2018 UN/DPI NGO Conference

July 6, 2018

The 2018 UN/DPI NGO Conference (August 22-23 at UN Headquarters in New York) is an opportunity for NGOs across the world to come together to address global issues of interest to the work of the United Nations. Recent annual conferences have attracted over 2000 civil society delegates from every region of the earth. This year’s theme, “We the Peoples…Together Finding Global Solutions to Global Problems”, will focus on the importance of multilateralism in solving world problems.

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World Goodwill Plays the 2030 SDGs Game

June 27, 2018

Last month two representatives from World Goodwill were delighted to attend a gathering in Islington, London, to participate in one of the launch events for the English language edition of a board game designed to deepen understanding of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Speaks from the Heart

June 23, 2018

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, will be resigning next year at the end of his four-year term. In his final Global Update on the state of human rights to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 18, he spoke from the heart.

Those of us in the UN Secretariat, originating from all the 193 Member States, work collaboratively and we do not answer to any State. In contrast, too many governments represented at the UN will often pull in the opposing direction: feigning a commitment to the common effort, yet fighting for nothing more than their thinly-thought interests, taking out as much as they can from the UN, politically, while not investing in making it a true success. The more pronounced their sense of self-importance – the more they glory in nationalism – the more unvarnished is the assault by these governments on the overall common good: on universal rights, on universal law and universal institutions, such as this one.

And as the attack on the multilateral system and its rules, including most especially international human rights law, intensifies, so too will the risk increase of further mischief on a grander scale. The UN’s collective voice must therefore be principled and strong; not weak and whining, obsessed with endless wrangling over process, the small things, as it is the case today.

If my Office, of which I am very proud, and I, have gotten one thing right over the last few years, it is our understanding that only fearlessness is adequate to our task at this point in time. Not ducking for cover, or using excuses or resorting to euphemisms, but a fearlessness approaching that shown by human rights defenders around the world – for only by speaking out can we begin to combat the growing menace of chauvinistic nationalism that stalks our future.

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World Goodwill Attends 2017 Forum on Culture of Peace at UN

October 25, 2017

Every year since 2012 the President of the UN General Assembly has convened a High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace. With the support of member nations (102 governments sponsored the resolution calling for this year’s event) the Forum aims to highlight emerging trends impacting on the realization of the culture of peace, defined as a set of values, attitudes, traditions and modes of behaviour and ways of life based on universal principles of freedom, justice and peace. 

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Where the World Goes to Talk it Over: The UN General Assembly

September 6, 2017

This thoughtful essay in the September edition of Le Monde diplomatique by Anne-Cécile Robert and Romuald Sciora provides insight into recent developments at the General Assembly. It highlights the important role that the Assembly is playing in international affairs. 

The GA is the only representative body for the planet, yet it is not a world parliament: only elections could give it the legitimacy of a parliament in a democratic state and that is probably unrealistic. However, the GA is unique in its ability to reflect change in international relations (the surprise election of Thomson, the mobilisation of small states and China) and in its values, derived from the UN charter, harnessing the desire for power in the service of collective security. At a time when the redrawing of the geopolitical map is raising tensions, it is, despite imperfections, the only forum conducive to the establishment of a progressive international order.

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