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Les chercheurs du plus grand accélérateur de particules du monde, en Suisse, ont soumis des propositions pour un nouveau supercollisionneur, beaucoup plus grand.

There is a lot of talk these days about how much pop megastar Taylor Swift could influence US politics. Some even say she could be the kingmaker.

The European Parliament will replace the manual registration of lawmakers' attendance with a system based on scanning their badges and, on a voluntary basis, fingerprints, according to document about a bureau meeting on Monday (5 February), seen by Euractiv. 

The EU is already struggling to meet its 2030 climate and energy targets, so it needs to put farmers as well as the social and environmental benefits first in order to project itself forward to 2040, write Zsolt Lengyel and Erica Johnson.

The approach of 'competitive sustainability' is key to understanding how a measure of competitiveness is needed in the new global context marked by massive US green subsidies and an aggressive industrial strategy from China, writes Martin Porter.

Third UN Conference of Landlocked Developing Countries will be an opportunity to address the issues these countries face.

By IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 6 2024 (IPS)

Landlocked developing countries need greater support from the international community so that they are no longer left behind when it comes to progressing with the SDGs, says the UN High Representative of the Least Developed Countries.

The Third UN Conference of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3) is set to be hosted in Kigali, Rwanda, in June. A preparatory committee for the conference has been established and convened its first meeting on Monday. 

The overarching theme of the conference, “Driving Progress through Partnerships,” is expected to highlight the importance of support from the global community in enabling LLDCs to meet their potential and achieve the SDGs. The conference invites the participation of multiple stakeholders, including heads of state and government, the private sector, and civil society. Several senior leaders in the UN system, including Secretary-General António Guterres, are expected to attend the LLDC3 Conference.

Thirty-two countries are classified as LLDCs, 17 of which are also classified as Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Sixteen are in Africa, and the remaining are located across Asia, Europe, and South America. This year will mark the first time that the LLDC Conference will be hosted in Africa.

Rabab Fatima, Under Secretary-General and High Representative of the Office for the Least Developed Countries, and the Secretary-General of the LLDC3 Conference, remarked that this conference would be a “once-in-a-decade opportunity” for the global community to address the needs of the LLDCs in order to “ensure that nobody is left behind.”

“The 32 landlocked developing countries are grappling with unique challenges due to their geographical and structural constraints and lack of integration into world trade and global value chains. Their situation has been further exacerbated by the lingering effects of the pandemic, climate change, and conflict,” she said.

The lack of direct access to coastal ports means that LLDCs rely on transit countries to connect them with international markets. This can lead to high trade costs and delays in the movement of goods. In other cases, many of the LLDCs’ transit neighbors are also developing countries with their own economic challenges. According to Fatima, the average cargo travel time for LLDCs was twelve days, compared to seven days for transit countries.

As a result of the slow progress in development, twenty-eight percent of people in LLDCs live in poverty. At least a third of the people are at a high risk of or already live with some form of debt distress, and fifty-eight percent of people deal with moderate to severe food insecurity.

Enkhbold Vorshilov, Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the UN, noted that the conference would be a “critical juncture” for the LLDCs. He also serves as the co-chair of the preparatory committee along with the Permanent Representative of Austria. He added, “Despite our varied cultural and economic structures, we share common challenges that impede our development and economic growth.”

The Preparatory Committee will negotiate the details of the conference’s outcome document, which has been prepared to “encapsulate the challenges and aspirations of the LLDCs,” according to Gladys Mokhawa, Permanent Representative for Botswana and the Chair of the Global Group of Landlocked Developing Countries. Mokhawa expressed that the document has so far received general support from member states and that the final draft would be comprehensive and committed to addressing the challenges that LLDCs face “that align with their specific needs and aspirations.”

“A vision is clear: to transform the geographical challenges and to ensure that our landlocked status is nothing more than a detail of geography,” she said. “We believe that our collective efforts can and will make a difference.”

“Our goal is not merely to draft a document but to build positive, genuine partnerships that will empower landlocked developing countries to overcome their challenges and achieve sustainable prosperity,” said Vorshilov. He added that, along with support from neighboring transit countries, cooperation from development partners and financial institutions would be important to mobilize the resources needed to support the LLDCs.

The document is intended to serve as a guideline for the LLDCs for the next decade and will touch on several areas of interest. In addition to addressing transport and trade, it will focus on emerging issues, such as science, technology, and innovation, and improving capacity and resilience against issues arising from climate change.

Earlier meetings, including the first meeting of the committee, have seen delegations express solidarity with the LLDCs and support for the agenda of the upcoming conference. Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, Permanent Representative of the European Union Delegation to the UN, stated that the development challenges call for “more efficient allocation of financial resources on the path toward the SDGs” and that an “essential element” of their partnership would be the development of connections and transport corridors for the benefit of all peoples.

Speaking on behalf of the Africa Group, Ambassador Marc Hermanne Araba of Benin noted that Africa has faced the brunt of the challenges faced by the LLDCs and their neighboring transit countries. He added that the present moment was an opportunity to “chart a transformative agenda for the LLDCs,” and therefore it is important for the global community to reaffirm its’ commitment to address the LLDCs’ challenges together to “ensure that these countries are not left behind.”.

Fatima welcomed the media as a “key partner,” through which the voices of LLDCs would have a platform, and to bridge the gap between the conference and those communities who will be most affected by the outcomes by sharing their perspectives.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Women’s rights organizations in Asia are calling for states to introduce much-needed laws to criminalize FGM, says Nawmi Naz Chowdhury, Global Legal Advisor at Equality Now.

By Nawmi Naz Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, Feb 6 2024 (IPS)

Significant advances have been made in Africa towards ending female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Asia, where FGM/C occurs in at least ten countries, but governments across the region are failing to take effective action. Women’s rights organizations are calling for states to introduce much-needed laws to criminalize FGM, provide national data on the extent and nature of the practice, and adequately fund efforts to tackle this regionally neglected problem.

Calls for governments in Asia to criminalize FGM/C

There remains a widely held misconception that FGM/C occurs primarily in Africa, and this low level of awareness about FGM/C in Asia is contributing to inaction.

Nawmi Naz Chowdhury, Global Legal Advisor at Equality Now, with members of the
Asia Network to End FGM/C at the 7th Asian and Pacific Population Conference.

In recent years, the UN, through its international human rights treaty bodies and other human rights mechanisms, has provided recommendations to Asian countries, such as India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and the Maldives, to address FGM/C and pass specific laws for prohibition. Yet, nowhere in Asia has a law banning it.

At the 7th Asian and Pacific Population Conference (APPC), seven women’s rights organizations made joint recommendations to regional governments about introducing a zero-tolerance approach to FGM/C.

The APPC is a regional review mechanism that convenes every ten years to discuss critical issues of population and development in Asia and the Pacific. Held at the UN Conference Centre in Thailand on November 15–17, 2023, women’s rights activists convened a side event, Rights-Based Approaches as the Foundation to Achieving Just and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific – where participants discussed harmful practices affecting women and girls, including FGM/C.

Lawmakers were advised to put in place robust legal and policy measures, and proposals were featured in the Civil Society Call to Action and the Youth Call to Action.

FGM/C is a global problem

FGM/C is a harmful practice involving the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Internationally recognized as a grave violation of women’s and girls’ human rights, FGM/C is done with the aim of controlling and curtailing the sex drive of women and girls. It can cause a range of lifelong physical and psychological problems, including infections and severe pain, emotional trauma, sexual dysfunction, reproductive health concerns, childbirth complications, and, in some cases, death.

An interactive data tool by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that, based on data from just 27 countries, the financial cost of health care for women with issues caused by FGM/C is USD $1.4 billion annually. The WHO also estimates that if FGM/C were abandoned, the savings in health costs would be more than 60% by 2050.

FGM/C is a global concern. Worldwide, the official number of women and girls undergoing FGM/C is estimated to be over 200 million. However, the true scale is far bigger. Academic and media reports, unofficial data collected by civil society organizations, and anecdotal studies based on interviews with survivors reveal that FGM/C is found in every continent except Antarctica.

Asian governments need to provide data on FGM/C

 

The United Nations call to action #HerVoiceMatters in leading the #EndFGM movement.

Indonesia and the Maldives are the only Asian states that share national-level FGM/C prevalence data; no official data is provided by any other Asian countries. However, academic research and survivor testimonies strongly indicate it occurs in Brunei, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

Accurate, comprehensive national FGM/C data collection is vital to understanding how women and girls are directly impacted and at risk. It also provides crucial insights into what communities are involved, the types of FGM/C performed, and what the implications are for health, human rights, and bodily autonomy.

Data on FGM/C can be used to plan appropriate interventions and measure their effectiveness. Furthermore, reliable statistics are key to attracting funding and holding governments and other duty-bearers accountable.

Lack of data gives governments an opportunity to claim a basis for inaction. For example, in India, in response to a question on FGM/C in Parliament in 2023, the Ministry of Women and Child Development noted that while there may be a few instances of FGM/C in the country, “there is no credible data to establish its prevalent existence.”

Investing in community action to end FGM/C

Unlike elsewhere, in most of Asia, there are little or no large-scale government programs for community education and awareness-raising about FGM/C. Few resources are directed toward prevention and supporting grassroots activities, and it is difficult for local organizations to secure funding.

Collective actions, such as those led by the Asia Network to End FGM/C, are playing an invaluable role in shining a much-needed spotlight, supporting women and girls, and galvanizing collaboration within and across national borders.

FGM/C can only be eradicated with positive community engagement about its harmful effects, underpinned by laws and policies that punish perpetrators and meet the needs of survivors. To achieve this, governments in Asia need to work in partnership with civil society organizations, affected communities, and survivors to better understand FGM/C, develop and implement effective policies, and invest in social, legal, educational, and health service provisions.

Global commitments to eliminating FGM/C

February 6 was designated by the United Nations as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. How far we have come to ending FGM/C is gauged by the extent to which international commitments made by countries to end the practice are being met.

Various international human rights mechanisms have been put in place for countries to take robust measures. Sustainable Development Goal 5.3 and international human rights treaties on the rights of women and girls, such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) expressly prohibit FGM/C and call on states to take action.

International documents, such as the Programme of Action under the  International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD PoA), urge countries to eradicate FGM/C and contain steps to eliminate it. Recommendations include “… strong community outreach programs involving village and religious leaders, education and counselling about its impact on girls’ and women’s health, and appropriate treatment and rehabilitation for girls and women who have suffered cutting” (para. 7.40, ICPD PoA).

Ending FGM/C in Asia must be prioritized

2024 will mark 30 years since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) was first held in 1994. The anniversary marks a significant milestone in the area of advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls globally. Ending FGM/C is a key component of this, and to effectively implement global commitments to achieve this, global efforts must focus on Asia as a priority.

Unless Asian countries step up to resolve current challenges, it will be hard to instigate action, design and implement policies, and hold governments and other duty-bearers to account in advocating for the introduction and effective implementation of legislative measures to finally end FGM/C in Asia.

 

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Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2024 - EP

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2024 - EP

STELLUNGNAHME zur Entlastung 2022: Gesamthaushaltsplan der EU – Europäische Kommission
Ausschuss für auswärtige Angelegenheiten
Katalin Cseh

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2024 - EP

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