The 2nd Women Deliver Global Conference began this morning in Washington D.C. Delegates hailing from 146 countries and representing hundreds of NGOs, firms, civil society groups, governments and international organizations convened this morning for the event's first plenary.
The forever "riveting" Don Cheadle was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program, UNEP. With the appointed, Cheadle joins about 180 global stars as Goodwill Ambassadors (which are named by UN agencies) and "Messengers of Peace," (which, like his Oceans 11 co-star George Clooney, are named by the Secretary General himself.)
I chat with international law blogger, Professor Kevin Jon Heller of Opinio Juris and the University of Melbourne about the legal implications of the Gaza blockade, the International Criminal Court's big review conference underway in Kampala, and CIA drone attacks. The whole thing is up at bloggingheads. In the clip below we chat about America's role at the ICC review conference. Kevin accuses the Obama administration of "concern trolling" from the sidelines. I disagree.
Moments ago I spoke with the Indian Ambassador to the UN Manjeev Singh Puri about India's policies toward Afghanistan. (I've long lamented the fact that Indian's role in the conflict in Afghanistan is rarely discussed--both by media figures and in official circles. ) Alas, I could not shake him much from his talking points, but I found his explanation of Indian interests vis-a-vis Afghanistan to be a very good distillation of official Indian foreign policy.
I just sat down with the UK Ambassador to the United Nations Mark Lyall Grant. In a discussion about the flotilla incident, he seems to suggest that there is some serious international momentum behind convincing Israel to lift the Gaza blockade. He throws cold water on the notion that Israel cannot credibly investigate itself, citing, for example, the hard-hitting Winograd Report about Israel's incursion into Southern Lebanon in 2006.
I'm at the United Nations today, filming back to back interviews with officials around the United Nations for BloggingHeads. Throughout the day, though, I'll post some of the interviews I'm able to upload to YouTube. Below is a just-completed interview with the highest ranking American UN official, under secretary general for Political Affairs B.
During a recent visit to Washington, D.C., Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told a crowd assembled at the Council on Foreign Relations that "Liberia should not need aid in 10 years [...] we've got the resources ...
All too often, the stream of life saving medicines or other health goods intended for recipients in the developing world becomes interrupted for one reason or another. Funds sometimes dry up unexepectedly forcing the supplier to hold shipments. People suffer as a result.
In four short months presidents and prime ministers from around the world will gather at a major UN summit on the Millennium Development Goals. The meeting will be a major stocktaking of what has been achieved and what has not; which policies work, and which don't; but most of all it will focus on how can governments renew their commitments to reach each of the eight MDGs by 2015.