Last night Colbert suggests, "There is a real danger that this triumph of diplomacy could make people think diplomacy can triumph."
At a UN backed conference, over 600 delegates from 42 countries are meeting to take on crime and violence in urban environments.
"The inexorable transition to a predominantly urban planet bears with it many opportunities and consequences," UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Cecilia Leal Martinez told the opening session of the five-day meeting on Monday.
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That's a good question. Fortunately, the experts at the Enough Project offer some advice.
The brutal and deplorable September 29 attack on African Union peacekeepers is a stark reminder of the threats that UNAMID -- an important component of the overall solution -- faces in Darfur. This attack, and the continued fracturing of Darfur's rebel groups, also severely diminishes the prospects for success at peace talks set to begin in Libya later this month. Nonetheless, assertive diplomacy, cooperation and coordination from international donors, and the judicious use of targeted pressures can overcome the obstacles, get the force on the ground, and set the stage for the only thing that can bring an end to Darfur's long nightmare -- a viable peace process.To my dismay, the report does not address the particulars of what would make peace stick in Darfur. And I, for one, would love to know what the report's authors (John Prendergast, Colin Thomas-Jensen, and Julia Spiegel) have to say about the forthcoming peace conference in Tripoli. How, for example, could the international community help secure buy-in from intransigent rebels and also leverage Khartoum's cooperation? UNAMID cannot simply impose a peace on Darfur. And absent an underlying peace to keep, it is unclear what UNAMID's mission will be, other than civilian protection and securing lines of humanitarian access. That said, I am convinced by the trio's argument that, at the very least, demonstrating progress toward the deployment of UNAMID adds value to the peace process. And to that end, Enough offers specific recommendations abbout how to hasten that deployment.
According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), cholera continues spread across Iraq with more than 30,000 people having already fallen sick.
Fourteen are known to have died from the disease which is often caused by polluted water, but the low case-fatality rate throughout the outbreak that began in August indicates that those who have become sick have been able to access adequate treatment on time.More
by Martine Apodaca
The UN Convention on Law of the Sea, which came into force in 1994 and has been ratified by 154 countries and the European Community, has been gathering steam in the U.S. Senate, is widely supported by both government and business leaders, and appears to be on track for ratification by the U.S.
This seems to be frightening a fringe group led by Frank Gaffney, a neocon columnist for the Washington Times and the National Review online, who has launched a nonsensical attack on the effort for U.S. ratification, claiming that the bid is a "UN power grab" and that US accession would transform the UN into a "world government" and force the United States to surrender sovereignty and immense resources in the sea and on the sea bed. Those unfounded views are reflected in Gaffney's column yesterday in the Washington Times.
Besides being unfortunately named and hard on the eyes (memo to Secretary Rice: blogs should not have black backgrounds!) bravo to the State Department for launching its new blog, "DipNote."
It's nice to see the State Department getting into the blogging game. Of course, a blog like this runs the risk of being dismissed as propaganda and completely ignored. (Especially if it is used to post re-worded press releases or becomes self-congratulatory.) On the other hand, if State's in house bloggers are willing to engage other foreign policy blogs in debate and discussion, the forum could really take off. There are plenty of smart folks in the State Department who already read top foreign policy blogs like The Washington Note, Matthew Yglesias, Passport and others . Our discussions would surely be enhanced should State Department experts chime in from time to time.
So, DipNoters, please don't be afraid to enter into the discussion. Doing so is quite critical to your blog's success!
by Congressman Bill Delahunt, Congressional Representative to the 62nd UN General Assembly
Last week I attended the opening of the 62nd United Nations General Assembly in New York, where I serve as one of two Congressional representatives in the United States delegation. I met with world leaders and UN officials to discuss several of the major challenges facing the world today: climate change, instability in the Middle East, global security, and humanitarian crises.
A United Nations independent expert, after a mission to France, has noted that "visible" minority immigrants are targets of racism.
UN Independent Expert on minority issues, Gay J. McDougall said, "Racism is alive, insidious and clearly targeted at those 'visible' minorities of immigrant heritage, the majority of whom are French citizens."
McDougall called on the government to take action to address "widespread, entrenched and institutionalized discrimination."
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Prompted by a presidential candidate's speech, the blogosphere is suddenly buzzing about nuclear abolition. Greg Sargent, Matthew Yglesias, and Joe Klein, among others, weigh in.
This seems like an appropriate time to revisit a UNF Insights on strengthening multilateral non-proliferation efforts we ran three months ago. In the essay, we write that affirming American commitments to disarmament would help re-invigorate a flailing Non-proliferation Treaty. So too would supporting other non-proliferation instruments, like the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention.
The 2005 world summit outcome document, signed by virtually every head of state, detailed a number of important reforms for the world body. However, on proliferation issues, the document was shamefully silent. This occurred, in part, because certain key nuclear states would not back language on disarmament. In turn, nuclear states not party to the NPT banded together to block non-proliferation goals from entering the text. This was a great disservice to the cause of arms control. Before it was stricken from the final draft of the outcome document, the section on non-proliferation and disarmament provided a useful blueprint for a long term strategy to reduce the nuclear threat. This included firm commitments to both nuclear arms reduction and a reaffirmation of non-proliferation instruments, including the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention... The setbacks at the 2005 world summit...occurred, in part, because a small number of states could not make the mutual concessions necessary to move the debate forward. To help counter this disturbing trend, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has sought to incorporate the UN's disarmament portfolio into the office of the Secretary General. Citing the need to "revitalize the disarmament and non-proliferation agenda through a more focused effort," Ban proposed that the Department of Disarmament Affairs be augmented with a new Office of Disarmament Affairs that answers directly to the Secretary General. In March, the General Assembly approved this move and created a new High Representative for Disarmament Affairs to act as the voice of the Secretary General in disarmament and nonproliferation debates.Of course, non-proliferation and disarmament are only two of the three pillars underpinning the NPT. The third is access to civilian nuclear power. And here, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, founded by Sam Nunn and Ted Turner, is promoting a cutting-edge proposal that would obviate the need for countries to develop their own uranium enrichment facilities by setting up a "nuclear fuel bank."