UN Week – 1/30/2012

This blog entry is written by members of our blogging community and expresses those experts’ views alone.

by John and Douglas Carey www.unweek.blogspot.com 

Contents of this issue: UN’s Holocaust Remembrance Day; Coping with space debris

On January 27, Deputy US Permanent Representative Rosemary Di Carlo spoke these words:

“The theme of this day of remembrance is particularly apt, and particularly painful. Usually, when we remember the Holocaust, we remember the adults who perished. After all, they had left some record of their lives. They had made some impression on the world. They had done things that could be remembered, and so they were remembered – by many, and above all, by the family members and friends who had escaped being devoured.

UN Week – 1/23/2012

This blog entry is written by members of our blogging community and expresses those experts’ views alone.

by John and Douglas Carey www.unweek.blogspot.com 

Contents of this issue: Security Council due process; US proposals.        

Security Council due process.

In a lengthy presidential statement on the rule of law issued January 19^th, the Security Council clamed, inter alia, that it “remains committed to ensure that fair and clear procedures exist for placing individuals and entities on sanctions lists and for removing them, as well as for granting humanitarian exemptions.” S/PRST/2012/1. Let’s see just how committed the Council has been so far.

UN Week – 1/16/2012

This blog entry is written by members of our blogging community and expresses those experts’ views alone.

by John and Douglas Carey www.unweek.blogspot.com

Contents of this issue: ElBaradei and the IAEA.

“My conscience would not allow me to run for the presidency or any position without having a real democratic system that implements the real concepts of democracy, not only its framework,” said by Mohammed ElBaradei  on January 14^th.

His announcement brings to mind various images. I can see him sitting at a conference table in the classroom at New York University Law School where I was teaching an international law class. He was a serious student. That was long ago, when he was on the staff of the Egyptian Mission to the United Nations. He won a doctorate in law at NYU.

“TAKE ACTION” Links

by Daniel Vellone, Intern

For a quick way to sign up to action and to receive updates, click on the following links:

UNA-USA  (United Nations Association of the USA Take Action email page)

Better World Campaign  (On the middle of the homepage is a column that reads “Stay Informed.” There you can sign up for e-mail updates about the work of the UN)

The UN FOUNDATION (United Nations Foundation page to sign up to receive updates) 

The directions below (“read more”)  lead to more detailed information; they will help you become informed about United Nations and development-related causes and to learn how you can take action to help.  The United Nations Association of the USA (UNA-USA, (a program of the UN Foundation), the Better World Campaign and the United Nations Foundation all offer you ways to get involved with toward achieving social justice and improved quality of life for all.  

Granito: How to Nail a Dictator

United Nations Association of New York 

invites you to join us for a special one-night film screening of

Granito
How To Nail A Dictator

Followed by a post-screening discussion with the film’s director

Pamela Yates

Tuesday, January 17th

The horrors of Guatemala’s civil war defy rationalization. Death-count estimates, numbering at least 200,000 Maya people exterminated by the military, far outstrip those of the dictatorships of Fidel Castro and Augusto Pinochet. Part political thriller, part memoir, Granito takes us through a haunting tale of genocide and justice that spans four decades, two films, and filmmaker Pamela Yates’s own career.

UN Week- 1/9/2012

This blog entry is written by members of our blogging community and expresses those experts’ views alone.

by John and Douglas Carey www.unweek.blogspot.com
Contents of this issue: A UN vocabulary game to raise food for the hungry; capital punishment in Saudi Arabia; mercenaries and private security companies in Iraq.

A UN vocabulary game to raise food for the hungry.

 Freerice.com, the online game that allows players to improve their vocabulary while fighting global hunger by making donations to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), crossed a milestone today as it reached one million registered players on January 5^th.

On Freerice.com, players face increasingly difficult vocabulary questions and for every correct answer, they earn 10 grains of rice, which is donated to WFP and paid for by sponsored banners on the site.

The online game also allows players to choose from 45,000 questions in various subjects, including flags of the world and literature, and in six languages – English, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese and Korean.

Member’s Day at the UN: February 10th, 2012

UNA-USA Members’ Day at the UN/

4th Annual Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference

2012 Year of Decision:

The UN in American Foreign Policy

Friday, February, 10 2012
United Nations Headquarters
North Lawn Building – Conference Room 1
Visitor’s Entrance to the UN, on First Avenue at 46th St., New York, NY 10017

Keynote Speaker: Jeffrey Sachs, Ph.D
Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Director of The Earth Institute,  Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University

REGISTER HERE

UNA-USA and the Mid-Atlantic Region Division (New York and New Jersey) present Members’ Day at the UN/ Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, Friday, February 10, 2012 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the United Nations in New York City.

This day provides an opportunity for UNA-USA members to attend special briefings and panel discussions regarding the most pressing issues on the UN’s agenda.  The event is a great benefit to members, as they gain full access to the UN and see the importance of their commitment, support and work toward a strong U.S.-UN relationship.

Conference attendees will have an opportunity to meet with high ranking UN officials and to engage in topical discussions with some of the most prominent foreign policy shapers of our time.  This year’s conference offers a unique preview into: Rio+20 (The UN Conference on Sustainable Development) before the conference in June; the evolution of UN Peacekeeping operations globally; a discussion of what comes after 2015 in relation to the MDGs; and the growing assertiveness of the Security Council in dealing with peace and security in the 21st century.

Guest speakers and panelists will shed light on the challenges and opportunities faced by Americans and the United Nations system in today’s increasingly interconnected world. More details to come!

The Worldview Institute 2012

The United Nations Association of New York

is pleased to open enrollment for 

The Worldview Institute Winter 2012

  

The Worldview Institute provides a forum within which New York professionals can engage and discuss global issues with experts in foreign policy and international affairs. Its program consists of ten seminar modules geared to develop and enhance the scope of the work and activities of young business executives at U.S. based multi-national corporations and young professionals within the NGO, United Nations, media, law, government, diplomatic and academic communities.

UN Week- 12/26/2011

This blog entry is written by members of our blogging community and expresses those experts’ views alone.

by John and Douglas Carey www.unweek.blogspot.com

In this issue: 66^th General Assembly main session concludes; General Assembly President’s views on the session just ended; Security Council President on its December activities.

66^th General Assembly main session concludes.

The General Assembly closed its main session midday Saturday, December 24^th, with the adoption of a $5.15 billion United Nations budget for the 2012-2013 biennium and an unexpected intervention by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who commended Member States for having risen to that challenge with “energy, creativity and an indispensable willingness to make the hard choices”.

UN Week- 12/19/2011

This blog entry is written by members of our blogging community and expresses those experts’ views alone.

by John and Douglas Carey www.unweek.blogspot.com

Contents of this issue: due process at the UN; a plea against species extinction.

 Due process at the UN.

          On November 30, according to UN press releases dated December 16^th, two sanctions-imposing committees created by the Security Council adopted guidelines for meting out punishment. One was the committee created this year by resolution 1988 on the Afghan Taliban while the other was the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee established back in 1999 by resolution 1267.

          Neither set of rules provides for participation by targets in the stages leading up to their being listed and subjected to travel bans and/or asset seizure. Only after they are on the list do they have any chance to participate in an effort to be de-listed.

          The 1988 Committee’s rules provide for “delisting requests from a petitioner (individual(s), groups, undertakings and/or entities on the 1988 list)” while the rules of the 1267 Committee require a listed person or entity to go through the Office of the Ombudsperson or through one of two Governments, that of residence or nationality.