Civil Society and Campaigns
All articles in Civil Society and Campaigns
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Update on the Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly and the World Citizens’ Initiative
December 2019
A proposed World Citizens’ Initiative would let citizens put their own proposals to the General Assembly and the Security Council, on the model of Europe’s citizens’ initiative. With the UN’s 75th anniversary approaching, eighty NGOs have signed on, and a new report sets out a legal framework for it.
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COPLA Update
December 2019
A proposed Latin American and Caribbean court against organized crime keeps gaining allies: Paraguay’s deputies, Ecuadorian parliamentarians, Argentina’s president at the UN, regional prosecutors and a Brazilian senator, on the argument that crime has outgrown national courts.
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Canada’s Federal Election: Engaging with candidates
World Federalist Movement – Canada · October 2019
Women’s rights, foreign aid, ecological justice and Indigenous rights each have a briefing from allied groups, while replies from the major parties to the movement’s own list will be posted as they arrive.
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Canada and UN Peacekeeping Update
World Federalist Movement – Canada · August 2019
WFMC highlights Canada’s declining peacekeeping role. The annual fact sheet underscores underfunding and short deployments in UN missions.
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UN2020: Two steps forward …
World Federalist Movement – Canada · July 2019
A consensus resolution already fixes a Leaders Summit on 21 September 2020, a youth plenary and an outcome document for the UN’s 75th, and Secretary-General Guterres is staking the anniversary on repairing multilateralism.
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Bill Pace Farewell Q&A
June 2019
Bill Pace, outgoing Executive Director of the World Federalist Movement, reflects in a farewell interview on 25 years leading an organization that grew from a small Amsterdam office into a network of over 2,500 member organizations in more than 150 countries. He calls the creation of the International Criminal Court the movement’s most significant milestone and names former ICC President Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi and Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz among his most inspiring collaborators.
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“Modalities resolution” highlights UN2020 campaign
June 2019
The UN General Assembly’s adoption of resolution A/RES/73/299 sets the organizational framework for the UN’s 75th anniversary in 2020, establishing a Leaders Summit, a political declaration, and a Secretary-General-led global dialogue under the theme ‘The future we want, the United Nations we need.’ The World Federalist Movement-convened UN2020 Initiative shaped the resolution, though civil society groups secured a more limited role than they sought after opposition from Russia, China, and members of the Non-Aligned group.
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“Modalities” … and how political process shapes outcomes
World Federalist Movement – Canada · May 2019
The UN commemorates its 75th anniversary with a leaders summit on multilateralism. Civil society pushes for reform while China and Russia advocate reaffirmation of the Charter.
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The 2019 CIVICUS State of Civil Society Report
World Federalist Movement – Canada · April 2019
The 2019 CIVICUS State of Civil Society Report highlights the crisis of global compassion and the power of collective action. It calls for a better form of multilateralism and international democratic reform.
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UN2020: Intergovernmental process gets a re-boot
World Federalist Movement – Canada · January 2019
President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garcés calls UN revitalization her first priority and will name co-facilitators for the 75th anniversary summit, while UN2020 shifts its campaigning to national capitals and regional forums.
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UN2020: Landing pad or launch pad?
December 2018
After objections from some Non-Aligned states blocked an early mandate, the campaign for a UN 75th anniversary summit in 2020 needs a stand-alone General Assembly resolution, and growing civil society support may yet turn that summit into the start of lasting reform.
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COPLA Update
December 2018
Argentina’s president has taken the case for a regional criminal court against organized crime to the UN General Assembly, and lawmakers from eight countries signed a declaration backing it. Making it state policy that outlasts any one government is the next test.
