections for Barbary macaques, African grey parrots, and 56 species of reptiles. African grey parrots are one of the most widely traded birds for the exotic pet trade. Although many are bred in captivity, up to an estimated 18,000 greys are removed from the wild each year, mainly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a result, wild populations have declined by as much as 49 percent in the past 47 years. CITES has recommended an Appendix I listing for this species, which will stop international commercial trade in these wild birds. Fifty-six species of reptiles that are traded in the exotic pet trade were recommended for new or increased CITES protection, including Central America’s arboreal alligator lizards, African pygmy chameleons, Vietnam’s psychedelic rock gecko, Tanzania’s turquoise dwarf gecko, Madagascar’s Masobe gecko, the Borneo earless monitor lizard, and the crocodile lizard of Vietnam and China.

Our CITES team also fought back against a proposal from Canada to reduce protection for the peregrine falcon. The proposal sought to permit commercial trade in the wild birds who are very popular for the falconry trade throughout the Middle East.

But while the delegates at CITES agreed to close domestic ivory markets, they failed to recommend that the African elephant receive the highest level of international protection under Appendix I. The proposal, which would have prohibited all international commercial trade in African elephant body parts, failed to garner enough votes. We are especially disappointed that the United States opposed this upgrading, a stance somewhat inconsistent with its prior good works and its declarations on elephant protection.

In a second disappointing outcome, the parties did not agree to list all African lions on Appendix I. There might be fewer than 20,000 of these lions left in the world. The marginal action they did take will prohibit countries like South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania from selling parts of wild lions, but it won’t prevent trophy hunters from killing lions and shipping them back to the hunter’s home country. Fortunately, for 2016, the United States suspended imports of all lion trophies. The CITES decision also won’t stop the international commercial trade in lion bones from cruel lion farming operations, such as those in South Africa, which offer canned lion hunting, cub petting, and lion walks.

The United States is a top destination for wildlife products, and our work here is aligned with global conservation priorities. We have helped shepherd passage of groundbreaking laws in several states to help combat the illegal wildlife trade, as well as push for strong federal rules. But this is a problem that also requires nations throughout the world to take action. That’s why CITES is such an important gathering, and it’s why our HSI team members are fighting for animal friendly measures and fighting off threats that would imperil animals in even more dramatic ways. Become a Wildlife Defender.

(Thank you to Janet Hudgins, the CPNN reporter for this article)

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United Nations: Inauguration of the Parliamentary Multi Track Initiative Council for the SDG’s and the Culture of Peace

TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .

An article from Cotidianul (abridged)

At the UN headquarters in New York on September 14, the conference entitled “Inauguration of the Parliamentary Multi Track Initiative Council for the SDG’s and the Culture of Peace” was organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Global Ethics. Emil Constantinescu [former President of Romania] was the chairman of the conference and gave the opening speech entitled “Global Peace Initiative from the Levant, the foundation for a new culture of peace,” his press office announced in a statement.

Romanian

The presidium of the conference included Ambassador Ion Jinga, Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations, Ambassador Katalin Bogyay, Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations, Lily Valchanova Liaison Officer UNESCO, Garry Jacobs, president of the World Academy of Art and Science and the World University Consortium, and S. Bekerman, secretary general of the Interparliamentary Coalition for Global Ethics.

Participants in Sessions 1 and 2, led by President Constantinescu included Giandomenico Picco, former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and adviser to the Oxford Research Group, Master Jun Hong Lu, president and director of the Oriental Media Buddhist Association, Rabbi Elie Abadie, Director of the Jacob E. Safra Institute of Sephardic Studies at Yeshiva University, Imam Agha Jafri, founder of the American Muslim Congress, Wafik Moustafa, president of the Conservative Arab Network, Dr. Lahoucine Khabid, president of the Atlas Center for Diplomatic Studies, ZH Khurram, secretary general of the International Youth Forum, Dr. Boris Pincus, President of Religions in Dialogue, and Rabbi Yaakov D. Cohen, founder of the Institute for Noahide Code. . .

Speech given by Emil Constantinescu:

Global Peace Initiative from the Levant, the foundation for a new culture of peace

At its annual conference in 2011 in Berlin, the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy launched a project for a new type of relations between nations and states based on understanding instead of military pressure or economic conditions. . . It seems that this kind of relationship that gives peace a chance in the globalized world can find inspiration in the ancient world of the Levant. This is not only because the Levant was the cradle of cultural diplomacy, but also because many civilizations including the Egyptian, Jewish, Assyrian, Babylonian, Phoenician, Greek, Arabic empires Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires were created in the Levant where they expanded exchanges of goods and ideas. South-East Europe has long been in contact with North Africa and the Middle East, and the people who live here have a long and extensive experience in intercultural dialogue.

In 2012, the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Global Ethics took up the initiative and expanded it globally. In 2013, at the end of the conference organized in Bucharest with a wide range of religious, academic and parliamentary representatives, a joint project was set up for the initiative. Considering that the Global Peace Initiative from the Levant could serve as a benchmark and model to achieve peace in all areas of conflict around the globe, on 24 and 25 June 2013, the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Global Ethics organized a conference at United Nations headquarters in New York dedicated to promoting this initiative. The Romanian Parliament endorsed it with a message of support.

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Question for this article

Religion: a barrier or a way to peace?, What makes it one or the other?

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In March 2014, the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Global Ethics organized a new conference in New York together with the Foundation for the Culture of Peace, headed by Federico Mayor.

It is planned to present the Global Peace Initiative from the Levant to the Congress of the United States, the British Parliament, the Knesset of Israel and to many other parliaments, including those of Japan and Palestine. . . .

This project, dedicated to promoting a culture of peace, invites the participation of researchers and scholars in the humanities, theologians, writers, artists, architects, musicians to build a space of knowledge and understanding through co-operation and mutual respect. A culture of peace is based on a new type of relations, not only between states, but especially between peoples who share common values that were born long before the current nation-states.

The time has come for cultural diplomacy and recognition of the old legacy of the Levant, an alternative reading of the history of this region, especially prior to the wars and conflicts of the present millennium. It offers a new approach, emphasizing what we have in common and what can unite us: principles, values ​​and skills practiced in the past, that can now be harnessed to ensure not only the stability of this region as a whole, but also building a model of cooperation and trust for all countries. It does not mean that we should deny our past, but to assume it in its tragic dimension. . .

For quite some time international organizations such as UN, UNESCO and civil society have been trying to create a political culture of security through negotiation and cooperation. To promote peace and understanding in the world they have been looking for the lowest common denominator around which we can agree. It is a welcome step and especially in the face of the many immediate threats.

My belief is that we should propose much more. If we want to achieve true peace and understanding between people we should not focus on the lowest common denominator, but to refer to the highest common denominator – faith.

Modern and postmodern societies of the 20th century have promoted equal rights and freedoms regardless of racial and ethnic differences and equal opportunities for women. But all this tends to divide society rather than unifying it. A peace based on a common ideal would be ideal, although it is a difficult task, not a peace imposed under the pressure of fear, but a peace springing from the depths of consciousness of millions of people. The treasure of the philosophical, literary, artistic millenary history of the Levant can help inspire a spiritual revolution with a profound knowledge of the human being who has been torn for millennia in the struggle between the aspiration to love one’s neighbor and the tendency to use power to oppress them or to oppress others in their own interest. We can turn this vast pedagogy of suffering into a pedagogy of reconciliation.

Twenty years ago, millions of people in Eastern Europe with empty hands, were ready to fight and die for freedom and democracy against the greatest war machine in history. In a new millennium, we can rediscover faith. Not to use it one against another, as has been done throughout the long history of mankind, but to understand our purpose on Earth. Peace is the name of God, whether we are Christian, Muslim, Jewish or faiithful to Asian religions. Only human arrogance has made us forget the Lord’s message, whatever name we give it to him in the language or our faith.

If the Levant, the cradle of the great monotheistic religions, will carry out a political and visionary project adapted the great challenges of today, it will contribute not only to a new identity of the area, but also hdlp to create a different concept of the future world called into a new humanism.”.

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