humanitarian law

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day: Access to Justice

Participate in part of the UN’s observance of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on Tuesday, 15 June at 15:00-  16:15 Geneva time/ 9:00 – 10:15 NY time!
The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) founded the first World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) in 2006. WEAAD was designated as a United Nation’s International Day in 2011 in GA resolution A/ RES/66/127. This year’s theme is Access to Justice.
COVID-19 highlighted distressing reports of abuse and neglect of older persons in long-term care institutions and in the community where the majority of older persons live. Older persons who have experienced situations of violence, abuse and neglect face multiple barriers in accessing judicial remedies such as issues of accessibility, affordability, excessive delays and backlogs in judicial processes, impact of digitalization, gender bias, discrimination, and entrenched ageism in policy, norms and practices.
Access to justice is a fundamental right in itself and an essential prerequisite for the protection and promotion of all human rights. An expert panel will discuss ways to overcome the barriers and showcase examples of access to justice by older persons who suffered violence, abuse and neglect, including during the current COVID 19 pandemic. Register here today: https://bit.ly/3x3YiSj
Program:
Opening words:
  • Susan Somers, President of INPEA
  • HE Mr. Federico Villegas, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the UN in Geneva, co-chair of the Group of Friends of the human rights of older persons, Geneva
  • HE Mr. Enrique Austria MANALO, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the UN, New York (TBC)
Panelists:
  • Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons
  • Maria Soledad Cisternas Reyes, Special Envoy of the UN SG on Disability and Accessibility
  • Etienne Krug, Director of the department of Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization
  • Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (TBC)
  • Natasa Todorovic, Health and Care Program Manager, Red Cross of Serbia and INPEA Europe
  • Bill Mitchell, Principal Solicitor, Townsville Community Law Inc, Australia
Moderator: Silvia Perel-Levin, INPEA representative to the UN and Chair of the NGO Committee on Ageing, Geneva
The event will be accessible with sign language and captioning. It will have French, Spanish, German and Russian interpretation. It will also be webcast on webtv.un.org.
This event is funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). The content represents the views of the participants only and is their sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing-NY, please visit ngocoa-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing-Vienna, please visit ngoageingvie.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Ageing-Geneva, please visit ageingcommitteegeneva.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. 

Memory at risk: the importance of genocide archives for justice, remembrance, research and education

Beyond the long shadow: engaging with difficult histories is a live discussion series organized by the United Nations Department of Global Communications. The series is organized by the Outreach Programme on the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, and the Outreach Programme on the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and the United Nations. The aim of the collaborative series is to develop a deeper understanding of the legacies of these painful histories – and through examining the past, consider how best to build a world that is just, where all can live in dignity and peace.

Join us for the 5th installment of this Live Discussion Series:

Memory at risk: the importance of genocide archives for justice, remembrance, research and education

Archives play a crucial role in genocide remembrance and education and have been essential for legal procedures and conflict transformation processes in the aftermath of genocide. Establishing comprehensive archives in post-genocide societies can be a challenge, as well as ensuring the continuous preservation of artifacts and documents, and their accessibility to the public.

In a context of increasing disinformation, archives as places of authentic historical information, are an important counterbalance to narratives that seek to distort or deny genocidal pasts and form an important basis for informed research and education.

Register here: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_R2NKoD1CR2aIVHXygJKYVA

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com.

Reforming the International Trading System for Recovery, Resilience and Inclusive Development

Reforming the International Trading System for Recovery, Resilience and Inclusive Development

The COVID-19 crisis has revealed the vulnerability of countries, especially developing countries. Against this backdrop, building back better cannot simply be about doubling down on pre-pandemic policies or “back to business as usual.” The current health and economic crises which have disproportionately affected the developing world should instead spark a fundamental rethink of global productive structures and the architecture of international trade, including international trade rules.

Building back better post Covid-19 must speak to a recovery strategy that is undergirded by a new paradigm and reform agenda that places inclusivity at the centre and moves towards a future of equitable, and shared growth and development consistent with the overdue sustainable development goals (SDGs). More importantly, such a recovery strategy should promote diversification of productive capacities of developing countries, propel transformation into higher productivity sectors, and foster resilience to future shocks.

The confluence of an economic, health and climate crisis offers a unique opportunity to revive multilateralism and mutually resolve the antagonisms that have increasingly afflicted the international trading system over the last decades.

Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nbpjGdYVSQuWOzc7NnSWTw

PROGRAM

Moderator: Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter, South African Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organisation

Presentation: UNCTAD Research Paper No. 65 on Reforming the International Trading System for Recovery, Resilience and Inclusive Development – Richard Kozul-Wright, Director in the Division of Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD

Panelists:

  • Anna Cavazzini, Member, European Parliament
  • Rashmi Banga, Senior Economist in the Division of Globalization and Development Strategies, UNCTAD
  • Rob Davies, former Minister of Trade and industry of South Africa (2009-2019)
  • Yang Yao, Director of China Center for Economic Research and Dean of National School of Development, Beijing University 

Question & Answer Session

Closing remarks: Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org.

UNCTAD15 civil society discussion on frontier technologies, the digital economy and development

Join us for a pre-event on the road to UNCTAD15. This discussion is the second part of a series of online discussions with civil society held in preparation for the UNCTAD15 ministerial conference.

The dialogue aims to raise awareness of civil society representatives on the issues of technology transfer, e-commerce and the digital economy. The outcome of the session will be presented to member states as part of the intergovernmental preparatory process for UNCTAD15. Find out more here.

The event is open to the public, but registration is mandatory. Register here!

Questions for discussion

Technology transfer

  • What would be the elements of an agenda for technology transfer that include civil society’s concerns and aspirations?
  • What are the challenges and opportunities that frontier technologies can bring?
  • What are the mechanisms to accelerate technology transfer and ensure that it benefits the most disadvantaged communities?

E-commerce and digital economy

  • What would be the elements of an agenda for the deployment of e-commerce and digital economy in developing countries that include civil society’s concerns and aspirations?
  • What are the challenges and opportunities that frontier technologies can bring?
  • What are the mechanisms to accelerate the adoption of e-.commerce and digital economy, ensuring that they benefit the most disadvantaged communities?

Programme

Opening remarks:

  • Ms. Shamika Sirimanne, Director, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD

Keynote address on the agenda for technology transfer that includes civil society’s concerns and aspirations:

  • Ms. Neth Daño, Coordinator and Asia Director ETC Group, the Philippines

Keynote address on mechanisms to accelerate the adoption of e-commerce and the digital economy leaning no one behind:

  • Mr. Parminder Jeet Singh, Executive Director, IT for Change

Followed by an Interactive dialogue with civil society representatives:

  • Moderated by Ms. Chee Yoke Ling, Third World Network

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Education, Learning, and Literacy, please visit facebook.com/NGOCELLatUN. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. 

Combating Corruption: The Relevance & Capacities of Faith-Based Organizations

Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Against Corruption (UNGASS)

Side meeting: “Combating Corruption: The Relevance and Capacities of Faith-Based Organizations”

Representatives from diverse faith traditions, along with UN officials with direct experience in combating and proposing solutions to corruption—trafficking, public corruption, organized crime—will discuss the role of FBOs in corruption prevention and intervention efforts to improve ethics, justice, rule of law, good governance, and sustainable development.

Moderator: Dr. Thomas G. Walsh, Chairman, Universal Peace Federation; Co-Chair, Coalition of Faith-Based Organizations, USA

Panelists:

  • Amb. Thomas Stelzer, Dean, International Anti-Corruption Center, Vienna
  • Mrs. Livia Krings, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer in the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Austria
  • Dr. Liberato “Levi” Bautista, President of The Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (CoNGO) in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations and Main Representative to the UN for the United Methodist Church-General Board of Church and Society
  • Imam Sheikh Mohammad Ismail, The Muslim Chaplain, The University of Sheffield, The Octagon Centre, Sheffield, UK
  • Bishop Munib Younan, Former President, Lutheran World Federation; Honorary President, Religions for Peace, State of Palestine

Question and Answer:

For Q&A, please email questions to coalitionfbo@gmail.com Thank you!

This webinar is sponsored by:

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Drugs & Crime-NY, please visit nyngoc.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief, please visit unforb.org.

COVID-19 and the Increasing Risks of Substandard and Falsified Pharmaceutical Products in Africa

Dear CoNGO members,

I am delighted to get in touch with you for the first time since the Brazzaville Foundation’s membership in November 2020 to the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO).

On the occasion of the upcoming World Health Assembly and Africa Day, the Brazzaville Foundation is pleased to invite you to an online high-level roundtable on Tuesday 25th May to discuss “Covid-19 and the Increasing Risks of Substandard and Falsified Pharmaceutical Products in Africa: A public health and security issue”. High-level speakers are expected such as Prof. Moustafa Mijiyawa, Minister of Health of the Republic of Togo; Michel Sidibé, African Union Special Envoy for the African Medicines Agency (AMA) and Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

If you are interested in taking part in global health and security discussions, please register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Z0sYZHfPQnWICzmnQY2r0g. Simultaneous translation will be available in French/English.

We are eager to share this event with you and we look forward to collaborating together in the future.

Best regards,

Richard Amalvy, Chief Executive, The Brazzaville Foundation

À l’occasion de la 74e Assemblée mondiale de la Santé et de la Journée de l’Afrique, la Fondation Brazzaville réunira des intervenants de haut niveau pour discuter des enjeux de santé publique et de sécurité liés aux risques croissants des médicaments falsifiés et de qualité inférieure dans le contexte de la pandémie de la COVID-19. Traduction simultanée en français/anglais.

Background notes:

Poor-quality medicines can be both falsified and substandard:

  • Falsified medicines are deliberately fake medical products. Criminals manufacture, traffic and sell fake products to unsuspecting customers.
  • Substandard medicines can be the result of poor manufacturing and quality-control practices in the manufacture or distribution of the product.

Poor-quality medicines lead to death and illness:

  • Both fake and substandard medicines pose a threat to public health because they can lead to death, additional illness in individuals, the spread of disease within a community and antibiotic resistance.
  • The link between the traffic in falsified medicines and organised crime has been well established by intelligence services and law enforcement agencies. They are smuggled onto markets using the same routes and techniques as drug, weapon, or human trafficking.
  • Transnational organised crime also funds terrorism, destabilising countries and weakening state structures.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Drugs-NY, please visit nyngoc.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. 

International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression

It is a sad reality that in situations where armed conflict breaks out, it is the most vulnerable members of societies – namely children, who are most affected by the consequences of war. The six most common violations are recruitment and use of children in war, killing, sexual violence, abduction, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access.

On 19 August 1982, at its emergency special session on the question of Palestine, the General Assembly, “appalled at the great number of innocent Palestinian and Lebanese children victims of Israel’s acts of aggression”, decided to commemorate 4 June of each year as the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression.

The purpose of the day is to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse. This day affirms the UN’s commitment to protect the rights of children. Its work is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most rapidly and widely ratified international human rights treaty in history.

Following the ground-breaking Graça Machel report, which drew global attention to the devastating impact of armed conflict on children, in 1997 the General Assembly adopted 51/77 Resolution on the Rights of the Child. To learn more about how and why the UN commemorates this observance, visit un.org/en/observances/child-victim-day.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Children’s Rights-NY, please visit childrightsny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. 

International Day of UN Peacekeepers

2021 Theme

The road to a lasting peace: Leveraging the power of youth for peace and security

The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, 29 May, offers a chance to pay tribute to the uniformed and civilian personnel’s invaluable contribution to the work of the Organization and to honour more than 4,000 peacekeepers who have lost their lives serving under the UN flag since 1948, including 130 last year

This year, the challenges and threats faced by our peacekeepers are even greater than ever as they, like people around the world, are having to cope not only with the COVID-19 pandemic but also the continued requirement to support and protect the people in the countries in which they are based.

The theme for this year’s Day is “The road to a lasting peace: Leveraging the power of youth for peace and security.”

Today, tens of thousands of young peacekeepers (between the ages of 18 and 29 years) are deployed around the world and play a major role in helping the missions implement their mandated activities including the protection of civilians.  And UN peace operations — in line with a series of Security Council resolutions (2250, 2419 and 2535) — are increasing their collaboration with youth and youth groups to help build sustainable peace and implement their mandates on the ground.

The first UN peacekeeping mission was established on 29 May 1948, when the Security Council authorized the deployment of a small number of UN military observers to the Middle East to form the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Since then, more than 1 million women and men have served in 72 UN peacekeeping operations, directly impacting the lives of millions of people and saving countless lives. Today, UN Peacekeeping deploys more than 89,000 military, police and civilian personnel in ;12 operations.

To mark the Day at the UN Headquarters in New York on 27 May, the Secretary-General will lay a wreath in honour of all peacekeepers who have lost their lives while serving under the UN flag over the past seven decades. And a virtual ceremony will be held at which the Dag Hammarskjold medal will be awarded posthumously to peacekeepers who lost their lives in 2020 and in January 2021. The Military Gender Advocate of the Year award will also be presented at the virtual ceremony.

To keep apprised of this year’s events and learn more about the origins of this observance, visit  un.org/en/observances/peacekeepers-day.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@gmail.com or bknotts@uua.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Intergenerational Solidarity, please email the vice chair at susanneseperson@gmail.com. 

International Week of Solidarity with People of Non-Self-Governing Territories

In the UN Charter, a Non-Self-Governing Territory is defined as a Territory “whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government.”

In 1946, several UN Member States identified a number of Territories under their administration that were not self-governing and placed them on a UN list. Countries administering Non-Self-Governing Territories are called administering Powers.  As a result of the decolonization process over the years, most of the Territories were removed from the list.

Chapter XI of the UN Charter – the Declaration regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories – provides that Member States administering Territories, which have not attained self-government recognize “that the interests of the inhabitants of these Territories are paramount” and accept as a “sacred trust” the obligation to promote their well-being.

Chapter IX urged the administering Powers concerned to take effective measures to safeguard and guarantee the inalienable rights of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories to their natural resources, including land, and to establish and maintain control over the future development of those resources, and requested the Administering Powers to take all necessary steps to protect the property rights of the peoples of those Territories.

Administering Powers, in addition to ensuring the political, economic, social and educational advancement of the peoples, undertake to assist them in developing self-government and democratic political institutions. Administering Powers have an obligation to transmit regularly to the Secretary-General information on the economic, social and educational conditions in the Territories under their administration.

Chapter IX also urged all States, directly and through their action in the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system, to provide moral and material assistance to the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories.

To learn more about the history of this UN observance and view the UN’s educational videos on decolonization, visit un.org/en/observances/non-self-governing-week.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP. For more information on the Decolonization Alliance, please email lbautista@umcjustice.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com.

Environmental factors as an important trigger for migration

Join this virtual side event at the occasion of the 30th Session of the Conference on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice,

organized by ZONTA and co-organizers

Tuesday May 18th, 1:10-2:00 pm CET.

Reconsidering the definition of smuggling migrants in the context of (transnational) environmental disasters and hazardous legacies

Environmental factors influence migration in important ways, shaped by local economic, sociopolitical and cultural conditions. The root causes of environmental migration are often deeply intertwined and closely connected to sustainable development issues. Experts will present actual research data and share experience at the grass roots level, followed by a discussion on understanding the links between environmental change and migration, which disproportionately affect vulnerable groups, in particular women and girls.

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81148641691?pwd=SWh2Q3NLS05IRTBWNnVTeWw2L2gxZz09

Meeting-ID: 811 4864 169

Kenncode: 478023

Panelists:

  • Roman Hoffmann is a research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis with affiliations at the Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Vienna and degrees in sociology and economics from the University of Munich. In his applied research, he studies the impacts of climate change on populations and resilience to environmental stress with a focus on climate adaptation and migration. He has served as a consultant for UNIDO, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), and several non-governmental organizations.
  • Farai Maguwu is devoted to improving the governance of natural resources in Zimbabwe. Human Rights Watch honoured him with the Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism. He was also honoured by Rapaport, a clean diamond campaigner, for protecting artisanal diamond miners in Zimbabwe‘s Marange region. In 2012 he founded the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (cnrgzim.org), which researches and documents human rights abuse and illicit trade in minerals. Farai is a PhD candidate at the Wits School of Governance. He holds an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European University Center for Peace Studies, and a Master in Peace and Governance from Africa University.

Moderator:  Sharon Fisher, President, Soroptimist International

The NGO Committee on Sustainable Development–Vienna: The focus of the committee is on the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. It provides a forum for NGOs interested in discussing and analyzing the work of the UN intergovernmental bodies in the field of sustainable development, as well as the related activities of the Vienna-based UN organizations. It encourages new initiatives and seeks inputs into civil society’s contribution to the 2030 agenda of the United Nations.

Contact point: Ingeborg Geyer, e-mail: ingeb.geyer@gmail.com

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit ngocsdvienna.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Migration, please visit ngo-migration.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. 

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