#civilsociety

OPENING PLENARY

9:00am – 10:30am

Livestream Link: https://livestream.com/accounts/22723452/UN75GGForumSept16

Translation Link: https://attend.wordly.ai/join/REUF-0065

CONCURRENT DIALOGUES

Post-COVID Recovery and the Future of Global Economic and Social Governance
Day and time: Day 1, September 16, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm EST

Zoom Webinar Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86964411976  Translation Link: https://attend.wordly.ai/join/BBWD-3967

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center has tracked more than 25 million confirmed cases of the virus globally, already causing nearly 850 thousand deaths (by 1 September 2020). The remarkable speed, global reach, and ease by which the virus crossed borders and is being transmitted between people have sent stock markets tumbling worldwide, with the World Bank projecting the deepest global recession since World War II (an estimated 5.2 percent contraction in global GDP in 2020). This excessive volatility, the sudden drop in confidence by consumers, and severe knock-on economic and social effects have resulted in a swift overnight contraction in cross-border finance, trade, air travel, and other sectors of our hyperconnected global economy, as well as millions of job losses. This session will examine measures to overhaul our system of global economic and social governance, both to respond to the immediate challenge of recovery from COVID-19 and redouble efforts to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Rethinking the World’s System of Collective Security 75 Years After San Francisco
Day and time: Day 1, September 16, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm EST

Zoom Webinar Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89314705291 Translation Link: https://attend.wordly.ai/join/JJUP-0643

75 years after its inception, the United Nations faces daunting challenges regarding one of its main tasks: the maintenance of international peace and security. Multiple, concurrent, and recurring intrastate conflicts, exploited by international state and non-state actors, have reversed the declining global trends in political violence witnessed since the end of the Cold War, fueling refugee movements and human suffering, particularly in the fragile and less developed countries. Moreover, the modernization of nuclear weapons arsenals and the collapse of the existing control and disarmament regimes are adding to the global threat scenario. At the same time, the growing roles of women, civil society organizations, and businesses, whose voices are amplified through modern communications technologies, offer new opportunities for effective peacebuilding and governance reform and renewal while more research illustrates the effectiveness of organizing and nonmilitary approaches to security. The complexity of the 21st-century challenges to global peace and security requires a far-reaching overhaul of a peace and security architecture with the United Nations at its core. This discussion, therefore, takes off with a set of proposed reforms to the peace and security architecture of the United Nations that were developed in expert discussions prior to the September 2020 Forum.

Reimagining the Global Human Rights and Humanitarian Architecture
Day and time: Day 1, September 16, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm EST

Zoom Webinar Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84866014310 Translation Link: https://attend.wordly.ai/join/XXTS-2744

Though a latecomer to the United Nations system’s informal “pillar structure” (and despite fears of backsliding in recent years), human rights has assumed over the past two decades a central space on the United Nations Agenda, alongside more traditional concerns with peace and security and sustainable development. Similarly, with the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit, the worst refugee crisis worldwide since the Second World War, and proliferation of urgent human needs accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic, the viability and design of the global humanitarian system has also moved to the forefront of international policy-making. This session will explore steps to reimagine and improve the global human rights and humanitarian architecture, leveraging the United Nations’ 75th Anniversary Commemoration and Declaration in novel ways to ensure that “We The Peoples” drive deliberations on the future of global governance.

Climate Governance: The Paris Agreement and Beyond
Day and time: Day 1, September 16, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm EST

Zoom Webinar Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86051900433 Translation Link: https://attend.wordly.ai/join/XVKP-4679

The currently inadequate global governance mechanisms leave humanity exposed to unacceptable levels of risk. Climate and ecological related risks are also interwoven with knock-on effects across other sectors. The window for action is narrowing for the international community, and the current situation calls for unprecedented levels of international cooperation and exponential action across every region of the world, and across the global economy. In response to these catastrophic risks, a number of new business models and technical solutions have been developed and are increasingly being accepted and implemented. However, a truly transformational shift away from a fossil fuel dependency will require global governance solutions that facilitate existing and new ways of delivering on policy goals as described in the Paris Agreement and beyond. This session will explore the leverage points in global climate governance which may allow for solutions to scale and to catalyze the necessary transformation.

A Global Civic Ethic, Countering Rising Nationalism, and The Future of Global Governance
Day and time: Day 1, September 16, 12:00 – 1:30 pm EST

Zoom Webinar Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84617435437 Translation Link: https://attend.wordly.ai/join/MHTX-2168

Especially in an age of rising nationalism, modernizing and making more inclusive our institutions of global governance requires more than creative, often technocratic proposals recommending new tools and structural change. True global governance transformation must be underpinned by a moral and ethical vision for a more just, inclusive, sustainable, and peaceful world. Drawing insights and teachings from major world religions, philosophers, public intellectuals, and other global civil society actors, this session will speak to the moral and ethical principles associated with growing emergence of a Global Civic Ethics and the accompanying notions of global responsibility and citizenship. The roots of — and effective strategies for countering — exclusive forms of nationalism (which undermine and erode efforts to strengthen global cooperation and responsibility) will also be explored.

The Future of Philanthropy in Global Governance
Day and time: Day 1, September 16, 12:00 – 1:30 pm EST

Livestream Webinar Link: https://livestream.com/accounts/22723452/UN75GGForumFOP                                                       Translation Link: https://attend.wordly.ai/join/YYTU-3866

This lively and interactive session will feature leading voices in the philanthropic sector working, in partnership with civil society, the private sector, governments, and the UN system, to build a more inclusive, effective, and just system of global governance. The dialogue will be framed around the past and present advances in global governance philanthropy, as well as future considerations for philanthropy and global governance systems. It will consider how philanthropic institutions worldwide can best empower and catalyze other partners seeking to achieve progressive changes in the global governance architecture, to better address issues of equitable sustainable development, human rights, and peace and security.

Technology, Financing and Global Governance Partnerships for Good Global Citizenship
Day and time: Day 1, Sept. 16, 12:00 – 1:30pm EST

Zoom Webinar Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89808827586 Translation Link: https://attend.wordly.ai/join/FJZN-0000

In this challenging time, the need for universal connectivity and inclusive finance is greater than ever before. With the backdrop of the United Nations’ 75th anniversary, this session will explore how rapid advances in technology for digital cooperation and new perspectives of global citizens (private and corporate, national and multinational) can advance a more fair global economy for the better. The speakers include thought leaders who are innovating how global collective action problems can be addressed in our hyperconnected global economy. This interactive dialogue will give special attention to transformative approaches for fostering a more secure, just, equitable, and environmentally sustainable recovery to the COVID-19 crisis.