United Nations & Multilateralism - Archive

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 [...]

Dr. Marianne Beisheim

This working paper by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs identifies and discusses proposals currently under debate for reviewing the “format and organizational aspects” of the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).

 

By Elena Marmo

The ways of working and tensions within the Second Committee are not unique to its agenda and delegates, but rather manifestations of greater challenges across Committees, and UN organs. The Committee’s Bureau consists of Member State Representatives from all UN regions. This year’s 74th Session was chaired by Cheikh Niang, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Senegal to the United Nations, supported by Vice-Chairs Ahmad Saif Al-Kuwari of Qatar, Yuliana Angelova of Bulgaria, and Anat Fisher-Tsin of Israel [...]

By Elena Marmo

With the focus firmly on preparations for the UN General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Week (23-27 September), the Presidents of the General Assembly (PGAs) and the UN Secretary-General expressed their concerns and ambitions in closing the 73rd Session and opening the 74th Session.

While the UNGA High-Level Week will feature high-level meetings on climate, universal health coverage, financing for development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and solutions for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the UNGA’s remit goes far [...]

By Jens Martens and Karolin Seitz

Published by: Bischöfliches Hilfswerk MISEREOR, Brot für die Welt-Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung e.V., Global Policy Forum

Aachen/Berlin/Bonn, September 2019

ISBN 978-3-943126-47-1

Studying EU policies thoroughly means studying policies of externalization. The thirteen chapters assembled in this publication constitute an impressive – impressively gloomy though – evidence for this assertion. Wherever you turn your eyes, whatever policy domain you may be concerned with: What at first glance may seem to be part of the European Union’s internal policies immediately turns out to be a story of externalities, a matter of spill-over effects transcending the borders of the European polity. And more often [...]

New York, 8 July 2019: “The world is off-track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most governments have failed to turn the transformational vision of the 2030 Agenda into real transformational policies. Even worse, xenophobia and authoritarianism are on the rise in a growing number of countries.”

“The implementation of the 2030 Agenda is not just a matter of better policies. It requires more holistic and more sweeping shifts in how power is vested, including through institutional and governance [...]

To coincide with the World Health Summit and the Grand Challenges Conference of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Berlin, Global Policy Forum, Brot fuer die Welt, medico international, and MISEREOR invite you to discuss the benefits, risks and side-effects of the WHO’s engagement with philanthropic foundations, and reflect on how the WHO can be strengthened in order to fulfill its responsibilities. Speakers will include representatives from the German Ministry of Health, the WHO (tbc) and international civil society.

The United Nations (UN) is a highly complex organisation. It can be difficult for civil society advocates to know where to start and the best way to exert any influence. This toolkit will help civil society organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders to navigate the politics and structure of the UN system and its main decision-making bodies. It will also provide a roadmap to help guide CSOs through the main types of UN agreements and how they are negotiated, with a [...]

The United Nations face a funding dilemma. On the one hand, member states continue to transfer new responsibilities to the UN system, not least in implementing the 2030 Agenda and their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); on the other hand, they do not match these mandates with adequate resources.

Some see the way out of this financial mess in reinforced UN partnerships with private donors and their foundations. The UN Foundation (UNF) plays a special role here. It was established by [...]