accountability

“Corruption Inside-out – Fraud, bribery, and misuse of EU funds: A call for transparency, accountability, proper scrutiny and sanctions”

I am pleased to invite you to attend the CEIPA video conference – “Corruption Inside-out – Fraud, bribery, and misuse of EU funds: a call for transparency, accountability, proper scrutiny and sanctions”

The event will take place via Zoom.
18^th June 2021
from 2pm to 4pm CET

Register here to participate and engage in a lively debate with policymakers, researchers, NGO’s and journalists about current anti-fraud schemes and the call for transparency, accountability, proper scrutiny and sanctions.

Topics for discussion include:

Are corruption, fraud and misuse of European subsidies hampering economic growth and diminishing citizens’ trust in the European project?
Are political leaders and decision-makers determined to prevent further corruption, fraud, and the misuse of European funds?
What are the incentives provided by the European Union to prevent the misuse of EU funds on the national level?
Are the European Institutions well equipped to combat corruption and fraud through effective and long-lasting sanctions?
Can future reforms of major EU instruments such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) prevent further fraud and corruption?
How can the new CAP improve transparency and EU oversight?
What are the policies and practices of the European Institutions and Agencies such as the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, OLAF, EUROPOL, EUROJUST, and national authorities entrusted with fighting corruption in curtailing the misuse of EU funds?
What are the steps the national governments have to undertake in order to make the new initiative of the European Commission protecting whistle-blowers and journalists reporting on corruption and misuse of EU funds effective and deliver the expected results?
What new safeguards and legislative frameworks does Europe urgently need in order to protect investigative journalists in Europe from intimidation, harassment, blackmail and physical harm?
Is the sanctioning of fraudulent public institutions, national governments, and oligarchs by the European Commission and EU bodies such as the European Public Prosecutors Office feasible?
In what way is the EU whistle-blower protection directive helping to keep safe investigative journalists and whistle-blowers who are in countries where they may be exposed to severe sanctions or life-threatening circumstances?

More information on the topics for discussion can be found here.

We look forward to your participation at this next event,

Peter Josef von Bethlenfalvy
Executive Director

General Assembly meeting to commemorate the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

The Commemorative meeting of the General Assembly, mandated by Resolution 62/122 is chaired by the President of the General Assembly. The Commemorative meeting will be held in person in the United Nations General Assembly Hall, United Nations Headquarters, New York. Dr. Lisa M. Coleman, senior vice president for global inclusion and strategic innovation at New York University (NYU) will deliver the keynote address.

The commemorative meeting will be live-streamed on UN Web TV at: http://webtv.un.org.

View the full calendar of events for the 2021 Commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade here.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP.

Informal Meeting of the GA Plenary on Syria with President of the GA

Dear Civil Society Partners,

The UN Human Rights Office in NY wishes to inform you about an upcoming informal meeting of the plenary of the General Assembly on Tuesday, 2 March 2021, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the General Assembly Hall of the UN Headquarters. The meeting will allow a high-level panel to brief on the human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic pursuant to A/RES/74/169. The meeting will be open and webcast on UN Web TV with interpretation in all official languages.

Further information, including with respect to the modalities for interested civil society representatives to submit questions to the high-level panel, is included in the correspondence below from the President of the General Assembly.

Sincerely,

UN Human Rights NY

Excellency,

I have the honour to inform you that I will convene an informal meeting of the plenary of the General Assembly on Tuesday, 2 March 2021, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the General Assembly Hall of the UN Headquarters. The meeting will allow a high-level panel to brief the General Assembly pursuant to A/RES/74/169, operative paragraph 37, in which the General Assembly,

“Urgently request[ed] the convening of a high-level panel discussion, funded by voluntary contributions, led by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights, the Commission of Inquiry and Syrian civil society to brief the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic, and encourages United Nations monitoring and reporting to help this panel to further document violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights, including those that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, to provide recommendations to facilitate improvements in civilian protection and accountability measures, and to feature witness testimony of Syrian human rights defenders and other Syrian voices through appropriate and safe means”.

In addition to briefing on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic the panel will focus on:

(i) violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights, including those that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, in particular arbitrary detention, torture, the missing and disappeared, with a focus on women, peace and security; and,

(ii) recommendations to facilitate improvements in civilian protection and accountability measures.

The high-level panel will be moderated by Ms. Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant SecretaryGeneral for Human Rights and Head, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in New York. Ms. Brands Kehris will also present OHCHR’s role in documentation, accountability, and engagement with key counterparts including the United Nations, humanitarian partners and accountability mechanisms such as the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (COI), the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM), the Syrian Government, and civil society. The high-level panel will be comprised of the following six panelists from the COI and civil society:

Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Chair, COI
Karen Koning AbuZayd, Commissioner, COI
Hanny Megally, Commissioner, COI
Mazen Darwish, President, Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression;
Sabah Hallaq, Syrian League for Citizenship
Wafa Moustafa, Families for Freedom.

The meeting will be open and webcast on UN Web TV with interpretation in all official languages. Each panelist will have up to 7 minutes to deliver his/her remarks. The floor will then be open for up to 3-minute interventions and/or questions. Please note that there will be no pre-established list of speakers for this meeting. For planning purposes only, delegations are encouraged to register their interest to speak by 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday, 26 February 2021 via e-mail to Mr. Igor Bondiuk (igor.bondiuk@un.org), Human Rights Adviser, copying Ms. Hila Wesa (wesa@un.org), Team Leader for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs.

Civil society representatives interested in submitting questions to the high-level panel are requested to do so by 5:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, 24 February 2021, via e-email to Ms. Giorgia Passarelli (passarellig@un.org), Human Rights Officer at OHCHR. The moderator will select some of the questions for the panelists to answer during the discussion.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Volkan BOZKIR

View this meeting via UN Web TV here on March 2, and read the full schedule of General Assembly Plenary and Related Meetings here.

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

[UN Observance] International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists

The United Nations recognizes the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists every year on November 2.

Help keep the investigations of killed journalists alive and perpetuate their legacy by sharing their articles and their stories. Learn more about the #TruthNeverDies campaign, developed jointly by UNESCO and DDB Paris, here: https://unesco.exposure.co/truth-never-dies.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Drugs and Crime, please visit nyngoc.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bknotts@uua.org or bobbinassar@gmail.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org.

Strengthening SDG 16/17 implementation in the context of COVID-19

2020 HLPF virtual side-event: How to strengthen the partnership between the government and civil society to accelerate the implementation of SDG 16/17 in the corona context?

Date:14 July 2020

-1st session: CSO roundtable 07:00-08:00 EDT (20:00-21:00 in East Asia time)

-2nd session: HLPF Side-event 08:00-09:00 EDT (21:00-22:00 in East Asia time)

Registration: https://forms.gle/HZbNKT5BQJLx1V1L7

Main Organizer: Korea NGO Council for Overseas Development (KCOC)

Co-organizers: Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC), Japan Civil Society Network on SDGs, Save the Children Japan, World Vision Japan, Japan Youth Platform for Sustainability

Best regards,

Aoi Horiuchi

Advocacy Coordinator,

Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC)

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on CoNGO’s Regional Committee in Asia-Pacific, please visit facebook.com/ngocongoRCAP.