It's the job of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to shine a spotlight on human rights abuses, wherever they occur around the world. Navi Pillay, I dare say, is very good at her job. Yesterday, in Geneva, she addressed an opening session of the Human Rights Council and delivered something of an around the world tour of human rights concerns. Here's a sample of her remarks.
A few years ago I shared a long plane ride from Dakaar, Senegal to Mexico City with Philippe Douste-Blazy, the former French Foreign Minister and UN Under-Secretary General. We had a very interesting conversation about a project to raise money for UNITAID, which is an organization he chairs by that delivers AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria treatments to developing world countries. At the time, UNITAID was funded through a $2 euro per airplane ticket levy imposed by France. He wanted to expand globally, but kne
Lots of action at the UN this week as the Commission for the Status of Women kicks off. In UN-speak the meeting is officially called the"15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000)." Try saying that 10 times fast. Or don't. Most folks call this meeting "Beijing+15."
Courtesy of Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky, millions of Americans have seen how a single United States senator can use procedural chicanery to prevent important legislation from moving forward. By withholding his "consent" from a resolution extending unemployment benefits to out of work Americans last week, Bunning prevented social security checks from reaching many thousands of people in need.
This week marks the kickoff of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a 2-week, woman-focused conference that takes place annually at the United Nations (UN). Basically, this means that for the next two weeks, THE principal global policy-making body will be dedicating itself exclusively to the pursuit of gender equality and the advancement of women. Pretty exciting stuff, right?!?!?
*Cricket Chirp* *Cricket Chirp*
Today, at the 80th Geneva Motor Show, Porsche unveiled the 918 Spyder, which gets 94 mpg and goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. For comparison, versions of the 911 get 14 to 21 mpg and go from 0 to 60 in 4.2 to 5.8 seconds.
A new paper by Maxim Pinkovskiy and Xavier Sala-i-Martin argues that “African poverty is falling and is falling rapidly.” That’s not the only iconoclastic argument in the paper. They authors state that progress against poverty has been well-distributed throughout the continent, equally successful regardless of geography, history, or mineral wealth. They also argue that the growth spurt that began in 1995 has reduced inequality rather than making it work.
Fresh from the State Department: