For a while, it may have seemed that the threat of nuclear war had diminished. But Donald Trump’s vow to increase and “upgrade” the United States nuclear arsenal, tensions between the US and North Korea, and the unsecured stockpiles of aging weapons around the globe make it clear we still need to be concerned about this apocalyptic danger. 

On 8 June 2018, within the XLVII Meeting of Ministers of Justice and the XLI Meeting of Ministers of Interior and Security of MERCOSUR and Associated States, a declaration was signed in which the Ministers committed to study the viability of a Latin American and Caribbean Criminal Court Against Transnational Organized Crime (COPLA).

Globalization is a social and economic integration process which has a significant political meaning, i.e. the erosion of state sovereignty.

From the 9th to the 13th of July, the World Federalist Movement held its Congress in The Hague.

December 9, 2018 will mark the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and yet not only its ratification and implementation is not universal but also, and regrettably so, 70 years later no country is immune to genocide or other mass atrocity crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

The Security Council (SC) of the United Nations is the organ charged with maintaining “international peace and security” and, under international law, represents the ultimate authority in respect of conflict resolution. 

On September 1948, Robert Sarrazac, a former soldier engaged in the French Resistance and founder of the "Human Front of World Citizens", constitutes a Solidarity Council to support the cause of Garry Davis, a voluntarily country-less activist who took refuge at the Trocadero in Paris, then a territory temporarily under the jurisdiction of the United Nations.

 

In the present chaotic world where it is difficult to look confidently at the long term, many heads of state are steering by sight.

On 24 and 25 May, the European Movement International celebrated its Seventieth anniversary in The Hague with the two-day event ‘Sharing Europe’. 

By Ms. Jelena Pia-Comella* 

 

The principle of the "responsibility to protect" (RtoP) was first enunciated in the Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), set up by the Canadian Government in December 2001. 

by Camila Lopez Badra  

  

It has been more than five years since the Argentine NGO "Democracia Global" started the campaign to create a Latin American and Carribean Criminal Court Against Transnational Organized Crime (COPLA, for its acronym in Spanish). Thanks to the restless endeavor of the NGO, this campaign now has over 3000 signatures, including those of academics, politicians and parlamentarians from all around the globe. 

By Andrea Cofelice

 

With the publication of An Agenda for Peace (1992), An Agenda for Development (1994) and An Agenda for Democratisation (1996), the then-UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali launched an ambitious program to reform the United Nations, in order to strengthen, democratise and adapt the Organisation’s structure and working methods to the changed international context, marked by the end of the Cold War. What remains nowadays of that “reform afflatus”? What are the initiatives undertaken and the unresolved issues?

by Lucio Levi

 

The globalisation process has eroded state sovereignty, producing a contradiction between market and civil society dynamics (that tend to become global) and resistance from nation-states (that remain national). In other words, markets have gained the upper hand over politics. Two opposing projects are confronting with each other in the challenge to govern globalisation: the federalist, which advocates the globalisation of political power and democracy, and the nationalist that pursues the return to the nation-states. 

More and more issues have a global dimension that requires global cooperation. At the UN and other international fora, governments come together to negotiate and decide on policies that have a global impact. The bodies of the UN and international organizations are occupied by officials who are appointed by the executive branches of national governments. In view of their growing importance of international organizations and their decisions, this is no longer sufficient.

A Special European Plan for Sustainable Development and Employment financed by additional own resources of the EU budget coming from taxes on financial transactions (FTT), CO2 emissions (Carbon-Tax) and a loan in Euro Project bonds, in order to create new jobs (especially for youths) in the strategic sectors of the green economy, the safeguard of Europe's natural, historical, artistic and cultural heritage, and of research, innovation and permanent training.

by Lorenzo Spiller

Since pollution cannot be stopped at state borders, a bad pollution management policy in Latvia may potentially affect environment and ecosystems in the UK, Poland and Sweden. This is the main reason why global citizens and international organisations have to obey the imperative to come together and urge local, regional and national governments to act at a continental and global level.

Six current UN experts elected by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva have recently supported the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA).

There is near unanimous consensus on the need for the United Nations Security Council to be reformed, but progress has so far been impossible due to power politics.

On 31 December 2015, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

The United Nations (UN) is unique among the contemporary international organizations. First of all, it is the only organization established for general political purposes and with almost universal membership.

International democracy has become a key aspect of the contemporary political and academic debate and, as such, it is exposed to different interpretations and conceptualisations.

How to describe the democratization process affecting international organizations and systematically assess the democratic features of most of them at the global, regional and inter-regional level?

On 14 September 2015, right before the end of its 69^th session, the United Nations General Assembly adopted, without a vote, a decision to advance efforts to reform the Security Council into its (ongoing) 70^th session (Document A/69/L.92). 

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union, at its 547th meeting (26 September 2015), decided to release the final report of the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan and to establish an 'African-led' court to prosecute those responsible for the atrocities committed during the conflict that broke out in December 2013.

During the XXXIII ordinary session of the Mercosur Parliament (15-17 August 2015), MP Alfonso González Núñez, president of the Paraguayan delegation, urged member States to take a decisive steps toward regional integration, by endowing the Parlasur with full legislative powers.

The six-month presidency of the Mercosur, currently held by Paraguay (July-December 2015), aims at relaunching negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU in November 2015.

July 17, 2015 will certainly be in the history of Mercosur as a marked date for regional integration. The 48th Mercosur Presidential Summit, held in Brasilia, gave the Plurinational State of Bolivia the long-awaited full member status.

Arab League countries are quickening the pace for the creation of an Arab joint force.

The long-awaited communication has arrived: the National Decree 775/2015 formalized the direct election of Argentine representatives to the Mercosur Parliament (PARLASUR), concomitant with the general elections on next October 25.

Russia has started last April its Presidency over the BRICS countries with a bold proposal: the creation of a Parliamentary Assembly of BRICS, in order to promote the parliamentary dimension of the association.

“2014 was a bad year for human rights in Europe”, said Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, while presenting his annual activity report on 23 April 2015.

Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Alexei Pushkov discussed the possibility to establish a parliamentary assembly of the BRICS countries during their visit to India, according to the source.

L’evento ha preceduto di un giorno l’inaugurazione della sede dell’Organismo regionale, edificio sorto nella zona di “Mitad del Mundo”, nella periferia di Quito, cui hanno preso parte i Presidenti dell’area, eccezione fatta per quello dell’Uruguay. Il Presidente Correa, anfitrione dell’evento, ha speso molte parole a favore dell’integrazione, enfatizzando l’inaugurazione della nuova sede (un ambizioso progetto avveniristico di 20.000 metri quadri e 40 milioni di dollari di spesa), per lanciare una nuova fase della vita dell’organismo.“Siamo nel centro del mondo, dove si adorava il dio Inti, dove si celebrava il raccolto ed il Buen vivir”.

Correa ha inoltre invitato gli altri Presidenti a “recuperare il tempo perso”, esortandoli ad una revisione istituzionale dei meccanismi di funzionamento dell’Unasur, proponendo il superamento del principio del “diritto di veto”, ricordando la difficoltà di procedere in un contesto in cui si avanza solo per decisioni prese all’unanimità. Così non posiamo andare avanti, dobbiamo rivedere l’istituzionalità ed essere più efficienti”. Dal canto suo, il Segretario Generale Ernesto Samper, ha sottolineato la sua ambizione di “dare un nuovo impulso all’integrazione regionale” proponendo di ampliare l’agenda dell’Unasur, oltre ai temi politici anche a quelli economici e sociali.

La Cumbre de l’Unasur ha rappresentato l’occasione in cui l’ex Presidente colombiano Samper, nominato nei mesi scorsi Segretario generale dell’Organismo, ha ricevuto l’investitura ufficiale dai Presidenti della regione per il suo mandato. Molte le aspettative per questo evento visto che, dal 2008 ad oggi l’Unasur, pur vantando numerosi momenti di forte influenza e visibilità, di fatto non ha ancora concretizzato passi decisivi verso l’integrazione sudamericana. Il Segretario Samper ha presentato un’agenda di lavoro – già in parte nota – trovando un sostanziale consenso nella platea di Presidenti: l’affermazione dell’identità sudamericana attraverso il lancio del progetto di un passaporto unico per tutti i paesi, il rilancio del progetto del Banco del Sur, un Tribunale per la risoluzione delle controversie, e nuovi accordi di cooperazione in materia di educazione.

Fuera de todo pronóstico esperado, un nuevo actor se hizo paso en la primera vuelta de las presidenciales brasileñas. Aécio Neves, el candidato del Partido de la Social Democracia Brasileña (PSDB) arrasó a la ecologista Marina Silva con prácticamente 34% de los votos el pasado domingo 5 de octubre. No tardó Silva en manifestar su amplio apoyo al senador y ex gobernador de Minas Gerais: "Le doy mi confianza a la sinceridad de los propósitos del candidato y de su partido, y entrego a la sociedad brasileña la tarea de exigir que sean cumplidos", aseveró la líder del Partido Socialista (PS).

The Union of South American Nations (Unasur) will create the first South American School of Defense to train military officers of the 12 member countries of the regional bloc, it was reported today.