United Nations & Multilateralism - Archive

The World Bank is considered to be the most important multilateral development bank (MDB). Since it was founded in 1944 at the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference to finance the reconstruction of war-torn Europe, it has reinvented itself several times. The most significant change was the transformation from a reconstruction bank to a development bank. Today, the World Bank finances exclusively in countries of the global South, while continuing to be controlled by the economic powers of the global [...]

This expert discussion takes place as part of the Civil Society Policy Forum at the joint Annual Meetings of International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group in Marrakesh (Morocco). 

The objective is to discuss debt architecture reforms that are needed to address the new wave of debt crises, and how to take these reforms forward at the major multilateral institution-building opportunities that are upcoming.

Global Policy Forum Europe is co-organizing with a large coalition of debt specialist organisations and CSO [...]

The Global People’s Assembly 2023 will be on 17 (Sunday) and 18 September (Monday) in New York – at the UN SDG Summit and the UN General Assembly.

The Global People’s Assembly (GPA) brings people’s representatives together and creates a strong voice at the SDG Summit for the midpoint of Agenda 2030. The assembly will be in-person in the Church Centre of the UN (opposite the UN), with 300 participants expected. Participants can also join online — we look forward [...]

19 May, 2023

Geneva, Switzerland

At an online event held yesterday ahead of World Health Assembly’s 76th session, civil society experts raised concerns about the influence of private and philanthropic foundations during the COVID19 pandemic and the ongoing pandemic treaty negotiations at WHO and overall policy development on various human rights.

Experts highlighted that there is hardly any oversight and it can be often difficult to estimate scale of the influence of these unaccountable private foundations, including the likes of [...]

This new report Spotlight on Global Multilateralism offers critical analyses and presents recommendations for strengthening democratic multilateral structures and policies. Its contributors cover key areas such as peace and common security, reforms of the global financial architecture, calls for a New Social Contract, an inclusive digital future, the rights of future generations and the transformation of education systems. The report also identifies built-in deficiencies and weaknesses of current multilateral structures and approaches. This applies, inter alia, to concepts of corporate-influenced [...]

Further information on the report & download files

The world is in permanent crisis mode. Intensified international cooperation is urgently needed. The UN Secretary-General called for new ways to work together and proposed a Summit of the Future to respond to the multiple crises affecting people’s lives. UN Member States agreed that the Summit will take place in September 2024.

The preparatory process for this Summit provides an opportunity not only for governments and the UN but also for civil [...]

By Bodo Ellmers

The implementation of the 2030 Agenda has fallen massively behind. Insufficient development finance is a major reason for this, as the slowly subsiding COVID-19 crisis had led to a simultaneous collapse of all sources of finance. This year's UN High Level Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) should have been dedicated to building back better after the crisis. The title did retain the "building back better." De facto, however, the HLPF was overshadowed by a new wave of [...]

By Gabriele Koehler

“Feminism needs tectonic plates to shift, not a trendy make-over” (Bernardine Evaristo)

In recent years, a number of countries have re-labelled their foreign policy as ‘feminist’. Sweden introduced the concept 8 years ago.  Spain, Canada, France, Luxemburg, Mexico, Chile, and Libya, and others have issued feminist foreign policy statements. Germany has a commitment to feminist foreign policy in its governmental coalition agreement and is extending the term to development cooperation also; there is also [...]

More than 600 organizations worldwide are calling for the IPCC WGIII Co-Chairs and Focal Points to fulfill their responsibility to ensure that the IPCC Report on mitigation measures clearly conveys to the global community the urgency of the crisis and the central role of fossil fuels.

Further information on the letter and how to sign

By Elena Marmo

The COVID-19 crisis continues to have profound consequences across all sectors of society. Following the initial worldwide shutdown and resulting economic crisis, governments were forced to respond quickly to the virus, while also addressing the profound socioeconomic impacts—widespread job loss, inadequate social protection systems, and industries on the brink of collapse.

Now, with the Omicron variant on the rise globally, urgent action is needed to bring businesses and industries on board, holding them accountable as employers, taxpayers [...]

By Timo Dziggel

From October 24 to 26 health experts from around the globe gathered in Berlin for this year’s World Health Summit. Approximately 6000 participants – both virtually and on-site – discussed current trends and challenges in global health. Obviously, the main theme was the ongoing pandemic health crisis. While there was a lot of talk in a lessons learned fashion, the pandemic is far from over. As many attendants including WHO Director-General Tedros underscored, the number one global [...]

The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has ignited eagerness in some circles for new binding instruments in the global health arena. This is an unexpected development, in many ways: health policy arrangements are mostly grounded on soft norms, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted binding agreements only twice in its 76 years of history. Nicoletta Dentico describes in her paper the background of the proposal for a Pandemic Treaty currently discussed in the WHO and discloses the actors and their [...]

WHAT: 

An event exploring corporate influence across the United Nations System, and identifying ways in which civil society and all actors can resist corporate influence with a view to build a more accountable and equitable system that operates in the interests of people and planet, rather than profit.

REGISTER: 

bit.ly/AccountabilityForCorporateSector 

INTERPRETATION: 

Available in French and Spanish

Corporate influence across the UN system manifests in many ways and these methods/means are increasing. From the introduction of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) [...]

Time to overcome contradictions and hypocrisy in the COVID-19 crisis

Policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis have greatly exacerbated national and global inequalities. Blatant examples are the unfair distribution of care work, relying mainly on women and poorly remunerated if at all, and the global disparity in the distribution of vaccines.

So far more than 60 percent of people in high-income countries have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, but less than 2 percent [...]

This event is in the past. Watch the RECORDING.

The Committee for Development Policy (CDP) will discuss with Civil Society Reflection Group their key findings of its analysis of 2020 VNRs, highlighting the disconnect between the ambition of the agenda and the attention given to the transformative policies in such areas as productive capacities, pandemic preparedness, inequalities and sustainable consumption and production.

Presented by the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs at the Schools of Public Engagement [...]

The Post-2015 Agenda is being shaped at a time of challenge for multilateralism. Multi-stakeholder partnerships and deeper engagement with the business sector are being positioned as central pillars for implementation as well as for mobilizing and leveraging the trillions of dollars needed.

This direction is not taking into account the recent pattern of UN development funding, a pattern which has been characterized by underfunding on the one hand and increased earmarking of funding from donors, public and private, on the [...]

How inclusive is UNDS reform?
Views from CSOs - An independent survey prepared by: Global Policy Forum & Social Watch

The Survey on CSOs perceptions about UN reform is being launched today with the title "Where the rubber meets the road".
The survey, which was enriched by the contributions of many "watchers", is published just in time for the meeting of the Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS (from today until February 4).

You can find the survey on the [...]

Global Policy Forum among signatories.

Read the open letter to the Biden administration on the website of Foreign Policy in Focus.

Transnationally operating corporations and their globally branched value chains control three-quarters of world trade. The expansion of their value chains has often been accompanied by the relocation of production and jobs to low-wage countries in Central Eastern Europe, Asia and the Global South. However, the jobs created frequently do not meet the standards of decent work.

In many countries, women workers are denied the right to organize within trade unions and bargain collectively. Wages that are not enough to live [...]

In September 2015, all countries decided to reach 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030. Five years into the agenda, there's little to celebrate and lots to do. Real political commitment to transformation is still lacking, while many push for change around the globe, says economist Jens Martens (GPF).

Read more

Lessons from the global COVID-19 crisis

This is the fifth edition of the report Spotlight on Sustainable Development. Since 2016, we have published this report annually to assess not only the implementation of the 2030 Agenda but also the structural obstacles in its realization.

When we started to plan for this year’s report in Autumn 2019, mass protests were shaking a growing number of countries in various regions of the world. In Ecuador, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, in Egypt, Lebanon [...]

The world has become a patient. The new corona virus is a global medical riddle that governments, pharmaceutical companies and international organizations are trying to decipher in a unity rarely seen before. The level of cross-border exchange of data, research methods and evidence underlines the crucial role played by transnational communities of scientists* and experts*. With the development and the clinical testing of a vaccine, many hope that the virus will be all but contained, the rest a matter of [...]

16 JULY | GLOBAL POLICY FORUM

On 16 July, this year's virtual UN High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development came to an end. The HLPF is the premier UN body to monitor the annual progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) worldwide. The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated inequalities and further endangered development gains already at risk prior to the global pandemic. Millions of people globally are already suffering from hunger and poverty [...]

versión en español

By Barbara Adams

The year 2020 marks the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations as well as the beginning of the final 10 years to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the wider 2030 Agenda. The Secretary-General, UN leadership and various Member States have been highlighting the importance of the 75th Anniversary as the opportunity to address challenges to global governance and reinvigorate the UN System with what is needed to deliver [...]

Guest blog by Ziad Abdel Samad

Ziad Abdel Samad of the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) offers a critical analysis of the far-reaching impacts of the coronavirus and its role in exposing fault lines, from social safety nets to global trade and financial systems. In this guest blog, which highlights the experience of Arab States, he also explores the importance and impact of the state and interstate dynamics in protecting humanity a human rights.

Never has the world witnessed [...]