We have the core human rights treaties and we have the Agenda for Sustainable Development with its SDGs. However, in the past few years, more and more countries are falling into violent conflict, overthrowing legitimate governments. Human rights defenders and climate activists are persecuted. Even in stable democracies, climate commitments and SDG promises are not met.…
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Myanmar – A bleeding country – and the need for UN-wide solidarity
Gabriele Köhler Myanmar: 900 people murdered by the junta which usurped power four months ago, 1000s arrested – many of them tortured, some to death. The elected government has been arrested and put on trial. The World Food Programme predicts a hunger catastrophe. Income poverty is exploding. Access to already dismal health services has collapsed;…
Read MoreUngerechtigkeit reduzieren? UN reformieren!
Um die globalen Ungleichheiten zu reduzieren, braucht es einen erneuerten Multilateralismus. Wie kann eine solche Reform aussehen? Allem voran muss das UN-Sekretariat gestärkt und als unabhängige moralische Kraft etabliert werden. Was meines Erachtens unbedingt reformiert werden muss: Die Finanzierung der UN muss autonom werden. Seit Jahrzehnten gibt es den Vorschlag, die UN und ihre Organisationen…
Read MoreThe Politics of Social Inclusion: just reviewed by the UN Association of Germany
https://zeitschrift-vereinte-nationen.de/suche/zvn/artikel/inklusion-zahnlose-konsensformel/ This volume looks at concepts and processes of social exclusion and social inclusion. It traces a number of discourses, all of them routed in a relational power analysis, examining them in the context of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030 with its commitment to “leave no one behind.” The book combines analysis that…
Read MoreSocial protection in the ASEAN-10: challenges in a diverse region
Expert note on social protection, prepared for the ASEAN Development Outlook 2021 Introduction, outline, and scope The ASEAN region comprises ten highly diverse countries in terms of historical legacies, their economic structures, and their welfare state conceptions. Politically, however, the countries of the region share the characteristic of operating as highly flawed democracies or authoritarian…
Read MoreRubies and rights and responsibilities – Myanmar as a prism
The famed rich natural resources … Myanmar is renowned for radiant rubies and translucent jade. It also abounds in copper, gas, oil, natural gas. Until recently, it was a trendy tourist destination with its gilded temples and rambling rice fields. With the exception of widespread disbelief and then shock over the genocide against the Rohingya,…
Read MoreProgressiver Multilateralismus: Die Kluft zwischen normativem Anspruch und realpolitischer Wirklichkeit
Gabriele Köhler Was könnte zu einer verbesserten, progressiven multilateralen Zusammenarbeit beitragen, um die in der Agenda 2030 proklamierten „Transformation unserer Welt“ voranzubringen? Was Hunger und Armut unmittelbar(SDG 1, 2) angeht, wäre erstens die Empfehlung 202 der ILO zu sozialer Grundsicherung zu nennen, die 2012 verabschiedet wurde und auch Eingang in die Agenda 2030 gefunden hat.…
Read MoreShake and Stir: Adding Human Security and Human Resilience to Help Advance the SDGs Agenda
Des Gasper, Richard Jolly, Gabriele Koehler, Tamara Kool, Mara Simane The 2030 Agenda and the SDGs respond to humanity’s challenge to live humanely, justly, sustainably and in peace on our interconnected globe. Pursuit of the Agenda is inevitably subject to forces that ‘shake and stir’ it. Correspondingly, our analytical frameworks need to be shaken and…
Read MoreEin transformativer Gesellschaftsvertrag statt grüner Deals!
Dieser Beitrag thematisiert, ob und wie es zu einer transformativen Wende kommen könnte. Bisweilen bieten extreme Krisensituationen die Möglichkeit, Gesellschaftspolitik radikal zu erneuern und einen transformativen Gesellschaftsvertrag einzuläuten. Ausgehend von der globalen Situation, die von struktureller Ungleichheit gekennzeichnet ist, untersucht der Bei- trag, inwieweit derzeitige Politikansätze wie der Green-Deal-Vorschlag der EU als progressiv einzuschätzen sind…
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“Feminist foreign policy?”
“Feminism needs tectonic plates to shift, not a trendy make-over” (Bernardine Evaristo) In recent years, a number of countries have re-labelled their foreign policy as ‘feminist’. Sweden introduced the concept 8 years ago. Spain, Canada, France, Luxemburg, Mexico, Chile, and Libya, and others have issued feminist foreign policy statements. Germany has a commitment to feminist…
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