Global Governance Watch

Signatories to the Manila Declaration, adopted at the UN-sponsored Global Conference on Land-Ocean Connections, aim to deliver new policies and actions to improve the sustainable management of oceans and coasts in the transition to a low carbon, resource-efficient green economy. To read more, click here.

In its Global Risks Report 2012 report, the World Economic Forum cites five "Centres of Gravity," or those risks perceived to be of greatest systemic importance, including chronic fiscal imbalances; greenhouse gas emissions; global governance failure; unsustainable population growth; and critical technology systems failure. To read more, click here.

In its Global Employment Trends 2012 report, the International Labour Organization identifies three steps to improving the world's unemployment problem: coordinating global economic policies; placing more regulations on the financial system; and focusing stimulus measures on unemployment. To read more, click here.

British Prime Minister declares: "once-in-a-generation chance" of improving the way Europeans advance the cause of human rights.

Calling on United Nations member states to make the "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine "a living reality for peoples of the world," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon views States as having a "moral responsibility" to intervene in domestic matters when a country is failing to adequately protect its citizens from harm. To read more, click here.

The State Department has appointed representatives from business, labor, civil society, academia to serve on a Stakeholder Advisory Board on the U.S. National Contact Point for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. To read more, click here.

The European Court of Human Rights has decided that Romania violated the free-association rights of clergy in the Romanian Orthodox Church who, over the objection of Church officials, wanted to organize. To read more, click here.

Calling on United Nations member states to make the "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine "a living reality for peoples of the world," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon views States as having a "moral responsibility" to intervene in domestic matters when a country is failing to adequately protect its citizens from harm. To read more, click here.

The United Nations Working Group on Human Rights and Transnational Corporation and Other Business Enterprises held its first public, informal exchange with stakeholders at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on January 20 and the Federalist Society was there as an observer.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and the European Commission are partnering to help developing countries transition to a "climate-smart" approach to agriculture that they claim better resists climate change and reduces carbon emissions. To read more, click here.

A new UNESCO manual, "Empowering the Poor: through Human Rights Litigation," is a guidebook for NGOs on how to bring lawsuits to realize a broad range of vague economic, social and cultural rights, including the rights to education, adequate food and housing, safe drinking water, and the enjoyment of the benefits of scientific progress. To read more, click here.

In a recent speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Ambassador Joseph Torsella, the Obama administration's point man for UN management reform, explained what the United States is doing to fix the UN, which President Obama believes is both "flawed" and "indispensable." To read more, click here.

The Brazilian Stock Exchange is recommending that its listed companies publish a regular sustainability report, which would require them to report on financial, environmental, social, and corporate governance ("ESG") issues. To read more, click here.

In a recent speech in Hong Kong, David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, explained his vision for how Asia and the IMF can work together to "ensure stability and prosperity for the region and for the world." To read more, click here.

Janez Lenarcic, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), has expressed regret over the U.S. Congress' passage of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which permits the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects without a trial. To read more, click here.

In an attempt to steer developing countries into "green growth" strategies, the Global Green Growth Institute, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the World Bank, are implementing a Green Growth Knowledge Platform to influence local, national, and global economic and environmental policy-making around the world. To read more, click here.

A draft outcome document, which will be considered by Member States at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June, proposes international agreements on a wide range of issues, including green economic policy, sustainable development, energy, ocean management, education, and gender equality. To read more, click here.

As the next edition of the World Economic Forum opens in Davos, Switzerland, WEF founder and chairman, Klaus Schwab, told the media that established systems of governance and business are in urgent need of a radical overhaul. To read more, click here.

Facing scores of criticism about the lack of transparency and accountability of his 43,700-member Secretariat, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is considering a series of new proposals to effect change in those areas. To read more, click here.

The 63 resolutions recently adopted by the UN General Assembly a third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure and a new text on combating intolerance, negative stereotyping, stigmatization, discrimination, and incitement to violence against persons, based on religion or belief. To read more, click here.