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United Nations

Blocking The Doors Of The Nuclear Ban Treaty Blockers

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) now has seventy “states parties” and two dozen governments moving to see it ratified. The Entry Into Force anniversary will be celebrated all over the world as the best means of preventing accidental or deliberate detonations of the most poisonous and overwhelmingly destructive weapons in human history. (Universalization would also end today’s regular use of nuclear weapons which are employed by nine governments the way bank robbers use a pistol: without pulling the trigger, they still get the loot. It’s no deterrence but armed robbery.)

The Year US Empire Faced Great Difficulties In Organizing Another Foreign Intervention

It took the U.S. government one year to push through the United Nations Security Council its project for a fourth foreign military invasion of Haiti, but even now it is not a sure thing. Although, on Oct. 2, the UN body blessed the “Multinational Security Support” mission (MSS) which 1,000 Kenyan police will supposedly lead, the Kenyan Supreme Court has given itself until Jan. 26, 2024 to decide on whether the Kenyan police can constitutionally be deployed abroad. Many Kenyan lawyers and opposition leaders say they cannot. Whatever the court decides, it is uncertain that Kenyan President William Ruto will respect it.

South Africa Institutes Proceedings Against The State Of Israel

The Hague, December 29, 2023 - South Africa today filed an application instituting proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, concerning alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”) in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. According to the Application, “acts and omissions by Israel . . . are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent . . . to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group” and that “the conduct of Israel — through its State organs, State agents, and other persons and entities acting on its instructions or under its direction, control or influence — in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, is in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention”.

As US Veto Power Enables Genocide, There Are Options to Protect Gaza

As Israel continues its genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza — with the death toll now exceeding 20,000 (about 70 percent women and children) — the world seems powerless to stop the slaughter. The Biden administration, Israel’s chief enabler, defanged the resolution that was ultimately passed by the UN Security Council on December 22, rendering it merely symbolic. The final resolution calls for humanitarian assistance but not for a ceasefire which would allow aid to reach the people of Gaza. The U.S. saved diplomatic face by not employing its customary veto, but it did not vote for the resolution, electing instead to abstain.

Transnational Corporations Provoke A Single Scream Of Horror

Within the United Nations, there is a little-known debate about the status of global tax regulation. In August 2023, UN Secretary-General António Guterres released a draft document called ‘Promotion of Inclusive and Effective International Tax Cooperation at the United Nations’. This document comes out of a long debate led by the Global South about the unregulated behaviour of transnational corporations (especially the ways in which they avoid taxation) and about the fact that discussions regarding regulations have been dominated by Global North countries (notably those in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, an intergovernmental platform largely made up of the richest countries in the world).

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 75: UNSC Postpones Ceasefire Vote

The UN Security Council postponed for the second time a vote on a ceasefire resolution in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The resolution was initially scheduled for a vote on Monday. However, Security Council members are debating the draft’s wording to avoid another U.S. veto. On December 8, the U.S. rejected a ceasefire call, while the UK abstained. U.S. foreign officials warned that support for Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip is isolating Washington from its allies and could cost it diplomatically in the long run. On Tuesday, the National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed that the U.S. is “still working through the modalities of the resolution.”

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 74: Hamas Tells Israel It ‘Arrived Too Late’

The atrocities Israel committed in the Gaza Strip may need a UN special tribunal, said Martin Griffiths, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs. Griffiths told The Financial Times in an interview that he has dealt with conflicts and natural disasters in Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and Sudan, and yet the situation in Gaza, where 136 UN workers have been killed in Israeli bombardment, is by far the worst. “None of the normal, sound foundations you see across the world for humanitarian operations in places like Syria and Afghanistan exist for us in Gaza.

Craig Mokhiber Interview: The Hope Of Ending ‘Israel’s Fever Dream’

Interest in the withering four-page letter that Craig Mokhiber, former Director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner of Human Rights, wrote on October 28 to High Commissioner Volker Turk—charging that the UN has failed in its mission to prevent a “textbook case of genocide” in Gaza—has not waned. Last week, nearly 1,000 people from around the globe attended a webinar with Mokhiber co-hosted by the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace (PCAP) and Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA). Mokhiber, an attorney specializing in international human rights, worked for the UN in increasingly impactful roles for over three decades and lived in Gaza in the 1990s.

The United States Is Losing Allies On Gaza

The United States is facing growing domestic and international opposition to its support for the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Defying the U.S. and Israel, the U.N. General Assembly voted on Tuesday, 153 nations in favor with 10 against, and 23 abstentions for an immediate end to the killing. Most significantly, the vote on Tuesday showed a slew of U.S. allies abandoning Washington on Gaza. It is the second time in the past six weeks that the Assembly voted for a permanent ceasefire.  On Oct. 27, the vote was 120 in favor, 14 against and 45 abstentions. After witnessing six more weeks of genocide, 33 more nations — including several who almost always automatically side with the U.S. — this time evidently had enough and voted against Washington and in favor of an immediate halt to the slaughter.

Latest COP28 Draft Does Not Mention Fossil Fuel Phaseout

As the United Nations COP28 climate talks entered the final stretch, the most recent draft of a climate deal left out the crucial “phase out” language regarding fossil fuels, the main demand expressed by many developing countries, particularly those vulnerable to climate change, as well as the European Union. The draft deal is the precursor to a final round of negotiations over whether or how long fossil fuels will continue to be a part of the transition to a renewable energy future. COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber encouraged those present at the summit to finalize a deal before the conference ends on Tuesday, reported Reuters.

For Human Rights Day: Poor People’s Struggle To Survive In The USA

Sunday, December 10, was the International Human Rights Day to mark the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948. Clearing the FOG spoke with human rights defender Cheri Honkala. A founder of the Poor Peoples Economic and Human Rights Campaign and the Poor People's Army, Honkala talks about the worsening situation for poor people in the United States. She also describes the protests that will be taking place at the Republican and Democratic Party's national conventions this summer, an update on her arrest and conviction at the Office of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, DC and her new book, a guide on how to take over vacant houses.

‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 63: Israeli Army Strips, Blindfolds Men

Two months on, it is becoming more and more difficult to summarize in an article the sheer scope of violence, war crimes, and human rights violations being committed in Gaza in the span of a single day. Horrifying images have emerged of Palestinian men stripped down to their underwear, blindfolded, handcuffed, and made to line up kneeling in the streets or in non descript lots. Struggling to come up with any credible proof of military success in Gaza besides the slaughter of civilians, Israeli forces have claimed that the men are Hamas fighters who surrendered.

As US Vetoes Ceasefire Resolution, People Take The Streets For Palestine

From Alaska to Florida, people in the US once again took to the streets en masse to demand a permanent ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza and an end US aid to Israel. The Shut It Down for Palestine Coalition, composed of several organizations including the International Peoples’ Assembly, the Palestinian Youth Movement, the ANSWER Coalition, and National Students for Justice in Palestine, called for a day of action on December 8, to continue putting pressure on Israel and the US one week after Israel resumed its genocidal violence against Gaza.

UN General Assembly Demands Israel’s Withdrawal From Golan Heights

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a fresh resolution on Tuesday, November 28 asking Israel to withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. The resolution said that Israel’s continued occupation of the Syrian territory “constitutes a stumbling block in the way of achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the region.” A total of 91 countries voted in favor of the resolution drafted jointly by some of the Arab countries, including the UAE and Syria, along with Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea. 61 countries abstained from voting, TASS reported.  Countries such as China, Russia, Brazil, and India voted in favor of the resolution. Only eight countries, including the US and the UK, voted against the resolution.

Adhering To The UN Charter: Barbados First And United States Last

As part of our academic research on how to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we are examining the extent to which UN member states adhere to the UN Charter and UN-backed goals such as the SDGs. Towards this end, we have created a preliminary “Multilateralism Index,” and welcome feedback and suggestions. The ranking of 74 countries according to the Multilateralism Index is shown in Figure 1 below. Barbados ranks highest, the UN member most aligned with the UN Charter. Though Barbados is a very small country, with just 280,000 people, its peaceful multilateralism gives it a big voice.
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Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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