Week Ahead at the UN
LAWS: Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems and International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights Day, Violent Video Games and Terrorism, End Violence Against Women Campaign, WHO Aims to Ban Trans Fat
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LAWS: Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems and International Humanitarian Law
This coming week will see the continuation of the negotiations and the production of the final report by the Governmental Group of Experts, (GGE), on the implications of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS), its possible harms to civilians and critical infrastructure in armed conflict, and other potential threats to warfare as it relays on automation with little or no human supervision.
This happens under the auspices of the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs and based on the framework provided by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, in preparation to its upcoming meeting from the 13 to 17 December in Geneva.
The Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects as amended on 21 December 2001, usually referred to as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons or CCW, is also known as the Inhumane Weapons Convention.
The purpose of the Convention is to ban or restrict the use of specific types of weapons that are considered to cause unnecessary or unjustifiable suffering to combatants or to affect civilians indiscriminately.
This year’s discussions of the GGE are focusing on emerging technologies in the area of LAWS and whether international humanitarian law is sufficient to regulate its uses, human-machine interaction in the deployment of such emerging technology, UN country-members will also make a review of military applications and other humanitarian and international security challenges posed by the uses of precision technologies in warfare.
The result of such discussions and meetings: a report to serve as basis of further debate and policy-related outcomes with the input of technical, legal, and military experts that all country members must bring to the meetings alongside their diplomatic delegations to explain how the technology works, its impact on the real world.
At the centre of it all: ethical considerations.
NGOs such as Ban Killer Robots are pushing forth an agenda that takes into consideration the risks of such warfare tech to civilians and critical infrastructure.
The UN Brief interviewed the Minister-Counsellor for Disarmament Affairs Mr. Kimmo Laukkanen, of the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations Office in Geneva, on the negotiations underway at the Conference on Disarmament and the Convention on Conventional Weapons, where LAWS will be treated, and what to expect.
WIPO: Report on Voluntary Copyright Registration Systems
December 8, 2021
The WIPO Report on Voluntary Copyright Registration Systems, based on a survey of 109 WIPO member-states, covers existing regulations regarding voluntary copyright registration systems, and global legal deposit systems.
View program and register here: https://lnkd.in/e4Q9Uk4a.
#WIPO #IntellectualPropertyRights #CopyrightRegistration #CopyrightProtection
Think Twice Before You Buy These Christmas Presents
The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) Will Run an Expert Roundtable on Video Games and Violent Extremism
The video games industry has supplanted the film industry in absolute revenue terms.
Through social media and other online communities, the “online gaming culture with its own communication eco-systems and sub-cultures has emerged. Terrorists and violent extremists are increasingly exploiting this expanding space to recruit, fundraise, radicalize, and disseminate extremist propaganda to vulnerable youth.”
When It Will Happen?
Monday, 6 December, at the UN in New York
What Will Happen?
Source: UNOCT
The panels organized by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) will include two thematic discussions on the nexus between gaming and extremism.
The first discussion, “Understanding the Motivation and Execution of Gaming Exploitation” will analyze behavioural insights relating to extremism and discuss the vulnerabilities being exploited by extremists.
The second discussion will center around joint multi-stakeholder action that can be taken in response to this growing threat, focusing on, the protection of existing video game products from terrorist misuse, areas of cooperation with the gaming community to mitigate the presence of extremism online and in games, current initiatives being undertaken by gamers to protect the gaming community, and the use of video games to safeguard against extremism and promote resilience against extremism among gamers.
Now don’t go all, oh no, my favourite games…But what am I to but my nephew or niece or son or daughter for Xmas? Because, think of it, the glorification of violence, abuse, are precursors of violence in real life. As this study has show, and this one, and this one. There are so many stories and incredible adventures that can be created for virtual entertainment, why fixate on violence? Well, it has to do with the origins of funding for the online games industry, an industry financed by the US military to study possible warfare scenarios. There you go. But that is a conversation for another day.
How about if we have adolescents and middle-aged man (the majority of gamers are male, 35 years-old on average), build things instead of destroying them? There is an infinite realm of possibilities in studying ancient civilisations, building agoras, and Medieval castles. Or construct futuristic places. Or choreograph a ballet or reconstruct George Balanchine’s, William Forsythe, Jose Limon, or Merce Cunningham’s masterpieces? Or learn the finesses of the Russian style? Video games can be much more that explosion scenes, violence, and stereotypes of villains.
Why be stuck on violence? And do not get me started on the way women characters are treated in these very popular video games. Alright, the dance world. Yes. The treatment of women. The treatment of women in societies throughout the so-called civilised world. To bring attention to this epidemic of violence against women UN Women has created a campaign 16 Days of Activism, that ends on the 10 December, when the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights celebrates Human Rights Day.
WHO Virtual Event: Progress Report on Trans Fat Elimination
When? 7 December
Industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA) can cause cardiovascular disease.
Government action and policy measures to protect cardiovascular health are quite important in the light of COVID-19, as people with such underlaying conditions are much more vulnerable to having severe disease if infected with this coronavirus.
What the Data Tells Us
In 2018 WHO called for the elimination of industrially produced TFA by 2023, in all countries. Mandatory TFA policies are currently in effect for 3.2 billion people in 57 countries; of these, 40 countries have best-practice policies in effect, covering 1.4 billion people (18% of the global population).
In 2021 only Brazil, the European Union, Peru, Singapore and Turkey adopted the best-practice recommendations by WHO. This third annual report monitors global progress towards the 2023 target for global elimination of industrially produced TFA, highlighting achievements from the past year, and discusses challenges and opportunities for future action. Source: WHO
Speakers from the WHO
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO
Dr Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director-General, Division of UHC/Healthier Populations, WHO
Dr Francesco Branca, Director, Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, WHO
Dr Chizuru Nishida, Unit Head, Safe, Healthy and Sustainable Diet, Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, WHO
Dr Fabio Gomes, Advisor, Nutrition and Physical Activity, AMRO/PAHO
Dr Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO Representative, WHO Country Office in the Philippines
In New York
General Assembly: 45th plenary meeting, 76th session
Select Reports of the First Committee | Tech Related
Developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security - Item 95 - A/76/439
Prevention of an arms race in outer space - Item 98 - A/76/442
Role of science and technology in the context of international security and disarmament - Item 99 - A/76/443
General and complete disarmament - Item 100 - A/76/444
Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects - Item 104 - A/76/448
Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction - Item 107 - A/76/451
Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly - Item 122 - A/76/452