May 28, 2004
Posted 9:40 AM
by Mary
Values Caucus
Thursday, June 3rd, 2004
1:15 – 2:45pm
Conference Room TBA
"There is special poignancy and purpose in this year's observance of the International Day of Peace.
The troubling events of the last year -- the conflicts, violence and hatred, the bomb attack on the United Nations itself in Baghdad, the deep divisions among states -- have raised fundamental questions about the efforts of the international community to promote peace and well-being for all the world's people."
Kofi Annan -- United Nations Secretary-General -- 21 September 2003
General Assembly Resolution 55/282 "The International Day of Peace Resolution, Invites all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, regional and non-governmental organizations and individuals to commemorate, in an appropriate manner the International Day of Peace, including through education and public awareness, and to cooperate with the United Nations in the establishment of the global ceasefire."
The Values Caucus will use this meeting to highlight and thank the Department of Public Information for holding annual
International Day of Peace youth programs since 1997.
We want to continue and expand support to make the International Day of Peace on September 21, 2004 a most memorable one at the UN and throughout the world. Humanity is yearning for peace and needs to know that the UN is calling for participation in IDP to show that peace, ceasefires and nonviolence are values the UN promotes and nurtures.
Member States, Un Agencies and Departments and NGOs are invited to come and be recognized for their participation in 2003 and share their ideas for 2004
valuescaucus@valuscaucus.org or 212.803.2531
www.valuescaucus.org
May 26, 2004
Posted 8:23 PM
by Mary
Dear Colleagues, we would like to invite you to a panel:
Reforming International Environmental Governance
3 June 2004 | 3:00 - 6:00 pm
Dag Hammarksjöld Library Auditorium
Please forward this event notice to colleagues of yours who might not have
received this email from UNU.
The United Nations University-Office in New York, together with
UNU-Institute of Advanced Studies is organizing an event to mark the
release of two books:
Emerging Forces in International Environmental Governance
Norichika Kanie and Peter M. Haas, Eds.
Reforming International Environmental Governance: From Institutional Limits, to Innovative Solutions,
W. Bradnee Chambers and Jessica F. Green, Eds.
These volumes represent the culmination of a two-year research project, supported by the Center for Global Partnership, which assesses the current state of international environmental governance, and discusses prospects for its future. The project, undertaken under the auspices of the UNU-Institute of Advanced Studies, convened an international network of scholars and practitioners to examine the gaps and weaknesses in international environmental governance and analyze proposals that have been
put forth to remedy them. The results, presented in these two volumes, describe and analyze the activities and governance functions of many new actors in environmental governance, and evaluate a number of current proposals for reforming international environmental governance structures. The editors will present the findings and recommendations of the two volumes, and respondents will discuss the findings in an interactive session.
Speakers include:
- Zehra Aydin, Secretariat, Panel of Eminent Persons on UN-Civil Society Relations
- Steve Charnovitz, George Washington University
- Dana R. Fisher, Columbia University
- Harris Gleckman, UNCTAD
- Jessica F. Green, UNU-IAS
- Toru Iwama, Seinan Gakuin University
- Peter Haas, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Norichika Kanie, Tokyo Institute of Technology
- Craig Murphy, Wellesley College
- Thomas Weiss, City University of New York
Further information, including the agenda and registration, is available http://www.ony.unu.edu, or by contacting the NY office at 212.963.6387
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Center for Global Partnership,
based in Tokyo and Paris in organizing this event.
Ramon Ray
United Nations University, New York
2 UN Plaza, DC2-2060
New York, New York 10017
Tel: 212-963-6387, Fax: 212-371-9454
ramon@ony.unu.edu
May 25, 2004
Posted 9:54 PM
by Mary
Citizens for Global Solutions: "U.S. Seeks Renewal of Exemption for Peacekeepers
A Security Council Resolution granting UN peacekeepers immunity from the ICC was once again introduced by the U.S., to be voted in an open debate on Friday 21 May, 2004 (May 20, 2004) HTML Format "
REUTERS:
UN Defers Vote to Shield U.S. from Global Court
Tue May 25, 2004 12:44 PM ET
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Security Council has indefinitely delayed plans to take up a U.S. draft resolution shielding American peacekeepers from prosecution by a new global criminal court, a U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday.
The resolution, which human rights groups argue is especially inappropriate so soon after the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, had been expected to come to a vote in the 15-nation council last on Friday and again on Monday.
But the vote was called off on Friday after China's U.N. envoy said he had no instructions from Beijing, and Monday passed with no word on rescheduling.
"It's been deferred," U.S. envoy Stuart Holliday told reporters on Tuesday, adding that no new date had been set.
"It will be taken up in due course," Holliday said. An earlier resolution putting U.S. troops in U.N. peacekeeping missions out of the reach of the International Criminal Court expires at the end of June.
Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram, the Security Council president for May, said he expected private council talks to take place before the U.S. draft text could move forward.
Richard Dicker of New York-based Human Rights Watch said the fresh delay meant the measure was "in deep trouble."
"The United States announced last week they wanted it signed, sealed and delivered by Friday. But it is running into a rising tide of opposition," he told Reuters.
Among the 15 council nations, at least four -- Brazil, Spain, Germany and France -- are expected to abstain. In addition, Benin also may abstain and Romania has said it wanted to abstain unless this would result in the resolution failing.
Two years ago a similar resolution was passed unanimously but last year three nations abstained.
The court, the first permanent global war crimes tribunal, was set up to prosecute the world's worst atrocities, such as genocide, mass war crimes and systematic human rights abuses.
The United States, under former President Bill Clinton, was one of 135 nations to sign the 1998 treaty creating the court.
But the Bush administration rescinded the signature, fearing the court could be used for politically motivated or frivolous suits against U.S. troops serving on foreign soil.
None of the U.S. prisoner abuses alleged in Iraq are eligible for prosecution by the court.
The U.S. draft would exempt "current or former officials" from prosecution or investigation if the individual came from a country that did not ratify the treaty creating the tribunal.
Posted 9:42 PM
by Mary
The United Nations Association of New York
ANNUAL MEETING
Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Reception: 5:30 - 6:00 PM
Briefing: 6:00 - 7:00 PM
Business Mtg: 7:15 - 7:45 PM
The New York Helmsley Hotel
(212 E. 42nd Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
Guest Speaker
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University Special Advisor to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals on Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger
In September 2000, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders agreed to a set of timebound and measurable goals and targets for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. Placed at the heart of the global agenda, they are now called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Summit's Millennium Declaration also outlined a wide range of commitments in human rights, good governance and democracy. Prof. Sachs (see reverse for his bio) will focus on the first of eight MDGs - eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. For background information on the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, visit http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals
"War does not determine who is right--only who is left." - Bertrand Russell
| 
