By Invitation Only
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m
Ali Baba’s Terrace, 862 Second Avenue

FES New York organized a special event to bid farewell to Dr. Werner Puschra, and to welcome the new Executive Director, Michèle Auga. This event featured perspectives on “Strengthening the Relationship between UN Member States and Civil Society”.

Speakers: Ms. Barbara Adams (Senior Fellow at Global Policy Forum Europe), H.E. Mr. Saul Weisleder (Deputy Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN), Ms. Anita Nayar (Chief of the New York office of UN-Non-Governmental Liaison Service), and Mr. Robert Zuber (Director of Global Action to Prevent War).

On 8 May FES New York organized an informal roundtable in which Ambassadors could engage in informal and candid dialogue to enhance political understanding of the ECOSOC reform and High Level Political Forum processes and their impact on the development agenda of the UN.  Discussions concentrated on 1) inter-linkages between the two processes; 2) mechanisms to review national implementation, 3) the role of IMF and World Bank in a reformed institutional framework for sustainable development, and 4) mechanisms for participation of Major Groups and other non-state actors in sustainable development. The meeting was hosted by the German Mission, co-sponsored by the Missions of Mexico and Denmark and Stakeholder Forum, supported by UN-DESA, and organized in consultation with the co-facilitators of the two processes. More than 75 Ambassadors, members of delegations, representatives of the UN , IMF and World Bank Secretariats and institutional organizers attended the round table. The meeting was held under Chatham House Rule.

Summary of Discussions from 8 May Meeting

“The UN and the BWIs: How to promote policy coherence and coordination for sustainable development, a “think piece” backgrounder produced by FES New York for the 8 May Meeting

Katherine Prizeman
FES Perspective, April 2013

After more than one decade of preparations and negotiations, the UN General Assembly adopted the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in April 2013. The ATT sets important precedents for working towards the goals of prohibiting arms transfers to countries where there is serious risk of violations of human rights and humanitarian law and where arms could potentially thwart peace and security. In addition, the adopted treaty underlines the significance of greater transparency and accountability in global arms trade. However, this publication highlights various shortcomings and loopholes of the ATT. Despite the potential the treaty bears, it remains rather symbolic and normative in meaning. The treaty does not reflect what the majority of states had originally called for, but is, through a consensus-driven process, confined to agreements on the lowest common denominator. More importantly, the adoption of the treaty is not a victory in-and-of-itself, but merely the first step in a long process ranging from ratification, effective work of the Conference of States Parties, to robust implementation. The author emphasizes the importance of securing the rapid entry into force of the ATT and of safeguarding the participation of the largest arms-trading nations. Otherwise, the ATT will stay a rather imperfect treaty failing to counteract the severe consequences of illicit and unregulated arms trade.

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Open to all UN Pass-Holders
April 16, 2013, 15:00-18:00
UNHQ NLB-Conference Room 6

For over 20 years the international community has struggled to develop the right institutions and policies to implement sustainable development, but the established institutions and policies are weak. The actions enabled by them have tended to emphasize environmental degradation over underlining causes – including weak state and corporate fiscal, tax, budget, trade, energy, agriculture and other polices – and in the values underlining those, which support the Washington Consensus, a neoliberal economic paradigm and an outmoded vision of globalization, which is insensitive to planetary boundaries.

This event featured Club of Rome experts, Ian Dunlop, whose 30 years in oil and coal exploration as an engineer and senior executive at Royal Dutch Shell, had convinced him that we cannot continue our present model of global economic growth with the use of fossil fuels, even with the most optimistic technology scenarios, if we want to avoid a global climate emergency, and Tapio Kanninen, whose new book, Crisis of Global Sustainability, evaluates the Club’s history and impact. The Club of Rome experts, who were joined by stakeholders from the UN system, including Tomas Anker Christensen, from the UN Office for Partnerships, contended that the diplomats, politicians and whole intergovernmental system had not yet understood the severity of the crisis.  They therefore seriously questioned the current paradigm of international negotiations on climate change and sustainable development.

Programme

A Briefing for Member States
April 11, 2013, 13:00-15:00
UNHQ Secretariat Building, Room 2723
(Attendance for non-Member States only by confirmed RSVP: seating for non-Member States not guaranteed.)

The purpose of this briefing was to help prepare UN Member States for substantive participation in the ECOSOC’s 23 April 2013 meeting – in conjunction with its special high-level meeting with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development – to consider lessons learned from debt crises and to assess the ongoing work on sovereign debt restructuring and debt resolution mechanisms so as to guide policy-makers in shaping the future policy agenda in debt crisis prevention and resolution.

Confirmed Panelists: Ms. Shamshad Akhtar, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, UN-DESA, Mr. James Haley, Executive Director, Inter American Development Bank, Mr. Sergio Chodos, Executive Director from Argentina to the International Monetary Fund, Ms. Benu Schneider, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, UN-DESA, and with reflections by Mr. Walter Schuldt, Mission of Ecuador to the United Nations. The briefing will be followed by a moderated question and answer session.

Programme

“Global Sustainability Goals: The way forward in shaping transformation towards a more equitable, just and sustainable world”

Workshop/Panel Discussion sponsored by FES, Global Policy Forum, Social Watch, DAWN
27 March, 2013

The present framework of international development goals revolving around “Millennium Development Goals” for the year 2015 does not provide adequate answers to the global problems, whether global warming or growing inequalities. Both the debate over a post-2015 agenda as well as the agreement at the Rio conference to formulate Sustainable Development Goals now offers the opportunity to readdress holistic concepts of prosperity and progress in societies. What could an integrated system of Global Sustainability Goals look like? What are its normative foundations? Beyond goals: what accountability mechanisms must be put in place? How could such goals be embedded in a rights-based approach to development and a system of fair burden-sharing?

With: Roberto Bissio, Social Watch; Anita Nayar/Nicole Bidegain, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) (tbc); Jens Martens, GPF Europe; Ziad Abdel Samad, Arab NGO Network for Development (tbc); Jean Saldanha, International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity (CIDSE) (tbc); Sara Burke, FES New York Office.

FES Senior Policy Analyst Sara Burke also participated on the panel of UBUNTU’s “Governance and Democracy: linking global and local needs in an interdependent world” workshop on 27 March, 2013, 11:30-14:00hrs.

FES at 2013 World Social Forum
Sustainability Blog Post by Sara Burke
UBUNTU
Report WSF

March 21/22, 2013
UN Church Center, New York
Attendance only by Invitation

FES New York co-sponsored this two-day exchange of views on current sanctions as a means to prevent natural resources revenues from fuelling conflicts. Current UN natural resources-related sanctions are linked with governance and due diligence standards that may not adequately reflect global variations in trading concepts, particularly those of the political South. This dialogue initiated a year-long series of events and activities, which should help formulate recommendations for more effective sanctions and due diligence guidelines designed to inspire truly global observance. Among the speakers were Claude Kabemba (Director SARWatch, pictured left) and Paul Yenga Mabolia (National Coordinator, Promines DRC- Ministry of Mines, pictured right).

Program
CCI Sanctions and Natural Resources Dialogue
FES International Policy Analysis
Summary

March 18, 2013, 1:15 – 2:30 pm
UN Headquarters, New York, North Lawn Building, Conference Room B

On the occasion of the beginning of the final conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) on March 18, 2013, FES New York co-hosted a side-event at the UN that brought together various actors’ perspectives to strengthen the regulation of international trade in conventional arms. The debate, opened by the UN’s High Representative for Disarmament Angela Kane (pictured left), was chaired by Ambassador Paul Beijer, head of the Swedish delegation to the ATT conference (right). The event coincided with the launch of an updated version of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, which highlights the   importance of transparency for a robust, legally binding treaty.

Program

February 28, 2013
UN Secretariat

After the UN General Assembly adopted in December 2012 Resolution 67/226 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review (QCPR) of UN operational activities for development, on February 28, 2013, FES New York hosted a workshop for key participants in the 2012 QCPR process. The meeting, which was opened by Wu Hongbo, Under Secretary-General, UNDESA  (pictured right) helped to formulate lessons learned that should also inform the planning and organization of other major intergovernmental processes in the future.

Program
UNDESA QCPR

February 5, 2013
United Nations HQ, NLB

Each year the NGO Committee conducts a Forum, based on the theme to be addressed by the UN Commission for Social Development at its annual meeting. The theme of this year’s civil society forum was “Civil society: Promoting empowerment of people to achieve the goals of social development”. The Commission and NGO forum were an opportunity for governments and civil society to explore effective policies and practices to eliminate poverty, reduce inequality, and achieve social integration and decent work for all.

The contribution of the FES New York office to these debates also included inputs from authors- Iñigo Errejón (pictured on the right), Andrew Ross and National Nurses United-who have contributed to our most recent publication, “The Future We the People Need”.

Program

Werner Puschra and Sara Burke (EDS.)
FES International Policy Analysis February 2013

Many new social movements have sprung up since the financial crisis in 2008. In North Africa, the Middle East, Europe and North America they emerged out of social protests against economic austerity, inequality and political exclusion. This publication features 20 contributions, from activists and analysts in Egypt, Tunisia, Israel, Greece, Ireland, Spain, the US, Canada and Mexico, who were invited, not to look back at the protests to analyze their causes, but to critically and constructively examine the creative proposals and campaigns that have emerged from them. The motifs that come through— frustration with government for failing to address political and social exclusion, lack of faith in official political processes and actors, the belief that new social movements are sowing seeds of a more direct democracy—are common in each country and all regions. However, the theme that is emerging most strongly is that of a deep crisis in political representation. As the UN system engages in discussions to construct a future for sustainable development, what the Rio+20 outcome calls, “The Future We Want,” this publication aims to help articulate why “we the people’s” needs can and must inform the next generation of development goals.

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Enrico Carisch and Loraine Rickard-Martin
International Policy Analysis, January 2013

At critical times in the past, the UN Security Council has designed various kinds of sanctions to curtail conflicts involving natural resources. The dearth of consequences for violations of these UN sanctions however indicates a continued lack of global leadership on natural resources. As many resource-rich countries in Africa are replacing industrialized nations as their most important trading partners, they increasingly bypass the evolving framework of Western norms and standards. This publication analyzes the new threats to international peace and security and emphasizes the need for a coordinated response of the industrialized West and the resource-rich South.

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12 December 2012, New York

India, Brazil, and South Africa (known as the IBSA group), along with countries such as Mexico, Indonesia, and Turkey are participating more intensively in global governance. The FES New York Office & Hunter College’s Department of Political Science organized this workshop at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute to focus on how these and other Democratic Emerging Powers (or DEPs) engage as key stakeholders within multilateral institutions that shape the international human rights system. Among the panelists were Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (pictured on the left); Jonathan Fanton, Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute (pictured on the right); Rob Jenkins, Dept. of Political Science, Hunter College; Bertrand Ramcharan, President of UPR Info, and Emma Mawdsley, Dept. of Geography, Cambridge University.

Concept note

26 November 2012, New York

Many discussions have emerged about whether the world needs a new development paradigm, and if so, what sort of framework must underpin it, what aspirational goals will guide it and what targets and indicators will be used to measure and evaluate its progress. The FES New York Office and Club de Madrid organized this daylong event together with co-sponsors, the Ford Foundation and the UN-Missions of Mexico, Peru and France to bring together key participants in the relevant stakeholder groups – in civil society, the UN system and among political decision-makers – to help further these discussions on what is needed in the post-2015/pre-Sustainable Development Goals framework.

Among the speakers were: UN-DSG Jan Eliasson (pictured on the right), former President of Peru Alejandro Toledo (pictured on the left),  SG’s High-Level Panelists on post-2015 Betty Maina, CEO of Kenya’s Association of Manufacturers, and John Podesta, Chair of Center for American Progress, as well as Beyond 2015 Executive Board Co-Chair Mwangi Waituru and Executive Secretary of the SG’s High-Level Panel Homi Kharas.

Program
Archived Webcast
Photos on Facebook

12 – 16 November 2012, New York

From November 12 to 16, 2012 the FES New York office hosted its seventh annual Fall Academy “How to Make Best Use of UN Capacities” for young international policy analysts. 19 participants came to New York for one week to learn hands-on about the work of the United Nations. They met with UN Secretariat diplomats, UN Member State Representatives and NGO experts to discuss the UN’s work on peace and security issues, the Post-MDG process, and the UN’s most recent reform initiatives. The training provided the participants with the opportunity to obtain in-depth knowledge of the capacities of the UN to deal with policy issues that are also relevant for their work at home. The 2012 Fall Academy put particular emphasis on the UN’s post-2015 Millennium Development Goals Agenda.

Program
List of Participants
Photos on Facebook

4 – 9 November 2012, New York

As Pakistan and India are jointly serving as non-permanent members in the UN Security Council in 2012, the FES New York organized a study visit of a joint delegation from both countries to the United Nations in New York from November 4 until November 10, 2012. This select group of high-level policy makers, parliamentarians, policy analysts and media representatives discussed a variety of contemporary security challenges with diplomats from the Security Council and UN Secretariat officials, such as Adama Dieng (pictured), the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.

Program
Delegation List
Report

25 October 2012, New York

This side event to the 2012 sessions of the First Committee to the General Assembly was co-hosted by the Permanent Mission of Japan (Ambassador Nishida pictured on the right), the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and FES New York. The debate focused on the role of information in combating the spread of conventional arms and weapons of mass destruction following the 10th anniversary of the Secretary-General’s report on Disarmament Education. The Panelists were William Potter, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) (pictured on the left); John Ennis, UNODA; Mark Bromley, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI); and Terue Okada, University of Tokyo.

Program

15 October 2012, New York

As a variety of conflicts loom large over the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, the region is also bearing the world’s highest density of weapons, including missiles. The recently published book “Arms Control and Missile Proliferation in the Middle East” analyzes this volatile security situation and outlines the conditions under which a gradual missiles reduction might be achieved in the Middle East. The FES New York organized this debate together with the Permanent Missions of Austria, Finland (Ambassador Taalas pictured in the middle) and Japan (Ambassador Kodama pictured on the right) to give the authors the opportunity to discuss their main findings and recommendations at the UN.

Program

Edited by Werner Puschra and Sara Burke; Contributions by Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Michelle Bachelet, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Sharan Burrow, Ángel Gurría, H. E. Enrique Castillo Barrantes, Anthony Lake, Mary Robinson
FES International Policy Analysis, September 2012

“Is there something wrong with us as human beings that we can’t see we need a newparadigm of development?”  This was a question that Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and head of Climate Justice, posed during the Rio+20 Summit.  This publication of speeches delivered at Rio+20 presents a strongly unified message from world leaders past and present that not only does environmental justice require social justice, which cannot be achieved without greater equality of income and wealth between and within countries, but even more emphatically, without serious and urgent progress toward environmental, social and economic justice, we face a growing crisis of democracy.

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H. Peter Langille
FES Perspective, August 2012

This publication emphasizes the need for a United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS) and analyzes its key roles and requirements. UNEPS aims to create a permanent and standing, robust, highly trained and well-equipped UN military formation under the command of the Security Council. The author underlines that the UNEPS would ensure a prompt, effective response to armed conflicts and genocide, protect civilians, help-rebuilding and ensure collective peace and security. Furthermore, it would renew confidence in the UN as an organization, especially in its capacity and commitment to fulfill assigned tasks. The author concludes with recommendations for the next concrete steps towards such a UNEPS.

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Abdul-Monem Al-Mashat
FES Perspective, July 2012

After the end of President Mubarak’s regime Egypt is facing different regional and internal challenges. This publication analyzes the potential threats emanating from the Egyptian geo-strategic location, its neighboring countries, in particular Israel, Turkey and Iran as well as Egypt’s domestic socioeconomic and political dynamics, caused by the transition from authoritarianism to democracy. Based on this analysis, the author envisions three major possible scenarios for the region’s near future: a cooperative and peaceful Middle East; a disintegrative and conflictive region; an explosive and intolerable status quo. He emphasizes that negotiations, characterized by compromises and mutual respect, with all regional players are of great importance in order to maintain peace and stability in this region. For Egypt as a central regional power, such an outcome would be in the country’s interest, too.

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11 July 2012, New York

The recent turmoil in the Middle East has added an unsettled new dynamic to the long-standing policy challenges in the region. Against the backdrop of perennial concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and capabilities and the Middle East peace process, key regional and international actors are grappling with how to address these new instabilities while assuring regional allies and domestic constituencies that the new dynamic does not need to lead to a further, and possibly irreparable, escalation of tension. To help clarify the key issues and explore policy options in the region, FES New York and the EastWest Institute hosted this workshop with experts from and on the region. Among the panelists were Rolf Mützenich, Member of the German Parliament (Bundestag), H.E. Mr. Seyed Houssein Mousavian, Research Scholar at the the Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University and H.E. Mr. Abdullah Alsaidi, Senior Fellow at the International Peace Institute (see picture).

Program and Bios

Eds. Werner Puschra, Sara Burke, Clem McCartney, Aldo Caliari, Carla Fernández-Durán; Contributions from working group of experts from the Asian Development Bank, G20 Mexican Presidency, International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Trade Union Confederation, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, UN Children’s Fund, UN-Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN Development Programme, UN Regional Commissions (ECLAC and ESCWA),
UN Women and World Bank.
Joint publication: FES-NY Office, Club de Madrid, Center of Concern, June 2012

This  global  agenda outlines requirements for a  new  model of growth and social justice, aimed at promoting long-term inclusive and sustainable growth.  With recommendations at  the  national level on public expenditure policy, taxation, monetary policy, social protection, education,  health, labor market institutions, gender mainstreaming, economic decision-making, transparency, accountability, and voice and participation, and with  global and regional  recommendations on reforming the international monetary system, sovereign debt restructuring, international tax cooperation, and financial and macroeconomic regulation and supervision, the  Global Shared Societies Agenda  forms a practical  action program for  both  national governments and global institutions to embark on a path to create Shared Societies and to develop the necessary indicators to measure and assess progress towards them.

Download publication (8.5×11)
Download publication (A4)
Download powerpoint based on publication
Download background paper “A Global Shared Societies Agenda: The Role of the IMF”

Jack Boorman
FES Perspective, June 2012

This paper  poses  timely and important questions about the social and political challenges
presented by inequality and the global economic policy framework needed to support and nurture equitable development and Shared Societies.  The author’s participation in  the multi-year project organized by FES-New York, Club de Madrid and Center of Concern is a reflection upon which way the causality with regard to shared societies and economic vitality runs.  Does the promotion of equitable and shared societies produce sustainable development and growth? Or does sustainable growth promote equity? These questions lie at the heart of political debates in many countries, but according to the author, there is increasing evidence supporting the first proposition.

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20 June 2012, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm, Room T-4, RioCentro Convention Center, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The vision statement from the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability offers an insightful summary of the global state of affairs: “Today our planet and our world are experiencing the best of times and the worst of times…  Inequality between the world’s rich and poor is growing, and more than a billion people still live in poverty.  In many countries, there are rising waves of protest reflecting universal aspirations for a more prosperous, just and sustainable world.”  In this event, world leaders past and present spoke to the urgent need of millions of people worldwide for equitable and sustainable development to get out of poverty and to ensure their security and stability.  They also addressed the challenge for every country to transition to sustainable consumption and production patterns that can ensure socially equitable and economically and environmentally viable human development, objectives which should be pursued together.

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Summary of the Event (A4 Size)
Summary of the Event (Letter Size)

Background Material-FES Publications:

Reflections on the State of Agreement on Key Issues of Rio+20
A Human Rights Based Approach to Climate Finance
Civil Society Reflection Group Statement on Global Development Perspectives on Rio+20 and Beyond

Related Links:
Rio+20 Official Site
Peoples’ Summit for Social and Environmental Justice in Rio +20

FES New York organized a meeting at the People’s Summit, parallel to the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, between members of the Civil Society Reflection Group and representatives from the International Monetary Fund for an exchange of ideas on sustainable development and green economy.

June 11 – 13, 2012
New York

FES New York supported a series of meetings organized by Global Action to Prevent War (GAPW) and its partners from civil society organizations from various continents on the emerging norm of the “Responsibility to Protect”. As part of the debate Hermann Hokou, International Center for Development of Law, Abidjan (see picture), reported from the UN-mandated intervention in Côte d’Ivoire in 2011. The discussions on June 11 addressed how various UN Mandates can contribute to prevention, and reflect on balanced and robust responses to the threat of mass atrocities. On June 13, special attention was given to the proposal for a United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS).

Program June 11
Program June 13

June 8-9
Retreat at Tarrytown, New York

This retreat was the third event sponsored by the President of the General Assembly, H.E. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser (picture), the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, and FES New York to prepare UN Member States for the quadrennial comprehensive policy review (QCPR) on UN operational activities for development. The retreat provided an opportunity for Permanent Representatives and other senior officials from Member States and UN entities to exchange in-depth substantive analysis on how to adapt UN operational activities for development to the evolving global context. It was intended that these discussions in an informal setting will contribute significantly to the debates and negotiations of the General Assembly later this year on the 2012-2016 QCPR resolution.

Program
QCPR Info by UN DESA

Niu Haibin
FES Perspective, April 2012

On the regional level the BRICS States have proven to be strong players in maintaining regional security and dealing with economic challenges. Given their increasing economic size they are also gaining influence on the international stage. This publication analyzes the role of the emerging powers with regard to the reform of the Security Council, the G20 and the international financial institutions. Reforming the current global institutions has become a priority issue for emerging powers who want their values and visions reflected in the future world order. While the BRICS States have been able to coordinate their politics on a number of issues, for example by contributing to the global recovery plan of the G20, this political unity is lacking with regards to the SC reform, which makes the reform process even tougher. In sum, the author sees the need for a mutual and gradual adaption of the emerging powers into the system to make global governance structures more representative and effective.

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Eds. Werner Puschra and Sara Burke; Contributions by Alfred Gusenbauer, Alejandro Toledo, Emmanuel Moulin, Raymond Torres, Michael Kumhof, Rogério Studart, Pablo Pereira ,Jonathan Coppel, Rishi Goyal, Y. Venugopal Reddy, José Antonio Ocampo, Ulrich Volz, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Isabel Ortiz, and Sigrid A. M. Kaag
FES International Policy Analysis, April 2012

Commissioned in the aftermath of  international  social  unrest including the Arab Spring, anti-austerity protest in Europe and Occupy Wall Street, the  collected essays—from  heads of governments and central banks, governmental advisors and experts from the  United Nations, the Bretton Woods Institutions, OECD, International Labour Organization and academia—helped raise the level of debate on the role of rising income, wealth and group inequalities and the need to shape policies for a sustainable international monetary and financial system to foster cohesive and
shared societies.

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22 April, 2012, International Monetary Fund Headquarters, HQ2 Room 01-280, Washington, DC

For the 2012 meetings of the IMF and World Bank, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Club de Madrid and Center of Concern built upon our April and September 2011 conferences at IMF toward the facilitation of a “Global Shared-Societies Agenda,” a strategy to promote social inclusion and cohesion for sustainable development and growth.  This two-part event began with a high-level panel discussion on the political will needed to agree to a global shared societies agenda.  The second part was a seminar for advisors from national and intergovernmental organizations to work on the formulation of the Agenda.  The focus of the seminar was on what is required to forge a new, international consensus to directly incorporate social as well as hard economic considerations into the framework of the international monetary and financial system and to bring indicators of impacts on social conditions into the policy performance goals that Member States are required to meet by the international financial institutions.

High-Level Panel Discussion:
“A Global Shared Societies Agenda Requires Political Will”
22 April 2012, 9:30 am – 12.30 pm
HQ2 Room 01-280

With John Bruton, Prime Minister of Ireland (1994‐1997); Member, Club de Madrid, Petre Roman, Prime Minister of Romania (1989 – 1991); Member, Club de Madrid, François Bourguignon, Director, Paris School of Economics; former Chief Economist of the World Bank, Jack Boorman, Former Director, Policy Development and Review Department and Counsellor and Special Advisor to the Independent Evaluation Office, International Monetary Found, Hugh Bredenkamp, Deputy Director, Strategy, Policy and Review Department, International Monetary Fund

Workshop:
“Necessary Elements for a Global Strategy to Promote Social Cohesion for Sustainable Development and Growth”
With the Asian Development Bank, G20 Mexican Presidency, International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund, International Trade Union Confederation, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, UN Children’s Fund, UN-Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN Development Programme, UN Regional Commissions, UN Women and World Bank.

Programme
Background Reading: Fixing Finance Is Not Enough
Background Reading: New Directions for International Financial and Monetary Policy

29 March, 2012, 9:30 am – 1:00 pm, Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the United Nations, 325 East 38th St., New York

In the fall of 2012 the UN General Assembly conducts the quadrennial comprehensive policy review (QCPR) of UN operational activities for development. Its outcome shapes the orientation and functioning of the UN development system for the next four years until 2016. To help UN Member States and UN entities with the preparations for this policy review, FES New York, together with the Office of the President of the General Assembly and UN DESA have jointly organized a series of discussion events. The second debate on March 29, with the participation of the President of the General Assembly H.E. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and UN Women Executive Director Ms. Michelle Bachelet, focused on the funding of UN operational activities for development.

QCPR Info by UN DESA
Info Note for all Seminars
Program (Seminar I)
Summary (Seminar I)
Program (Seminar II)

16 March, 2012, 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm, Security Council Report, One Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, 21st Floor, New York

This half-day long workshop that FES New York organized at the “Security Council Report” was a stock-taking exercise of the Council’s work last year.  Participating in this informal discussion under Chatham House rules were about 25 representatives from current and from previous Council members. Looking back at 2011 – a year in which the Council was unique in its composition as well as its actions – was intended to bring to the fore some of the larger challenges related to the Council’s membership, its working methods, its position within the UN system – as well as the prospects for reform of any of these issues.

Program
Summary

14 March 2012, 9:30 am – 6:30 pm, UNHQ-North Lawn Building, Conference Room 1, New York

The Financing for Development Office (FfDO) of UN-DESA and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) New York were jointly organizing an Expert Group Meeting on “Practical Transfer Pricing Issues for Developing Countries and Capacity Development in Tax Matters”, which are the current priority areas in work of the UN Committee. Accordingly, the meeting focused on practical transfer pricing issues for developing countries as a contribution to the Committee’s current work on a Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing for Developing Countries, to be adopted at its next annual session in October 2012 and capacity development programmes in developing countries, based on the 2011 Update of the UN Model Tax Convention and the forthcoming UN Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing.

Program Draft
Concept Note
FES Perspectives Brief: “Transfer Pricing is a Financing for Development Issue”
Financing for Development Expert Group Meeting Information page

13 February, 2012, 9:30 am – 1:00 pm, Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations, One Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, 21st Floor, New York

In the fall of 2012 the UN General Assembly conducts the quadrennial comprehensive policy review (QCPR) of UN operational activities for development. Its outcome shapes the orientation and functioning of the UN development system for the next four years until 2016. To help UN Member States and UN entities with the preparations for this policy review, FES New York, together with the Office of the President of the General Assembly and UN DESA have jointly organized a series of discussion events. The first debate on February 13, with the participation of the President of the General Assembly H.E. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and UNDP Administrator Ms. Helen Clark (see picture), focused on the challenges that arise from the changing global environment for the UN’s development work.

QCPR Info by UN DESA
Info Note for all Seminars
Program
Summary

Katherine Prizeman
FES International Policy Analysis, March 2012

A majority of states is of the opinion that arms transfers should operate according to a common set of international standards. Hence, there is general support for negotiating an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), set to commence in July 2012. But as this International Policy Analysis highlights, numerous still-contentious issues must be addressed regarding the ultimate objective of such a treaty. This publication analyzes the complex political hurdles towards a legally-binding ATT. Subsequently, possibilities for compromise and for the investment of political capital that are likely to increase the chances of negotiating a robust ATT are presented. Lastly, it makes the case for establishing solid processes for implementation and review beyond July 2012.
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Jomo Kwame Sundaram
FES Perspective, February 2012

Transfer pricing refers to the pricing arrangements for international transactions between related parties –  such as among companies that are members of multinational enterprise. How countries cooperate to ensure fair taxation behaviours by multinationals  of one country in relation to another country is therefore a test of the state of international cooperation on tax matters. When the method used to determine the fair tax owed to a country by a multinational doesn’t reflect the true profits earned in that country, the country is unfairly deprived of revenue  which could go toward development. This excellent publication makes the extremely complex, and therefore arcane subject of transfer pricing understandable to non-experts.

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1 February 2012, 1:00 pm – 2:45 pm, UNHQ-North Lawn Building, New York, Conference Room 4, New York

In response to the economic crises of recent years, CSOs from Africa, South East Asia and the Middle East have been engaged in a regionally-based dialogue on how a community-based participatory approach emphasizing innovative community-driven partnerships with local and national government institutions can advance pro-poor policies that take into account the strong interrelationships of poverty with injustice, lack of basic human freedoms, restricted opportunities, exclusion, disasters, conflict and other violence and economic upheaval.  This panel discussion was bridging the gap between policy and practice by examining possibilities for a new era of multi-stakeholder collaboration in the Arab World.

Program
Conference Input “Awaiting the Arab Social Spring” powerpoint by Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary General for Economic Development, UN-DESA
Background Document: Urban Poor Fund
Background Document: IIED London 2010 Meeting Report

31 January 2012, 10:00 am – 4:45 pm, UNHQ-North Lawn Building, Conference Room 3, New York

Each year the NGO Committee conducts a Forum, based on the theme to be addressed by the UN Commission for Social Development at its annual meeting.  The theme of this year’s civil society forum was “The Social Protection Floor Initiative (SPFI) – Bridging the Gap to Poverty Eradication.”  The Commission and NGO forum was an opportunity for governments and civil society to engage on effective policies and practices via the SPFI as an essential and universal solution to break the cycle of poverty and reduce inequality and social exclusion while accelerating action toward achievement of Millennium Development Goals, 2015.

Program
Background Document: IIED Urban Poor Fund
Background Document: UN-DESA National Development Strategy Policy Note “Social Policy” by Isabel Ortiz
Presentation: By Mr. Michael Cichon
Presentation: By Mr. Baquer Namazi

30 January 2012, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm; Bahá’í International, 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 120, New York

On the eve of the 50^th Commission for Social Development, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and NGO Committee for Social Development hosted a reception for speakers in the annual Civil Society Forum of the Commission.  The meeting provided an opportunity for organizers, Bureau Members and panelists, as well as NGOs coming from around the world for the Commission, to share expectations and strategize prior to the Forum.  Entertainment was provided by the World Youth Orchestra.