Two weeks from the finish line, 2022 can safely be said to have been a year of conflicts, tensions, and upheavals par excellence. The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February may still be the darkest highlight of the year, but certainly not the only one. Some hopeful signs with ceasefires that held/are holding in…
On this commemoration of Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, Marking the silencing of weapons at the end of World War I, We, the undersigned concerned citizens of the world, Call for a ceasefire in all conflicts currently raging on our planet, between and within countries, on all continents. How many more millions of dead human…
This essay is written to distance proper understanding of the Russian war against Ukraine from any false equivalence that this is a conflict between two belligerents, whose perspectives deserve equal recognition as a prelude to a negotiated outcome. Attempts to explore alternative avenues to peace, and identify differentiated messages and appropriate envoys and institutions should…
An event under the title “Global Governance: Breaking down or breaking new ground?” was convened by the Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS) and the Global Crisis Information Network (GCINET), with support from the Global Challenges Foundation, in New York City on 23 September 2022, on the sidelines of the high-level week of the…
Panel Discussion Summary by Yoriko Yasukawa* Today, over 3 billion people worldwide play video games, which span a hugely diverse range of forms and content. The industry generates more than US$ 180 billion a year in global revenues – about seven times as much as the global music industry. On 29 June 2022, I had…
ON THE OCCASION OF THE GENERAL DEBATE OF THE 77TH SESSION OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY by the former UN system staff members signing below In a couple of weeks, the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly will be opening, with world leaders flocking to New York for the “General Debate” high-level segment….
Seventy-seven years ago today, on 6 August 1945, the United States Airforce dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, instantly killing an estimated 70,000 people – a number that would grow to about 140,000 over the coming year as radiation sickness took its toll. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki only three days later raised the total…
In the midst of a sweltering summer in the Northern Hemisphere the news that is coming in is definitely going to blow the fuses off: more heat waves, droughts, forest fires, crop failures, energy shortages, old and new diseases, and war. And all this is happening in the mighty North that brings together, geographically at…
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UCNFCC), the world’s first climate change treaty, is 30 years old. It was adopted on 9 May 1992 and opened for signature at the Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro on 4 June 1992. Should the world be celebrating? Looking back Personally, I take…
*This tribune was originally published in French in Le Monde dated 30/3/2022 After unsuccessfully and repeatedly calling on Russian President Putin to end this deadly conflict and respect the United Nations Charter, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (SG), seems to have disappeared from the radar. Heads of State talk to Putin, heads…
