By Joan Russow PhD

Global Compliance Research Project

(OUTLINE FROM A LARGER DOCUMENT)

(RE POSTED  2020-09-17) LEST WE FORGET  INCREASED MILITARISM AND DEFIANCE OF THE RULE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW)

DISARMAMENT POSTER - NORTHERN fRIENDS' pEACE BOARD 1935

UPDATE IN 2020

In December 2016, Canada along with US allies  gave the reason for not adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapon, that US nuclear weapons are necessary for the security of Canada  and that Canada would never agree that nuclear weapons would never be used

And in july2017 Canada refused to sign and ratify a Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons which undertakes never under any circumstances to:

(a) Develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;

 (b) Transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices directly or indirectly;

 (c) Receive the transfer of or control over nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices directly or indirectly;

 (d) Use or threaten to use nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;

 (e) Assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Treaty;

(g) Allow any stationing, installation or deployment of any nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices in its territory or at any place under its jurisdiction or control.

And  instead Canada  had  agreed, at a NATO Conference, to the following;

1) Nuclear weapons must be maintained indefinitely.

2) we will improve their use and accuracy (modernize them).

3  wecan use them first.

4) we can target non-nuclear weapons states.

5) We can threaten to use them.

6) We can keep them in Europe, as we are now doing.

7)  We can launch some on 15 minutes warning.

8) We say “they are essential for peace."

And We will never agree that they should never be used.

Inger Andersen is UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

Credit: The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the intergovernmental body which assesses the state of biodiversity and of the ecosystem services it provides to society, in response to requests from decision makers.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 15 2020 (IPS) - We have known for a long time that biodiversity, and the services it provides, have been in decline. It is on this background that ten years ago, the international community adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

The goal of the plan, and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets, was to halt biodiversity loss and ensure that ecosystems continued to provide essential services.

Governments and the wider society have acted to address the biodiversity crisis. Some nations have made some progress. However, as this Report Card on global progress demonstrates, we have not met the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. And we are not on track for the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.

Many of you might have heard me speak to the devastating consequences of humanity’s imprint on nature, in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic, a zoonotic disease transmitted between animals and humans, which is by no means the first and will not be the last.

From COVID-19 to massive wildfires, floods, melting glaciers and unprecedented heat, our failure to meet the Aichi Targets – to protect our home – has very real consequences. We can no longer afford to cast nature to the side. Now is the time for a massive step up, conserving, restoring and using biodiversity fairly and sustainably.

 By Inger Andersen

  This is reposted  from 2015  UN at 70  by Joan Russow Global Compliance Research Project

because States still fail to sign, ratified and enact the necessary legislation to ensure compliance with  international  instruments 

At key anniversaries of the U.N., there have been calls for compliance with international instruments.

In 1995, Secretary-General Boutros Boutrous-Ghali indicated support at the 50th anniversary of the U.N., in San Francisco, and, at the 55th Anniversary, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged states to sign and ratify international instruments.

Human welfare, ecology and negotiation must be a priority over global supply chains and "profit-driven" development through coercion.

In 2015, with the confluence of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 70th anniversary of the United Nations, COP 21, and the launch of International Decade for People of African Descent, there is an opportunity to again call upon states to sign and ratify international instruments, to determine what would constitute compliance with these and to undertake to comply with them through enacting the necessary legislation.

This could also be the time to advance and reinforce the concept of peremptory norms as stated in Article 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of treaties:

“A treaty is void if, at the time of its conclusion, it conflicts with a peremptory norm of general international law. For the purpose of the present convention, a peremptory norm of general international law is a norm accepted and recognized by the international community of states as a whole.”

Peremptory norms have been described as those derived from treaties, conventions and covenants which have been ratified by all states or by most states representing the full range of legal systems and the major geographical regions. Also, peremptory norms could be derived from U.N. General Assembly Declarations and Conference Action Plans.

Ratifying key legally binding agreements

International Covenants such as on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its protocols, on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); Conventions such as Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), on Torture (UNTC), on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its protocols, on Endangered Species (CITES), on Climate Change (UNFCCC), on World Heritage Convention / WHC), on Desertification (UNCCD), on Ozone (MP),on Rights of the Child (CRC), on Women (CEDAW) and its protocols, on Racial Discrimination ( (ICERD), on Genocide (CPPCG) on Rights of Migrant Workers, on Labour (ILO), on Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto (CTOC) on Persons with Disabilities(CRPD); Declarations such as Rights of indigenous Peoples UNDRIP; peace Treaties, such as NPT, Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Anti_Personnel-Mine-(APM), Cluster Munitions (CCM), Arms Trade (ATT). Respect for the jurisdiction and decisions of the ICJ, and the ICC Rome Statute are paramount. 1992

1992 UN FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

2017 THE UN TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS

GLobal Compliance Research Project, 

A PRPRINT FROM UN at 70 BECAUSE IT IS STILL A TIME FOR COMPLIANCE

If states comply with these many instruments, the global community will have more respect for the rule of international law, and more faith in the United Nations, including for the compliance with and implementation of the SDGs. Credit: UN Photo/Joao Araujo Pinto

 At key anniversaries of the U.N., there have been calls for compliance with international instruments.

In 1995, Secretary-General Boutros Boutrous-Ghali indicated support at the 50th anniversary of the U.N., in San Francisco, and, at the 55th Anniversary, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged states to sign and ratify international instruments.