GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

Call for UN Summit on Digitalization and Sustainability

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN (IDN) – A new report has called on Germany and the European Union to convene a United Nations summit on 'Digitalization and Sustainability' in 2020 – 30 years after the UN Conference on Environment and Development, widely known as the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The central theme of the summit should be reaching agreement on the necessary fundamental steps to be taken to achieve digitally supported sustainable development and to avoid the risks involved in digital change, say the authors of the report entitled 'Towards our Common Digital Future', presented by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) to Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek and Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze on April 11, 2019.

: Rita Joshi; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 11 April 2019

Photo: Participants of the NAM Ministerial Meeting in Baku, Azebaijan. Credit: MEA India.

Think Tank Supports NAM Call for Reform of the UN System

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – Backing the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies (IINS) has called for “comprehensive, transparent, inclusive and balanced” reform of the United Nations.

Recalling the final document of the 2018 NAM Ministerial Meeting held in Baku, Azerbaijan, the think tank emphasizes that the reform should be “pursued in an effective and accountable manner, fully respecting the political nature of the Organization as well as its intergovernmental, universal and democratic character, consistent with the UN Charter”.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 08 April 2019

Photo: PNG Minister Maru presents a gift to ACP Secretary-Genral Dr. Gomes during their bilateral Meeting in N’Djamena, Chad.

The Pacific Reaffirms Commitment to the ACP Group of States

By ACP Press

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Minister for National Planning and Monitoring of Papua New Guinea, Richard Maru, has assured the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group that Papua New Guinea will continue to play an active role in the affairs of the ACP Group of States.

Minister Maru met the ACP Secretary General, Dr. Patrick Gomes, at the margins of the ACP-EU Ministerial Meeting in N’Djamena, Capital of the Republic of Chad, Central Africa, on April 3 where they discussed, among other things, Papua New Guinea’s role in the current ACP-EU post-Cotonou negotiations.

: Asia Editor; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 08 April 2019

Photo: Group photo of ACP-EU parliamentarians in Bucharest. Source: Website of Jacob L. Oulanyah

Parliamentarians Demand 'Greater Presence' of ACP-EU Compact at the UN

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Parliamentarians of the compact of more than 105 countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group and the European Union (EU) are demanding "a greater presence" at the United Nations (UN). As a minimum, an ACP-EU coordination unit should have a seat at the UN, says a landmark resolution of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly held in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It also pleads for "permanent ACP-EU working mechanisms across UN special agencies and other global institutions to enhance the global visibility of the ACP-EU partnership."

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 06 April 2019

Photo: ACP Secretary-General Dr. P. I. Gomes (right). ACP Chief Negotiator Robert Dusse, Togo's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Africa integration. Credit: robertdussey.com

EU-ACP Countries Conclude 2nd Round of Talks on a New Ambitious Partnership

By ACP Press

BRUSSELS | N'DJAMENA (ACP-IDN) – Chief negotiators of the African. Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU) have underlined the progress made while launching the next phase of the negotiations for a new treaty after the Cotonou Partnership Agreement signed in 2000 ends in 2020.

The Cotonou Agreement is one of the oldest and most comprehensive frameworks of cooperation between the EU and third countries. It focuses on the eradication of poverty and inclusive sustainable development for countries of the two groups. It is divided into three key action areas: development co-operation, political dialogue and trade.

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 05 April 2019

Sustainable Wildlife Management Program Launches Newsletter

By ACP Press

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Recent studies have shown that overhunting for wild meat is threatening hundreds of wildlife species with extinction, with the result that many indigenous peoples and rural communities are deprived of food and income.

An initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme, established to tackle these challenges, has published their first newsletter to bring attention to these issues.

: UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 05 April 2019

Photo: Participants in the April 1-3 meeting in Apia. Credit: SPREP

15 Pacific States Build Resilience to Climate Change

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS | APIA, Samoa (ACP-IDN) – Leaders of the Pacific Island Forum, the region’s premier political and economic policy organisation, have repeatedly identified climate change as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific. A three-day meeting, concluded on April 3 in Apia, Samoa, marked a major milestone in helping to build Pacific island resilience to this threat with the start of a EUR 12 million project spanning 15 countries.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 04 April 2019

Photo: ESCAP Executive Secretary Dr. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana. Credit: ESCAP

New Study Asks Asia-Pacific to Raise Ambitions Beyond Mere Economic Growth

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Three years of implementation of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific shows the region has some catching up to do.

Despite much progress, the region is not on track to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 04 April 2019

Moving the ACP Group to Centre Stage of Multilateralism

Viewpoint by Dr. Patrick I. Gomes

The writer is the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP).

BRUSSELS (IDN) – In today’s global situation that bears the features of turbulence, fragility and an increasingly precarious balance between peace and possible nuclear annihilation, the role and relevance of the United Nations Organisation has assumed unparalleled importance.

It was a perceptive comment of the late Nelson Mwalimu Mandela, who in his landmark speech to the United Nations on October 3, 1994, posed the question and demanded a response to what he considered to be the enduring imperative confronting the United Nations today, more than ever.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 31 March 2019

Photo: Jamal Khashoggi offers remarks on "Mohammed bin Salman's Saudi Arabia: A Deeper Look" during Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) on 21 March 2018 in Washington, DC. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

UN Expert Demands from Saudi Arabia Public Trials of Khashoggi's Accused Killers

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) – Six months after veteran Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has in a report criticised Riyadh's closed-door trials of accused killers, which have thus far fallen short of meeting "international standards".

In her report released on March 28, Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur leading an independent human rights inquiry into Khashoggi's killing, renews her "request for permission to undertake a country visit to Saudi Arabia".