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These Countries Slammed UNHRC For Its Attack On Nicaragua

March 9, 2023 Kawsachun News. , , ,
Several countries have rejected the politicized use of the UN Human Rights Council and the weaponization of human rights against Nicaragua, following the release of a hostile UN expert report. A speakers list which included DPRK, Venezuela, Belarus, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Eritrea, Syria, and China voiced opposition to the methods of the expert group and the use of unverified findings to call for additional unilateral coercive measures. The 300-page report (Spanish version) is based on false accounts and allegations and is demonstrably and egregiously selective in its presentation of evidence since the group systematically excluded a large quantity of local sources, including major Nicaraguan news channels which published highly relevant material and reports on specific incidents during the period in question (2018).

On The Latest United Nations Human Rights Council Report On Nicaragua

March 6, 2023 Stephen Sefton, Tortilla con Sal. , , ,
In general, practically all reports on Nicaragua by international human rights institutions and organizations fail to check information supporting false claims, omit facts inconvenient to their findings and claim a commitment to transparency even while failing to engage adequately rival versions of events. They make highly selective use of sources and systematically avoid genuinely independent corroboration of accusations by seeking to verify accounts only with sources suffering from these self-same failings. This latest report for the UN Council for Human Rights shares these irremediable defects.

Lawyers Urge UN To Review Solitary Confinement Of Black Americans

March 5, 2023 Cheyanne M. Daniels, The Hill. , , ,
A group of human rights attorneys have filed a joint submission urging the United Nations to review abusive solitary confinement practices used in the U.S. against Black Americans.  The submission, which comes ahead of U.N. officials’ April trip to the U.S. to review issues related to racial justice and equality in law enforcement, details the physical and mental health repercussions of solitary confinement.  The visit is part of a four-point agenda to end systemic racism and human rights violations by law enforcement against Africans and people of African descent. It comes after the Biden administration extended an invitation to the U.N. in December.

Jeffery Sachs And Ray McGovern At The United Nations

February 23, 2023 PPN Staff, Peace and Planet News. , , ,
Professor Jeffery Sachs and former CIA intelligence analyst Ray McGovern presented at the U.N. Security Council Feb. 21. Professor Sachs presented via Zoom and McGovern appeared in person. McGovern spoke off the cuff and even sang to the council. Following their presentation, the representatives from Russia, Mozambique, Ecuador, and Gabon all spoke in support, while the ambassador from the UK accused Russia of trying to distract from the issue of the war in Ukraine, echoed by the representatives from the United States and France. The U.S. ambassador denied any involvement in the destruction of Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The Ukraine War In The Light Of The UN Charter

February 8, 2023 Alfred de Zayas, Scheer Post. , , ,
The war in Ukraine did not start on 24 February 2022, but already in February 2014.  The civilian population of the Donbas has endured continued shelling from Ukrainian forces since 2014, notwithstanding the Minsk Agreements.  These attacks on Lugansk and Donetsk significantly increased in January-February 2022, as reported by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. Like all wars, this war is a tragedy for all concerned, — not only for Ukrainians and Russians, but also for the continued validity of international law and the primacy of the UN Charter.  Already NATO’s military campaigns in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq in the 1990’s and early 2000’s sorely tried the authority and credibility of the United Nations as an Organization.  These military campaigns conducted outside Chapter VII of the UN Charter rendered the United Nations nearly irrelevant, because the Organization was unable to prevent the illegal use of force or mediate peace. 

UN Human Rights Chief: End Venezuela Sanctions

February 4, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report. , , , ,
The United Nations human rights chief has called for sanctions on Venezuela to be lifted, stating that they “exacerbated the economic crisis and hindered human rights” and created “hurdles” for “the country’s recovery and development”. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk visited Venezuela in January. There, he met with government officials, right-wing opposition leaders, civil society groups, and religious institutions. “I heard from across the spectrum of people I spoke to, including humanitarian actors and UN agencies, about the impact of sectorial sanctions on the most vulnerable segments of the population and the hurdles sanctions create for the country’s recovery and development, not least in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic”, Türk said.

Africa Objects To US Chairing UN Climate Fund, Citing Unpaid $2 Billion

January 27, 2023 Joe Lo, Climate Home News. , , ,
Developed countries nominated the US Treasury’s Victoria Gunderson to jointly lead the UN flagship climate fund’s deliberations in 2023. These appointments are typically approved without discussion. On behalf of African board members, Kenyan environment official Pacifica Ogola raised an official objection. The US has contributed just $1 billion to the fund in its 12-year history, compared to $9bn from EU countries and $3bn from Japan. A further $2bn pledged under former president Barack Obama was never delivered. His successors Donald Trump and Joe Biden have not paid in a cent. Ogola stressed, in a letter dated 16 January, rich countries’ responsibility to inject money into the GCF and called for better enforcement of commitments. Approving Gunderson’s role must not “normalise the situation” of non-payers holding sway over decisions, she argued.

What Will Happen After The ICJ Delegitimizes Israel’s Occupation?

January 12, 2023 Ramzy Baroud, Mintpress News. , , ,
A historic United Nations vote on December 31 called on the ICJ to look at the Israeli Occupation in terms of legal consequences, the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the responsibility of all UN Member States in bringing the protracted Israeli Occupation to an end. A special emphasis will be placed on the “demographic composition, character and status” of Occupied Jerusalem. The last time the ICJ was asked to offer a legal opinion on the matter was in 2004. However, back then, the opinion was largely centered around the “legal consequences arising from the construction of the (Israeli Apartheid) wall.” While it is true that the ICJ concluded that the totality of the Israeli actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are unlawful under international law – the Fourth Geneva Convention, the relevant provision of the earlier Hague Regulations and, of course, the numerous UN General Assembly and Security Council Resolutions  – this time around the ICJ is offering its view on Israel’s attempt at making what is meant to be a temporary military Occupation, a permanent one.

Reactions To The UN Security Council’s December 21 Meeting On Haiti

January 5, 2023 Marie Laurette Numa, Orinoco Tribune. , , ,
The 15 members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), joined by Haiti, Canada, and the Dominican Republic, on the afternoon of Dec. 21, 2022. Discussion centered on whether the Council would approve another nation or group of nations to militarily intervene in Haiti, ostensibly to assist the Haitian National Police (PNH) in their fight against armed “gangs.” The need for sanctions and how to apply them was also debated. The meeting was “far from orthodox,” in the words of one diplomat, primarily due to the frank remarks from one of the three briefers, Haïti Liberté journalist Kim Ives (whose full address is published separately) and the immediate follow-up statement by the Russian ambassador, who slammed the hypocritical conduct of Haiti’s three neo-colonial overlords—the US, Canada, and France.

Civil Society Organizations Condemn Israel’s Targeted Smear Campaign

January 1, 2023 Open Letter, Mondoweiss. , , ,
On 14 December 2022, Israel’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva smeared the respected and eminent UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory Occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, in a direct attempt to attack and undermine the mandate she has been entrusted with and thwart her expert human rights work on Palestine. The statement which contains baseless accusations of antisemitism, raises concerns about the “impunity that exists today regarding antisemitism and antisemitic comments made by UN officials”. More specifically, it refers to a historic Facebook post made by UNSR Francesca Albanese almost a decade ago, in 2014, which at the time reflected on the reasons for international inaction on the question of Palestine.

UN Experts: US Sanctions Violate Iranians’ Human Rights

December 25, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. , , ,
Top United Nations experts have criticized US government sanctions for violating the human rights of Iranians. They made it clear that the unilateral coercive measures that the United States has imposed on Iran violate international law. A group of UN special rapporteurs stressed that these sanctions have a “negative impact” on “the enjoyment of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the Islamic Republic of Iran and on the right to health and the right to life.” Violating Iranians’ right to life is a roundabout diplomatic way of saying that US sanctions are killing them. The UN experts sent a formal letter to the United States condemning its sanctions and requesting that it investigate and remove them.

West Opposes Rest Of World In UN Votes For Fairer Economic System, Equality

December 23, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. , , ,
Most countries on Earth voted at the United Nations General Assembly to support a call for a new international economic order that is based on sovereign equality and cooperation, that rejects unilateral sanctions and advocates for debt relief for the Global South. The only countries that opposed this widely popular proposal were the West and its allies. The United States and its proxies were also the lone votes against common-sensical resolutions promoting sustainable development, biological diversity, and basic civil rights for Palestinians. Almost the entire world supported these proposals. Washington showed itself to be a rogue state on the international stage, voting against practically every resolution, even on uncontroversial issues where the rest of the planet is in agreement.

False Solutions And Private Interests Take Over Global Biodiversity Summit

December 21, 2022 Daisee Francour, Indigenous Environmental Network. , , ,
The 15th session of the Conference of Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) concluded in the early hours on Monday, December 19th with the adoption of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), known as the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework. The UNCBD is a multilateral treaty with three core goals, “the conservation of biological diversity; the sustainable use of its components; and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources.” Additionally, the post-2020 GBF defines targets for biodiversity conservation for the next decade, and with nearly 200 Parties and an estimated 15,000 attendees present for the biodiversity summit, there were various obstacles and points of tension that Parties did not agree on.

AfroResistance At The Permanent Forum Of People Of African Descent

December 16, 2022 Afro Resistance. , ,
From December 5- 8, 2022, AfroResistance attended the first session of the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent, which was held at the United Nations Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The Permanent Forum serves as "a consultative mechanism for people of African descent and other relevant stakeholders as a platform to improve the security, quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent, as well as an advisory body to the Human Rights Council, in line with the program of activities for the implementation of the International Decade for Afro-descendants and in close coordination with the existing mechanisms." (United Nations) The forum was attended by Afro-descendant human rights activists, member states, United Nations bodies and agencies, intergovernmental and regional organizations, civil society representatives, and other sectors.

A Behind-The-Scenes Look At The Global Plastics Treaty

December 10, 2022 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. , , ,
Could countries come together to find a solution to the plastic pollution crisis? International collaboration on environmental issues has a mixed track record. The Montreal Protocol successfully reduced the refrigerants and other chemicals burning a hole in the ozone layer, but the efforts of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are still not on track to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions enough to stave off the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Now, nations are trying again with an international treaty on plastic pollution. The first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to draft what the UN is calling “an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment” took place in Punta del Este, Uruguay, last week, from November 28 to December 2.
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