#United Nations Office at Geneva

[socialjusticeday]

4th Meeting, Social Forum 2024.

15h00-15h45    Domestic and International Private Business and Finance

     Moderator: Ms. Özge Aydoğan, Director, Beyond Lab

Mr. Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Leveraging Private Business and Finance for the Alleviation of Global Poverty

Mr. Veaceslav Sterbert, Managing Partner at Exportza, Moldova, Sharing Stories and Experiences on Access to Finance in the Republic of Moldova

Mr. Anand Priya Deo, Ananda Foundation, India, Financial Inclusion, Grameen Microfinance, Women's Empowerment and Livelihoods among Tribal and Indigenous Communities in India

Mr. Jason Pegat-Toquet, Advisor, International Organization of Employers, The Role of Multistakeholder and Public-Private Partnerships

Ms. Yixuan Peng, Ph.D. Candidate, Law School of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, Human Rights Responsibilities of Digital Business Enterprises

15h45-16h30      Interactive Dialogue

16h30-17h45   Crafting Recommendations to FFD4, with a focus on Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States     Moderator: Mr. Mihir Kanade, Professor and Head, Department of International Law and Director, Human Rights Centre,                          University for Peace (UPEACE), San José, Costa Rica

H.E. Ms. Patricia Hermanns, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas to the United Nations in Geneva, Sustainable Finance for Caribbean and other Small Island Developing States

Ms. Bhumika Muchhala,Political Economist, Policy Advocate and Research Scholar, New School, New York, Addressing Systemic Issues for Justice and Equity in Global Governance

Mr. Unubat Narantsatsralt, Student Researcher, International Institute in Geneva, Sustainable Financing for Landlocked Developing Countries – From the Perspective of Mongolia

Ms. Gladys Cecilia Hernandez, Deputy Director, Centro de Investigaciones de la Economia Mondial, Cuba, Proposals for a New International Financial Architecture

Ms. Jane Nalunga, Executive Director, SEATINI, Uganda, FFD Africa Core Group, and Coordination Group of the Civil Society FFD Mechanism – Ensuring Effective Outcomes for African Countries, Least Developed Countries and All Human Rights for All at FFD4

17h45-18h00   Closing Remarks

 H.E. Marc Bichler, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Social Forum

The Social Forum 2024 focuses on the contribution of financing for development to the advancement of all Human Rights for all.

Watch the 4th meeting, Social Forum 2024!

[disarmamentawarenessday]

4th Meeting, 2024 Amended Protocol II Group of Experts (CCW).

Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons – Amended Protocol II Group of Experts

Watch 4th Meeting, 2024 Amended Protocol II Group of Experts (CCW)!

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

Source

[mineaction]

Launch of the Cluster Munitions Monitor 2024 report.

Watch the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) - Press Conference: Cluster Munitions Monitor 2024.

Speakers: 

·        Charles Bechara, ICBL-CMC Communications and Media Manager

·        Mary Wareham, Cluster Munition Monitor 2024 Ban Policy Editor

·        Katrin Atkins, Cluster Munition Monitor 2024 Impact Team Senior Researcher

·        Loren Persi, Cluster Munition Monitor 2024 Impact Team Lead 

Launch of the Cluster Munitions Monitor 2024 report

[worldhumanitarianday]

Reaffirm that civilians and aid workers caught in conflicts are not a target.

At UN Geneva; On August 19th at 4:00 pm CET a commemorative event will be held at the Palais des Nations, Building E, 3rd Floor; Outside the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room (Room XX). The Humanitarian partners are coming together to reaffirm that civilians and aid workers caught in conflicts are not a target and to honor humanitarians who strive to meet ever-growing global needs. Register to participate to the event!

[nucleartestsday]

16th Meeting, Preparatory Committee for NPT Review Conference 2026.

The Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will hold its second session from 22 July to 2 August 2024 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. This will be the second of three planned sessions that will be held prior to the 2026 Review Conference.

The Preparatory Committee, open to all States parties to the Treaty, is responsible for addressing substantive and procedural issues related to the Treaty and the forthcoming Review Conference. The Chair of the second session is Ambassador Akan Rakhmetullin of Kazakhstan. UN Web TV

Watch the 16th Meeting, Preparatory Committee for NPT Review Conference 2026!

[worldelderabuseawarenessday]

Progress and priorities for ending abuse of older people during the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) to be held in Geneva by WHO, UN-DESA and INPEA.

The online webinar will take place Monday 17 June 2024 from 14.30 to 16.00 CET.

The webinar will provide an update on progress towards addressing the priorities in Tackling abuse of older people - Five priorities for the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030)

Please register for the webinar here, where you will also find more information. 

Flyer Programme

[migrantsday]

552nd Meeting, 38th Session, Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW).

552nd Meeting, 38th Session, Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW)

Consideration of Türkiye

[chineselanguageday]

Under the theme “Youth Together for a Better World”

On today’s Chinese Language Day, under the theme “Youth Together for a Better World”, set sail for China in this animated video brought to you by China Media Group together with the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) as part of its Cultural Activities Programme, and the Permanent Mission of China to the UN in Geneva. Since 2021, UNOG, the Permanent Mission of China and the China Media Group have been co-hosting annual cultural events to mark this day. The purpose of the UN's language days is to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity, as well as to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organization.

[withbriefthanksgiving]

The director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the UN (UN OHCHR), Craig Mokhiber, has resigned in a letter dated 28 October 2023

the resignation letter can be found embedded in this tweet by Rami Atari (@.Raminho) dated 31 October 2023.

The letters are here:

Transcription:

United Nations | Nations Unies

HEADQUARTERS I SIEGE I NEW YORK, NY 10017

28 October 2023

Dear High Commissioner,

This will be my last official communication to you as Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

I write at a moment of great anguish for the world, including for many of our colleagues. Once again, we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes, and the Organization that we serve appears powerless to stop it. As someone who has investigated human rights in Palestine since the 1980s, lived in Gaza as a UN human rights advisor in the 1990s, and carried out several human rights missions to the country before and since, this is deeply personal to me.

I also worked in these halls through the genocides against the Tutsis, Bosnian Muslims, the Yazidi, and the Rohingya. In each case, when the dust settled on the horrors that had been perpetrated against defenseless civilian populations, it became painfully clear that we had failed in our duty to meet the imperatives of prevention of mass atrocites, of protection of the vulnerable, and of accountability for perpetrators. And so it has been with successive waves of murder and persecution against the Palestinians throughout the entire life of the UN.

High Commissioner, we are failing again.

As a human rights lawyer with more than three decades of experience in the field, I know well that the concept of genocide has often been subject to political abuse. But the current wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist settler colonial ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs, and coupled with explicit statements of intent by leaders in the Israeli government and military, leaves no room for doubt or debate. In Gaza, civilian homes, schools, churches, mosques, and medical institutions are wantonly attacked as thousands of civilians are massacred. In the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, homes are seized and reassigned based entirely on race, and violent settler pogroms are accompanied by Israeli military units. Across the land, Apartheid rules.

This is a text-book case of genocide. The European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project in Palestine has entered its final phase, toward the expedited destruction of the last remnants of indigenous Palestinian life in Palestine. What's more, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe, are wholly complicit in the horrific assault. Not only are these governments refusing to meet their treaty obligations "to ensure respect" for the Geneva Conventions, but they are in fact actively arming the assault, providing economic and intelligence support, and giving political and diplomatic cover for Israel's atrocities.

Volker Turk, High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais Wilson, Geneva

In concert with this, western corporate media, increasingly captured and state-adjacent, are in open breach of Article 20 of the ICCPR, continuously dehumanizing Palestinians to facilitate the genocide, and broadcasting propaganda for war and advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, and violence. US-based social media companies are suppressing the voices of human rights defenders while amplifying pro-Israel propaganda. Israel lobby online-trolls and GONGOS are harassing and smearing human rights defenders, and western universities and employers are collaborating with them to punish those who dare to speak out against the atrocities. In the wake of this genocide, there must be an accounting for these actors as well, just as there was for radio Mules Collins in Rwanda.

In such circumstances, the demands on our organization for principled and effective action are greater than ever. But we phave not met the challenge. The protective enforcement power Security Council has again been blocked by US intransigence, the SG [UN Secretary General] is under assault for the mildest of protestations, and our human rights mechanisms are under sustained slanderous attack by an organized, online impunity network.

Decades of distraction by the illusory and largely disingenuous promises of Oslo have diverted the Organization from its core duty to defend international law, international human rights, and the Charter itself. The mantra of the "two-state solution" has become an open joke in the corridors of the UN, both for its utter impossibility in fact, and for its total failure to account for the inalienable human rights of the Palestinian people. The so-called "Quartet" has become nothing more than a fig leaf for inaction and for subservience to a brutal status quo. The (US-scripted) deference to "agreements between the parties themselves" (in place of international law) was always a transparent slight-of-hand, designed to reinforce the power of Israel over the rights of the occupied and dispossessed Palestinians.

High Commissioner, I came to this Organization first in the 1980s, because I found in it a principled, norm-based institution that was squarely on the side of human rights, including in cases where the powerful US, UK, and Europe were not on our side. While my own government, its subsidiarity institutions, and much of the US media were still supporting or justifying South African apartheid, Israeli oppression, and Central American death squads, the UN was standing up for the oppressed peoples of those lands. We had international law on our side. We had human rights on our side. We had principle on our side. Our authority was rooted in our integrity. But no more.

In recent decades, key parts of the UN have surrendered to the power of the US, and to fear of the Israel Lobby, to abandon these principles, and to retreat from international law itself. We have lost a lot in this abandonment, not least our own global credibility. But the Palestinian people have sustained the biggest losses as a result of our failures. It is a stunning historic irony that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in the same year that the Nakba was perpetrated against the Palestinian people. As we commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the UDHR, we would do well to abandon the old cliché that the UDHR was born out of the atrocities that proceeded it, and to admit that it was born alongside one of the most atrocious genocides of the 20th Century, that of the destruction of Palestine. In some sense, the framers were promising human rights to everyone, except the Palestinian people. And let us remember as well, that the UN itself carries the original sin of helping to facilitate the dispossession of the Palestinian people by ratifying the European settler colonial project that seized Palestinian land and turned it over to the colonists. We have much for which to atone.

But the path to atonement is clear. We have much to learn from the principled stance taken in cities around the world in recent days, as masses of people stand up against the genocide, even at risk of beatings and arrest. Palestinians and their allies, human rights defenders of every stripe, Christian and Muslim organizations, and progressive Jewish voices saying "not in our name", are all leading the way. All we have to do is to follow them.

Yesterday, just a few blocks from here, New York's Grand Central Station was completely taken over by thousands of Jewish human rights defenders standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people and demanding an end to Israeli tyranny (many risking arrest, in the process). In doing so, they stripped away in an instant the Israeli hasbara propaganda point (and old antisemitic trope) that Israel somehow represents the Jewish people. It does not. And, as such, Israel is solely responsible for its crimes. On this point, it bears repeating, in spite of Israel lobby smears to the contrary, that criticism of Israel's human rights violations is not antisemitic, any more than criticism of Saudi violations is Islamophobic, criticism of Myanmar violations is anti-Buddhist, or criticism of Indian violations is anti-Hindu. When they seek to silence us with smears, we must raise our voice, not lower it. I trust you will agree, High Commissioner, that this is what speaking truth to power is all about.

But I also find hope in those parts of the UN that have refused to compromise the Organization's human rights principles in spite of enormous pressures to do so. Our independent special rapporteurs, commissions of enquiry, and treaty body experts, alongside most of our staff, have continued to stand up for the human rights of the Palestinian people, even as other parts of the UN (even at the highest levels) have shamefully bowed their heads to power. As the custodians of the human rights norms and standards, OHCHR. has a particular duty to defend those standards. Our job, I believe, is to make our voice heard, from the Secretary-General to the newest UN recruit, and horizontally across the wider UN system, incisting that the human rights of the Palestinian people are not up for debate, negotiation, or compromise anywhere under the blue flag.

What, then, would a UN-norm-based position look like? For what would we work if we were true to our rhetorical admonitions about human rights and equality for all, accountability for perpetrators, redress for victims, protection of the vulnerable, and empowerment for rights-holders, all under the rule of law? The answer, I believe, is simple—if we have the clarity to see beyond the propagandistic smokescreens that distort the vision of justice to which we are sworn, the courage to abandon fear and deference to powerful states, and the will to truly take up the banner of human rights and peace. To be sure, this is a long-term project and a steep climb. But we must begin now or surrender to unspeakable horror. I see ten essential points:

Legitimate action: First, we in the UN must abandon the failed (and largely disingenuous) Oslo paradigm, its illusory two-state solution, its impotent and complicit Quartet, and its subjugation of international law to the dictates of presumed political expediency. Our positions must be unapologetically based on international human rights and international law.

Clarity of Vision: We must stop the pretense that this is simply a conflict over land or religion between two warring parties and admit the reality of the situation in which a disproportionately powerful state is colonizing, persecuting, and dispossessing an indigenous population on the basis of their ethnicity.

One State based on human rights: We must support the establishment of a single, democratic, secular state in all of historic Palestine, with equal rights for Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and, therefore, the dicmantling of the deeply racist, settler-colonial project and an end to apartheid across the land.

Fighting Apartheid: We must redirect all UN efforts and resources to the struggle against apartheid, just as we did for South Africa in the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s.

Return and Compensation: We must reaffirm and insist on the right to return and full compensation for all Palestinians and their families currently living in the occupied territories, in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and in the diaspora across the globe.

Truth and Justice: We must call for a transitional justice process, making full use of decades of accumulated UN investigations, enquiries, and reports, to document the truth, and to ensure accountability for all perpetrators, redress for all victims, and remedies for documented injustices.

Protection: We must press for the deployment of a well-resourced and strongly mandated UN protection force with a sustained mandate to protect civilians from the river to the sea.

Disarmament: We must advocate for the removal and destruction of Israel's massive stockpiles of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, lest the conflict lead to the total destruction of the region and, possibly, beyond.

Mediation: We must recognize that the US and other western powers are in fact not credible mediators, but rather actual parties to the conflict who are complicit with Israel in the violation of Palestinian rights, and we must engage them as such.

Solidarity: We must open our doors (and the doors of the SG) wide to the legions of Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian human rights defenders who are standing in solidarity with the people of Palestine and their human rights and stop the unconstrained flow of Israel lobbyists to the offices of UN leaders, where they advocate for continued war, persecution, apartheid, and impunity, and smear our human rights defenders for their principled defense of Palestinian rights.

This will take years to achieve, and western powers will fight us every step of the way, so we must be steadfast. In the immediate term, we must work for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the longstanding siege on Gaza, stand up against the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank (and elsewhere), document the genocidal assault in Gaza, help to bring massive humanitarian aid and reconstruction to the Palestinians, take care of our traumatized colleagues and their families, and fight like hell for a principled approach in the UN's political offices.

The UN's failure in Palestine thus far is not a reason for us to withdraw. Rather it should give us the courage to abandon the failed paradigm of the past, and fully embrace a more principled course. Let us, as OHCHR, boldly and proudly join the anti-apartheid movement that is growing all around the world, adding our logo to the banner of equality and human rights for the Palestinian people. The world is watching. We will all be accountable for where we stood at this crucial moment in history. Let us stand on the side of justice.

I thank you, High Commissioner, Volker, for hearing this final appeal from my desk. I will leave the Office in a few days for the last time, after more than three decades of service. But please do not hesitate to reach out if I can be of assistance in the future.

Sincerely,

Craig Mokhiber

End of transcription.

Emphasis (bolding) is my own. I have added links, where relevant, to explanations of concepts the former Director refers to.

[nelsonmandeladay]

15th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court competition.

The Fifteenth Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition adopts a hybrid format, with the in-person final rounds scheduled to take place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland from 17 – 21 July 2023 and the preliminary virtual rounds (online) scheduled to take place from 20 – 27 May 2023.

The World Moot is open to undergraduate and masters students from all universities in the world. Teams of two students (gender diversity is encouraged) from every university in the world are invited to submit heads of argument for a hypothetical human rights case. The 50 teams with the highest memorial grades are invited to participate in the preliminary oral rounds and present their arguments to human rights experts and judges of international tribunals at the UN headquarters in Geneva.

The Moot Court Competition is the largest gathering of students, academics and judges around the theme of human rights in the world. The Competition is open to students around the world. A team of two students from each university – preferably one woman and one man (gender diversity is encouraged) – is invited to participate in the competition.

[socialjusticeday]

3rd Meeting, Social Forum 2024.

The Social Forum 2024 focuses on the contribution of financing for development to the advancement of all Human Rights for all.

10h00-10h45       Roundtable: Debt and Debt Sustainability

     Moderator:  Ms. Sakshi Rai, Sustainable Development Section, OHCHR

Mr. Ugo Panizza, Professor of Economics and Head of Department and Pictet Chair in Finance and Development, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Foreign Debt and Development Finance

Mr. Grieve Chelwa, Associate Professor of Political Economy, Chair of Social Sciences, The Africa Institute / African Sovereign Debt Justice Network, Global Studies University, Debt Restructuring - The Experience of Zambia

Mr. Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, Senior Researcher, National and Technical Research Council, Argentina and Consultant for the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), OHCHR and UNDP, Why and How Human Rights in Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA)

Ms. Iolanda Fresnillo, Policy and Advocacy Manager for Debt Justice, Eurodad, Climate Change and Debt Sustainability Analysis

Ms. Penelope Hawkins, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, Debt and Development Finance Branch, UNCTAD, Debt and Fiscal Space for Human Rights and Sustainable Development

10h45-11h30     Interactive dialogue

11h30-12h15       Domestic Resource Mobilization

Moderator: Mr. Serges Kamga, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of the Free State, South Africa

H.E. Mr. Sharaf Sheralizoda, Permanent Representative of Tajikistan to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Domestic Resource Mobilization and Investment for Sustainable Development

Ms. Chenai Mukumba, Executive Director, Tax Justice Network Africa, Tax Justice

Mr. Abdul Muheet Chowdhary / Tax Initiative, South Centre, Geneva, Lessons Learned and Good Practices – In the Experience of the South Centre Tax Initiative

Mr. Gerard Kamga, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of the Free State, South Africa, Illicit Financial Flows from Africa and the Financing of Development

Ms. Anu Peltola, Director of Statistics, UNCTAD, Tracking and Measuring Illicit Financial Flows for Domestic Resource Mobilization and the Realization of Human Rights

12h15-13h00       Interactive Dialogue

Watch the 3rd Meeting, Social Forum 2024

[disarmamentawarenessday]

3rd Meeting, 2024 Amended Protocol II Group of Experts (CCW).

Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons – Amended Protocol II Group of Experts.

Watch the 3rd Meeting, 2024 Amended Protocol II Group of Experts (CCW)

[hathorik]

PALESTINIAN GENOCIDE: WAR CRIMES MASTER POST

The goal of this post is to keep track of all the war crimes as recognized by the UN's Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect committed by Israeli authority and military against the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese people, and which remain unpunished by international authorities.

The ICC is not doing its job. It has failed its mission. It's up to us to push for Israel to be held accountable.

Feel free to comment, I'll feel free to delete the Zionist propaganda. I can't help it, I'm allergic to Nazis. Don't ask for "reliable" western media sources either; you can just open your eyes. I promise you it's better to see things as they are.

Everything under the cut is the material present on the UN's Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect website as of 12/11th. Just go check it yourself if you need. Crimes in bold and red are those identified as committed. I'd love to keep tracks of numbers but... they are overwhelming. I can't. I don't think anyone can.

Paragraphs 2.c, 2.d, 2.e, 2.f and 3 are repeats of the previous but applicable to "armed conflicts not of an international character" and details to take into account in such cases. For the sake of brevity, they will be skipped and instances applicable will be reported in the previous instances of said crimes.

If you find other crimes (or victims) that need to be accounted for, please send a screenshot or a link to the source material along with the paragraph number (X.Y.Z.) and I'll be happy to oblige. You can also just bring up cases applying to a certain paragraph the same way; I don't mind a comment section filled with proof.

This post will be reblogged every 12 hours and updated when I'm able to do so.

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA PALESTINE WILL BE FREE.

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

Article 8 War Crimes

1. The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes.

2. For the purpose of this Statute, ‘war crimes’ means:

2.a. Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:

2.a.i. Wilful killing;

2.a.ii. Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;

2.a.iii. Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;

2.a.iv. Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;

2.a.v. Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;

2.a.vi. Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;

2.a.vii. Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement;

2.a.viii. Taking of hostages.

2.b. Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:

2.b.i. Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;

2.b.ii. Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives;

2.b.iii. Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict;

2.b.iv. Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated;

2.b.v. Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives;

2.b.vi. Killing or wounding a combatant who, having laid down his arms or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion;

2.b.vii. Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the United Nations, as well as of the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions, resulting in death or serious personal injury;

2.b.viii. The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory;

2.b.ix. Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives;

2.b.x. Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons;

2.b.xi. Killing or wounding treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army;

2.b.xii. Declaring that no quarter will be given;

2.b.xiii. Destroying or seizing the enemy's property unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war;

2.b.xiv. Declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party;

2.b.xv. Compelling the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war;

2.b.xvi. Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;

2.b.xvii. Employing poison or poisoned weapons;

2.b.xviii. Employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices;

2.b.xix. Employing bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the core or is pierced with incisions;

2.b.xx. Employing weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the international law of armed conflict, provided that such weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare are the subject of a comprehensive prohibition and are included in an annex to this Statute, by an amendment in accordance with the relevant provisions set forth in articles 121 and 123;

2.b.xxi. Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;

2.b.xxii. Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions;

2.b.xxiii. Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;

2.b.xxiv. Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law;

2.b.xxv. Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions;

2.b.xxvi. Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities.

[worldhumanitarianday]

Commemorative ceremony at UN geneva - agenda programme.

World Humanitarian Day 2024 – Commemoration Ceremony. Monday, 19 August 2024, 4 p.m. Palais des Nations, Building E, 3rd Floor Outside the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room (Room XX)

4 p.m. Opening of the event:

Master of ceremony: Mr. Michele Zaccheo, OiC, United Nations Information Service

Wreath laying and candle lightning ceremony by the United Nations

Laying of flowers by the survivors and families of the victims of the attack against the United Nations Offices in Baghdad of 19 August 2003, and other UN Offices

Laying of flowers by the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva

Remarks by Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General, United Nations Office at Geneva

Minute of silence

Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdul-Karim Hashim Mostafa, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva

Remarks by Mr. Ben Majekodunmi, Chief of Staff, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

Remarks by Ms. Laura Johnson, Executive Secretary, UNOG Staff Union

Remarks by Mr. Ramesh Rajasingham, Head and Representative of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva and Director of the Coordination Division, Geneva

5 p.m. Conclusion of the event

The event will be webcast at http://webtv.un.org

Register to participate here: https://indico.un.org/event/1012645/

[nucleartestsday]

15th Meeting, Preparatory Committee for NPT Review Conference 2026.

The NPT entered into force in 1970 and was extended indefinitely in 1995. The Treaty is regarded as the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and an essential foundation for the pursuit of nuclear disarmament. It was designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, to further the goals of nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament, and to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Under the Treaty, the nuclear-weapon States are obliged not to transfer possession or control to any recipient nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, and not in any way to assist, encourage or induce non-nuclear-weapon States to manufacture, acquire or control over such weapons or devices. The non-nuclear-weapon States are obliged not to receive any transfer of or control over nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices, and not to manufacture or otherwise acquire such weapons or devices as well as not to seek or receive any assistance in this regard. The non-nuclear-weapon States further undertake to accept safeguards administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency on all source or special fissionable materials in all peaceful nuclear activities within their territory or under their jurisdiction or control, with a view to preventing diversion of nuclear energy from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

The Treaty guarantees the right of all States parties develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with their basic non-proliferation obligations. Article VI of the NPT includes the only legally binding treaty-based obligation requiring States to pursue in good faith effective measures related to nuclear disarmament.

The Preparatory Committee normally holds a sessions of 10 working days in each of the three years leading up to a review conference. As decided by States parties in 2000, the purpose of the first two Preparatory Committee sessions is to consider principles, objectives and ways in order to promote the full implementation of the Treaty, as well as its universality, and to make recommendations thereon to the Review Conference. To that end, each session should consider specific matters of substance relating to the implementation of the Treaty and Decisions 1 and 2 as well as the Resolution on the Middle East adopted in 1995, and the outcomes of subsequent Review Conferences, including developments affecting the operation and purpose of the Treaty. The third session is specifically mandated to make every effort to produce a consensus report containing recommendations to the Review Conference, taking into account the deliberations and results of its previous sessions.

The 2000 Review Conference agreed to a substantive final document, including practical steps for the systematic and progressive efforts to implement article VI of the Treaty on nuclear disarmament. The 2010 Review Conference produced conclusions and recommendations for follow-on actions in the areas of nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, peaceful uses of nuclear energy and the Middle East, particularly implementation of the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East. The 2005, 2015 and 2020 Review Conferences were unable to reach agreement on any substantive outcome documents.

Watch the 15th Meeting, Preparatory Committee for NPT Review Conference 2026!