LAWS: Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems | WTO Fisheries Agreement Falls Short | UNEP to Focus on Health and Environment
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Here at THE UN BRIEF we give you the scoops and fact checked news about the UN, and the EU. We cover multilateral affairs and how emerging tech is impacting society.
We try to use a bit humor, a dash of wit, sprinkled with skepticism, as the good journalism that we aspire to produce calls for. As the good New Yorkers at heart we are. And because when you spend all day looking at outrageous, gruesome news, on seemingly all fronts, one needs to lighten-up so one can go through the day.
When You Cannot Stand Are Bored at the UN General Assembly
*Warning: Sarcasm Ahead | Opinion | On Boredom and Lighting
How the right lighting in Zoom calls will change your life.
We know some people are utterly bored to have to attend the UN General Assembly, not us here at THE UN BRIEF. We love hobnobbing with the mighty and powerful, to cultivate our sources, we love to hear first-hand from policymakers, and we learn from the experts so we can provide you with the insights and analysis that matter.
I am lucky to have grown up around the rainmakers, the politicians, the diplomats, and the news media — because my father, Ayrton Fagundes1, was in the spotlight daily as the anchor of several newscasts2 and is now featured in history books as one of the pioneers of television news. He was also the bureau chief and editor at several newspapers in the South of Brazil, including Correio do Povo, Jornal do Brasil, Zero Hora, and Jornal do Comercio. So I learned early that these functions are commercial events, trading on precious information. And they can be loads of fun and very entertaining. As a teenager I would roll my eyes a lot, and apparently now too. I grew up listening to politicians and diplomats at our garden parties in Brasilia.
I can attest that, as it is often said, politics is show business for ugly people (having experience in both), plenty of bores, lots of backstabbers and, here and there the eccentric and brilliant. Ugly people you say? I mean that in a nice way, let's rephrase it, I mean badly dressed people.
Everyone can look beautiful if they put on a little effort. Or a little make-up.
And don't even get me started on how people present themselves for zoom conferences. Light-up people, the right lighting can transform you. A good microphone and camera too, and I do not need to know about your personal library, or your sad little plant in the background, or if you read Kerouac in high-school, own the first edition of Aldous Huxley Eyeless in Gaza, or George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. You will be best served if you use a virtual background, but choose something that highlights your features, shows your brand or institution logo, and matches colors and proportions to your face on the center of the screen. I digress.
But this? To find out that some people have to procure fentanyl to dull their senses so they can stand the fancy luncheons and the gala dinners? File under so outrageous it is funny. These are allegations, obviously, maybe politically motivated. Keep that in mind.
US Customs and Border Protection’s top doctor tried to order fentanyl lollipops for helicopter trip to U.N., whistleblowers say.
This article was featured on Government Accountability Project Whistleblower website and was originally published here.
In Other News
In China Money is Flowing Down Rivers, according to SCMP, for the Ongoing Lunar Year Celebrations.
Soft x Hard Authoritarianism and the Press
The South China Morning Post reports that no press conference for you is good and all you’re going to get, capiche? It must be a typo. It is not.
“It is one of the rare occasions when a top Chinese leader takes questions from local and international media. Those questions are often tightly scripted and chosen in advance, but it offers the outside world a chance to hear directly from a high-ranking official on policy directions.”
LAWS Meeting
Source: UNODA
The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meets this week in Geneva to address emerging technologies in the area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), from 4 to 8 March 2024. They will work on the building blocks of a treaty or other legal instrument. Watch the livestream here.
CCW/GGE.1/2024/WP.1 - Working paper submitted by Brazil
CCW/GGE.1/2024/WP.3 - Working paper submitted by Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway
CCW/GGE.1/2024/CRP.1 - Compilation of replies received to the Chair’s guiding questions
Books on AI of interest to the LAWS discussions:
Guardrails: Guiding Human Decisions in the Age of AI, by Urs Gasser and Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
“Whether we change jobs, buy a house, or quit smoking, thousands of decisions large and small shape our daily lives. Decisions drive our economies, seal the fate of democracies, create war or peace, and affect the well-being of our planet. Guardrails challenges the notion that technology should step in where our own decision making fails, laying out a surprisingly human-centered set of principles that can create new spaces for better decisions and a more equitable and prosperous society.”
Buy here. Publishing date is 5th March.
UNEP
Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation
Source: UNEP
On Sunday 3 March, people around the world observed World Wildlife Day.
This year’s celebration focused on how digital innovation supports improvements in wildlife conservation for people and the planet and its role as a strong ally against illegal wildlife trade.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Secretariat, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Geneva Environment Network hosted a celebration highlighting the role of Geneva as a digital transformation hub and how digital technologies used around the world are creating a new frontier for wildlife conservation. At the UN in New York there will be also a panel discussion around protecting wildlife. Watch it here.
Human Rights and Environment
The 55th session of the Human Rights Council will have the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, David Boyd, present his last annual report to the Council, focusing this year on Business enterprises, planetary boundaries and the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, it will take place on 6 March 2024.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food will speak on fisheries and the right to food in the context of climate change.
The side event Clarifying Norms in Conservation and Human Rights will bring together experts from a range of relevant backgrounds to discuss the process of examination and clarification of the applicable standards, with particular attention to the role of conservation organizations and conservation funders. Watch online.
Outcomes of the 6th UN Environment Assembly
The Sixth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) — the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment — concluded last Friday with the adoption of 15 resolutions, two decisions, and a Ministerial Declaration. Covering various topics where Geneva actors are highly engaged — such as the sound management of chemicals and waste, environmental aspects of minerals and metals, integrated water policies, and environmental assistance and recovery in areas impacted by armed conflict, among others — UNEA-6 resolutions will strengthen and accelerate action to restore the health of our planet.
Find out more on the outcomes of UNEA-6 at:
Empty Efforts to Derail Plastics Treaty Negotiations at UNEA-6 Fail
UN Environment Assembly Calls for Action to End the Use of the World’s Most Toxic Pesticides by 2035
Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director General, DG Environment at European Commission, post note on UNEA-6
Released at UNEA:
Global Resources Outlook 2024. Bend the trend – pathways to a liveable planet as resource use spikes
Outcomes of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference
Source: UNEP
The World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) concluded on Saturday 2 March, after an extension to reach outcomes on development, e-commerce work programme and moratorium, and dispute settlement reform, and adopted the Abu Dhabi Ministerial Declaration, recognizing the role that the multilateral trading system can play in contributing towards the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals.
The Conference saw the number of acceptances increase of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies with Brunei Darussalam, Chad, Malaysia, Norway, Philippines, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Togo, and Türkiye depositing the instruments, bringing to 71 ratifications, but no major agreement on harmful fisheries subsidies was reached, which was deplored by stakeholders.
Co-sponsors of three environmental initiatives at the WTO presented at the Conference the next steps they are taking to advance work on plastics pollution, environmental sustainability, and fossil fuel subsidy reform. Two new members, Comoros and Timor-Leste, joined WTO. Read more at:
Failure to reach agreement on fisheries subsidies at WTO “a huge missed opportunity” WWF
EU secures results at WTO Ministerial but important work remains to reform global trade rulebook, EC website
Climate change confined to mere annex in draft WTO deal, Emma Farge, Reuters
World Trade Organization Members Agree to Help End Plastic Pollution, PEW
Importance and Urgency of Reducing Plastic Pollution
With the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-4), fast approaching, more reports and analyses are being released to support ambitious action. INC-4 is scheduled to take place from 23 to 29 April 2024 in Ottawa, Canada.
Climate Impacts of Plastics: Global Actions to Stem Climate Change and End Plastic Pollution | GRID-Arendal | 29 February 2024
This report seeks to identify options for measures and strengthen governmental accountability in addressing the climate impacts of plastics. It aims to maximise the climate benefits of the plastics instrument, clearly delineating responsibilities in conjunction with the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement.Plastic Waste Trade | A New Colonialist Means of Pollution Transfer | Sedat Gündoğdu | Springer Cham | Pre-order here | Publishing date April 2024
The book describes the historical background of the international plastic waste trade, explores regulations on plastic waste trade and how they can be and are circumvented and analyzes the effects of China’s 2018 ban on plastic waste imports.State repression of environmental protest and civil disobedience: a major threat to human rights and democracy | Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention | February 2024
”The repression that environmental activists who use peaceful civil disobedience are currently facing in Europe is a major threat to democracy and human rights. The only legitimate response is that the authorities, the media, and the public realize how essential it is for us all to listen to what environmental defenders have to say.”
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Threats to Human Health | Endocrine Society and IPEN | February 2024
The report provides a comprehensive update on the state of the science around EDCs, with increasing evidence that this large group of toxic substances may be implicated in rising global health concerns. Evidence suggests that EDCs in the environment can contribute to disorders such as diabetes, neurological disorders, reproductive disorders, inflammation, and compromised immune functioning.
Nature restoration: Parliament adopts law to restore 20% of EU’s land and sea | European Parliament News | 27 February 2024
The EU nature restoration law will restore degraded ecosystems, help achieve the EU’s climate and biodiversity objectives and enhance food security. To reach the overall EU targets, member states must restore at least 30% of habitats from poor to good condition by 2030, increasing to 60% by 2040, and 90% by 2050.
North Carolina ‘Forever Chemical’ Plant Violates Human Rights, U.N. Panel Says The New York Times | 27 February 2024
The allegations of human rights violations linked to pollution from the factory broadens a yearslong battle over the site and over the chemicals known as PFAS.
Ayrton Fagundes (February 11, 1937 – March 14, 1994) was a Brazilian broadcast journalist. Best known as an anchorman for prime time television newscasts such as Camera 10, at TV Difusora (now Band TV), Globo TV Southern subsidiary RBS, and TV Record. Ayrton Fagundes belongs to the first generation of Brazilian journalists that have introduced the nightly news programming and weekly magazines as a new news genre.
A presenter, editor, and executive producer, he spent the last years of his career in the capital of Brazil, Brasilia, where he was appointed bureau-chief of the Brazilian financial news daily Jornal do Comercio, of Porto Alegre, writing a daily column on politics and presenting news bulletins daily from Brasilia for radio stations in the South of Brazil.
Later he was appointed chief-spokesperson for the Secretaria Especial de Informatica (SEI), at the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, during the early years of the development of information technology industry in Brazil, where he worked with the new regulatory framework surrounding the nascent computer industry. He was interviewed by Alan Riding, of The New York Times, on several occasions, regarding Brazil's "prickly computer policies".
