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THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Human Rights Council

UN Torture Expert Puts Sharper Focus on What Happens After Abuse is Documented

At a Geneva press conference on 3 March, Alice Jill Edwards, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, presented her report on a “Charter of Rights of Victims and Survivors of Torture.” The report shifts attention from the prohibition of torture alone to the rights, protection and recognition owed to those who have endured it.

The report suggests a survivor-centred intervention at a time when accountability debates are increasingly expected to deliver not only legal condemnation but also meaningful redress. It places victims and survivors more squarely within the architecture of implementation, not just documentation.

This is an effort to articulate a rights-based framework for people subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and to push states and institutions to think more concretely about obligations toward rehabilitation, dignity, remedy and recognition.

The report adds weight to a broader trend within the UN human rights system: a move toward survivor-informed policy language and a sharper focus on what happens after abuse is documented.

Listen to her intervention at the UN Human Rights Council:

Watch her intervention:

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Histoire de la Diplomatie Française

Dans la géographie politique française, Meudon occupe une position singulière : à l’ombre de Château de Versailles et aux portes de Paris, sur un relief dominant la Seine, la ville a longtemps servi de “seconde scène” du pouvoir. Elle n’est pas seulement un décor de villégiature aristocratique : son histoire croise directement celle de la diplomatie d’État, au moment où la France invente (ou, du moins, systématise) ses instruments de puissance — résidences, courtisans, réseaux de négociateurs, et production administrative.

Le premier lien fort entre Meudon et la diplomatie moderne passe par un nom aujourd’hui moins connu du grand public mais central au XVIIe siècle : Abel Servien.

C’est l’un des négociateurs français de la paix de Westphalie, l’ensemble de traités de 1648 qui met fin à la guerre de Trente Ans et consolide l’émergence d’un nouvel ordre européen fondé sur des compromis juridiques et territoriaux.

Les Archives diplomatiques rappellent qu’à Münster et Osnabrück, la France participe à la construction d’un système international durable qui remodèle l’Europe.

Or, quelques années après cette séquence fondatrice, Abel Servien acquiert Meudon (1654), ancrant physiquement, sur ces hauteurs, une figure directement associée à la naissance de la diplomatie de congrès.

Meudon devient ainsi, très tôt, un territoire où s’inscrivent dans la pierre les trajectoires des bâtisseurs de l’État négociateur.

Sous Louis XIV, cette articulation entre résidence et pouvoir franchit un seuil : la monarchie absolutiste transforme l’espace en instrument politique.

À Meudon, l’épisode le plus emblématique est celui du Le Grand Dauphin, héritier de la Couronne.

Le site prend alors une dimension quasi institutionnelle : il devient “son” château, un lieu où s’organisent sociabilités, patronages, et circuits d’influence parallèles à Versailles. Le Grand Dauphin y mène de grands travaux et confie notamment des aménagements à Hardouin-Mansart, signe que Meudon est intégré à l’architecture politique du règne.

Le Château de Versailles souligne un fait à forte portée symbolique : Le Grand Dauphin meurt à Meudon en avril 1711, au cœur même de ce dispositif résidentiel qui devait incarner la continuité dynastique.

Dans une monarchie où la succession et les alliances sont des paramètres diplomatiques majeurs, la résidence de l’héritier n’est jamais neutre : elle est un théâtre où se fabriquent réputations, coalitions et accès au souverain.

Ce système ne fonctionne pas sans une machine administrative et financière. Ici, la figure de Jean-Baptiste Colbert est incontournable : au-delà du cliché du “grand argentier”, Jean-Baptiste Colbert incarne l’État organisateur — commerce, marine, industrie, sciences — c’est-à-dire la base matérielle d’une politique de puissance.

Le Château de Versailles rappelle l’ampleur de ses charges et son rôle dans le développement de la Marine royale et l’essor des sciences, briques essentielles d’une influence extérieure durable.

Meudon, comme Versailles, s’inscrit dans cette même grammaire : le prestige résidentiel, l’art, les collections, les jardins et les travaux ne sont pas seulement du décor, mais une forme de langage diplomatique interne et externe — la mise en scène d’un État capable de mobiliser ressources, talents et savoir-faire.

Au XVIIIe siècle, Meudon continue de servir de laboratoire d’influence, mais avec d’autres acteurs et une autre tonalité : celle du “gouvernement de cour” où l’accès et l’intimité comptent autant que les fonctions.

C’est ici que s’insère Madame de Pompadour, dont l’empreinte sur Meudon passe notamment par le château de Bellevue, conçu comme résidence de plaisance et espace de réception.

Ce lieu n’est pas qu’une fantaisie architecturale : il illustre la manière dont une favorite, devenue confidente, peut créer des espaces de décision “hors protocole”, capables de peser sur certaines affaires politiques.

Plus directement encore, des travaux historiques sur “Pompadour and Diplomacy” documentent des rencontres diplomatiques à Bellevue, dans le cadre plus souple des jardins et pavillons, loin des rigidités officielles.

Autrement dit : Meudon devient, via Bellevue, un nœud discret où se rencontrent conversation, influence et négociation — une diplomatie de l’ombre, adossée au paysage.

Il faut replacer cette dynamique dans un temps long : celui qui va de Westphalie à l’Europe “classique” des congrès et alliances.

Westphalie n’est pas “une affaire de Meudon” au sens géographique strict (les traités sont négociés en Allemagne), mais Meudon se relie à cet héritage par deux lignes : d’abord par Abel Servien, négociateur puis propriétaire ; ensuite par la consolidation, sous Louis XIV, d’un État qui comprend que la diplomatie est aussi une affaire de dispositifs — résidences, cérémonial, patronage, et centralisation administrative.

Sur ce point, les synthèses historiques rappellent que Westphalie (1648) clôt un cycle de guerres majeures et installe un cadre de négociation qui marque durablement l’Europe.

Meudon, dans la proximité immédiate de Versailles, devient l’un des espaces où ce nouvel art de gouverner — entre représentation, secret, et administration — se matérialise.

Enfin, Meudon ne s’arrête pas à l’Ancien Régime. Son patrimoine technique et scientifique prolonge, autrement, la logique d’influence : l’industrialisation, l’aéronautique, la culture scientifique et la mise en récit du progrès. Le Hangar Y, construit à partir d’éléments liés à l’Exposition universelle de 1878, rappelle que Meudon s’inscrit aussi dans la diplomatie de l’innovation et des expositions, ces vitrines internationales où les États se comparent et se projettent. (

Ce n’est plus la diplomatie des traités et des favorites, mais celle des technologies, des réseaux et de la réputation.

En somme, Meudon agit comme un condensé : un lieu où se superposent la diplomatie des négociateurs (Westphalie et Abel Servien), la diplomatie dynastique (le Le Grand Dauphin et son château), la diplomatie de cour (Madame de Pompadour à Bellevue), et la diplomatie de puissance matérielle (l’État colbertien et, plus tard, l’imaginaire industriel et scientifique).

L’intérêt est précisément là : lire Meudon non comme une simple banlieue patrimoniale, mais comme un poste d’observation sur la fabrication française de l’influence — celle qui se joue autant dans les salons et les jardins que dans les traités et les administrations.

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Interview with the Maire de Meudon, Denis Larghero

Denis Larghero est maire de Meudon, une ville dont l’histoire est étroitement liée aux dynamiques du pouvoir et, par ricochet, à la diplomatie française.

Située aux portes de Paris et dans l’orbite de Versailles, Meudon a longtemps été un espace stratégique où se sont croisés résidence, influence et décision politique, notamment à l’époque moderne.

Dès les XVIe et XVIIe siècles, ce territoire s’inscrit dans l’environnement des grandes familles, des cercles de cour et des réseaux administratifs qui structurent l’action extérieure du royaume, avant de prendre une place plus nette au XVIIe siècle avec la présence d’acteurs associés à la naissance de la diplomatie de congrès et à la consolidation de l’État (puis, sous l’Ancien Régime, avec l’installation de figures proches du pouvoir et la fonction de “contre-scène” de Versailles).

Cette continuité se prolonge, sous d’autres formes, jusqu’à aujourd’hui : Meudon demeure un point de contact entre patrimoine institutionnel, attractivité territoriale et projection d’image, dans une région-capitale où se concentrent administrations, ambassades, grandes entreprises, lieux de mémoire et scènes internationales.

Dans cette perspective, la ville incarne un fil historique — celui d’une France qui a toujours articulé architecture du pouvoir, réseaux d’influence et capacité à peser sur l’ordre européen — et qui continue, au présent, de faire de son patrimoine et de son positionnement géographique un levier de rayonnement.

Sur Denis Larghero

Son parcours est étroitement lié à la vie politique des Hauts-de-Seine, où il est également conseiller départemental du canton de Meudon et, au sein du Conseil départemental des Hauts-de-Seine, 5e vice-président en charge de l’attractivité du territoire et du développement numérique.

Né en novembre 1968, Denis Larghero s’est formé aux disciplines juridiques et à la science politique : il est indiqué comme licencié en droit public et titulaire d’une maîtrise ainsi que d’un DEA en science politique.

Avant d’accéder à la fonction de maire, il occupe des responsabilités au sein de l’équipe municipale, notamment comme adjoint délégué à la culture et au développement numérique, ce qui éclaire deux axes récurrents de son positionnement : d’une part, la valorisation de l’offre culturelle et patrimoniale comme levier d’identité urbaine et d’attractivité ; d’autre part, l’accélération de la transformation numérique de la collectivité (services aux usagers, modernisation des outils de gestion, innovation territoriale).

À l’échelle départementale, ses attributions officiellement mentionnées (attractivité du territoire et développement numérique) le placent à l’interface de sujets à forte visibilité : promotion économique, image territoriale, politiques d’innovation, et articulation avec les dynamiques métropolitaines.

Son ancrage territorial est souvent décrit comme double : solidement implanté dans l’ouest parisien et conservant un lien marqué avec l’Aveyron, dont il est originaire, notamment à travers des attaches patrimoniales et familiales.

Cette dimension « hors-métropole » est parfois mobilisée comme élément de récit public : proximité avec les territoires, rapport au temps long, et sensibilité aux équilibres entre développement urbain et qualité de vie.

Dans le paysage politique local, Denis Larghero incarne une figure de maire « gestionnaire » à la fois municipal et intercommunal, évoluant dans un système de gouvernance multiniveaux (commune, département, métropole, établissements publics territoriaux), où la capacité de coalition et la maîtrise des dispositifs administratifs comptent autant que la communication politique.

Aujourd’hui, sa biographie publique s’organise donc autour de trois marqueurs principaux : une trajectoire progressive au sein de l’exécutif municipal jusqu’à la prise de la mairie en 2017 et un cumul de responsabilités départementales orientées vers l’attractivité et le numérique.

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About

Maya Plentz is the founder and chief editor of THE BRIEF, a weekly newsletter with exclusive interviews and analysis focusing on tech policy, and the global digital economy. She has over two decades of experience in the news media sector. She worked for Kofi Annan at UN Headquarters in New York City, where she was Officer-in-Charge of UN Radio Portuguese Language Unit. Her work aired daily on BBC World, RFI and Bloomberg TV.During her tenure as a producer and presenter at Bloomberg TV in New York, she covered Google, Microsoft, and the 2000 dot-com boom. She also produced a daily segment on science, medicine, and technology. At the UN News and Media Division in New York, she served as a broadcast producer and website news editor, conducting interviews with UN officials, government representatives, and diplomats. Her programs reached millions of viewers weekly across the globe, airing on UN national broadcast partners in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa.As a member of the European Commission High-Level Group of Experts, under the leadership of Pascal Lamy, former WTO Director General and Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research and Innovation, she was tasked with reviewing the EU’s research and innovation funding framework, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. She provided advisory on communication strategies to promote innovation funding at the EU. Ms. Plentz is fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French, and has authored numerous articles and reports, in both English and Portuguese, focusing on the UN and its affiliated agencies.Before she joined the UN she was a professional contemporary dancer, and a research assistant at the Merce Cunningham Dance and Film Foundation. As she transitioned from her performing career she was an instructor of movement for actors at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, in New York, to prepare actors for camera work and to improve their elocution. After retiring from a performing arts career she returned to university. She graduate from Columbia University in the City of New York, in Political Science, she was awarded scholarships by Columbia University and former US Environment Secretary, Christine T. Whitman. As a non-traditional student with significant professional experience, most of her classes were taken at graduate level, at SIPA, the School of International and Public Affairs, and at Columbia Business School. She was born in Brazil, of German and Italian ancestry.Areas of expertise: Digital Governance Strategy, Artificial Intelligence #AI #TechPolicy #ForeignPolicy

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In this edition

Ian Richards on Digital Government

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UNICEF and Microsoft Partner-up

The UN Brief interviewed Mac Glovinsky to speak about the Learning Passport, a partnership with Microsoft and Cambridge University to accelerate onboarding of children and adolescents in the digital economy, through educational tools.

Glovinsky is the Principal Global Program Manager of the Learning Passport, and is based at the UN headquarters in New York. The Learning Passport is an educational tool that allows for learning on-and-offline.

They have rolled-out at post-conflict areas, and in developing countries, helping children to continue their education and allowing them to carry their curriculum wherever they are, as they will eventually move out of refugee camps and thanks to these tools will be able to continue their studies at the appropriate grade level.These are one of the many ways that new technologies are supporting the continuity of education in what are very trying situations for these children and their families.We cover emerging technologies and how they impact international cooperation. Subscribe to The UN Brief for exclusive interviews with UN officials, diplomats, business leaders and academics for insights in the digital transformation of multilateral organizations, and the emerging technologies that are impacting international cooperation.Subscribers have:1. Early access to exclusive content, videos and podcasts, with insights and analysis of current affairs topics.2. Invitation to talks (virtual now) with the key players in Foreign Policy and Tech.3. Participation in round-tables on the future of multilateralism.4. A monthly update, closed to members-only, video call to discuss trends with diplomats, academics, government, and tech leaders.And much more to come in the coming months. Stay tuned. Looking forward to interacting with you all,Maya PlentzEditor in Chief

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On this edition:

A weekend in Bourgogne.
Discover the history of Cremant de Bourgogne.
Sustainability in wine production.

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Bourgogne in the Spotlight

Pondering what to do during the sweltering days of Summer in Geneva? No vacation time left? I suggest you go visit Bourgogne and discover its many food and wine offers. It is paradise for very affordable high-quality wines to wines for special occasions and to, above all, educating your senses.

Did you know that Bourgogne wines that can be kept for several years are also a good investment? As an asset class Burgundy wines beat some traditional categories, not to say the investment in pleasure, as the British wine critic Steven Spurrier used to say. “Fine wine is also an investment in pleasure.”

We had the pleasure of visiting three wine producers from the region last month.

Keep your eyes pricked for the stories and interviews with the winemakers that are representing the best of sustainability and quality from the region at a global scale.

Wines from Bourgogne are becoming better known in Brazil, this past month the BIVB, the Bureau Interprofessionel des Vins de Bourgogne, visited Brazil for the first time.

Their latest research shows growing exports to the region, in fine restaurants, and by the recommendations of experts in gastronomy. Pairing the delightful Cremant de Bourgogne with Brazilian exquisite seafood and prime-cut barbecues is becoming a thing, with importers realizing the price/quality value and its potential with consumers and restaurateurs alike.

In a country where prosecco and champagne reign supreme, given its tropical weather, as a refreshing, celebratory drink, and increasingly in cocktails by renowned bartenders at the Copacabana Palace and Fasano’s (the French architect Philippe Starck designed luxury hotel) Cremant de Bourgogne has already a market in Brazil expecting bubbly happiness drinks, that just needs to be developed to gain market share.

One of our visits was to the Maison Louis Picamelot.

We interviewed Louis Picamelot’s grandson, now producer and CEO of the Maison, Philippe Chautard.

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UN Ministerial Reaffirms Multilateral Commitment Amid Global Fracture

The 2025 United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial, held in Berlin from 13–14 May, convened by the German government and attended by representatives from over 130 UN Member States and partner organizations.

Peacekeeping missions, once symbols of collective resolve, now operate under increasingly constrained mandates, diminished legitimacy in host countries, and growing exposure to asymmetric threats.

Germany pledged €82 million in new commitments while encouraging others to match ambition with substance. “We want to tailor future missions to the exact needs of the host countries and increase their acceptance and effectiveness,” said Johann Wadephul, Germany’s Foreign Minister, echoing what has become a leitmotif in Western diplomatic discourse: local ownership, global partnership.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius emphasized innovation, announcing German investment in renewable energy for field operations, medical drones, and counter-IED technologies.

While 74 countries made formal pledges—including 88 military and police units and support for women, peace and security initiatives—the subtext of the conference revealed fissures in political will and coherence. The geographic and political diversity of the pledging states obscures the uneven distribution of actual deployment. It is countries from the Global South—Bangladesh, Rwanda, Nepal—that continue to provide the bulk of troops, while the industrialized North often positions itself as financier and advisor.

Meanwhile, the thematic emphasis on technological modernization and “data-driven peacekeeping” betrays an uncomfortable truth: the impulse to technocratize peacekeeping may be a response to deeper political paralysis. Rather than confront the structural drivers of conflict—economic inequality, climate displacement, neocolonial resource extraction—the international community risks outsourcing peace to algorithms and AI-powered surveillance.

Berlin was also a staging ground for long-standing, unresolved debates: How to reform command structures to avoid past failures in Mali, the DRC, and South Sudan? How to ensure accountability in cases of abuse by peacekeepers? How to harmonize competing interests within the Security Council? Eleven states pledged action on accountability and conduct, including support for victims of sexual exploitation, but mechanisms for independent oversight remain weak.

Furthermore, the commitments to “strategic communications” and countering disinformation reflect a growing awareness that peacekeeping missions are not merely military deployments but contested narratives in the information sphere. Yet the risk remains that this concern for “information integrity” may prioritize reputation management over transparency and local engagement.

The Berlin Ministerial was laden with symbolism: it coincided with the 80th anniversary of the United Nations and the 10-year mark since the 2015 Leaders’ Summit on Peacekeeping. But anniversaries can conceal as much as they reveal. Today, over 61,000 military and police peacekeepers are deployed across 11 missions—often in settings where the UN is simultaneously viewed as indispensable and insufficient.

Whether the Berlin pledges mark a renaissance or merely a rhetorical reaffirmation depends not on declarations made in conference halls, but on the lived realities in places like Abyei, Beni, or Gao. Peacekeeping, once imagined as the moral arm of a rules-based order, now treads a narrow path between relevance and retreat.

The next chapter, as always, will be written in the field. And for that, political courage—not just strategic planning—remains in shortest supply.

Cabo Verde at a Crossroads: Resilient Recovery or Structural Dependence?

A small island developing state in the Atlantic with fewer than half a million inhabitants, Cabo Verde has long stood as a symbol of political stability and democratic governance in West Africa. Yet behind its pro-democracy credentials lies a fragile economy dependent on tourism, remittances, and a narrow export base. The latest Trade Policy Review by the World Trade Organization (WTO) offers a glimpse into the country’s mixed progress—a cautious recovery on the surface, with deeper structural dependencies beneath.

After suffering a dramatic 20.8% contraction in GDP in 2020, Cabo Verde posted an impressive 15.8% rebound in 2022, stabilizing at 5.5% in 2023. Much of this recovery is credited to the revival of international tourism, which alone brought in over USD 468 million in 2023. Remittances—constituting nearly 11% of GDP—further buoyed domestic demand.

However, these gains are precarious. The country’s trade-to-GDP ratio, a telling indicator of openness and vulnerability, peaked above 105% before the pandemic, only to drop to 75% and gradually recover to 95% by 2023. The merchandise trade deficit remains steep: USD 1.76 billion in imports against just USD 383 million in exports. More than 80% of the country’s food is imported.

A Narrow Base: Tourism, Re-Exports, and Fish

The backbone of Cabo Verde’s economy is services, particularly tourism and transport. Strategic geography has also turned the archipelago into a logistical hub for re-exports—especially fuels and vehicles. Exports of mineral products (largely re-exports of fuels) accounted for 61% of all merchandise trade in 2023. Meanwhile, processed seafood, mostly tuna, now makes up over 84% of domestically produced exports, highlighting the country’s limited industrial and agricultural capacity.

Despite repeated calls for export diversification, Cabo Verde’s export concentration index remains four times the global average, exposing it to significant external shocks.

Structural Bottlenecks and Bureaucratic Drag

Trade facilitation has improved on paper: a foreign trade portal launched in 2023, customs costs have decreased, and legislative transparency has advanced. Still, businesses face lengthy customs clearance (averaging over six days in Praia), high import compliance costs (19% of goods value), and complex licensing systems that deter small traders.

The absence of an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) scheme, persistent tariff inconsistencies with WTO commitments, and cumbersome tax exemptions only deepen inefficiencies. Almost a third of surveyed firms cite customs procedures as a severe constraint—well above African and global averages.

An Unequal and Concentrated Economy

Women remain clustered in low-tech sectors with limited access to credit and trade networks, despite a 2019 parity law. Market monopolies continue to plague key sectors: one tour operator dominates the industry, and domestic flights are held by a single carrier. A newly created competition authority in 2022 has yet to dismantle these entrenched positions.

State-owned enterprises remain prominent, accounting for over 17% of GDP in revenue—but also dragging public finances, with the three largest SOEs posting losses equal to a quarter of GDP in 2021.

The Illusion of Openness

Cabo Verde is a signatory to both the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and several WTO agreements, including the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement (2024). It also enjoys preferential market access to the EU (GSP+) and the U.S. (AGOA). Yet trade under these schemes remains limited, raising doubts about the country's actual capacity to capitalize on global opportunities.

The promise of integration into global digital and renewable energy markets looms large, with the government aiming for 50% renewable energy production by 2030. But these ambitions contrast with ongoing infrastructure challenges and high dependency on refined oil imports.

Tourism’s Double-Edged Sword

Tourism remains the economic engine—but also the Achilles heel. Most tourists come from Europe, and disruptions such as pandemics, climate shocks, or geopolitical instability could once again halt growth. The government’s Strategic Tourism Plan (2018–2030) seeks to address sustainability, but the sector remains ecologically intensive and socioeconomically uneven.

Cabo Verde's story is one of cautious optimism. Its political stability, gradual reforms, and external partnerships offer promise. But its economic model—built on tourism, remittances, and a narrow export base—remains vulnerable. Without diversifying production, streamlining governance, and tackling monopolies, the nation risks being trapped in a cycle of dependency.

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Interview with Danish Masood, former UN official in charge of innovation and experimenting with the metaverse. How did they analyzed the peace and security landscape in conflict zones.

Bringing AR/VR to the UN Security Council.

Too much, too soon?

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UN to Cut Posts, Relocate Services in Major Overhaul Ahead of 80th Anniversary

As the United Nations approaches the 80th anniversary of its founding charter, Secretary-General António Guterres has unveiled a sweeping reform initiative aimed at reshaping the Organization to better meet today’s global challenges — and do so more efficiently.

At the heart of the UN80 Initiative is a bold push to streamline operations, reduce redundancies, and cut costs — including through workforce reductions and relocating staff away from high-cost duty stations like New York and Geneva.

The reform is driven by three workstreams: achieving operational efficiencies, reviewing how the UN implements its mandates, and exploring structural changes across the system.

Significant Personnel Cuts Expected

In one of the most striking announcements, the Secretary-General revealed that up to 20% of posts in the Peace and Security departments — DPPA and DPO — are expected to be eliminated. These reductions stem from efforts to merge overlapping units, eliminate duplicated functions, and consolidate similar activities across the UN system.

“These are difficult but necessary decisions,” said Guterres, acknowledging the human cost of such restructuring. “Our concern is to be humane and professional in dealing with any aspect of the required restructuring.”

The impact will extend beyond these two departments. Every Secretariat entity has been asked to identify roles that can be moved to lower-cost locations or cut altogether, especially those not directly serving intergovernmental bodies.

Consolidation of Services and Offices

The plan also targets administrative and logistical functions. Shared IT platforms, centralized support services, and automation are key components of the new operating model.

Several buildings in New York have already been vacated, with two more expected to close by 2027 — a move projected to generate substantial savings. Staff will be moved into existing premises, and future operations will likely be run from more cost-effective locations.

“Relocating posts from high-cost cities is not just about budget savings — it’s about rethinking where and how we work,” said Catherine Pollard, Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, who is leading the efficiency review.

Thousands of Mandates Under Review

The second pillar of the reform reviews how the UN implements the more than 3,600 unique mandates it has been given — not their content, but the processes behind them. The review aims to identify overlapping efforts and opportunities for simplification and synergy across the UN system.

Guterres was candid: “Most of these problems are not only still with us — they have intensified. We must do better.”

Long-Term Impact

While some reforms will be implemented as early as the 2026 revised programme budget, deeper changes — including those with structural implications — will appear in the 2027 budget proposal.

“The level of reduction in the peace and security cluster should serve as a reference point across the organization,” Guterres said. Still, he emphasized the importance of preserving geographic, gender, and disability balance in staffing.

A Defining Moment

The UN80 Initiative coincides with a broader push to implement the Pact for the Future and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. But its legacy may hinge on whether Member States and staff can navigate the growing pains of transformation.

“Change is never easy — but it is essential,” Guterres concluded. “The success of this initiative depends on all of us living up to our shared responsibilities.”

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Where it will happen?

The United Nations is preparing to substantially streamline operations in its two major headquarters, New York and Geneva, as part of the Secretary-General’s ambitious UN80 Initiative to modernize the Organization ahead of its 80th anniversary.

Designed to strengthen delivery, improve efficiency, and reduce costs, the reform effort comes amid growing fiscal pressure, stagnant funding, and mounting global challenges.

Key Changes Affecting New York and Geneva

Both cities — long seen as operational anchors of the UN system — will undergo targeted consolidation of personnel and services.

Functions that are not directly tied to the work of Member States in intergovernmental bodies — such as the General Assembly in New York or the Human Rights Council in Geneva — are now being evaluated for relocation, reduction, or discontinuation.

Initial plans include:

Elimination of up to 20% of posts in the peace and security pillar (DPPA/DPO),
Termination of leases in New York, with two more buildings expected to close by 2027,
Mandated review by all Secretariat offices in both cities to assess whether functions can be moved to lower-cost duty stations, such as Nairobi, Santiago, or Kuala Lumpur,
Structural realignment across departments, including merging overlapping units and consolidating reporting lines.

Diplomatic Impact

Officials emphasized that intergovernmental support functions will remain in place. The reductions will primarily affect back-office, administrative, or technical units.

Nonetheless, diplomatic missions in New York and Geneva can expect to interface with smaller, more integrated UN teams, and may see changes in coordination channels and reporting structures.

“The goal is to concentrate the diplomatic and policy interface in these two locations, while relocating support and management elsewhere,” said one senior UN official involved in the reform.

Consultations and Timeline

The reforms are unfolding in phases:

Immediate efficiencies will be reflected in revised 2026 budget estimates, due in September.
Larger structural changes will be built into the 2027 programme budget.
All affected staff are being engaged through consultative mechanisms.

Member States are expected to review and approve several proposals in the Fifth Committee and General Assembly plenaries over the coming months.

Looking Ahead

Geneva and New York will remain central to UN diplomacy. However, they are being reimagined as strategic convening spaces, rather than all-purpose operational hubs.

The Secretary-General framed the changes as essential to long-term sustainability and credibility:

“We cannot allow the architecture of multilateralism to become outdated or inefficient. This is a moment to act with purpose — to deliver more by doing better.”

The UN80 Initiative is a structural overhaul with political, operational, and budgetary consequences — especially for Member States with permanent missions in New York and Geneva.

Active participation and coordinated engagement will be key in shaping what the future UN will look like — and where it will do its work.

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UN80 Initiative: Reforming for the Future

Next month marks 80 years since the signing of the United Nations Charter — a document that has guided global peace, development, and human rights since 1945.

But anniversaries aren’t just for reflection. They’re a call to action.

Today, the United Nations faces a complex world — one defined by conflict, economic pressure, environmental crisis, and technological upheaval. The UN80 Initiative is about making the Organization fit for the next 80 years.

UN80: A Time for RenewalSo, what’s changing?

The Secretary-General has launched a three-part transformation of the UN system, focusing on:

Efficiency and cost reduction,
Mandate implementation, and
Structural overhaul.

This isn’t reform for reform’s sake. It’s about ensuring that resources match real needs, and that every dollar and every position counts.

A major part of this transformation is streamlining the workforce — especially in high-cost duty stations like New York and Geneva. Some functions that don’t directly serve intergovernmental bodies will be relocated or phased out.

Administrative consolidation, automation, and centralized IT services are on the table. So are potential layoffs and post eliminations in areas where duplication or inefficiency is identified.

In fact, the Peace and Security cluster — including the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations — is expected to reduce staff by up to 20%, cutting duplication and merging overlapping functions.

These are bold changes with human implications. Staff representatives are being consulted, and every decision is promised to be humane and transparent.

The goal isn’t just to save money — though the budget reductions will be significant.

It’s to refocus the UN on impact: on making a difference in people’s lives. Not through more reports or meetings, but through leaner, smarter operations.

The UN80 Initiative will shape the next generation of multilateralism. That means structural consolidation, new business models, and clarity of mission.

Because the challenges of the future won’t wait — and neither should we.

This is the United Nations at a turning point — committed to doing more, by doing better.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theunbrief.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you to all the new subscribers and new followers from UNICEF, FAO, WHO, UNDP, UN Women, WIPO, UNESCO, and other agencies in the UN system in Geneva, Copenhagen, Berlin, Nairobi, Paris, and New York.

And diplomats and UN officials posted in New York and around the globe, including diplomats from Norway, Italy, Ireland, US, UK, Argentine, Brazil, France, and Denmark.

We are growing our readership steadily.

We now also launched on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast streaming services. In addition to our newsletter on Substack.

Subscribe!

Also we have a new section on the newsletter: Arrivals and Departures.

Please send us updates about career moves, changes in your organization, with a phone number, photo and short bio so we can contact the person in question to confirm dates and details.

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Subscribe to The Brief

Thanks for reading THE BRIEF.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theunbrief.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you to all the new subscribers and new followers from UNICEF, FAO, WHO, UNDP, UN Women, WIPO, UNESCO, and other agencies in the UN system in Geneva, Copenhagen, Berlin, Nairobi, Paris, and New York.

And diplomats and UN officials posted in New York and around the globe, including diplomats from Norway, Italy, Ireland, US, UK, Argentine, Brazil, France, and Denmark.

We are growing our readership steadily.

We now also launched on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast streaming services. In addition to our newsletter on Substack.

Subscribe!

Also we have a new section on the newsletter: Arrivals and Departures.

Please send us updates about career moves, changes in your organization, with a phone number, photo and short bio so we can contact the person in question to confirm dates and details.

Support good journalism.

Fact-checked.

Credible sources.

Subscribe to The Brief

Thanks for reading THE BRIEF.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theunbrief.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you to all the new subscribers and new followers from UNICEF, FAO, WHO, UNDP, UN Women, WIPO, UNESCO, and other agencies in the UN system in Geneva, Copenhagen, Berlin, Nairobi, Paris, and New York.

And diplomats and UN officials posted in New York and around the globe, including diplomats from Norway, Italy, Ireland, US, UK, Argentine, Brazil, France, and Denmark.

We are growing our readership steadily.

We now also launched on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast streaming services. In addition to our newsletter on Substack.

Subscribe!

Also we have a new section on the newsletter: Arrivals and Departures.

Please send us updates about career moves, changes in your organization, with a phone number, photo and short bio so we can contact the person in question to confirm dates and details.

Support good journalism.

Fact-checked.

Credible sources.

Subscribe to The Brief

Thanks for reading THE BRIEF. Please share

Bonus episode: Listen to my Interview with the CEO of Chateau du Clos de Vougeot and winemakers in the Bourgogne region.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theunbrief.substack.com/subscribe

WWF: Deep Sea Mining Impact on the SDGs

Watch my interview with Jessica Battle, WWF Lead, No Deep Seabed Mining Initiative, where we discussed the implications of deep sea mining on global biodiversity and the sustainable development goals, highlighting the potential impacts on ocean ecosystems, fisheries, and cultural values of Pacific communities.

We also discussed the potential risks of deep sea mining, emphasizing that it is a developing industry with many uncertainties and that the International Seabed Authority is working on a regulatory framework for deep sea mining.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theunbrief.substack.com/subscribe

In this edition:

UN Climate Conference, COP29, starts. China is shinning now that the West is looking for direction. Macron, Scholz, all snubbed the UN annual gathering.
Interview with Scott Barrett, Columbia University, on what to expect of COP29. Spoiler, not much, funding pledged stuck in first gear.

health and climate, #COP29 milestone, climate crisis, health community, climate action, health reports, climate solutions, health benefits, fossil fuel subsidies, carbon pricing, climate resilience, health systems, biodiversity loss, climate financing

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theunbrief.substack.com/subscribe

Interview with Mark Manly, head of donor relations and resource mobilisation at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The UNHCR focuses on providing international protection and solutions for refugees, internally displaced people, and preventing statelessness. Their fundraising strategy relies on flexible annual funding from government donors and increasingly from the private sector, including individual donations and corporate contributions.

The organization has a presence in 140 countries and emphasizes integrating refugees into national programs when they cannot return to their homes due to continued conflict.

UNHCR aimed to raise $1 billion from private donors by 2025, surpassing this goal in 2022 due to the Ukraine crisis. They continue to highlight overlooked emergencies like Sudan to secure ongoing support.

We spoke about the demonization of immigrants and refugees by the hard-right pundits and how the news media can be an ally to counter misinformation and fake news.

Support the show

This edition brings:

WSIS+20 Review and Road Ahead
AI for Good Show and Long Lines

What is the balance of an intense week of talks and talks? Words can move worlds.

Very rich discussions, many insights, amplifications that are necessary. Some repeated ideas. The danger of repeating pious platitudes. Sometimes conversations veer to un Dictionnaire des idées reçues, in Flaubert’s style, or aDevil’s Dictionary, in the manner of Ambrose Bierce, if you will.

One has to make an effort not to fall on the clichés of “none left behind”, that have been repeated ad nauseam. The expression also goes back to George W. Bush’s update to the US Elementary and Secondary School Act. Does the UN really wants to associate its efforts to bridge the digital divide with that adapted slogan?

“In January 8, 2002, US President George W. Bush signs the No Child Left Behind Act into law. The sweeping update to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 created new standards and goals for the nation’s public schools and implemented tough corrective measures for schools that failed to meet them. Today, it is largely regarded as a failed experiment.” Source: The History Channel.

While so much of what has been said was already making headlines since at least 2018, (2013 in Brazil), i.e.: the problem with social media platforms spreading hatred that spills to real life, adtech monopolies siphoning revenue from publishers for at least the last two decades, questions of news media sustainability, now we have AI in the mix.

It makes it even more worrisome to the already dire news media landscape.

But there is progress as noted by many during WSIS +20, as the conversation this year shifted from unbridled excitement with new shiny tech toys to the realization that Big Tech needs to step up to its role of good corporate citizen. Or break-up, as monopolies do not bid well for democracy.

Concentration of power and concentration of wealth are strolling through the online public square hand in hand oblivious of the digital poor. Of the poor. Period.

The real digital divide is the economic opportunity divide.

VIDEO Dutch doctor on how disinformation can cause death in health settings.

2024-05-28 14:30 CET (UTC +1) Part II / Leaders TalkX: Looking Ahead: Emerging tech for building sustainable futures (CICG Amphitheatre D)

Starts at 1:01:02[ Floor ] [ English ] [ Français ]

I attended WSIS on its inaugural edition in December of 2003, when it was hosted at Geneva’s Palexpo, a huge congress arena. It was a gigantic affair, with telecoms sponsoring largesse, and governments stepping up to the plate, bringing large delegations from ministers of finance to what was then the hottest men in town from around the globe (because they were all men) THE telecoms’ ministers.

I was covering the event for UN Radio, flying in from New York just for that.

The press room was very large, accommodating 100+ journalists that were full-time there during the five days of the event. ITU offered dedicated individual computer stations for each journalist (laptops were still expensive and heavy to carry around), printers, FAX machines, high-speed Internet connections — not shoddy Wi-FI — food, coffee, water, soft drinks. Journalists could do their work without leaving Palexpo, and without paying the exorbitant cost of food in the premises.

These were the days when the news media was respected and organizers of large conferences understood the value of real outside, impartial, news coverage (not internally produced PR campaigns on social media and paid advertising posts on social media that many confuse with the news today) and knew how journalists work, how they have to deliver on deadlines so, providing the minimum of support to ensure their work runs smoothly was offered.

The press room was placed in a strategic place next to the main stage to facilitate interviewing speakers as they left the stage. Not in a basement.

Fast forward to 2017. I am attending again WSIS, this time as a speaker, representing the European Commission High-Level Group of Experts, chaired by Pascal Lamy, that was advising the European Commissioner for Research and Innovation Carlos Moedas, on the review of the impact of the European Union funding framework Horizon 2020, and provide recommendations for the current funding program, Horizon Europe.

My role was to review their communications’ strategies, what kind of press coverage the EC was receiving, how they were using social media and how social media was being weaponized against the European Union, a terrible state of affairs that led to Brexit and continued to mislead voters and citizens relentlessly afterwards. And to this day.

I also suggested that their use of social media should be more authentic, interactive, not only top-down information. Speaking with the peoples of EU not at them.

And that they should make sure that academic centers as well as companies that were funded through the Horizon 2020 program should clearly advertise the fact they were funded by the European Union, through the European Commission funding mechanisms, at the time around €80 billion investment in research and innovation, to boost growth and jobs, for the cycle of seven years, from 2020 to 2017. Most grant recipients never mentioned that they were beneficiaries of grants, money you don’t have to pay back, in their communications and marketing materials.

I raised the question of digital literacy in general, and news media literacy in particular in Europe at that point in history, several times, during our in-person meetings in Brussels.

Was met with some skepticism, being told that before the emergence of social media, newspapers did the same thing, publishing disinformation and misinformation. True.

But I guess in 2016 the EC had not yet grasped the size of the problem with online virality, algorithms targeting of vulnerable people and semi-literate citizens, and algorithmic manipulations. AI, in a nutshell, being already used to pump disinformation in the news media ecosystems, since at least 2013 in the Global South, with Brazil being a clear example, when riots and violence organized via Facebook threatened to overthrow the Governor of Rio Grande do Sul.

I made many friends in the communications departments of the European Commission. They had been saying the same thing to the long term incumbents that were (perhaps rightly so) very skeptical, in many ways, of letting European Commission comms ride on American platforms.

But they were already on the social media platforms.

They should embrace it and regulate. Which they did.

Since 2017 I have been attending WSIS and speaking on issues of gender digital divide, funding for women entrepreneurs, how women face multiple barriers to access funding for their ideas and startups, in particular for startups in technology that are in news media or consumer internet. In particular older (45+ yo) women. 45 is not old you may say, and I agree. But the reality is that both the UN and most corporations do discriminate based on age. Particularly women above the age of 45. Fact.

While white male privilege is very much alive, with funding going disproportionately to young white male entrepreneurs in Switzerland, US, UK, as the annual reports by Atomico VC in Europe, PitchBook, and MIT in the US show. And the rest of the world is a just mirror of that male entitlement and distribution of wealth. The UN innovation hubs too, reflect that preference in hiring young men. All the innovation hubs in the UN agencies are run by men for men, former consultants from the Big 5, McKinsey & Company, BCG etc — women are hired as assistants, low-grade professionals, at the General Service or Professional salary scale, and as unpaid interns.

It is a disheartening situation.

So, you think we should forgive their lack of respect for equal economic opportunity for women because is it unconscious bias in the part of these institutions, and you think I that am exagerating?

Let me tell you the times I have had to explain that I was the founder and editor of THE UN BRIEF. Countless times. To senior UN officials, male professors (and female professors as misogyny is often unconscious in women as Kate Manne, associate professor at the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University, laid out in her 2017 book, “Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny”).

These are professors at reputable universities and high-placed UN officials who unconsciously or consciously try to denigrate women’s work and authority.

Countless. Times. Of. Explaining. That. As. A. Woman. I. Have. A Brain. And. Can. Think. Run a Company. Write. Speak. Have Something to Say.

All that “backwards and in high heels.”, like Ginger Rogers. And while raising children.

So, this year, I decide to speak at WSIS about something less gloomy. :-)

The dismal state of the news business, and public interest news organisations, news media startups, like THE UN BRIEF.

I presented my views and research at the LeadersTalkX session titled Looking Ahead: Emerging tech for building sustainable futures, organised by Mr. Liberato Bautista, president of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations, CoNGO, an NGO that has consultative status with the United Nations in New York, alongside Mr. Dino Cataldo Dell’Accio, Chief Information Officer of the United Nations Pension Fund in New York; Dr. Sharon Weinblum, from the Permanent Mission of Belgium to the UN in Geneva; Mr. Ernst Noorman, Ambassador at Large for Cyber Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and other distinguished panelists.

You can watch the session here, the recording is not separated from another session so it starts at 1:03:00 - I am contacting ITU to see that they separate the recordings so people can find it more easily.

2024-05-28 14:30 (UTC +1) Part II / Leaders TalkX: Looking Ahead: Emerging tech for building sustainable futures (CICG Amphitheatre D)

Starts at 1:01:02[ Floor ] [ English ] [ Français ]

Here is my statement.

WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event 2022

Leaders TalkX

Looking Ahead: Emerging tech for building sustainable futures

By Maya Plentz, THE UN BRIEF

Public interest news media organizations are struggling to survive.

According to Maria Ressa, Nobel Laureate and co-founder and CEO of Rappler, a news media organization in the Philippines, “only 0,3% of development funds go to public interest news media organizations and independent news groups in the Global South”.

Public interest news media organizations are closing at an alarming rate, and not only under authoritarian regimes in the Global South, but in the so-called developed world where public interest news media have been gutted of advertising revenue by social media platforms.

Now we see that Generative AI is on the path to cause similar harms to the industry.

The slow uptake of policies guiding the development of these technologies – or rather the development of business models of Gen AI LLMs that assumed that scrapping the open web according that US copyright laws of Fair Use would apply to pay-walled articles, or copyrighted news stories in open news sites – has met with a global backlash of publishers and authors that have not agreed with their interpretation of the law.

While some were quick to make licensing agreements with AP, Le Monde, reputable news organizations, there are many other small publishers and not so small that are just being told that there will be no agreement, such as the New York Times, where negotiations for a licensing agreement to use their content fell apart and now, they are suing. The culprit?

Using their content for training the LLMs without approval and now not willing to pay an adequate amount so the publication can continue to produce high-quality, researched and fact-checked news. Like all news organisations that have ethical standards and a duty to inform the public, that support values compatible with open democratic societies.

That the founders of these companies not for a moment considered how they are harvesting the data without adequatlye compensating authors, journalists, and publishers is somewhat jarring, yet not surprising. The ethos of breaking things and moving fast has to be put to rest, as we have seen how it breaks our societies, from the divisiveness of our online public square to the pollution of our information ecosystems with online toxic exchanges and dissemination of mis-and disinformation, that spill over to the real world. From the violent attacks to the American and in Brazilian government institutions, all coordinated via social media and amplified by malicious actors.

There are thousands of similar examples in other countries, of political upheaval caused by usage of these platforms, amplified by AI in the last decade.

The UN agencies are fighting a constant battle, I am told. For every piece of information that is factual, gathered by humanitarian workers, relayed by video links in real time, there is a whole industry that is working to undermine these efforts in Gaza, Ukraine, and elsewhere in conflict ridden zones in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This is not a trivial problem, and we need, as Information Society members, to uphold the policies and financing means to strengthen news media ecosystems everywhere.

What will happen to small publishers and independent journalists working on their own on new models of news distribution such as Substack and other newsletter platforms? Will GenAI platforms just harvest their data without paying for their real value?

I hope we will find answers in these few days of talks and exchanges.

Related content:

Maria Ressa, the journalist I cited in the beginning of my remarks, her Commencement Speech at Harvard University, worth watching in its entirety.

The Future of News Media

THE UN BRIEF was invited by ITU to organize a session during WSIS, every previous year I only spoke about the gender digital divide, usually surrounded by the policy people of Facebook and Google, that would only rattle about their tiny efforts on mitigating the horrible harms to girls in their platforms, as Frances Haugen exposed in 2021. Nice work, I thought, but infinitesimal for the extent of the problem.

Our session was on Wednesday 29 May at 2 PM CET, and we had the pleasure to host Dr. Gabrielle Halpern, PhD, a philosopher and author from France; Noah Giansiracusa, PhD, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Bentley University; Ricky Sutton, author and publisher of Future Media, from Australia; Mike Farrell, Founder and CEO of Compiler Media from Washington, D.C.; Carlos Hernandez-Echevarria, from the fact checking NGO maldita.es from Spain; and Courtney Radish, PhD, Director of the Center of Journalism and Liberty, at the OpenMarkets Institute, in Washington, D.C.

Here is the link to the video of our session, you have to find the date, time and the title, The Future of News Media: AI, Revenue Models, and Democracy.

2024-05-29 14:00 CET (UTC +1) The Future of News Media AI, Revenue Models, and Democracy (CICG Salle 15) [ Floor ]

Below are the remarks presented by each speaker. This is part 1. There will more in the next edition of THE UN BRIEF.

WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event 2024

The Future of News Media

AI, Revenue Models, and Democracy

By Courtney C. Radish, PhD, Director for the Center for Journalism and Liberty, at the Open Markets Institute.

What type of public policies are needed to combat disinformation and ensure a future for journalism?

There is widespread recognition that journalism is essential to democracy. It informs the citizenry and cultivates community engagement. And it holds those in power accountable. It is also a critical source of quality information to combat disinformation, fill information voids, and improve the health of information environments.

Technology has done some amazing things for journalism, freedom of expression and participatory communication here and around the world.

But over the past decade as we’ve seen innovative startups turn into or merge with monopolistic behemoths we’ve seen a concurrent degradation of the viability of news media, with thousands of news outlet closures and dramatic declines in the number of working journalists in the US and around the world.

This concerning trend has been accompanied by democratic erosion at home and around the world.

Platform monopolies that dominate search, social media, video sharing and now AI have propelled disinformation and propaganda even as they have damaged journalism by exploiting their dominance in digital advertising, using news content without fair compensation to journalists or publishers, and by algorithmically appropriating the role that diverse news editors used to play in influencing readers’ attention.

The crisis facing journalism and our information environment more broadly is not a problem of the news industry’s own making and can’t be solved through media and information literacy programs that put the onus on individuals when the problem is with the business models of Big Tech and result from legal regulatory frameworks that privilege tech platforms over the press and give the former unfettered power to set the rules for the rest of the economy.

There are several types of public policy needed to combat disinformation and ensure a future for journalism.

Chief among these are antitrust and competition policy, including news media bargaining codes and common carriage requirements or what I like to call must carry, must pay; and ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected and AI companies are required to compensate publishers and other content producers for the value created from the use of their content to build large language models and other foundation models and retrieval augmented generation systems that fuel applications like generative search, content creation and summarization, and other information retrieval and creation systems.

Relatedly, police requiring platform transparency, including for all paid speech and not just political ads, and access to data for independent regulators, researchers and journalists are required to enable other types of beneficial public policy and effective oversight.

Antitrust interventions and competition policy are needed to prevent Big Tech from leveraging its control over data, compute, cloud, talent and capital to further consolidate their power, preference their own lines of business, and impose dangerous and disruptive new technologies without internalizing the costs to the public and to the environment.

The way we govern competition in digital markets is intertwined with the integrity of our information environment and the future of journalism. Competition policy plays a fundamental role in structuring media markets and business models that ensure the future of a strong and independent free press where journalists can make a living and work safely and without fear of reprisal, from government or corporations. And it can be used to mitigate the control over digital advertising infrastructure that has made disinformation a profitable endeavor for content farms, junk news sites, and even foreign propagandists.

Nations around the world are seeking to rein in the power of these platforms and revitalize their news media markets, with growing support for news media bargaining codes like those already passed in Australia and Canada and under consideration in a dozen other jurisdictions that require very large search and social media firms to negotiate fair compensation rates with publishers for the value they create for the platforms, which bring in billions of dollars in revenue each year. These policies should be extended to AI companies while empowering smaller publishers to pool their resources and collectively negotiate (as CJL recommended to the South African Competition Authority in its Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry). These policies must include access to data needed to make determinations of value for fair compensation.

Google and Facebook have unfortunately responded with retaliatory actions to dodge or influence the outcome of these regulatory efforts, including censoring news in Canada and California and deprioritizing the dissemination of news on their platforms. To avoid this type of retaliation and censorship, which exacerbates the disinformation crisis and undermines the rights of people to access information, policymakers should consider must carry, must pay provisions. This would require that critical information intermediaries, like search and social media, would be required to carry news and could not just decide to censor journalism in order to avoid paying their fair share. Furthermore, this should be extended to AI companies that build foundation models, which require access to quality information to function well and mitigate so-called hallucinations, and RAGs related to information retrieval, such as those that power chatbots, answer engines and generative search.

How do you think about the value of journalism and news in AI systems?

Big Tech is building its latest technology on the intellectual property and uncompensated use of expression, content, and data collected online and in databases while fueling the proliferation of synthetic media, deep fakes, and junk content that undermines the integrity of our information environment. Journalistic content, which is far more than just a collection of facts and is often gathered at great costs to the journalists who report the news, is indispensable to these new AI technologies. The journalism sector needs a more sophisticated framework for how to determine the value of their content and what fair compensation would look like throughout various parts of the AI value chain. The legal regulatory system is lagging behind in terms of both failing to enforce intellectual property rights, allowing a handful of companies to further entrench their dominance and develop technologies and business models that undermine the viability of entire sectors of the economy, including journalism.

Journalism cannot be expected to adapt its business models to the AI era without interventions by policymakers to correct market imbalances, enforce intellectual property rights, and require data access and transparency of AI systems.

After decades of giving away their content for free and being held hostage to the power of social media and search platforms, news publishers are realizing that they need to be more proactive in the era of artificial intelligence. As AI companies rely on news content to train their large language models and make AI applications more relevant, publishers already contending with a precipitous decline in referral traffic and the continued monopolization of digital advertising by Big Tech are being exploited even further.

The damage tech corporations have wrought on news publishers by cannibalizing their original content and data, displaying them in their search results or social media feeds, and then diverting advertisers, readers and potential subscribers away from the news sites themselves is existential. Reduced revenues earned from subscriptions, advertising, licensing, and affiliates undermines not just the ability to produce quality journalism but also the industry’s underlying business model and the integrity of our politics as journalism watchdogs go out of business.

But journalism cannot be expected to adapt its business models to the AI era without interventions by policymakers to correct market imbalances, enforce intellectual property rights, and require data access and transparency. Industry action must go hand in hand with legislative and regulatory action.

Efforts to create a marketplace for publishers and AI companies are nascent but promising, but these voluntary efforts will still need to be shaped by public policy that ensures there is sufficient information available to determine fee structures. Also, policymakers should allow small publishers to collectively bargain given the inefficiency, difficulty, and improbability of each outlet trying to get a deal on their own. Smaller publishers are not prioritized by AI companies, according to the CEO of Perplexity AI, and is reflected in the fact that only the biggest or most prominent publishers have secured AI deals with tech firms.

How we decide to allocate intellectual property rights and what we decide about how fair use does or does not apply to developing and training artificial intelligence systems will have profound ramifications for business models in a variety of sectors and the further concentration of power in a handful of technology corporations. Over the past nearly two decades, as tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft grew to become some of the most valuable companies in the world, the United States lost a third of its newspaper and two-thirds of its newspaper journalists. They cannot be replaced with AI.

Gone are the days of passive acceptance that enabled social media and search platforms to siphon off value from publishers and journalists without compensation.

We know that journalism is essential to democracy.

WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event 2024

The Future of News Media

AI, Revenue Models, and Democracy

By Noah Giansiracusa, Associate Professor of Mathematics, at Bentley University, USA, and Author of “How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News published in July 2021 (about which Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer said "It's a joy to read a book by a mathematician who knows how to write... There is no better guide to the strategies and stakes of this battle for the future", he is currently working on a new book, Robin Hood Math, exploring how people of all backgrounds—not just quants and techies—can use math to help navigate life.”

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this timely topic. I believe it helps to break the impact of AI on the news ecosystem into a few categories.

First, creation of news content.

Generative AI, through text generation and image generation (and soon to be video generation as well) allows anyone to quickly produce news-like content, whether truthful or misinformative. This raises an obvious concern that bad actors, motivated either by political interests or financial ones, could use generative AI to produce mis- or disinformation.

Generative AI threatens to massively increase the scale and quality of such content while decreasing the cost of producing it.

On the positive side, generative AI can help journalists produce their news content more quickly and cheaply. Importantly, the technology, for now, is incapable of conducting genuine journalism—AI systems are not investigating stories, contacting sources, following leads, etc.

But once information is gathered, generative AI tools can expedite the production process of turning this information into consumable news content. This could be particularly relevant and helpful for newsrooms with declining budgets that no longer have the staff to perform the important work they used to. But even here danger lurks: as many newsrooms adopt generative

AI tools to increase efficiency and decrease costs, there will be economic pressure on other newsrooms to do so too—even though these tools have significant flaws, notably so-called hallucinations. I worry that media outlets across the industry, particularly ones owned by hedge funds and venture capitalists, will use AI to lower costs of production even while doing so lowers the quality—and factuality—of their product.

Second, dissemination of news content.

A large percentage of people consume their news primarily through social media. For over a decade, social media platforms have been using AI to power their algorithms, particularly the feeds on platforms like Facebook and Twitter and the up-next and for-you videos on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, so AI is not particularly new in that setting. But traditional news outlets are likely to soon experiment with personalization of news content powered by generative AI.

This could potentially make news more appealing to some individuals who don’t currently consume much news, but it could also bring many of the well-known problems from social media into traditional news settings, problems like filter bubbles. Imagine if you and your next-door neighbor go to BBC’s homepage and see completely different headlines and even different presentations of the same stories.

Third, fact-checking.

I do not believe AI is presently capable of fully-automated fact-checking, nor do I expect this to be possible in the foreseeable future. But AI is already helping to expedite the labor of human fact-checkers, for instance by identifying small variations of a single claim to reduce the number of claims that need to be checked. It should also be noted that search engines like Google use AI to attempt to elevate quality sources in search rankings—reducing the amount of misinformation that rises to the top of searches. There will be a continued arms-race in which the search engines gain more powerful AI methods for doing this, while bad actors gain more powerful AI methods for gaming these search rankings.

Fourth, the economics of the media landscape.

I have already noted that newsrooms will likely feel financial pressure to adopt flawed AI tools in order to keep up with the competition, but the economic impact of AI on the journalism industry runs deeper than this. Many news outlets are funded by digital advertising, which means to get money they need to get clicks and views on their articles.

Generative AI threatens to significantly reduce the amount of web traffic news sites receive as people increasingly interact with chatbots to get information and as search engines like Google use AI to provide summaries of news articles rather than driving users to click through to the actual articles. The extent of the financial harm this causes the news industry will largely depend on the legal and business negotiations that transpire between tech companies and news outlets as society unravels the legality and economics of training data—namely, what counts as fair use and how should AI companies pay content creators for the data they use to train their AI systems.

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In this edition:

AI for Good Brings Bling and Glitz to Geneva
WSIS+20 Brings Together Policymakers in Digital Transformation
UN Officials in Charge of Procurement Attended AI for good and WSIS
World Health Assembly Updated International Health Regulations
Longevity Hacks: Italian Centenarians Diet
Swiss Fund DECALIA Invests in Precision Medicine

It is a wrap. The World Summit on the Information Society, WSIS+20, and the AI for Good Global Summit closed and our minds are brimming with ideas and possibilities and much greater awareness of the risks of AI and digital transformations that do not answer a fundamental question: who does it serve?

There is a growing call among many quarters for people at the center of new and emerging technologies development and deployment to make our societies more just, more prosperous, and to make sure that equitable wealth distribution occurs faster. No growing the pie to later distribute it, that is so Reaganomics and Thatcherism, so anachronic, so crude, so passé. It is time for a new New Deal.

Universal Basic Income was mentioned by Geoffrey Hinton, as he predicts mass unemployment, and is of the mind that there should be no UN agency dedicated to AI, in the way that the International Atomic Energy Agency operates to regulate industry.

Sam Altman also was interviewed via Zoom, and gave his most, possibly, candid response to the brouhaha of cloning the voice of Scarlett Johansson, and so many other questions hanging above the head of the CEO of OpenAI and ChatGPT2o many mishaps.

Hinton and Altman were interviewed live via Zoom by Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, a literary journalism magazine in the US, that just closed a licensing agreement with OpenAI to train their LLMs on their content and will be given privileged access in order to improve The Atlantic news products.

“Earlier today, The Atlantic’s CEO, Nicholas Thompson, announced in an internal email that the company has entered into a business partnership with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. (The news was made public via a press release shortly thereafter.) Editorial content from this publication will soon be directly referenced in response to queries in OpenAI products. In practice, this means that users of ChatGPT, say, might type in a question and receive an answer that briefly quotes an Atlantic story; according to Anna Bross, The Atlantic’s senior vice president of communications, it will be accompanied by a citation and a link to the original source. Other companies, such as Axel Springer, the publisher of Business Insider and Politico, have made similar arrangements.” The Atlantic, 29 May 2024

Our team at AI for Good asked Nick Thompson on his thoughts on what was the impact of Generative AI in the news business. Here is what he said:

No word of the licensing agreement. Most questions were good natured banter among friends. Even when The Atlantic CEO tried to push, the CEO of OpenAI swimmingly evaded the questions. A pro-interviewer and pro-interviewee. ‘-)

Stuart Russell pointed to the risks of Alpha Fold discoveries by DeepMind, in the sense that malicious actors could develop biological weapons using similar methods.

We have skimmed the surface, there is much more to be discussed in all aspects of AI applications in different fields. It risks and benefits require a whole UN System of agencies approach in my view, and the creation of a UN specialized agency. The pros and cons still to be heavily debated at the Summit of the Future.

Last year the UK went to the Security Council to propose a dedicated agency for AI regulation, and the UN Secretary General seconded that. But since then the conversation is going around the capitals of UN state members, with nodding heads for, and nodding heads against.

This year’s AI for Good saw the convergence of policy and marketing. The hyper enthusiasts of AI are taking a beat, becoming a bit more measured in their statements of what is possible while revealing some demos that wow the audiences, in robotics and Brain Computer Interface tools and software. Of note, Unbabel, a company that “removes language barriers by blending artificial intelligence with real time, human translations”. Unbabel raised over $135 million in funding, and are developing an interface using limited access LLMs (that have not been released to the public yet) in partnership with OpenAI. Watch:

Also Neurable, a spin-off from the University of Michigan, with a headset that analyses your powers of concentration while reading and performing other tasks. One of their clients is the US military, for soldiers in the battlefield, but one can expect these devices to be increasingly available to the general public. One can see many applications in healthcare, and the questions that arise in terms of privacy of the mind.

The World Summit on the Information Society can work to focus its next edition to strengthen the presence of governments beyond telecoms and digital ministers, and bring to the fold ministers of finance, education, climate, and health, as well as private sector partners that operate in these four areas, with a good balance of Big Tech and SMEs, and increase the presence of academia.

News Media researchers, academics, and leaders from small to large news publications could also be a focus of more sessions, to increase visibility of the importance of integrating policymakers and industry perspectives to deliver greater inclusion and economic opportunity, and the sustainability of news organisations.

We speak often about the news media being the pillar of democracy but in general policymakers and UN fora do not place it center and front. The conversation around digital transformation does not include the question of integrity in news and how emerging tech does not work to support the industry. As BuzzFeed found out the hard way.

“You might remember when, in 2016, BuzzFeed used Facebook’s livestreaming platform to show staffers wrapping rubber bands around a watermelon until it exploded; BuzzFeed, like other publishers, was being paid by the social-media company to use this new video service. That same year, BuzzFeed was valued at $1.7 billion. Facebook eventually tired of these news partnerships and ended them. Today, BuzzFeed trades publicly and is worth about 6 percent of that 2016 valuation. Facebook, now Meta, has a market cap of about $1.2 trillion.” Source: The Atlantic, 29 May 2024.

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The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and many other international human rights treaties state that the right to housing under international human rights law is the right to live in peace, security and dignity.

The violation of the right to housing is often experienced by marginalized and disadvantaged groups including indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, ethnic and religious minority communities, people of color, migrants and refugees, women, single mothers, and LGBTQ+ persons.

I spoke with Leilani Farha, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and Global Director of The Shift. Her organization works with parliaments, and civil society actors on the principle that housing is a social good. We also spoke of her work with the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the aggravated housing situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and even more so now, in the Gaza Strip.

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Seeking Common Ground in a World of Rivalry

The organization led by Justin Vaisse, historian and diplomat, is supported by the French government and private sector sponsors, including Microsoft.

There will be panels with AI companies and how they are engaging with governments, academics, and UN officials from Africa and Europe.

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith will be speaking on using AI in the humanitarian field, and their multiple partnerships with UN agencies in the areas of advanced disaster monitoring systems, and education projects with UNICEF, including the Learning Passport, and other digital literacy programs.

The Learning Passport is a Cambridge University-designed initiative launched with Microsoft’s support to ensure forcibly displaced children and young people can continue their education in their native languages, and not miss the school year due to war or civil conflicts that might take years to resolve, as they will need to temporarily settle in the host countries.

Microsoft is also working with Least Developed Countries and supporting the achievement of the SDGs targets by partnering with the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

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Watch my interview with Paris Peace Forum founder Justin Vaïsse, to find out more.

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I interviewed Bourhan Yassin, CEO of Rainforest Connection, a company that applies AI to acoustics for data insights to better inform conservation, preserve biodiversity, and protect the rainforests from illegal logging. They are currently working in 80 countries, including Brazil, where most of their work is happening.

RFCx works with audio to monitor species of wild birds for instance, to analyse the sounds of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, and works with indigenous communities to help them identify illegal logging, and to catalogue species to protect biodiversity.

They use satellites developed by Swarm, that operates ultra-small satellites for IOT devices, a company that was acquired by SpaceX in 2021.

We spoke about their projects in Brazil and how they are funded, and how Google.org supports their work alongside other philanthropic organizations.

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Josef Aschbacher, European Space Agency Director-General, on COP28 and the Agreement With UNEP to Monitor Climate ChangeGetting things done at COP28: Watch my interview with the European Space Agency Director-General Josef Aschbacher where we do a 360 degree on climate action and ESA

Interview with the ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher

Space travel is the stuff of dreams for most of us. I have dreamed of space missions since I organized a press briefing at the engineering department of Florida International University, featuring a former NASA astronaut, Dr. Bernard Harris, who came to speak to young high-school students at FIU‘s Summer program, in 2007.

I was taking a break from journalism, but followed around Jose Pagliery, one of the reporters that attended the press briefing, who was then with the Miami Herald (now with The Daily Beast) as he interviewed Harris on what was like to see the Earth from space, wear a clunky space suit, and why younger generations should care.

While most of us will never circumvent the Earth from space, at least in these coming decades, we nevertheless use devices everyday and trust our weather forecasters with the recommendation of whether we should wear our rain boots over the weekend, using information that is gathered by satellites. About 80% of the information we rely on comes from space satellites, including ESA and other providers.

This week I interviewed the European Space Agency Director General, Josef Aschbacher, on his participation at COP28 and what is in store for 2024, from developing next generation satellites with Airbus to working with the United Nations Environment Program, to creating a coalition to address space debris when decommissioning satellites no longer operational, to pledging during COP28, alongside other heads of space agencies, to further support climate action.

It was the first time that a dedicated Space Pavilion was created at a COP and the panels and meetings centered and focused on how space research can promote further understanding of global warming.

Mr. Aschbacher is a scientist, and rose through the ranks at the European Space Agency, so knows the subject inside and out. We had a long conversation on the next generation of satellites, international cooperation, working alongside NASA and other space agencies, and how space technologies will help us better understand the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest ecosystem. These past days he has signed agreements to work with UNEP and the European Commission Directorate General for Climate Action, and is currently hammering out a program with the Brazilian Space Agency.

We also spoke about the number of satellites in orbit (a total of 8K of which 5K are from a private sector provider, Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite company) and how to manage this increasing number, and his invitation to Elon Musk, and other heads of space agencies, to join the coalition that will pledge to address debris and to decommission satellites in a manner that will avoid further polluting space, as we try to understand our planet, our galaxy, and beyond.

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Interview with Brazilian Diplomat Camila Olsen on Promoting Brazil Abroad and Attracting FDI

Interview with Camila Olsen, Head of Trade, Investment, Agriculture and Energy Section at the Brazilian Embassy in Copenhagen

Today I interviewed the Brazilian diplomat Camila Olsen, head of trade investment, agriculture and energy at the Brazilian embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she oversees a portfolio of trade in agriculture, we also spoke about Foreign Direct Investment in Brazil, and how they are bringing the most relevant stakeholders to the table: academia, private and public sectors at the Embassy of Brazil and Denmark, in the division she works, which is promoting trade.

We spoke about trading commodities, Brazil's competitive advantage given its climate, and how it trades with the global south as a tropical country exporter of goods that cannot be farmed, or produced anywhere else.

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World Health Organisation in Davos 2024

Interview with Steve MacFeely, Director of Data and Analytics

We spoke about the upcoming UN Statistics Commission meeting that begins on the 23rd of February, in New York. The heads of all international organizations and national statistical offices will discuss a wide range of issues, and this year health is at the top of the agenda, with a full-day dedicated to it.

We also talked about the right fora to discuss data governance, trade in services, and the necessary institutional framework.

Then there is the Summit of the Future in September where the UN Statistics Commission will have a role as data governance is central to the current conversation.

He will be in Davos this week to speak on data governance, how it is impacting AI.

UN Secretary General Calls for a Global AI Regulatory Agency

These last couple of days have been quite busy on issues of AI and emerging tech governance at the UN and its agencies. We had the IGF meeting in Geneva with Maria Ressa and Vint Cerf, AI at the Security Council in New York, and the UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Turk calling also for a study on the impacts of new technologies and the possible creation of a Special Rapporteur on Tech is being floated.

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“We need a learner’s mindset”, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on AI regulation and global governance for its impact on society and security.

We spoke with Swiss Ambassador Benedikt Wechsler, Head of Division for Digitalisation, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, to understand this new role and its priorities for 2023.

Interview with Bogolo J. Kenewendo, former Trade Minister of Botswana. She is a global economist with deep expertise in international trade and development with a particular focus on Pan-African development and a passion for accelerating digitization and innovation across the continent.

As the Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry in Botswana, she implemented reforms to significantly improve the ease of doing business, open up both domestic and international markets, and position the country to succeed in the global value chains as well as the digital economy. During her tenure, she was the youngest Cabinet Minister in Africa and in Botswana’s history.

Kenewendo is also a vocal advocate for gender equity and the protection of children’s rights. She has received global recognition for her work, being appointed as a member of the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, Senior Africa Advisor to Jack Ma Foundation and Africa Business Heroes, Jury for the FAO Africa Innovation Prize, a member of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’ High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation and group on Financing for Development.

Discussion on AI and the Google developer who believed AI was "sentient". We were joined by Dr. Luis Lamb, Marielza Oliveira, Gary Marcus, and special guests to clarify the state of AI, the hype around it and who it serves, and how far we still are from AGI. This Twitter Space took place in July 2023.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theunbrief.substack.com/subscribe

Interview on Brazil’s Transfer of Power and Democracy

I interviewed Dr. James Green, Professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown University. He is the author of, among many other books on the political history of the region, "We Cannot Remain Silent: Opposition to the Brazilian Military Dictatorship in the United States" and national coordinator for the Washington Brazil Office.

We spoke about his books on Brazil and the Washington Brazil Office, an independent think tank that connects, supports, and carries advocacy to strengthen civil society, defend democracy and the rule of law, and protect human rights in Brazil.

We also spoke about the transfer of power, Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the significance of the moment in the history of the country.

Mr Møller spent over 40 years as an international civil servant in the United Nations. He was appointed Chairman of the Diplomacy Forum of the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator, GESDA, in 2020.

From 2013 to 2019, Mr Møller served as Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva as well as Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Conference of Disarmament.

He worked closely with the late UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as Director for Political, Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Affairs in the Office of the Secretary-General between 2001 and 2006, while serving concurrently as Deputy Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary-General for the last two years of that period.

Mr Møller also served as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Cyprus from 2006 to 2008 and was the Executive Director of the Kofi Annan Foundation from 2008 to 2011.

He began his career in 1979 with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and worked for the United Nations in New York, Mexico, Iran, Haiti, Cyprus and Geneva.

A Danish citizen, Mr Møller earned a Master’s degree in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University, in its Italy’s Campus, and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Sussex, in the United Kingdom.

Jenna Russo is the Director of Research and Head of the Brian Urquhart Center for Peace Operations at the International Peace Institute in New York.

Dr. Russo completed her PhD in Political Science at the CUNY Graduate Center, with a focus on the protection of civilians in armed conflict settings.

Her dissertation analyzes UN protection of civilians activities and their contribution to the broader peace process, with case studies on the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

Her other research considers the normative development of the human protection regime, in particular how member states conceive of and implement their protection responsibilities. Her research has been published in Third World Quarterly, Journal of International Peacekeeping, Global R2P, and featured on Africa at LSE.

Prior to joining IPI, Dr. Russo spent more than ten years working as a consultant to the United Nations, with a focus on disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of ex-combatants; peacekeeping training; and as a project manager in the Office of the Secretary-General. She also spent time with the Global Centre for R2P as a senior fellow in peacekeeping.

Dr. Russo teaches at Baruch and Hunter Colleges, including courses on international conflict; the UN and world politics; and women, war, and peace. In addition to her Ph.D., she also holds an M.Phil. in political science, an M.A. in international relations, and a B.A. in music. Prior to her time working in the field of international relations, she taught music at a performing arts high school in New York City.

Elena Hernandez has worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross, and at the UN in New York, during the 73rd General Assembly, in their media department, supporting the relationship with international correspondents.

Now she is a Media and Communications Officer at the International Criminal Court, in The Hague, where she manages and produces social media content, analyses statistics on their website and social media channels, produces news releases and reports, as well as manages the relationship with the international press.

She had an early start with her father being a journalist, and also living with a war correspondent in Washington and a journalist in Algeria, and has a degree in Journalism, Communication in Media Studies, from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, a B.A. in International Law and Legal Studies, and a B.B.A. in Marketing and Communications from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, and has participated twice in the European Union Erasmus Program, in Germany and in Switzerland, as well as studied International Law and Human Rights at the American University in Washington, DC.

We interviewed Carla Canales, who was just appointed Professor of Practice in Cultural Diplomacy and Senior Fellow at The Edward R. Murrow Center for a Digital World, based at the Fletcher Graduate School of Global Affairs, at Tufts University.

Ms. Canales leads the inaugural Program on Cultural Diplomacy, an initiative examining the ways in which arts and culture can advance US foreign policy objectives.

Ms. Canales has served as an Arts Envoy of the U.S. Department of State to foster cross-cultural understanding and collaboration and advance foreign policy goals.

Malene Nielsen is with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is Deputy, Permanent Delegation of Denmark to UNESCO. She has a M.A. in International Relations and Development Studies from Roskilde University, and a B.A. in International Marketing from Copenhagen Business School, and has done an internship with UNESCO while finishing her Masters. We spoke about the recent research she has conducted with UNESCO on Freedom of Expression and how COVID-19 has weakened human rights protection around the globe, with a focus on artists, scientists, and journalists, and how aware they are of their rights under international law.

They published their findings in 2021, in a special report called Critical Voices.

Asha Allen serves as Advocacy Director for Europe, Online Expression & Civic Space at CDT Europe Office in Brussels. Asha’s work focuses on advocating for the preservation of fundamental rights in European Union/Regional legislation, and democratic accountability in industry content policies.

Asha has worked on projects with the United Nations, Council of Europe and OSCE. She coordinated the #HerNetHerRights II campaign which aimed to increase women’s safety and participation online during the European elections. Reaching over 3 million people, she established herself as the leading policy expert in this field in Brussels.

In her spare time, Asha is one of six women who front the Who Writes the Rules Campaign, which advocates for increased participation of women of colour in EU policy making and the tech industry.

Asha completed an internship in the European Parliament and holds a BA in American Studies and MA in Transnational Studies from the University of Kent, alongside an MSc in European Studies from KU Leuven, where she specialised in transnational and global perspectives, international human rights law, and EU policy making.

Women in Diplomacy and International Affairs

Argentina

We interviewed Veronica Merlo, Senior Trade Policy Consultant for MERCOSUR, at the Ministry of Economy of Argentina. She has a Master's Degree in International Relations Europe - Latin America from the University of Bologna, Italy, studied Trade Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School for Government, and has a postgraduate degree in International Trade Law and Policy from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland. She obtained her BA in International Trade (UCES, Argentina). She is a member of the Argentine Network of Professionals for Foreign Policy (REDAPPE), and the Young Scholar Initiative (YSI).

Listen to our interview below.

The UN Brief spoke with Argentine’s Ambassador to the UN Office in Geneva and International Organisation, Federico Villegas, who was appointed as president of the UN Human Rights Council for 2022, to discuss how the international community is on-board to make the mandate for the new Special Rapporteur as impactful as it needs to be.

The Special Rapporteur, Ian Fry said, in its first press conference last June, that the onboarding of Russia, India, and China was a “work-in-progress”. (scroll down)

During Ambassador Villegas tenure we are seeing a number of reports that foster the promotion and protection of human rights in areas that till recently were not on everyone's radar, such as the impact of new technologies on gathering evidence, and also its double edged sword, as some tools can be used for surveillance of political dissidents and journalists.

One area that is just now gathering the deserved attention is the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons. Meaning addressing age discrimination in its various forms, in employment and healthcare, and in particular the latest report of the the independent expert, Dr. Claudia Mahler, on the intersection of gender and ageism.

Addressing Systemic Racism

Some progress has been made to address systemic racism since the horrific images beamed across screens all over the world showing police brutality towards African-Americans and people of African descent in the US (by the way these types of violations of human rights by law enforcement happen in other countries too, but the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, that was recorded on a smartphone by a by-stander, sparked outrage and social mobilisation in May of 2020).

High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, issued a report that introduced a four-point agenda to end systemic racism and human rights violations by law enforcement against citizens of African descent, also the Human Rights Council established the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement.

What should we expect of these initiatives? How to move from debate to implementation by country-members? What needs to happen?

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WHO Report on Universal Health Care and the SDGs

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WHO Ai and Ageism Policy Brief

On February 4th the NGO’s asked the UN Secretary-General to guarantee their access to UN Treaty Body reviews. Vincent Ploton, Director of Development and Treaty Body Advocacy at the Geneva office of the NGO International Service for Human Rights notes that there is a continued “lack of physical access to UN premises during in-person reviews, despite the fact that states and UN Treaty Body members have access. This was raised notably during a meeting between NGOs and OHCHR officials on 29 November 2021”.

“The fact that in 2021 states were able to access UN premises — including Palais Wilson and Palais des Nations — to participate in UNTB reviews, but NGOs were not, or only some NGOs, constitutes a serious and worrying precedent. It is incompatible with the basic and well-established principle of equality of access to UNTB reviews by both state and non-state actors. Unless clear indications are provided and publicly disseminated by OHCHR and UNTBs providing access to in-person sessions of UNTBs to civil society, there is a risk that such limited access could become a practice beyond the pandemic.”

Nathalie Fontanet is a member of the Geneva cantonal government since June 2018. She is head of the Department of Finance and Human Resources. A representative of the Liberal-Radical Party (PLR), she also lead the efforts on gender equality for the State of Geneva.

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The Partnership for Action on the Green Economy is a partnership between 5 UN agencies, UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO, ILO, and UNITAR. We interviewed Asad Naqvi, Head of Secretariat for the Partnership for Action on the Green Economy, to speak about PAGE and what is in store for 2022.

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Listen to my interview with Dr. Morris Tidball Binz on his work in forensic anthropology to support the investigation of unlawful deaths by authoritarian regimes and the Minnesota Protocol.

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This morning Dr. Tedros held a press conference with Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mrs. Svenja Schulze.

Germany is the largest donor to the WHO in voluntary contributions, the second is the US. On the core, regular budget, the US is still number one.

The WHO Executive Board is meeting this week, they are calling for reforms, in particular in the way the budget of the organisation is structured.

The New York-Presbyterian Hospital alone had, by 31 December of 2020, revenues of around $9.4 billion. Compared to it WHO barely scrapes by, with slightly below $2 billion, and that to serve the demands of its 194 country-members and coordinating a global health system of emergency responses that are strong enough to manage pandemics.

They spoke about allowing emerging economies to produce their own COVID vaccines, technology transfer and programs led by Germany currently under way with Rwanda, Senegal, Ghana, and South Africa.

They also discussed cooperation and collaboration with developing countries through the Berlin hub that was created last Summer with the blessings of former chancellor Angela Merkel and USD $100 million grant from the German government, to make it a global centre for data research and pandemic preparedness.

WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros, who is expected to have his appointment as the chief of the global health organisation renewed, outlined WHO’s priorities going forward:

Deliver results for country-members.

Help countries focus on prevention and well-being.

We spoke also about the new hub that was launched in Berlin this past Summer for pandemic early warning and prevention, and data gathering in collaboration with developing countries. Watch:

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Interview with Gale Wilkinson, CEO of VC platform based in Chicago.

Interview with Tim Engelhardt

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Negotiations in the realm of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, UN Office of Disarmament Affairs, are taking place in Geneva.

Listen to my interview with Minister-Counsellor for Disarmament Affairs Mr. Kimmo Laukkanen, of the Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations Office in Geneva, on the negotiations underway at the Conference on Disarmament and the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

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Bamboo Capital

The UN Brief interviews Florian Kemmerich, Partner at Bamboo Capital, an impact investment firm that works with the UN. We spoke about #COP26 and their new partnership with Palladium.

We interviewed José-Antonio Monteiro, economist in the Economic Research and Statistics Division of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Besides providing economic advice to dispute settlement panels, he conducts research on international trade issues, including sustainable e-commerce, environment and labour.

He also coordinated the joint WTO/World Bank Report on "Women and Trade", and the 2017 and 2021 World Trade Reports.

Before joining the WTO, he worked at the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the Trade and Labour Programme, with a particular focus on labour provisions in regional trade agreements.

He holds a PhD in economics in the area of trade and environment from the University of Neuchatel (Switzerland), as well as a Master on economics and finance from the University of Geneva (Switzerland).

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UNAIDS Marks World AIDS Day With the 2021 Report

“Some countries…have made remarkable progress against AIDS…However, new HIV infections are not falling fast enough globally to stop the pandemic, with 1.5 million new HIV infections in 2020 and growing HIV infection rates in some countries. Infections are also following lines of inequality. Six in seven new HIV infections among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa are occurring among adolescent girls. Gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers and people who use drugs face a 25–35 times greater risk of acquiring HIV worldwide.” UNAIDS 2021 Report

Today we mark 40 years of living with the impact of HIV/AIDS. The UN Brief interviewed César Antonio Núñez, Director of the New York Office at UNAIDS, to speak about this year’s main topics in the report: inequality, mother-child transmission, and preparedness.

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$5 Billion bond proposal by UNICEF and ITU to finance connectivity and map out the schools on the Global South

To find out more about financing these ambitious mega-projects, that will require cooperation from the private sector, governments, and UN agencies, we spoke with Alex Wong, co-lead of Giga, and Maikel Wilms, Partner and Director at the Boston Consulting Group. Listen here.

Interview with Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Mobility and Transport DG, 16 November 2021

EU Mission: Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities

Save the Date

25 November 2021: Horizon Europe Will Announce a Call for Expressions of Interest

EU to Launch 350 Million Euros Funding to Make 100 Cities Climate Neutral

The EU is ready to deploy financing and grants through its Horizon Europe funding framework programme for tech companies and other innovators that will help cities achieve the ambitious goal of 100 cities climate neutral by 2030.

A feasible goal if mayors and others are on board, particularly the private sector. Horizon Europe is the EU’s funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of €95.5 billion for the period from 2021-2027.

COP26

SDGs

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To find out more about financing these ambitious mega-projects, that will require cooperation from the private sector, governments, and UN agencies, we spoke with Alex Wong, co-lead of Giga Connect, and Maikel Wilms, Partner and Director at the Boston Consulting Group.

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GigaConnect #ITU #UNICEF

Interview with Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Mobility and Transport DG

COP26

SDGs

The UN Brief interviews Florian Kemmerich, Partner at Bamboo Capital, an impact investment firm that works with the UN. We spoke about #COP26 and their new partnership with Palladium.

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In Geneva: Building Bridges

From November 29 the flagship event by Sustainable Finance Geneva, Building Bridges, will make the city a hub for everyone who wants to understand and participate on discussions about how to finance climate change mitigation.

Four days of events, starting with a summit, then crowdsourced events throughout the city, will bring politicians, NGOs, banking, fintech, and the UN and its agencies together to speak impact financing.

The UN Brief interviewed Sandrine Salerno, former Mayor of Geneva, and current Director of Geneva Sustainable Finance, to speak about the organisation and what is on the agenda for Building Bridges Week.

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Interview with Ambassador Jean-Marie Paugam, Deputy Director-General, WTO, on #COP26.

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Listen to my interview with Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General at the Mobility and Transport Directorate at the European Commission in Brussels.

The EC Mobility and Transport Directorate just announced a new EU Mission, that will be funded by the new cycle of the EU funding program for research and innovation, Horizon Europe, with a seed fund of $350 Million USD allocated to make 100 cities climate neutral, from the roughly $100 Billion USD (that is the total funding for Horizon Europe over 7 years) available through various programs and to finance the EU Green Deal.

The private sector will play a role too, of course, to finance this transition. The delivery of the EU Green Deal will depend on the participation of cities at the end of the day they are the ones that can deliver. A call for expression of interest will be launched by the end of November 2021.

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Interview with Ambassador Martin Frick, Deputy to the UN Special Envoy for Food Systems.
We spoke about the Food Systems Summit, and the upcoming COP26.

We interviewed Andrew Harper, Special Advisor for Climate Action for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. We spoke about the upcoming #COP26 the UN Climate Change Conference that takes place in Glasgow and the impact of climate change on migration.

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Women Are Not Represented at Innovation Ecosystems

Interview with Ambassador Andrew Staines, ADG at the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva. Ambassador Staines was Deputy Permanent Representative for the UK at the UN in Geneva. We spoke about increasing women's participation in the innovation ecosystems, geographic indications for added value of agricultural products and the importance of trade marks and patents. We also reviewed the Work of Program established by WIPO's General Assembly that took place in Geneva a couple of weeks ago.

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The UN Brief is keen on innovation and this week we interviewed Alex Osterwalder, who needs no introduction. He is a household name at innovation ecosystems around the globe. His books include Business Model Generation, Value Proposition Design, Testing Business Ideas, The Invincible Company, and High-Impact Tools for Teams. Together with his kids, he crafted Biz4Kids, a comic book to promote entrepreneurship.

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How is digital diplomacy evolving? What are the pitfalls and how can we harness its potential? How are early career diplomats adopting digital tools to advance their countries interests and to develop coherent public diplomacy strategies online and offline?

The UN Brief interviewed career diplomat Alejandro Ramos Cardoso, Deputy Head of Mission at the Mexican Embassy in New Zealand. A scholar of public diplomacy, he has co-edited the Mexican Journal of Foreign Policyon the topic of public digital diplomacy, contributed to the The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, and to a book on digital diplomacy in Ibero-America, published by the Escuela de Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, Diplomacia pública digital: el contexto iberoamericano.

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The International Labour Organization launched its flagship report on the state of social protection around the world. ILO Director-General Guy Ryder presented the findings alongside ILO’s Gender and Social Development expert Shahra Razavi.

Interview with Swiss Senator CARLO SOMMARUGA on the new initiatives on Cybersecurity currently underway at the Swiss Parliament, the Istanbul Convention, and Science Diplomacy

Interview with Dr. Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO Assistant Director-General on the upcoming General Conference in November, when country members submit the draft text of a global framework for Ethical AI.

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Riad Meddeb, Director, UNDP Center for Technology, Innovation, and Sustainable Development

A New Way of Doing Development.

Dr. Van de Heyning is a professor at the University of Antwerp, and a member of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, we spoke on the report on emerging tech and its impact on the promotion of Human Rights.

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Interview with diplomat Gerardo Diaz Bartolome: the positive impact of digital communications on diplomacy

Interview with Diplomat Gerardo Diaz Bartolome where we discuss the many positive changes for diplomats that were quick to embrace new digital tools to continue their work during the pandemic. Bartolome was till recently Deputy Chief of Mission at Argentina’s Embassy in the US, in Washington D.C., and previous to that he was at Argentina’s Mission to the UN in New York. Watch:

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New York Times Cybersecurity Reporter Sheera Frankel, on her book “An Ugly Truth”, where she reports on the behind closed doors conversations at Facebook, how Mark Zuckerberg has too much control on decisions that affect US democracy, the impact of the platform on enabling the events of the 6th of January at the US Capitol, and how the platform has wrecked havoc on democratic processes around the globe. A must read for anyone who works with strategic communications, news production, and political campaigns.

Interview with Peter Prengaman, Western US News Director, Associated Press. We spoke about the Dart Award he won last year for Lives Lost, and his upcoming book on the impeachment of Brazil’s first female president Dilma Rousseff.

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Interview with Tim Christophersen, UNEP

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Interview with Fabian Salvioti, UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Truth, Justice, Reparations, and Memoralization.

The UN Brief interviewed Guilherme Godoi, Chief of the Section of Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, to speak about support mechanisms for independent journalism, media literacy programs, and information as a public good, this years’ theme of the World Press Freedom Day.

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To Know More

Source: UNESCO

Guilherme Canela holds the position of chief of the section of Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. For 8 years, he held the position of Communication and Information Regional Adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean at UNESCO Montevideo Office. During those years, he performed as Regional Coordinator of the UNESCO Initiative for the Promotion of Democracy and Freedom of Expression in judicial systems in Latin America. He was also the Secretary of the Regional Committee of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean, and focal point of the Organization for issues related to the safety of journalists. He has a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Brasília (UNB) and a Master’s Degree on Political Science from the University of São Paulo (USP).

For 8 years (2000-2008), Guilherme coordinated the media and journalism research area of the News Agency for Children’s Rights (ANDI). In this period, he was responsible for several surveys that evaluated the news media coverage on issues such as children’s education, rights, violence, health, sexual abuse, human and social development, drugs, participatory democracy, entrepreneurial social responsibility, human rights, among others.

He is co-author of 10 books published by ANDI on these issues (Series Media and Social Mobilization, Cortez Publisher) and several brochures, magazines and discussion texts on various topics related to the universe of human rights, of the rights of children, in particular of development and of democracies. He was research consultant for the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders and for the Ayrton Senna Journalism Award.

Guilherme was senior member of the Working Group of the Ministry of Justice of Brazil to Provide Advisory Services to the Regulation of TV Programs’ Rating System and associated researcher at the Nucleus for Studies of Media and Politics of the University of Brasilia. He was president of the Consultative Committee on Children and Media in Uruguay. Jointly with Solano Nascimento he published the book Access to Information and Public Policies. He actively participated in the process of discussion and implementation of Access laws in Brazil and Paraguay, and acted as an international observer in the Uruguay Open Government process. He was/is a member of several advisory boards and juries related to journalism and freedom of expression.

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Interview with Maximillian Jacobson-Gonzalez, ITU

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UNESCO marked the World Press Freedom Day 2021 with a five-day conference that had Information as a Public Good as theme.

With panels and speakers from Joseph Stiglitz, the Economics Nobel laureate for his work in power asymmetries, to Facebook’s External Affairs chief, Nick Clegg, the conversations were enlightening.

The UN Brief interviewed Vincent Defourny, Director of UNESCO Geneva Liaison Office to discuss the overarching issues around Information as a Public Good, from the right to information in a democracy to ensuring that journalists and the news media as a public service thrives.

The World Press Freedom Day discussions centered around public health and human rights issues as well with the release of a new report on women journalists, who are disproportionately victims of online hate.

The UN Brief interviewed Joanne Wilson, Deputy to the Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau.

The UN Brief spoke with Wilson about the upcoming 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), as preparations are underway in full swing. The last one, hosted by the government of Egypt, saw more than 3,400 delegates from 163 country members, 129 institutions and private sector entities.

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The UN Brief interviewed Gianni Magazzeni, the Universal Periodic Review Branch Chief at the UN Human Rights Council, to speak about the current review session underway and why developed Western democracies, as well as developing and fragile states, benefit from these periodic reviews to accelerate progress in the implementation of their human rights protection legislation and, most importantly, to actually apply it.

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Interview with Mac Glovinsky, UNICEF Lead for the Learning Passport

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We cover the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Council, the WTO, and specialized agencies in the UN system in Geneva, New York, Vienna, and its regional offices around the world.

We also cover the EU and other multilateral organizations that are convening the private sector and governments to shape regulatory frameworks that support the rapid technological transformation of the various sectors of the global economy.

We interview technology executives and venture capital investors who are keen on financing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and support democratic institutions and the ethical use of emerging technologies around the globe.

These are leaders and tech companies that are harnessing technology to reduce economic inequalities. They create prosperity around the globe by integrating the most vulnerable citizens in the digital economy, be it in a developed or developing economy.

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Maya Plentz interviews Ambassador Martin Dahinden in July 2020

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Interview with Ambassador Martin Dahinden

Source: ICT4Peace

Until his recent retirement from the Swiss government, Dr. Martin Dahinden was Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States of America.

Prior to that, he was Head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Director of Corporate Management in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. During his long career in the Swiss diplomatic service, he held assignments in Paris, Lagos (Nigeria), New York, Brussels, Geneva and Bern. Martin Dahinden earned a Ph.D. in Economics (Business Administration) from the University of Zurich. Before joining the diplomatic service, he was employed by a bank and a publishing house.

Martin Dahinden has a longstanding and deep interest in peace and security affairs, beginning during his academic studies at the University of Zurich, practised inter alia during his posting at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to NATO in Brussels, as Ambassador and Head of the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and as Ambassador of Switzerland to the US.

Already during his tenure at GICHD in Geneva, he took an interest in and was advising the founders of ICT4Peace in 2004.

The UN Brief interviewed legal expert and scholar Dr. Joseph Cannataci, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy. We spoke about the right to privacy on health data, medical records, surveillance, and how cyberspace regulation needs the political will of UN country-members to create a proper legal framework.

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The UN Brief interviewed the recently appointed Tech Envoy of Brazil to Silicon Valley, Eugenio V. Garcia, who will be Deputy Consul General in San Francisco. He will start on the 1rst of September at the Consulate General of Brazil in San Francisco, in the heart of Silicon Valley.

The idea came from recent developments on tech diplomacy, as countries in Europe opened offices to engage directly with technology companies to address issues of mutual concern, trade in services, and to shape policies to stimulate technical and scientific cooperation.

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Interview with Marc Olivier Strauss-Kahn, Honorary Director-General, Banque de France, to speak about digital currencies, crypto assets, the ECB research, his work as Chair of the Scientific Council of City of Economics, an interactive museum tracing back the history of economics, and his work as Chair for France for the NGO Global Dignity.

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This coming Tuesday, 27 July, 2021 at 15:00 CET, via Zoom, the World Health Organisation is presenting a webinar with experts in mental health, to discuss innovative approaches to addressing trauma during a pandemic.

Among the panelists are Dr. Gregory Keane, Mental Health Advisor at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Doctors Without Borders, in France, who will speak about the interventions that MSF has deployed, as well as present challenges and uses of new technologies to address care for frontline health workers, women, and children.

Watch my interview with Dr. Keane to discuss strategies delivered by MSF in the past when he was posted in Iraq, what works and what are the challenges to onboarding people to digital healthcare platforms, the digital divide and access, how to combine face-to-face interventions with tele-health, and ensure the safety of women and children when using these tools.

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The UN Brief interviewed Harvard University Kennedy School of Government professor and international relations scholar, Joseph Nye, to comment on the US-Russia Summit that took place in Geneva. We also discussed his latest book, required reading for IR students, as it addresses the question of moral views of US Presidents, from FDR to Trump, and its impact in foreign policy, and on the importance of having an ethical compass when defending one’s country national interests while articulating cooperation at the international level.

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The UN Brief interviewed Mr. Zitouni Ould-Dada, Deputy Director in the Climate and Environment Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in Rome.

We spoke about the role of agribusiness and small holder farmers on protecting the environment, and how they can help mitigate the adverse impact of climate change and transform our food systems.

Bio

Source: FAO

Before joining FAO, he worked as Head of Technology Unit at UNEP in Paris for 5 years. Prior to that, he worked for the British Government for 15 years holding several senior positions at Department of Energy and Climate Change; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Food Standards Agency; Environment Agency; and Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food. He also worked for the French government on international climate change during France Presidency of the European Union in 2008.

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The UN Brief interviewed Brazilian economist Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr., to speak about his time as Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund and as the Vice President at the New Development Bank, launched by five emerging economies, the BRICS. We touched upon the architecture of international finance for development, its shortcomings and its promises.

Geneva, 6 October 2020 — Craig Newmark is backing media organizations that are committed to public interest journalism. News organizations that support and elevate democratic ideals.

Combating misinformation, analyzing how websites deploy trackers in visitors’ devices, fighting fake news, are some of the issues he is addressing.

What moves him? What are the challenges ahead for the news media nonprofits that he funded?

What is next? What areas will he be funding?

The UN Brief interviewed Mr. Newmark to find out more about his philanthropic endeavours.

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Dear Subscribers,

I am Maya Plentz, the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The UN Brief. We cover the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Council, the WTO, and all specialized agencies in the UN system in Geneva, New York, Vienna, Nairobi and its regional offices around the world.

We cover the EU and other multilateral organizations that are convening private sector and governments to shape regulatory frameworks that support the rapid technological transformation of the various sectors of the global economy.

We interview technology executives and venture capital investors who are keen on financing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They support democratic institutions and the ethical use of emerging technologies around the globe. These are leaders and tech companies that are harnessing technology to reduce economic inequalities. They create prosperity around the globe by integrating the most vulnerable citizens in the digital economy, be it in a developed or developing economy.

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We also offer select sponsorship opportunities in our newsletters, podcast, and videos.

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The UN Brief interviewed John Frank to discuss the opening of the UN Affairs office, both in Geneva and New York (they are working from home since March 2020), they plan to open physical offices near the UN, sanitary guidelines permitting, this Summer.

John Frank became Microsoft’s Vice President, United Nations Affairs on the 1st of March 2020, to focus on deepening Microsoft’s engagements on issues related to the environment, skills training, human rights, and security.

Previously he was Vice President, EU Affairs, based in Brussels, and Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Chief of Staff for Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith, at Microsoft’s headquarters, in Redmond, Washington.

Frank also led Microsoft’s office in Paris, overseeing legal and regulatory issues for the launch of the Microsoft Network (MSN) in Europe. From 1996 to 2002, he led Microsoft’s Legal and Corporate Affairs group for Europe, Middle East and Africa, focusing on privacy, security, consumer protection, and antitrust matters.

Before joining Microsoft, he practiced law in San Francisco with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Frank received an AB degree from Princeton, and a JD from Columbia Law School.

Making Sure Victims of Sexual Assault Are Heard

Victims and survivors of predatory sexual behavior, sexual harassment and sexual assault, have a place to report their sexual assault cases and how they were treated when they went to tell the events. If they are ready to do so. It is well established in the medical literature that every time a victim tells their story they are re-traumatised. Particularly if they first encountered a law enforcement officer or medical provider that dismissed their accounts of the event.

An advocate and activist for women’s reproductive rights based in New York, Alison Turkos, created a website to support people who have been sexually assaulted and want to report how they were heard by authorities and medical personnel in the aftermath of the traumatic event.

In the first day that the website went live more that 150 people signed and responded to the survey. She now has 500 plus people who have shared the stories of how they have not received proper attention of law enforcement, authorities, and the poor treatment received in medical settings when they went to report their sexual assault.

“After publicly sharing my sexual assault story in May 2018 I found immense comfort in other survivors' stories, a sense of camaraderie. As I’ve connected with survivors and supported them as they’ve shared their stories, I’ve realized how little, if any support, there is for victims and survivors of sexual violence who speak publicly.” Alison Turkos

With the data gathered she will prepare a report to present to legislators in Congress, and develop educational tools for victims to help them tell their stories to the press, and for the institutions that work with survivors and victims to learn how to better listen to them. Click here to access her website and the survey.

The UN Brief interviewed Turkos to find out more about her initiative, after reading her interview with Jessica Valenti.

2021 will see the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration or, simply, the UN Decade. With a catchy hashtag - #GenerationRestoration - the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is being co-led by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and will officially launch on World Environment Day, on the 5th of June, hosted by the government of Pakistan, and with the participation of a number of civil society actors, private sector actors, and governments around the globe.

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The UN Brief interviewed Tim Christophersen, Head of the Nature for Climate Branch, and the coordinator at UNEP for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

What is the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, how and when it was decided that was an important issue to address at the global level, and which UNEP country-member was behind its strategic vision? What is the Bonn Challenge?

What are the resources required for financing ecosystems restoration, what programs are already in place? How can countries calculate GDP including natural resources?

What is the role of the private sector? We discussed these and other questions.

We interviewed Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission Directorate-General for Transport and Mobility. He was appointed European Coordinator for Road Safety and Sustainable Mobility in October 2018.

We spoke about what is ahead in terms of regulation for the automotive sector, autonomous driving vehicles, how sexist bias impacted the design of cars’ airbags, how sustainable goals of cleaner air when rebuilding the economy are top of the mind in the European Green Deal, and how the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has made a priority of delivering economic growth and jobs by building the infrastructure that a green mobility requires.

*The interview was made via Zoom on the 19th October 2020.

Dear Subscribers,

I am Maya Plentz, the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The UN Brief. We cover the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Council, the WTO, and all specialized agencies in the UN system in Geneva, New York, Vienna, Nairobi and its regional offices around the world.

We cover the EU and other multilateral organizations that are bringing together the private sector and governments to shape regulatory frameworks that support the rapid technological transformation of the various sectors of the global economy.

We interview technology executives and venture capital investors who are keen on financing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They support democratic institutions and the ethical use of emerging technologies around the globe. These are leaders and tech companies that are harnessing technology to reduce economic inequalities. They create prosperity around the globe by integrating the most vulnerable citizens in the digital economy, be it in a developed or developing economy.

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the paid version of The UN Brief.

We also offer select sponsorship opportunities in our newsletters, podcast, and videos.

Please contact us via our website for rates, placements, and editorial calendars.

Interview recorded via Zoom in February 2021.

The UN Brief interviewed Mr. Gilmour to speak about his career at the UN, that spanned 30 years under the leadership of five UN Secretary-Generals, the challenges faced by the UN and human rights activists. We also spoke about the positive role of new technologies in revealing gross violations and gathering support for activists with the click of a button, and its darker side: how social media platforms fuel major human rights violations by amplifying hate speech, xenophobia, and allowing extremists to organize.

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Dr. John Krakauer is the John C. Malone Professor, and Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and a visiting professor at The Santa Fe Institute.

His main research interest areas are experimental and computational studies of motor control and motor learning in humans, tracking long-term motor skill learning and its relation to higher cognitive processes such as decision-making, prediction of motor recovery after stroke, mechanisms of spontaneous motor recovery after stroke in humans and in mouse models, and new neuro-rehabilitation approaches for patients in the first 3 months after stroke.

He is also the co-founder of the video gaming company Max and Haley, an immersive video game “predicated on the idea that animal movement based on real physics is highly pleasurable and that this pleasure is hugely heightened when the animal movement is under the control of our own movements”.

“A simulated dolphin and other cetaceans developed by KATA has led to a therapeutic game, interfaced with an FDA-approved 3D exoskeletal robot, which is being used in an ongoing multi-site rehabilitation trial for early stroke recovery.“

Check his previous lectures where he speaks about the interaction of the human brain with the world, movement intelligence, and the mind-body false dichotomies.

John Krakauer’s book, “Broken Movement: The Neurobiology of Motor Recovery after Stroke” has been published by the MIT Press.

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Broken Movement: The Neurobiology of Motor Recovery after Stroke (The MIT Press)

“Industrial agriculture – particularly when it comes to commodity production for global markets- is the biggest driver of deforestation in tropical countries. Unsustainable oil palm plantations and uncurbed illegal logging have depleted the tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia, while the Amazon continues to suffer from the irresponsible actions of the cattle and soy industries. Not only does this result in climate change impacts, biodiversity loss, soil nutrition depletion, erosion and other adverse environmental effects, but it also results in egregious social illegality issues such as labor violations, health and safety risks, corruption and the abuse of resource and tenure rights.”

Dr. Tony Simons

Executive Director, CIFOR-ICRAF
Director General, ICRAF

The UN Brief interviewed Dr. Simons to discuss the current programs and the role of CIFOR and the private sector on the UN Decade on the Restoration of Forests.

The UN Brief interviewed Danielle Duplin, Co-Founder and Global Director of the AGENCY, a hub for elderpreneurs and a global innovation ecosystem that she launched in Boston, Massachusetts, in the US. We spoke about the hackathon that the UN Agency for ICT, the International Telecommunication Union, organized to address ageing, how an older demographic can benefit of community when launching a new venture, and what is different about launching a company when you are older.

We cover emerging technologies and how they impact international cooperation.

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And much more to come in the coming months. Stay tuned.

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Maya Plentz
Editor in Chief

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Interview with Mac Glovinsky, from UNICEF, on the Partnership with Cambridge University and Microsoft to Accelerate Entry in the Digital Economy

The UN Brief interviewed Mac Glovinsky to speak about the Learning Passport, a partnership with Microsoft and Cambridge University to accelerate onboarding of children and adolescents in the digital economy, through educational tools.

Glovinsky is the Principal Global Program Manager of the Learning Passport, and is based at the UN headquarters in New York. The Learning Passport is an educational tool that allows for learning on-and-offline. They have rolled-out at post-conflict areas, and in developing countries, helping children to continue their education and allowing them to carry their curriculum wherever they are, as they will eventually move out of refugee camps and thanks to these tools will be able to continue their studies at the appropriate grade level.

These are one of the many ways that new technologies are supporting the continuity of education in what are very trying situations for these children and their families.

We cover emerging technologies and how they impact international cooperation.

Subscribe to The UN Brief for exclusive interviews with UN officials, diplomats, business leaders and academics for insights in the digital transformation of multilateral organizations, and the emerging technologies that are impacting international cooperation.

Subscribers have:

Early access to exclusive content, videos and podcasts, with insights and analysis of current affairs topics.
Invitation to talks (virtual now) with the key players in Foreign Policy and Tech.
Participation in round-tables on the future of multilateralism.
A monthly update, closed to members-only, video call to discuss trends with diplomats, academics, government, and tech leaders.

And much more to come in the coming months. Stay tuned.

Looking forward to interacting with you all,

Maya Plentz
Editor in Chief