Common Concern of Humankind

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederiech Soltau
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Common Concern ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter examines the various common concerns of humankind. The concept has found its most explicit reference in relation to climate change, in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the conservation of biological diversity in the Convention on Biological Diversity. It encompasses aspects of the global environment that, by virtue of their significance and the need for collective action to protect them, have been designated as common concern of humanity, either in treaties or through decisions of the United Nations General Assembly. The concept has, over the years, been the subject of considerable scholarship. Without delving into a discussion of customary law, this chapter proceeds on the basis that the common concern of humankind can reasonably be described as a principle of international environmental law against the interlinked backdrop of poverty eradication, economic development, energy availability and use, and climate change.

scholarly journals Major Themes in Imran Khan's UNGA Speeches: A Corpus Assisted Study

2020 ◽  
Vol V (IV) ◽  
pp. 30-40
Author(s):  
Arshad Ali ◽  
Athar Rashid ◽  
Shahid Abbas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Plain Text ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

Every year, the United Nations General Assembly holds a meeting of leaders from different countries. Imran Khan, prime minister of Pakistan, made speeches in the General Assembly of the United Nations twice. The first emphatic address he made at the United Nations General Assembly was on 27 September 2019, and the second was on 25 September 2020. This study aims to find out the major themes in both speeches and examine the frequently used words in the two speeches. For this study, his two speeches were taken from the internet and converted into plain text to compile a corpus. AntConc was used to find out the frequency of frequently used terms and to demonstrate the concordance of frequently used words. The results reveal substantial similarities and slight variations in the content of the two speeches. The major themes highlighted in the speech were India, RSS, Kashmir, Islamophobia, and climate change.

scholarly journals The Outcome of the Negotiations on the Global Pact for the Environment: A Commentary

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Géraud de Lassus St-Geniès
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
Treaty Negotiations ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

In May 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution “Towards a Global Pact for the Environment”. This resolution established an intergovernmental working group to discuss the opportunity to open treaty negotiations to codify the fundamental principles of international environmental law into a treaty dubbed the Global Pact for the Environment. In May 2019, the intergovernmental working group completed its mandate and adopted a set of recommendations that were formally endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in August 2019. Contrarily to what the supporters of the Global Pact for the Environment project had hoped for, the working group only recommended the preparation of a “political declaration” without referring to the codification of the principles of international environmental law. This paper offers a critical commentary of the outcome of these negotiations. The analysis suggests that the decision to elaborate a Global Pact for the Environment would have entailed considerable risks for international environmental law and that if adopted, this instrument would not have necessarily helped to increase the problem-solving capacity of international environmental law. Based on the language used in the recommendation to prepare a “political declaration”, the paper also discusses some of the key elements that could shape and inform the upcoming negotiations of this declaration.

Part II Analytical Approaches, Ch.12 Feminist Approaches

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maguire Rowena
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Analytical Approaches

This chapter provides a brief overview of ecofeminist theory. It charts its rise due to the perception of women having a closer relationship with nature, the retreat of ecofeminism when essentialist notions of women's connections to nature were challenged, followed by the subsequent re-framing of ecofeminism, in light of material and power relationships. More recently, scholars have defended ecofeminism, arguing that it provides a lens to examine the exploitation of nature and women, through analyses of power, social constructs, and inter-species relationships. The chapter then examines the contribution of women in shaping international environmental law (IEL) in pre- and post-UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) periods. It also explores recent efforts to embed gender within IEL processes, through the adoption of Gender Action Plans in the 1994 UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification), the 1992 UNCBD (Convention on Biological Diversity), and UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change). While IEL is generally gender-blind, it is transitioning through a period of gender mainstreaming and the future of IEL is likely to be increasingly gender-literate.

Beyond Rio: “Insuring” Against Global Warming

1992 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Stone
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
The United Nations

In 1989 the United Nations General Assembly voted to convene a Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, with the highest possible level of participation. One of the major items on the agenda—many maintain, the highest priority—is a treaty to cope with climate change. Toward that end, the Assembly established the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, which was to try to finish drafting an effective framework convention on climate change in time to be signed at the conference.

scholarly journals Accountability and opposition to globalization in international assemblies

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 823-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter de Wilde ◽  
Wiebke Marie Junk ◽  
Tabea Palmtag
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations

Advocates of a global democratic parliament have expressed hopes that this would not only legitimize global governance in procedural terms, but also bring about more cosmopolitan policies. They point to the European Parliament as an example of a successful real existing democratic parliament beyond the state with cosmopolitan intent. We analyse plenary debates in the United Nations General Assembly and the European Parliament about the issues of climate change, human rights, migration, trade and European integration between 2004 and 2011 to study the nature of opposition to cosmopolitanism within these two assemblies. We find more vocal and better-organized opposition to cosmopolitanism in the European Parliament than in the United Nations General Assembly. We demonstrate the plausibility that direct and more proportional mechanisms of delegation and accountability in the case of the European Parliament account for this observed difference. Should further research confirm these initial findings, advocates of a global democratic parliament may find that an empowered democratic World Parliament would support less cosmopolitan policies than the current United Nations General Assembly.

scholarly journals Delegating diplomacy: rhetoric across agents in the United Nations General Assembly

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232199756
Author(s):  
Julia Gray ◽  
Alex Baturo
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Single Voice ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Career Incentives

When political principals send agents to international organizations, those agents are often assumed to speak in a single voice. Yet, various types of country representatives appear on the international stage, including permanent representatives as well as more overtly “political” government officials. We argue that permanent delegates at the United Nations face career incentives that align them with the bureaucracy, setting them apart from political delegates. To that end, they tend to speak more homogeneously than do other types of speakers, while also using relatively more technical, diplomatic rhetoric. In addition, career incentives will make them more reluctant to criticize the United Nations. In other words, permanent representatives speak more like bureaucratic agents than like political principals. We apply text analytics to study differences across agents’ rhetoric at the United Nations General Assembly. We demonstrate marked distinctions between the speech of different types of agents, contradictory to conventional assumptions, with implications for our understandings of the interplay between public administration and agency at international organizations. Points for practitioners Delegations to international organizations do not “speak with one voice.” This article illustrates that permanent representatives to the United Nations display more characteristics of bureaucratic culture than do other delegates from the same country. For practitioners, it is important to realize that the manner in which certain classes of international actors “conduct business” can differ markedly. These differences in tone—even among delegates from the same principal—can impact the process of negotiation and debate.

Arab League

1953 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-281
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
The Political ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Arab League ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Arab States

The Political Committee of the Arab League met in Cairo beginning December 20, 1952, under the chairmanship of Fathy Radwan (Egypt) to discuss questions relating to Palestine and north Africa. On December 25, the committee issued a statement approving the failure of passage in the United Nations General Assembly of the resolution adopted by the Ad Hoc Political Committee calling for direct negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. The committee condemned “the mere idea of an invitation to Arabs to negotiate with the Israelis” and expressed the hope “that there would be no repetition of these attempts”.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document