Spotlight
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Peace and Security
GPF's NGO Working Group on the Security Council met with UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, French Ambassador Gerard Araud, German Ambassador Peter Wittig and Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Alain Le Roy. The group also had lunch with Indian Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, one of the most thoughtful and outspoken Ambassadors on the Council. Ambassador Puri has publicly raised questions about the NATO operation in Libya and he has expressed concerns about proposed UN action on Syria that might lead to further armed intervention. This is consistent with GPF's own concerns that military operations, supposedly undertaken to "protect civilians," make use of deadly force against urban centers and cause death and destruction on a large scale. Ambassador Puri, like his counterparts from Brazil and South Africa, has been arguing that the Council is far too quick to invoke deadly force and far too hesitant to seek negotiated solutions. With regards to Libya, GPF noted the many press references to oil companies based in the US, France and Britain (the main Western belligerents) laying claim to oil contracts even before the fighting was over.
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Security Council Reform: The Working Methods
On June 23, Jim Paul gave a presentation on "Reform of the Working Methods of the Security Council" to the annual meeting of the Center for UN Renewal and Education. His co-panelists were Ambassador Christian Wenawasser of Liechtenstein and Ambassador Colin Keating, Director of Security Council Report. Jim argued that the working methods were designed to insure P-5 domination of the Council. He provided some lively accounts of clashes between reform-minded elected members and P-5 delegations over more open meetings and rules for sanctions. He noted that GPF had made its own contribution to these skirmishes: GPF obtained the Security Council's Programme of Work before it was made available online in early 2000, and published it on our website, forcing the P-5 to make the document public. GPF has a long-standing commitment to advocacy and research to create a more effective and accountable Council.
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Non-Violent Peaceforce Event
GPF organized a meeting to enable UN-based NGOs to better understand the strategy of our friends at Non-Violent Peace Force (NVPF). NVPF trains civilians to serve in conflict zones - to separate conflict parties and mediate between them, offering a peacekeeping option other than military violence. The UN and its agencies have been skeptical about this approach and have been under pressure from some NGOs to increase the level of military force used in peacekeeping missions. But given cuts to UN budgets and disillusionment with the results of many peacekeeping missions, there is increasing interest in the non-violent option.
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Private Military and Security Companies
On July 6-7, GPF Program Coordinator Lou Pingeot attended an expert meeting organized by the UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries to discuss potential regulation for the dangerous and lawless activities of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs). The Working Group has drafted an international convention to hold them accountable. But this initiative has run into opposition from the United States, Britain and other governments that are heavy users of these mercenary services as well as host countries to the companies. GPF has long followed this issue. Lou is currently writing a GPF policy paper on PMSCs, with a focus on a particularly troubling dimension: the UN's own contracts with these violent and unaccountable companies.
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GPF Europe
GPF Europe Director, Jens Martens, stopped in briefly while on holiday vacation in New York. He reported, among other things, on the international "Reflection Group" on alternative approaches to development. After a September meeting in Uppsala, the group will draft a final report and publish it later in the fall, with special targeting of the Rio+20 Conference in May.
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What GPF is working on
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Food & Hunger
During the summer, the NGO Working Group on Food & Hunger was coordinated by GPF's Sarika Mathur. We took the lead in drafting a major NGO statement on the world hunger crisis, to be presented shortly to the UN General Assembly. The Working Group also met with Tekeda Alemu, Ethiopia's UN ambassador, to discuss the broad policy issues relating to the famine in the Horn of Africa. The WG also met with two members of the Mission of France - Charlotte Montel and Julie Morizet - who reported on a food security initiative by their country during its leadership of the G-20. France made modest progress on the control of speculation in food commodities and created a market information system.
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NGO and UN Access
GPF continued its very active work on NGOs, with excellent coordination from Aheli Purkayastha. We combined advocacy for NGO access at the UN with a broader analysis of NGOs and their role in global governance. The Working Group on NGO Access at the UN, convened by GPF, met with Andrei Abramov, the Chief of the NGO Branch of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in an effort to overcome serious problems and reach solutions.
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Interview with Richard Falk
GPF Associate Harpreet Paul interviewed Richard Falk, a GPF founder and leading figures in international law, who serves as UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories. The interview of Richard Falk, focusing on Palestine, is especially timely in light of the Palestinian bid for expanded recognition at the UN this fall.
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Media Interviews
GPF gave a number of interviews to the media, including Le Monde (on the re-election of the Secretary General), ARD German Radio (on the crisis in Somalia), and InterPress Service (on the IBSA initiative to mediate the violence in Syria).
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