facility:united nations headquarters

Latin American and Caribbean countries sign historic treaty giving environmental rights the same status as human rights | UN Environment
▻https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/latin-american-and-caribbean-countries-sign-historic-treaty-giving

http://www.unenvironment.org/sites/default/files/styles/topics_content_promo/public/2018-10/IselaGonzalezDiaz-CreelChihuahua-Mexico.jpg?itok=8ST8qfSa

Within 24 hours of its opening, fourteen nations signed the Escazú Agreement; with one more signing the next day. This treaty enacts binding provisions for States to equip their citizens with information, judicial corrections and spaces for public participation in environmental matters concerning them. The Escazú Agreement’s official name is the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters.

“The fact that fourteen countries have already signed today is extraordinary” stated Epsy Campbell Barr, the Vice President of Costa Rica.

The agreement is not only the first environmental treaty for the Latin America and Caribbean region. It is also:

At the forefront of environmental democracy with only one other regional treaty on environmental democracy: Europe’s Aarhus Convention
The only treaty to have emerged from Rio+20
The first time a legal agreement includes an Article on environmental human rights defenders (Article 9)

The Latin America and Caribbean region is home to numerous multifaceted conflicts involving communities opposing business and government interest that threaten their environment,livelihoods and ancestral lands. Global Witness reports that Latin America and the Caribbean has consistently the highest number of murders of environmental defenders in the world. [...]

In an emotional ceremony at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 27 September 2018, Heads of State and ministers from the following countries signed the Agreement: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Saint Lucia and Uruguay. The Dominican Republic and Haiti added their signatures to the legal instrument later the same day and Paraguay signed on the following day.

#traité #environnement #Amérique_latine #Caraïbes

AT&T Helped NSA spy on Internet on a Vast Scale

The New York Times has investigated some document submitted to them by Edward Snowden. These documents describe AT&T’s relationship with the NSA. It seems no other telecom provider has worked so closely together with the NSA as did AT&T.

▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/us/politics/att-helped-nsa-spy-on-an-array-of-internet-traffic.html?_r=0

AT&T has given the N.S.A. access, through several methods covered under different legal rules, to billions of emails as they have flowed across its domestic networks. It provided technical assistance in carrying out a secret court order permitting the wiretapping of all Internet communications at the United Nations headquarters, a customer of AT&T.

One document reminds N.S.A. officials to be polite when visiting AT&T facilities, noting, “This is a partnership, not a contractual relationship.”

[...]

Because domestic wiretapping laws do not cover foreign-to-foreign emails, the companies have provided them voluntarily, not in response to court orders, intelligence officials said. But it is not clear whether that remains the case after the post-Snowden upheavals.

#surveillance
#privacy
#NSA

Beyond #Geneva_II
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/beyond-geneva-ii

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UN-Arab League envoy for #syria Lakhdar Brahimi (L) speaks during a press conference on the Syrian peace talks at the United Nations headquarters on February 11, 2014 in Geneva. (Photo: AFP: Philippe Desmazes) UN-Arab League envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi (L) speaks during a press conference on the Syrian peace talks at the United Nations headquarters on February 11, 2014 in Geneva. (Photo: AFP: Philippe Desmazes)

The Geneva II Conference revealed a state of confusion and chaos - to avoid saying fragility - that the national and regional powers and the Syrian parties are currently living. The fig leaf has fallen off both the big and the small.

#Haytham_Manna

read (...)

#Opinion #Articles #Geneva_Communique #National_Coordination_Committee #Syrian_National_Council

NCC at the Station: Shall we take the train to Geneva?
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/ncc-station-shall-we-take-train-geneva

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Louay Safi (R), spokesperson for the Syrian National Coalition, speaks to journalists during the Syrian peace talks at the United Nations headquarters on February 11, 2014 in Geneva. (Photo: AFP-Phillipe Desmazes) Louay Safi (R), spokesperson for the Syrian National Coalition, speaks to journalists during the Syrian peace talks at the United Nations headquarters on February 11, 2014 in Geneva. (Photo: AFP-Phillipe Desmazes)

The National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change in #syria (NCC) seems to have mastered the waiting game, waiting for the Syrian National Coalition (SNC). Ever since the #Syrian_National_Council was “dissolved” and a broad meeting of the Syrian opposition in #Cairo (May 2012) and throughout the (...)

#Mideast_&_North_Africa #Articles #Doha #Geneva_II #Hadi_al-Bahra #Hassan_Abdul-Azim #Haytham_Manna #Kurdish_Democratic_Union_Party #Munther_Khaddam #Saleh_Muslim

Grenada, Haiti recognize the State of Palestine | Maan News Agency
▻http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=633996

NEW YORK (Ma’an) — Grenada and Haiti have officially recognized the State of Palestine in a ceremony held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Friday, Palestinian Authority Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki said.

Al-Malki signed separate agreements to establish diplomatic relations with his Grenadian and Haitian counterparts. The agreement means that the states will exchange ambassadors.

“This recognition highlights the collective international approval of Palestinian rights,” said al-Maliki.

“It is a new success for Palestinian diplomacy,” he added.

Grenada and Haiti join more than 130 states worldwide that maintain diplomatic relations and recognize the state of Palestine.

U.N. leaders consider world tax to fund social protection, services | Deseret News
►http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705398584/UN-leaders-consider-world-tax-to-fund-social-protection-services.html?s

Outside the United Nations headquarters, hundreds of people were shouting and waving banners Tuesday that read “China and Russia – No Veto.” These people wanted support from the Security Council of the U.N. to oust the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad.

Inside the U.N., another group of civil society leaders demanded a basic level of social security as they promoted a “social protection floor” at a preparatory forum for the Commission on Social Development, which began Feb. 1.

The focus of the forum was “universal access to basic social protection and social services.”

“No one should live below a certain income level,” stated Milos Koterec, President of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. “Everyone should be able to access at least basic health services, primary education, housing, water, sanitation and other essential services.”

These services were presented at the forum as basic human rights equal to the rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

The money to fund these services may come from a new world tax.