#multilateral action

[migrantsday]

(4th meeting) International Dialogue on Migration 2024.

"Facilitating Regular Pathways to a Better Future: Harnessing the Power of Migration" is the the of the International Dialogue on Migration (IDM) 2024 (organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Watch the (4th meeting) International Dialogue on Migration 2024!

United Nations Headquarters

IOM - UN Migration; IOM - UN Migration in West and Central Africa, IOM Asia-Pacific, IOM Central Asia, IOM Arabic - المنظمة الدولية للهجرة, UN Global Compact for Migration, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency,

UN Web TV

[biodiversityday]

Save the date: COP16 Colombia "PAZ CON LA NATURALEZA." from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1st, 2024.

Now is the time to accelerate action and show progress towards turning the Biodiversity Plan into nationally driven action.

In February, Gustavo Petro, the President of the Republic of Colombia announced that Cali will be the host city for the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16) to be held from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1, 2024.

“We bow to the most biodiverse region of Colombia,” the President said. The announcement marked the end of a suspenseful few weeks during which the cities of Bogotá and Cali took to the radio waves, television, newspapers, and social media to speak about COP16 and make the case for hosting the world’s foremost multilateral meeting dedicated to biodiversity.

Speaking at the announcement event, Susana Muhamad, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia, who led her country's bid to host COP16, described it as a meeting for the people, to help humanity live with and aim to achieve peace with nature. “Now begins the journey to COP16,” she said.

As Cali beckons, now is the time to accelerate action and show progress towards turning the four goals and 23 targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Diversity Framework - known as the Biodiversity Plan - into nationally driven action. Parties to the CBD are expected to press ahead with the alignment of their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) with the Biodiversity Plan. To be effective, NBSAPs will have to embody a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, as the Biodiversity Plan itself does. Monitoring, reporting, and reviewing of implementation will be key to driving evidence-based progress. 

In addition, COP16 will pore over the provision of means of implementation. Financial resources, capacity building, technical and scientific cooperation, and access to and transfer of technology are essential to the full implementation of the Biodiversity Plan. Goal D of the Plan includes language on securing the means of implementation and making them accessible to all Parties, especially developing countries, Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, and countries with economies in transition.

Parties are expected to move towards closing the biodiversity finance gap of $700 billion per year, and work towards aligning financial flows with the Biodiversity Plan. The GEF-8 resources for biodiversity - the largest yet from the multilateral family of funds - will provide vital support to countries as they initiate the implementation of the Biodiversity Plan. The required finance will also flow through the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund and through innovative financing mechanisms such as debt-for-nature swaps and biodiversity bonds.

Access and benefit-sharing, addressed in Article 15 of the CBD and the Nagoya Protocol, will feature prominently on the agenda. COP16 will notably consider the operationalization of the multilateral mechanism for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from Digital Sequence Information on genetic resources, including a global fund.

Peace with nature

Inspired by the Inírida flower, a species endemic to Colombia, the COP16 logo was unveiled during the 6th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6), along with the host country’s slogan for COP16: “Peace with Nature.” 

Speaking at the logo unveiling event alongside David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the CBD, Colombia’s Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Muhamad said: “This is a flower that never dies. Its petals never fall apart. We hope that the COP16 in Colombia can help the world to make peace with nature, so that we can sustain and maintain life on the planet forever."

The petals represent the 23 targets of the Biodiversity Plan and the 13 ecoregions of Colombia, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. The color palette symbolizes three pathways for action - reduce threats, meet people’s needs, and develop tools and solutions, and the need for synergies. 

“The eloquent logo featuring the Inírida flower speaks volumes of the beauty and diversity of Colombia. Under the theme of Peace with Nature, COP16 will bring the world together to promote and support the implementation of the Biodiversity Plan," Cooper said at the logo unveiling event.

The symbolism of the iconography echoes the UN Secretary-General’s call to make peace with nature, as he referred to how our consumption and production systems are destroying the environment.

The Inírida flower grows nowhere else but Colombia, but the message encapsulated in the emblem will reverberate beyond the host country’s national borders, highlighting the importance of environmental multilateralism. In an increasingly fractured world, global environmental accords show that it is still possible for the world to work together to help forge a sustainable future through multilateralism.

Learn more:

Three messages for biodiversity in the COP 16 logo

International Day for Biological Diversity 2024: “Be part of the Plan”

Astrid Schomaker is the next UN Biodiversity chief

[developmentinformationday]

Youth and Adolescent Girls Driving the 2030 Agenda: Building Collective Power, Securing Sustainable Funding, and Demanding Accountability.

Looking at the impact of the GEF as an innovative, multi-stakeholder approach to multilateralism and the crucial role of young feminist leadership to accelerate the achievement of the SDG agenda. 

Side Event at the SDG Action Weekend organized by Young Feminist Europe, Young Feminist Caucus, GEF Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership, Canada, Malawi, UN Women, Plan International, Adolescent Girl Investment Plan (AGIP), Alliance for Feminist Movements, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), CREA.

To maximize the SDG Summit's impact, the Secretary General is convening an SDG Action Weekend, which will generate opportunities for stakeholders, UN entities, and Member States to convene inside the United Nations Headquarters and set out specific commitments and contributions to drive SDG transformation between now and 2030.

The SDG Action Weekend will consist of the SDG Mobilization Day on Saturday, 16 September, and the SDG Acceleration Day on Sunday, 17 September at UNHQ in New York.

The SDG Action Weekend includes a select number of high-level side-events identified through an open call that concluded in August. They are jointly organized by coalitions of Member States, UN agencies and other international organizations, and global stakeholder networks.

[amereid1960]

معضلة التّعاون المناخي متعدد الأطراف في ظل التّنافس الصيني الأمريكي

معضلة التّعاون المناخي متعدد الأطراف في ظل التّنافس الصيني الأمريكي معضلة التّعاون المناخي متعدد الأطراف في ظل التّنافس الصيني الأمريكي الكاتب : مشري عبد الحميد . تامة نسيبة الملخص: تسعى الدراسة لتحليل مشكلات التعاون متعدد الأطراف في قضايا التغير المناخي، والتي باتت تشكّل عقبة أمام التوصل إلى اتفاق مشترك بين الدول، كما تهدف إلى تحليل المنطق الذي يوجه الإستراتيجيات الصينية بعد الانسحاب الأمريكي من…

[alewaanewspaper1960]

معضلة التّعاون المناخي متعدد الأطراف في ظل التّنافس الصيني الأمريكي

معضلة التّعاون المناخي متعدد الأطراف في ظل التّنافس الصيني الأمريكي معضلة التّعاون المناخي متعدد الأطراف في ظل التّنافس الصيني الأمريكي الكاتب : مشري عبد الحميد . تامة نسيبة الملخص: تسعى الدراسة لتحليل مشكلات التعاون متعدد الأطراف في قضايا التغير المناخي، والتي باتت تشكّل عقبة أمام التوصل إلى اتفاق مشترك بين الدول، كما تهدف إلى تحليل المنطق الذي يوجه الإستراتيجيات الصينية بعد الانسحاب الأمريكي من…

[sansculottides]

𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗦 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗜𝘁𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗙𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀

On June 14, 2024, international news agency Reuters exposed a secret disinformation campaign by the US Department of State meant to discredit Chinese-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines amongst Filipinos. The US anti-vax fake news campaign ran from 2020 to 2021, and involved the use of dummy social media accounts posting false and unscientific information about the efficacy of Chinese vaccines, as well as weaponizing pervasive racist conspiracy theories that the COVID-19 pandemic was created and spread by the Chinese government.

We demand an immediate investigation by the Philippine government on the matter, and for decisive action to be taken by the government to hold the US accountable for its deception campaign against the Filipino people. The Reuters exposé has uncovered a clear national security threat to the Filipino people. The US carried out its fake news campaign at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was ravaging the Filipino people, and worsened already widespread anti-vaccination beliefs amongst the public.

We are appalled by the glaring lack of Philippine media coverage on the Reuters exposé. An international scandal has just been uncovered. How can truth be spoken to power, and how can political action be taken by citizens, if the media does not play its part? Silence is silence, whether due to the threat of repression or the suffocating consensus by media capitalists that unsavory things be left unsaid. We call on all media workers, whether working at mainstream media organizations, independent media, social media, or campus media, to take the lead themselves and focus public attention on this issue.

The year-long campaign clearly demonstrates the untrustworthiness of the US as a strategic diplomatic and military partner of the Philippines and of all Global South countries. The campaign was initiated by the Trump administration and was first focused on the Philippines. Later on, the project was expanded further into Central Asia and the Middle East. It took the Biden administration three full months to end the globalized and state-sponsored mass disinformation project.

This issue is not just a problem of specific administrations. The year-long campaign should remind the workers and the masses of the Philippines and the world that the US remains the world’s foremost imperialist power. Its overriding foreign policy concern is the maintenance of its dominant global military and economic position, and its means are deception and force.

The US’ covert effort to corrupt public discourse in the Philippines should prompt the Marcos administration to question the intentions of its close diplomatic and military ally. The disinformation campaign was motivated primarily by the US’ geopolitical rivalry with China, which has, since the former’s Pivot to Asia in 2012, increasingly taken on a more militarized and antagonistic form. US military and intelligence agencies are manufacturing consent in the Philippines to win the hearts and minds of the Filipino masses in its effort to overpower China through military means. This is its real goal, and not to aid the Filipino people to address Chinese maritime aggression.

The US has no legitimacy to pose as a champion of international laws and norms and as a partner to secure the Philippines’ national sovereignty. It conducted its campaign to serve its own geopolitical interests with no regard for the immense need of the Philippines to vaccinate its citizens against the pandemic. Once again, Washington D.C. has Filipino blood on its hands.

US interference in Philippine public life cannot be left without consequences. Philippine foreign policy should pivot away from its longstanding reliance on the US and towards ASEAN, and away from addressing Chinese aggression through militarized means and towards regional multilateral diplomacy. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚 𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨. 𝙄𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨!

📷 AP

Reposted from SPARK - Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (Union of Progressive Youth), a socialist youth organization in the Philippines.

[darkmaga-retard]

Robin Westenra

Nations to swear fealty to UN

Yudi Sherman

September 9, 2024

On September 22nd, dignitaries from around the world will gather at the United Nations headquarters in New York for a meeting called Summit of the Future.

At the conference, world leaders will sign Pact for the Future, an accord in which member states will pledge their allegiance to the UN as a central, unifying government. 

“We, the Heads of State and Government, representing the peoples of the world, have gathered at United Nations Headquarters to protect the needs and interests of present and future generations through the actions in this Pact for the Future,” the document begins.

“We recognize that the multilateral system and its institutions, with the United Nations and its Charter at the centre, must be strengthened to keep pace with a changing world.”

Member states then repeatedly “reaffirm” their “unwavering commitment” to the UN, its charter, its purposes, its principles, and Agenda 2030. They vow to comply with the UN’s International Court of Justice and promise to “reform the international financial architecture.”

[ngdrb]

The accomplishments of Joe Biden during his presidency

Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States, assumed office at a pivotal moment in history, facing a myriad of challenges ranging from a global pandemic to economic uncertainty and social unrest.

Throughout his presidency, President Biden has pursued an ambitious agenda aimed at addressing these pressing issues and advancing key policy priorities. In this essay, we will examine some of the notable accomplishments of Joe Biden during his time in office and the impact of his leadership on the nation.

One of the most significant accomplishments of President Biden during his presidency has been his administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon taking office, President Biden made the pandemic a top priority and swiftly implemented a national strategy to combat the spread of the virus and accelerate the vaccination campaign.

Under his leadership, the administration successfully exceeded its initial goal of administering 100 million vaccine doses within the first 100 days, ultimately surpassing 200 million doses. This aggressive vaccination effort has been instrumental in curbing the spread of the virus and has contributed to a significant reduction in COVID-19 cases and deaths across the country.

 In addition to his focus on public health, President Biden has made substantial strides in revitalizing the American economy in the wake of the pandemic. The administration's American Rescue Plan, a comprehensive COVID-19 relief package, provided much-needed financial assistance to individuals, families, and businesses impacted by the economic downturn. The plan included direct stimulus payments to Americans, extended unemployment benefits, support for small businesses, and funding for vaccine distribution and testing. 

President Biden's economic agenda has also centered on job creation and infrastructure investment, culminating in the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a historic legislation that allocates substantial funding for modernizing the nation's infrastructure, creating millions of jobs, and bolstering economic growth. Furthermore, President Biden has been a vocal advocate for advancing racial equity and social justice in the United States. His administration has taken concrete steps to address systemic inequalities and promote inclusivity, including the signing of executive orders to combat discrimination, promote fair housing, and strengthen tribal sovereignty. 

Additionally, President Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. These actions underscore the administration's commitment to confronting the legacy of racism and fostering a more equitable society for all Americans.

 Moreover, President Biden has demonstrated a strong commitment to combating climate change and advancing environmental sustainability.

 His administration rejoined the Paris Agreement on climate change, signaling a renewed dedication to global cooperation in addressing the climate crisis. In November 2021, President Biden convened a virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, bringing together world leaders to discuss ambitious measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the transition to clean energy. 

Additionally, the administration has unveiled a comprehensive plan to invest in clean energy infrastructure, promote energy efficiency, and prioritize environmental justice, aiming to position the United States as a global leader in the fight against climate change. 

In the realm of foreign policy, President Biden has sought to reassert American leadership on the world stage and rebuild alliances with international partners. His administration has prioritized diplomacy and multilateral engagement, working to address global challenges such as nuclear proliferation, cybersecurity threats, and human rights abuses. 

President Biden has reaffirmed the United States' commitment to NATO and other key alliances, signaling a departure from the isolationist policies of the previous administration. His approach to foreign affairs has emphasized the importance of collaboration and collective action in tackling shared global concerns, fostering a more cohesive and cooperative international order. Furthermore, 

President Biden has been a steadfast proponent of expanding access to affordable healthcare and strengthening the Affordable Care Act. His administration has taken steps to bolster the ACA, including increasing enrollment outreach, expanding coverage options, and lowering healthcare costs for millions of Americans. 

President Biden has also championed efforts to address mental health challenges and substance abuse disorders, recognizing the critical importance of mental and behavioral health in overall well-being. 

In conclusion, President Joe Biden has achieved a range of significant accomplishments during his tenure in office, from his swift and effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic to his ambitious efforts to revitalize the economy, promote racial equity, combat climate change, and reinvigorate America's role in global affairs. 

His leadership has been marked by a steadfast commitment to addressing pressing domestic and international challenges and advancing a progressive policy agenda aimed at fostering a more equitable, resilient, and prosperous future for the nation. As his presidency continues to unfold, the enduring impact of his accomplishments is likely to shape the trajectory of the United States for years to come, leaving a lasting imprint on the fabric of American society and the global community.

[mariacallous]

In January 2020, Mexico made history as the first Latin American country to adopt a feminist foreign policy. Pioneered by Sweden six years earlier in 2014, feminist foreign policy (FFP) initially began as a niche effort in the Nordic region. For many years, Sweden stood alone on the global stage, emphasizing that its FFP focused on enhancing women’s “rights, resources, and representation” in the country’s diplomatic and development efforts worldwide. That effort was the result of the vision and leadership of Sweden’s foreign minister at the time, Margot Wallström, although there was widespread support for the policy across the government and it was continued by subsequent ministers.

It would be another three years before other nations followed suit: In 2017, Canada announced a Feminist International Assistance Policy. At the end of 2018, Luxembourg’s new coalition government committed to developing a FFP in their coalition agreement. And in 2019, Mexico and France pledged to co-host a major women’s rights anniversary conference in 2021 while beginning to explore the development of feminist foreign policies simultaneously.

I had an inside view on that process having convened the existing FFP governments and numerous international experts just before Mexico’s announcement. Together, we developed a global definition and framework for FFP. As I wrote for this magazine in January 2020, this approach was largely followed by the Mexican policy. The goals for Mexico in adopting an FFP were to increase the rights of women and LGBTQ+ individuals on the world stage, diversify their diplomatic corps, boost resourcing for gender equality issues, and ensure that internal policies within the foreign ministry aligned with this approach, including a zero-tolerance policy toward gender-based harassment.

Now, under the leadership of a new female foreign minister, Alicia Bárcena, and following the election of Mexico’s first woman president, Claudia Sheinbaum, I was excited to travel to Mexico City in July as it hit another milestone: becoming the first country outside Europe to host the annual ministerial-level conference on FFP. It was an opportunity for me to take stock of what Mexico has achieved since it adopted an FFP, and to see what progress it has made toward its goals.

Initially convened by Germany’s Annalena Baerbock in 2022 and then by the Dutch last year, Mexico took a unique approach to the conference by focusing it on a specific policy issue—in this case, the forthcoming Summit of the Future. This conference, taking place at the U.N. General Assembly in September, aims to begin laying the groundwork for the successor goals to the Sustainable Development Goals framework. It is already a fraught and polarized process, and progressive leadership is sorely needed.

Last week provided clear evidence that Mexico is making progress in modeling that leadership—including in consistently advocating for progressive language in often contentious international multilateral negotiations, such as the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP). For example, in its interventions at the latest COP, Mexico placed human rights, intersectionality and gender equity at the heart of climate action and recognized the role of women environmental defenders and Indigenous women in a just transition.

“Mexico is often a lone voice in holding the line on critical human rights, Indigenous rights and gender equality language at the climate talks, even among the FFP countries,” said Bridget Burns, the executive director of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization who has spent the last 15 years organizing women’s rights activists in climate negotiations and attended the July conference to speak on the sustainable development panel.

Mexico’s decision to link their hosting of the FFP Conference to the Summit of the Future—as evidenced in an outcome document they published and are circulating for signature ahead of the General Assembly’s high-level week in September—challenged FFP governments to engage a feminist approach in mainstream foreign policy dialogue, not just in gender-related discussions like the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. “The Summit of the Future aspires to a better tomorrow, but lofty goals won’t translate to real systemic change without feminist civil society,” said Sehnaz Kiymaz, senior coordinator of the Women’s Major Group.

On the multilateral front, Mexico has shown leadership by co-chairing the Feminist Foreign Policy Plus Group (FFP+) at the UN, alongside Spain. This body held the first ministerial-level meeting on FFP at the General Assembly last year and adopted the world’s first political declaration on FFP. Signed by 18 countries, governments pledged “to take feminist, intersectional and gender-transformative approaches to our foreign policies,” and outlined six areas for action in this regard. This was the first time FFP countries publicly pledged to work together as a group to address pressing global challenges through a feminist approach. While smaller subsets of this cohort have worked together multilaterally to condemn women’s rights rollbacks in Afghanistan or in support of an international legal framework on the right to care and be cared for, the first big test of this more systematic approach will be the forthcoming Summit of the Future, where feminists have been advocating for gender to be referenced as a cross-cutting priority.

Mexico has also recently ratified two international instruments to directly benefit women: Convention 189 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on domestic workers and Convention 190 of the ILO on violence and harassment in the workplace. Under the mantle of its FFP, Mexico has championed the importance of care work in the advancement of women’s rights and countries’ development at the U.N. Human Rights Council and at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean through the Global Alliance for Care Work.

While international women’s rights activists at the conference largely gave positive feedback on Mexico’s track record, the response from Mexican civil society was more critical. Activists organized a side event to present their more skeptical view of Mexican FFP. María Paulina Rivera Chávez, a member of the Mexican coalition and an organizer of the event, argued a conference could only go so far. “It is fundamental to decenter the state, understanding that feminist foreign policies must be horizontal,” she said.

A major theme of that side event and of Mexican activists’ interventions in the official ministerial conference was the incongruence of the Mexican government’s leadership on feminist approaches internationally while women’s human rights at home have suffered. Such criticisms of the Andrés Manuel López Obrador government are not unfounded. In one particularly troubling interview a few years ago, he suggested that Mexico’s high rate of femicide—11 women are murdered daily, with rates on the rise compared to other crimes—was merely a false provocation by his political opponents. Negative biases against women are pervasive in Mexico, with 90 percent of the population holding such biases.

Mexico has made strides in improving gender equality in other areas, however. Women now make up half of the Mexican legislature and have been appointed to lead high-level institutions, such as the Supreme Court, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Central Bank, with cascading positive effects on gender equality. Bárcena, for instance, clearly asserted from her first speech on the job that Mexico’s FFP would remain a top priority. This is no accident. At the federal level, significant efforts have been made to enforce gender parity laws and implement more than 80 percent of the legal frameworks promoting, enforcing and monitoring gender equality as stipulated by international benchmarks. Mexican women have also seen some improvements in maternal mortality rates, access to internet services, and protections to the right to abortion, with numerous national commitments to improve gender equality, such as measures to alleviate the burden of care on women.

But while there has been an increase in the number of women in the legislature and government positions, women from Indigenous, Afro-descendent, and working-class backgrounds continue to be underrepresented in political roles. And there has been a steady increase over the last decade in femicides, disappearances and sexual violence which Mexican feminist organizations and international actors have found are directly linked to the militarization of law enforcement under the guise of Mexico’s war on drugs and organized crime.

Additional criticisms of the Mexican FFP itself include the foreign ministry’s insularity and reluctance to engage with Mexican feminist activists in the development and implementation of its FFP. There was also a hesitation by the previous foreign ministry leadership to collaborate with Inmujeres, Mexico’s gender ministry, preferring to keep control of the FFP within the foreign ministry alone. It is not uncommon for gender ministries to be excluded in foreign policymaking as they are often perceived as lacking the necessary expertise or authority on foreign policy. However, Inmujeres is an exception in this regard and the criticism was valid. This was on my mind as I participated in the conference last month, and straight out of the gate I could observe a clear departure from the past approach under Bárcena’s leadership: The foreign ministry officially partnered with Inmujeres to co-host the conference, and the heads of both agencies were equally prominent voices throughout the three-day event. Similarly, the foreign ministry also made efforts to engage Mexican feminist civil society in conference planning, inviting civil society to a consultation day in the weeks leading up to the conference.

Following the right-wing electoral successes and likely abandonment of FFP in countries like Sweden, Argentina, and potentially the Netherlands, the success of a Mexican model of FFP is all the more important. Mexican activists I spoke with expressed optimism about Bárcena’s leadership, which they had not extended to her predecessor. Certainly, there is some cynicism about whether Mexico’s next president, a woman, will be any better on the issue of femicide than her mentor and predecessor, López Obrador, but there is some room for hope. If the leadership of a female foreign minister like Bárcena has been more effective in mobilizing political and convening power behind FFP, there’s potential that Sheinbaum will also show more interest than her predecessor.

While Mexican civil society has critiqued that Sheinbaum did not present a plan on how she would continue and improve the country’s FFP and repair the government’s relationship with feminist civil society, Sheinbaum’s plan—entitled 100 Pasos Para La Transformación—takes a human rights-based approach to gender equality. This is promising, because political approaches, which are more common, tend to reduce the human rights of women, girls, and gender-diverse persons as a means to an end, such as better economic, education, or health outcomes. The plan proposes measures to alleviate the care burden on women, safeguard sexual and reproductive health and rights, protect LGBTQ+ communities, promote gender parity in cabinets, improve land rights for rural women, reduce femicides, and more.

That Sheinbaum has not explicitly addressed the importance of Mexico’s FFP is not necessarily surprising. Most feminist and women’s rights organizations are understandably more focused on issues within their own borders, and foreign policy rarely drives political power and the focus of the electorate. Discussion of feminist foreign policy is thus typically the domain of the foreign minister and in some cases other relevant ministers—such as international development in Germany, or the trade ministry in Sweden under its previous government. (Canada’s Justin Trudeau stands out as a rare exception, having championed feminism and Canada’s feminist approach to policymaking at the Group of Seven and international gender equality forums throughout his tenure as prime minister.)

But even without top-down leadership from a president, savvy officials within the Mexican foreign and gender ministries are using FFP to make progress. While there has not yet been a public accounting of the progress made in implementing FFP, the clear leadership Mexico is demonstrating on the world stage in key negotiations, its successful conference, and the anticipated new government set the stage for Mexico to boldly advance its FFP. It will serve as a valuable example to the world.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[Bernama is Malaysian State Media]

The Malaysian Government does not recognise any unilateral decision made by any country, including the US, to impose sanctions against individuals, agencies, or countries supporting Hamas, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Instead, he said Malaysia only recognises decisions made by the United Nations (UN) that are multilateral in nature. "We do not agree with the decision made by the United States and it will not influence our policies and decisions," he said during Minister's Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat sitting today, 7 November.[...] Anwar said Malaysia does not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation and has provided clear comparisons and rationale Anwar drew parallels with historical figures like former South African President Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC), who were once labelled as terrorists during their struggle against apartheid. Worse still, he said Palestine was not only facing apartheid policies, but also ethnic cleansing, and genocide. "Even though we did not ratify the Rome Statute, which means that we cannot bring this issue to the International Criminal Court, our stance is clear, we will support the cause of any country, including Palestine, in bringing cases of occupation, oppression, and injustice against the Palestinian people," he said. Regarding local media labelling Hamas as a terrorist organisation, Anwar said, by now, the media should understand the sensitivity and understand the Palestinians' rights to protest and take action.

7 Nov 23

[migrantsday]

(1st meeting) International Dialogue on Migration 2024 - "Facilitating Regular Pathways to a Better Future: Harnessing the Power of Migration".

The International Dialogue on Migration (IDM) 2024 on the theme "Facilitating Regular Pathways to a Better Future: Harnessing the Power of Migration" is organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

This session will contribute to:

An evidence-based understanding of the challenges and opportunities for migration today and tomorrow, including geopolitical crises and scaling-up of solutions, as well as ways to address gaps in current knowledge.

Identifying innovative and cutting-edge solutions that governments at local, national, and regional levels have already put in place or could develop in the future, to harness the potential of regular pathways for migration as part of a 360-degree approach to human mobility.

Unpacking how multilateral action and broad-based partnerships including private sector, diasporas and local communities, at the national, regional and global levels to facilitate regular and safe pathways for migration contribute to the response to some of the most distressing crises in the world, supporting integration and the transition to peace and prosperity.

Understanding how to achieve more accessible, people-centered, rights-based, accessible, sustainable and safe regular pathways, including key policy, operational and technical solutions that should be in place throughout the migration cycle.

Related Documents

Concept note

Watch the (1st meeting) International Dialogue on Migration 2024!

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Matthew Continetti

Six months. That's how long it took for President Biden to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorists who killed some 1,200 people, raped women, tortured and murdered children, and took more than 200 captives, including American citizens, into the maze of tunnels, spider holes, and underground bunkers known as the Gaza Metro on October 7.

According to the White House, Biden on Thursday called for an "immediate ceasefire" and told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "strikes on humanitarian workers" and "the overall humanitarian situation" are "unacceptable." Biden went on to say that "U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel's immediate action" and on steps to "address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers."

This is a demand that Israel appease Hamas at the negotiating table. This is a threat to condition military assistance to Israel based on absolutely no evidence and grounded in a ridiculous and unachievable standard of conduct. The move is cynical, opportunistic, and counterproductive. Biden has lost the plot.

For six months after the worst blow to the Jewish state since its founding in 1948, and the worst day for world Jewry since the Holocaust, Biden stood with Israel and defended Israel's right to self-defense. America supplied Israel with the weaponry required to free the hostages and destroy Hamas as a coherent military force. America took Israel's side in multilateral institutions such as the International Court of Justice.

The situation has changed. For weeks, Biden has let anyone within earshot know that he is frustrated and angry with Israel's strategy and tactics. He approved of Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D., N.Y.) call for new elections in Israel and the replacement of Netanyahu's government. His advisers have been trying to prevent Israel's planned offensive in the city of Rafah, where Hamas's remaining battalions use the hostages and 1.5 million Palestinians as human shields. Last month, Biden's U.N. ambassador chose not to veto a resolution calling for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza—a diplomatic warning that America may not always be there for Israel.

[developmentinformationday]

From the SDG Summit to the Summit of the Future: Building the United Nations We Need.

Panelists will discuss how the 2024 Summit of the Future may best accelerate the implementation of the outcomes agreed at the SDG Summit by promoting effective United Nations reform for a stronger, more accountable and inclusive multilateral system.

Side Event at the SDG Action Weekend organized by Coalition for the United Nations We Need, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Maldives to the United Nations, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Uganda to the United Nations, United Nations Department of Global Communications, Stakeholder Group of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent, Together 2030, International Development Law Organization, Global Women Leaders: Voices for Change and Inclusion, SDGs Kenya Forum, Stimson Center, Baha'i International Community, Oxfam International, International Alliance of Women, Global Call to Action Against Poverty.

To maximize the 2023 SDG Summit's impact, the Secretary General is convening an SDG Action Weekend, which will generate opportunities for stakeholders, United Nations entities, and Member States to convene inside the United Nations Headquarters and set out specific commitments and contributions to drive SDG transformation between now and 2030.

The SDG Action Weekend will consist of the SDG Mobilization Day on Saturday, 16 September, and the SDG Acceleration Day on Sunday, 17 September at UNHQ in New York.

The SDG Action Weekend includes a select number of high-level side-events identified through an open call that concluded in August. They are jointly organized by coalitions of Member States, United Nations agencies and other Member States, United Nations agencies , and global stakeholder networks.

[centrally-unplanned]

I continue to be amused by discourse that treats the UN as a relevant body to anything, real inertia moment. And to be clear, I don't mean "the UN has never been a world government", we all know that. I mean that in the 1990's, with the fall of the Soviet Union, the UN entered a new phase of political relevance; governments around the world actively wanted it to play a stronger role in global peace & development. Many governments of Europe, Asia, the Americas, and even somewhat the US cared about it. And it failed (as it always was going to imo) - the War in Iraq being the biggest blow, but really a long string of repeated irrelevancies through the last twenty years. Other organizations like NATO for defense, multilateral trade deals for economics, etc, were increased to compensate, and it was set aside as something to pay attention to.

So the governments of France, India, Japan, Brazil, etc, know it doesn't matter and don't care about it. Talking is a free action of course, they have their reps and they do their motions and vote and allocate that aid budget (UN Aid still does relevant relief work, this is about the diplo wing of the org). But they don't care about those outcomes, they don't affect policy. In 2003 whether or not the UN would approve of the War in Iraq was a *big deal* to the governments of the US and France and all that, it shaped foreign policy even if ofc it could not control it. Today it doesn't even come up in the conversation.

[uboat53]

Man, it is frustrating being a liberal and a Democrat these days. Not because of Republicans or independents, they're always out there, it's because I have to be on the same side as some of the stupidest people on the planet. At least, I hope they're stupid, because, if they're not, then they're lying about everything they claim to believe.

Over the last three and a half years, Biden has checked dozens of boxes that liberals have been trying to mark off the to-do list for decades. He passed a massive infrastructure bill, the first gun control law in 30 years, and a huge investment in combatting and preparing for climate change, but that's only the headline stuff. Under the hood he's done hundreds of other things as well; from canceling billions of dollars of student debt despite conservative courts fighting him every step of the way to joining unions on the picket line, negotiating on their behalf after the limelight has faded, and passing pro-union policies to reclassifying marijuana and pardoning those convicted for it to appointing dozens of women, minorities, and defense attorneys to the federal courts to restoring the rights of Native Americans to their historical lands to protecting the rights of LGBT+ people and hundreds of other small actions across the whole breadth and scope of the federal government.

What do other liberals and Democrats think about him after that? Well, they think he's a bland centrist who has betrayed their cause.

Inflation turned negative this last month and has generally returned to very low levels over the last year. Wages have continued to grow even as inflation has toned down and it looks like we're about to have the first "soft landing" in which we manage to tame inflation without suffering a recession since the mid-90s. Meanwhile, crime rates have crashed over the last two years and are now some of the lowest in history.

Are liberals and Democrats going to mention any of that? No, they're perfectly happy to let the conservative narrative of a devastated economy and crime-ridden country stand without comment.

Biden spent the last four years traveling the world, reassuring allies of our commitments and rebuilding cooperation among western nations and beyond to a degree that hasn't been seen in recent times. He deftly denied Russia their chosen narrative with regards to their invasion of Ukraine and coordinated a massive, multilateral effort to supply Ukraine and allow them to resist a nation many times larger. He's also quietly built up alliances in east and south Asia, allowing us to better limit Chinese expansionist influence in the region. Though constrained by a massively pro-Israeli Congress, Biden still leaned heavily on a bloodthirsty Netanyahu to limit the violence and protect Palestinians. His success has been limited, but he has successfully forced some cessation of hostilities and some provision of aid even while retaining the general support of the Israeli public.

What do other liberals and Democrats think of him after that? Well, he's apparently an imperialist who's bent on crushing freedom around the world and has murdered Palestinians with his bare hands.

Look, I get it, Biden isn't flashy and exciting, but the fact that he isn't flashy or exciting is exactly what's enabled him to do all the things he's done; things we claim to desperately want and support! He talks to people privately and persuasively, forming relationships with the key stakeholders on issues, he negotiates in private, building trust with the people he talks to that he won't stab them in the back by leaking damaging information, he presents himself as neutral and non-threatening to prevent a backlash from growing, and, finally, he allows the people he's negotiated with to take a lion's share of the credit in order to get things done.

If you're not a liberal or a Democrat, then fair enough, but if you are one then how can you not tell that this has been the most liberal, progressive, and overall successful presidency of most of our lifetimes? The only conclusion I can come to is that you don't actually care about any of the issues we all talk about, you just care about performances.

I believe in something. I believe that liberal ideas like universal health care, addressing climate change, promoting unions, promoting minority rights, and building infrastructure will make life better for all Americans (even the ones who oppose those things), I believe that international alliances between countries that accept liberal democratic ideals is essential for peace, prosperity, and freedom; not just for Americans, but for people all around the world, and I believe that we should enthusiastically support and champion anyone who can achieve those things.

Apparently that makes me unusual for a modern liberal Democrat and that makes me somewhat frustrated.

[protoslacker]

So, regardless of Project 2025, the expansion of harmful anti-rights language and restrictions on funding from the United States to NGOs and multilaterals is already part of the playbook. Thankfully, human rights defenders also have a playbook, too. More than 100 organizations endorsed the 2023 Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Policy Agenda, which focuses on specific policy and leadership actions the executive branch can take to further advance sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice in the United States and around the world.

Eve Brecker & Rachel Clement at Rewire News Group. ‘Disbanding’ Project 2025 Won’t Stop Global Attacks on Women’s Rights

As the global “gag rule” turns 40, conservatives will stop at nothing to control how other countries implement their health programs.