Sunday, July 20, 2008
South African judge Pillay named United Nations Human Rights Commissioner
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was to name South African Judge Navanethem Pillay as the next U.N. human rights commissioner as early as July 18, according to diplomats and U.N. officials.
The daughter of a Tamil bus driver in Durban, Pillay has experienced human-rights violations.
She earned a law degree at Harvard University but was not allowed to set foot in a judge's chambers for 28 years as a lawyer under apartheid because of her South Asian origins.
In 1995, she became the first woman of color to become a judge on the South African High Court.
Pillay, born in 1941, also served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to try crimes after the genocide in 1994, and presided over landmark cases in international law in which she established rape as a war crime, convicted a former head of state for atrocities committed during his rule, and prosecuted media for inciting genocide.
She has served for five years on the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Pillay may not be as outspoken as the current commissioner, Canadian Judge Louise Arbour, who often shamed governments and leaders that the secretary-general would not criticize by name.
To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
The daughter of a Tamil bus driver in Durban, Pillay has experienced human-rights violations.
She earned a law degree at Harvard University but was not allowed to set foot in a judge's chambers for 28 years as a lawyer under apartheid because of her South Asian origins.
In 1995, she became the first woman of color to become a judge on the South African High Court.
Pillay, born in 1941, also served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to try crimes after the genocide in 1994, and presided over landmark cases in international law in which she established rape as a war crime, convicted a former head of state for atrocities committed during his rule, and prosecuted media for inciting genocide.
She has served for five years on the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Pillay may not be as outspoken as the current commissioner, Canadian Judge Louise Arbour, who often shamed governments and leaders that the secretary-general would not criticize by name.
To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
Labels: Durban, first woman, Harvard University, human rights commissioner, law degree, Navanethem Pillay, South Africa High Court, South african Judge, Tamil bus driver, United Nation
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Group of Eight wants broad United Nations deal to halve emissions
T he G8 rich countries said on July 8 they want to work with the nearly 200 states involved in U.N. climate change talks to adopt a goal of at least halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The final climate communique agreed by the Group of Eight leaders at a summit in northern Japan also said mid-term goals would be needed to achieve the shared goal for 2050, but gave no numerical targets.
The statement puts the focus of fighting global warming on U.N.-led talks to create a new framework for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, and papers over differences inside the G8 itself. The U.N. talks are set to conclude in Copenhagen in December 2009.
The careful wording of the statement -always the most contentious part of summit negotiations -- was also unlikely to satisfy those seeking much more specific targets.
Last year, the G8 club of rich nations -Japan, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and the United States -- agreed merely to "seriously consider" a goal of halving global emissions by mid-century.
The European Union and Japan have been pressing for this year's summit to go beyond that, and Brussels wanted clear interim targets as well.
But U.S. President George W. Bush has insisted that Washington cannot agree to binding targets unless big polluters such as China and India rein in their emissions as well.
To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
The final climate communique agreed by the Group of Eight leaders at a summit in northern Japan also said mid-term goals would be needed to achieve the shared goal for 2050, but gave no numerical targets.
The statement puts the focus of fighting global warming on U.N.-led talks to create a new framework for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, and papers over differences inside the G8 itself. The U.N. talks are set to conclude in Copenhagen in December 2009.
The careful wording of the statement -always the most contentious part of summit negotiations -- was also unlikely to satisfy those seeking much more specific targets.
Last year, the G8 club of rich nations -Japan, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and the United States -- agreed merely to "seriously consider" a goal of halving global emissions by mid-century.
The European Union and Japan have been pressing for this year's summit to go beyond that, and Brussels wanted clear interim targets as well.
But U.S. President George W. Bush has insisted that Washington cannot agree to binding targets unless big polluters such as China and India rein in their emissions as well.
To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.newsindia-times.com
Labels: Canada, emissions, France, G8, Germany, greenhouse gas, india, Italy, Japan, President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UN deal, United Nation, United states
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