United Nations for Equal Dignity (UNED)

HumanDHS is primarily grounded in academic work. We are independent of any religious or political agenda. However, we wish to bring academic work into "real life." Our research focuses on topics such as dignity (with humiliation as its violation), or, more precisely, on respect for equal dignity for all human beings in the world. This is not only our research topic, but also our core value, in line with Article 1 of the Human Rights Declaration that states that every human being is born with equal dignity (that ought not be humiliated). We agree with Professor Shibley Telhami, who advocates the building of bridges from academia as follows, "I have always believed that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential for public policy. It is possible to affect public policy without being an advocate; to be passionate about peace without losing analytical rigor; to be moved by what is just while conceding that no one has a monopoly on justice." We would like to add that we believe that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential not only for public policy, but for raising awareness in general.


We look for interested people, who would like to develop our UNED page. Please see our Call for Creativity.



As to the United Nations, we believe that investing time and energy in mutual finger pointing at past failures is not constructive (in no situation in life). Fingerpointing is especially destructive when it deepens rifts in times when all of humankind need's to buy into the idea of global joint responsibility.

The fact that we do not yet have a good "police" in the global village and that global laws are wanting, does not mean that we should not work for them, jointly, all together. What is insufficient, instead of being decried in ways that divide us, ought to be made sufficient, jointly.

Meanwhile, we have no choice but to cope with incomplete and weak global institutions at our best ability, however, we need to be clear that this is our joint responsibility.

In other words, our aim is to invite UN critics into the notion that we have but One Planet and that we inhabit it together. We would like to invite critics into the concept of joint responsibility, away from deepening divides that might cost us our survival in times when only global cooperation can address the global problems that we have.

Global interdependence forces us to see problem zones and conflict areas, both ecological and social, as a responsibility of the entire international community. The consequences of global interdependence will punish us all, if we try to preserve a conceptualization of the world as entailing independent entities that can survive as isolated "islands." (The conceptualization of the world as containing "islands" or "isolated villages" indeed had some validity, yet only prior to the emergence of one single global "village.")



Please see here the Friends of the U.N., a non-governmental organization associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information. It is a nonprofit, tax-exempt (501 C-3) organization. Friends of the U.N. is an affiliate of the UNA-USA Council of Organizations.

 



Links

Zimbabwe Opposition Turns to UN

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has urged the United Nations and African Union to intervene in the crisis over his country's elections. He told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that he felt African efforts to obtain the release of results had made "no progress", a UN statement says...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/7359854.stm.

Garry Davis: World Citizenship, World Passport, World Presidency, World Service Authority, World Government of World Citizens, World Government House

Garry Davis (Bar Harbor, Maine, July 27, 1921) is a peace activist who created the first "World Passport." A former World War II bomber pilot and Broadway actor, he renounced his American citizenship in Paris in 1948 to become a "citizen of the world." Davis founded the World Service Authority, which now issues the passports - along with birth and other certificates - to applicants. Davis first used his "world passport" on a trip to India in 1956, and has been variably admitted into or jailed by countries around the world after using his world passport. Up to 150 countries have purportedly accepted the world passport at one time or another. In France, his support committee was co-founded by writers Albert Camus and André Gide and the Abbé Pierre (quoted from wikipedia).

See also www.onefilms.com and www.1worldcitizen.com.

Creating an Inclusive Society: Practical Strategies to Promote Social Integration

Summary of E-dialogue, 23 May – 20 June 2007, organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), in collaboration with UNESCO and UN-HABITAT.
Please read more at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev.

UN 'Should Take Lead on Climate'

By Laura Trevelyan
BBC News, UN, New York
The top UN official on climate change says the failure of world leaders to agree on global warming means it is time for the UN to take the lead. Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Secretariat, wants a summit of world leaders to talk about what happens when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Despite rising sea levels, there is no agreement on how to deal with global warming's long-term threat. In fact, Mr de Boer says, the process is getting more and more stuck...
Read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/6269267.stm.

Richest 2% Own 'Half the Wealth'

By Andrew Walker
Economics correspondent, BBC World Service
The richest 2% of adults in the world own more than half of all household wealth, according to a new study by a United Nations research institute. The report, from the World Institute for Development Economics Research at the UN University, says that the poorer half of the world's population own barely 1% of global wealth. There have of course been many studies of worldwide inequality. But what is new about this report, the authors say, is its coverage.
It deals with all countries in the world - either actual data or estimates based on statistical analysis - and it deals with wealth, where most previous research has looked at income.
What they mean by wealth in this study is what people own, less what they owe - their debts. The assets include land, buildings, animals and financial assets.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/6211250.stm.

UN Official to Push Burma Reform

UN official Ibrahim Gambari has arrived in Burma to press the military rulers to commit to democratic reforms.
During his four-day trip, he will meet military leader Than Shwe as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest.
The international community is piling pressure on Burma to make serious changes to its harsh regime.
But so far there has been been little indication that the ruling generals are willing to co-operate.
Mr Gambari last visited Burma in May, when he was given the rare opportunity of meeting Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained democracy leader who is seen as a symbol of resistance to Burma's ruling military junta.
It was the first time in more than two years that a foreigner had been allowed to meet her, and the visit fuelled hopes that she would soon be released, and that the military might finally make some concessions to international demands.
But almost as soon as Mr Gambari left the country, such hopes were dashed.
The government extended Aung San Suu Kyi's detention for another year, and continued to clamp down on her National League for Democracy Party (NLD) and other groups protesting against the regime.
A group of protesters were jailed only recently for compiling a petition against the government, to coincide with the re-opening of the country's national convention.
The convention, made up of delegates selected by the military junta from across the country, has been touted by the government as a forum in which to discuss Burma's future.
But the convention has been widely criticised as a tool for legitimising the military's hold on power, and the NLD has boycotted the proceedings.
Read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/6131202.stm.

The UN and the Principle of Sharing

by Mohammed Mesbahi.

Panel to Recommend Simplified UN

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
The High-Level Panel on United Nations Reform will propose that the UN becomes a tighter and simpler body, according to a draft of the final report.
The panel says UN programmes are often "fragmented and weak", and it has too little power to enforce its plans in areas such as the environment.
The panel says agencies which reform should be rewarded with secure and sustained funding.
The report will be formally unveiled in New York on Thursday.
Convened by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan after last year's World Summit, the High-Level Panel of 15 people included such political luminaries as Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, his Mozambique counterpart Luisa Diogo, and UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.
They have spent six months preparing the report.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/6088200.stm.

UN Initiates Arms Trade Agreement

A United Nations committee has voted overwhelmingly to begin work on drawing up an international arms trade treaty. The measure would close loopholes in existing laws which mean guns still end up in conflict zones despite arms embargoes and export controls.
It could also stop the supply of weapons to countries whose development is being hampered by arms spending.
Only the US - a major arms manufacturer - voted against the treaty, saying it wanted to rely on existing agreements.
A total of 139 states voted for the motion. There were 24 abstentions.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/6088200.stm.

Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace

Under the name of the People's Initiative for Departments of Peace, the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace was launched at the first People's Summit for Departments of Peace, held in London October 18-19, 2005, with the intention of supporting national-level campaigns to establish departments of peace in governments throughout the world. The following articles provide background information on the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace.

The Pixel Press

At PixelPress our intent is to encourage documentary photographers, writers, filmmakers, artists, human rights workers and students to explore the world in ways that take advantage of the new possibilities provided by digital media. We seek a new paradigm of journalism, one that encourages an active dialogue between the author and reader and, also, the subject. Our online magazine features projects that use a variety of linear and non-linear strategies, attempting to articulate visions of human possibility even while confirming human frailty. For us the digital revolution is a revolution in consciousness, not in commerce. We work with organizations such as Crimes of War, Human Rights Watch, World Health Organization and UNICEF to create Web sites that deal directly with contemporary issues in complex and innovative ways that circumvent media sensationalism and simplification. We also try to factor in ways that the viewer can help remedy social problems, rather than remain a spectator. Recently we completed a site focusing on how to end polio worldwide; another trying to aid an orphanage in Rwanda; one trying to reclaim the Brazilian forest; and a site featuring the images of photographers from the Vietnam War. And we also create books with photographers such as Machiel Botman, Kent Klich and Sebastião Salgado on social themes, as well as traveling exhibitions using both digital and conventional processes.