Podcasts about preparatory commission

Ban Ki-moon was the 8th Secretary General of the UN. He is the Chairman of Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future.In April 2019, Mr. Ban was elected as the Chairman of Presidential National Council on Climate and Air Quality (NCCA) (2019-2021). In April 2018, Mr. Ban was elected as the Chairman of Boao Forum for Asia. In January 2018, Mr. Ban, along with former President of Austria Mr. Heinz Fischer, were inducted as Co-Chairs of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens in Vienna, Austria. Mr. Ban Ki-moon was also elected as Chairman of IOC Ethics Committee in September 2017. Currently, he is the Distinguished Chair Professor and Honorary Chairman at the Institute of Global Engagement & Empowerment at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. In February 2018, he was elected and has been serving as the President of the Assembly & Chair of the Council of Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). Prior to these appointments, Mr. Ban served two consecutive terms as the Secretary General of the United Nations (2007-2016).Throughout his tenure at the UN, Mr. Ban strove to be a bridge builder, to give voice to the world's poorest and the most vulnerable people, and to make the Organization more transparent and effective. He successfully pressed for action to combat climate change - an effort that culminated in the adoption and rapid entry into the landmark Paris Agreement in 2016. Mr. Ban worked closely with member states of the UN to shape the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to establish UN Women, which has been advancing the Organization's work for gender equality and women's empowerment. Mr. Ban also launched major efforts to strengthen UN peace operations, to protect human rights, to improve humanitarian response, and to prevent violent extremism and to revitalize the disarmament agenda.At the time of his appointment at the UN, Mr. Ban was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea. His 37 years with the Ministry included postings in New Delhi, Washington D.C., and Vienna, and responsibilities for a variety of portfolios, including Foreign Policy Adviser to the President, Chief National Security Adviser to the President, Vice Minister, Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and Director-General for American Affairs. Mr. Ban has also been actively involved in issues relating to inter-Korean relations by serving as Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization.Mr. Ban received a bachelor's degree in international relations from Seoul National University in 1970. He earned a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1985. Further reading:Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizenshttps://bankimooncentre.org/The Elders mourn the loss of Archbishop Desmond Tutu (December 2021)https://theelders.org/news/elders-mourn-loss-archbishop-desmond-tutu

Under lång tid har vi funderat på vilka de tidiga människorna på savannen var. Sedan mitten på 1900-talet har bilden alltmer präglats av forskning. Erik Isberg ser hur den också präglas av sin tid. ESSÄ: Detta är en text där skribenten reflekterar över ett ämne eller ett verk. Åsikter som uttrycks är skribentens egna. I augusti 1947 stiger Julian Huxley ut ur Unescos nyinvigda högkvarter i Paris. Ett bländande solljus skiner över trappstegen, Huxleys kritstrecksrandiga kostym är oklanderligt struken. Han är på väg att börja sitt nya jobb som generalsekreterare för Unesco, FN:s underorganisation för utbildning, vetenskap och kultur, och, tänker han sig, bygget av en ny, mer kosmopolitisk värld. För biologen Huxley vilar detta bygge på evolutionsteoretisk grund: människan är till sin biologiska konstitution samarbetsvillig och demokratisk, något som kan spåras hela vägen tillbaka till våra förfäder. Det mänskliga ursprunget skrevs efter andra världskriget samman med drömmen om en annan världsordning. Om vi bara tittade närmare på mänsklighetens evolutionära bakgrund skulle vi förstå att vi egentligen var gjorda för att samarbeta. Detta var inte första gången mänsklighetens ursprung användes för att förstå den egna samtiden. Redan 60 år före Kristus spekulerade den romerske diktaren Lucretius om inte de första människorna var av starkare virke än den bortskämda civiliserade motsvarigheten och under 1700-talet gav filosofen Jean-Jacques Rousseau uttryck för en liknande tanke, där en idealiserad bild av ett harmoniskt naturtillstånd kontrasterades mot en korrupt samtid. Men efter andra världskriget fick teorierna om mänsklighetens ursprung en ny tyngd: de skulle beläggas vetenskapligt snarare än filosofiskt. Sedan dess har skildringar av savannen och de jägare-samlare som först befolkade den blivit en egen populärvetenskaplig genre. I dag är savannen ett återkommande motiv i bästsäljande böcker som Anders Hansens Skärmhjärnan  och Anders Wallenstens Hälsogåtan. Där tas vi återigen med till mänsklighetens första stapplande steg, men nu verkar savannens invånare, som vi ska se, ha fått nya intressen. I sin bok Creatures of Cain: The Hunt for Human Nature in Cold War America, skriver idéhistorikern Erika Lorraine Milam ett slags savannens kulturhistoria från och med andra världskrigets slut. 1950-talets populärvetenskapliga berättelser om mänsklighetens ursprung betonade samarbete, allas gemensamma rötter och förmågan till kommunikation som ett essentiellt mänskligt karaktärsdrag. Ofta var de påhejade intellektuellt och finansiellt av Huxleys Unesco. Men i takt med att drömmen om en harmonisk värld började falna och kalla krigets terrorbalans ta vid förändrades också stämningen på savannen. Stanley Kubricks film 2001: Ett rymdäventyr från 1968 inleds med en scen där en människoapa slår sönder ett djurskelett med till synes meningslös våldsamhet. Den österrikiske zoologen Konrad Lorenz föreställer sig i sin bok om aggression från 1963 en utomjordings syn på mänskligheten, och landar i att denna utomjording sannolikt skulle tänka att människan varken var rationell eller moralisk, men däremot aggressiv. Kubrick och Lorenz var inte ensamma om att under 60-talet uppmärksamma människans inneboende aggressivitet. En ny generation populärvetenskapliga författare lyfte fram egenskaper som våldsamhet och dominans som definierande för de första människorna. Denna inneboende aggressivitet hade dikterat villkoren för tillvaron på savannen, där den som ville överleva var tvungen att etablera ett våldskapital. Och eftersom detta fungerat för våra förfäder, gick resonemanget, fanns det också moraliska incitament för att tillämpa samma logik på det politiska planet. Inte heller denna savann kom att bli särskilt långlivad. Milam placerar slutet för idén om The Killer Ape, den dominerande hannen som härskare på savannen, till 1980-talet. Vem var det som klev in och tog hans plats? Ingen, svarar hon. När våld och fördomar blev personliga skriver Milam, kom biologiska teorier om aggression och den mänskliga naturen att framstå som otillräckliga. Kollektiva förklaringsmodeller tappade status och när kalla krigets maktordning började luckras upp försvann även terrorbalansen hos våra förfäder. Tiden hade sprungit ifrån savannen, The Killer Ape ersatts av fria individer som lämnat stenyxorna i gräset och inte ville kännas vid någon gemensam förhistoria. Men savannens kulturhistoria tar ju trots allt inte slut här. På bokhandlarnas topplistor är den överallt, i SVT-produktioner och sommarprat utgör den en självklar fond. Snarare än att ha försvunnit verkar savannen bara ha bytt skepnad. Den förhistoria som framträder i hälsolitteraturen framstår som en fortsättning på de föreställningar som Milam beskriver i sin bok, men där det individuella är mer intressant än det gemensamma. Idag hänvisar vi inte till våra förfäder i frågor om våld och fördomsfullhet, utan de används istället för att besvara frågor om hur man ska leva ett bättre liv. På så sätt behåller savannen sina moraliska implikationer, men inte för samhället i stort, utan för den enskilda individen. Huxleys samhällsvision är ersatt av självoptimering. I Anders Hansens bästsäljare Skärmhjärnan: hur en hjärna i osynk med sin tid kan göra oss stressade, deprimerade och ångestfyllda,  skiljer sig savannens invånare från sina föregångare på 1900-talet på flera sätt. De är varken särskilt samarbetsvilliga eller aggressiva, däremot är de ensamma i en instabil och otrygg värld. Hansen ger dem namn som Maria och Karin, de interagerar inte särskilt mycket, utan används som exempel på olika individers förmåga att överleva i en ombytlig tillvaro och deras individuella egenskaper speglar hur vi idag fattar beslut i vår samtid. På Anders Wallenstens savann är gemenskapen större och gruppens sammanhållning avgörande för dess fortsatta överlevnad. Men målet med gemenskapen är inte, som var fallet i 1950-talets utopiska beskrivningar, ett nytt samhälle, utan hur individer, genom gemenskapens stöd, ska skapa sig ett gott liv. Samarbete och gemenskap ter sig inte som mål i sig själva, utan som medel för att individen ska förverkliga sig själv. Och individens ansvar tycks närmast absolut. Sedan Julian Huxley stod på trappan i Paris har savannens invånare gång på gång bytt skepnad, och framtidens populärvetenskapliga författare kommer sannolikt att låta savannen befolkas av ytterligare nya invånare, där rekvisitan blir kvar men ensemblen byts ut. Kanske kommer de självoptimerande savannmänniskorna behöva göra uppoffringar för varandra när pandemier och klimatförändringar drabbar deras samtida motsvarigheter. Eller så händer något helt annat. Det mest intressanta är kanske inte vilka svar savannen kan ge oss, utan vilka frågor vi tror att den kan besvara. Erik Isberg, idéhistoriker Referenser Anders Hansen, Skärmhjärnan: hur en hjärna i osynk med sin tid kan göra oss stressade, deprimerade och ångestfyllda, Bonnier Fakta, 2019. Anders Wallensten, Hälsogåtan: Evolution, forskning och 48 konkreta råd, Bonnier Fakta, 2020. Erika Lorraine Milam, Creatures of Cain: The Hunt for Human Nature in Cold War America, Princeton University Press, 2019. Glenda Sluga, Unesco and the (One) World of Julian Huxley, Journal of World History, 21:3, 2010. Julian Huxley, Unesco: Its Purpose and its Philosophy, Preparatory Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, 1946.

In his address to the IIEA, Special Envoy Onanga-Anyanga offers analysis and insights on the current political situation in the Horn of Africa against the backdrop of the outbreak of COVID-19. The Special Envoy discusses the impact of the ongoing pandemic, efforts to strengthen governance, and recent developments affecting peace and stability in the region. This event is part of our Development Matters lecture series supported by Irish Aid. About the Speaker: Mr Onanga-Anyanga has had a long and distinguished career in the UN. Prior to his appointment as Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa in March 2019, he held a variety of roles including Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), Coordinator of the United Nations Headquarters response to the Boko Haram Crisis, and Head of the United Nations Office in Burundi (BNUB). In addition, Special Envoy Onanga-Anyanga has served at the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization and as First Counsellor for Disarmament and Political Affairs at the Permanent Mission of Gabon to the United Nations in New York.

In Episode 33, Ambassador Umej Bhatia, Permanent Representative of Singapore to the UN in Geneva and the UN in Vienna, joins The Next Page to speak about multilateralism from the perspective of a small state.   What kind of distinct importance does multilateralism and diplomacy have for small states? How does a rules-based multilateral order achieve global cooperation? How can small states turn vulnerability into opportunity? And, how have small states come together in the past and the present to further solidify their commitment to multilateralism? Ambassador Umej answers these questions and more, sharing insights from his years of experience not only as an Ambassador but also as an author and historian.   Ambassador Umej speaks about the various layers of multilateralism, from globalization, micro and macrolateralism to vaccine multilateralism. He also shares some insights on his new book, Our Name is Mutiny, a piece of creative non-fiction exploring the Singaporean experience between the years 1907 and 1915.   We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did! About Ambassador Umej Bhatia   Beyond being Singapore's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Umej is also a writer, historian, Permanent Representative to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization and Resident Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. To learn more about Ambassador Umej: https://bit.ly/34zvDaP Ambassador Umej's Twitter: https://twitter.com/BhatiaUmej Singapore UNOG Twitter: https://twitter.com/SGPMissionGva To learn more about his new book: https://bit.ly/2HWBrnc Further Resources   Access the episode transcript here: https://bit.ly/3j28XVU The UN Geneva Library & Archives also has a Research Guide on multilateralism! Find out more here: https://libraryresources.unog.ch/multilateralism  Content Speakers: Umej Bhatia & Francesco Pisano Host & Editor/Producer: Karen Lee Images: Arabian Business / The National Social media designs and transcript: Karen Lee  Recorded & produced at the UN Geneva Library & Archives 

Thanks to CTBTO for sponsoring this video: https://www.ctbto.org Many of the bewildering correlations in our world - like that between Beryllium-7 and the Asian monsoon - are a result of huge and unseen forces that tie them together. Thanks also to our Patreon patrons https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth and our YouTube members. ___________________________________________ To learn more, start your googling with these keywords: Monsoon: A seasonal increase in precipitation driven by atmospheric conditions. Hadley Cell: A global scale atmospheric cell driven by air rising near the equator and falling as it flows towards the polls. Ferrel Cell: A secondary atmospheric circulation that collides with the Hadley cell and pushes air back down towards the Earth’s surface. Intertropical Convergence Zone: The narrow zone between the northern and southern Hadley cells where warm air comes together and rises. Tropopause: The boundary area roughly 15 kilometers above the Earth’s surface between the troposphere and the stratosphere. Radionuclide: Isotopes of atoms that release radiation as they break down. Beryllium-7: A relatively stable radionuclide of the element Beryllium that naturally forms in the tropopause during spallation. Spallation: The process in which a heavier atom loses nuclear particles after being bombarded by cosmic rays. Cosmic Rays: High energy atomic particles that move at near light speed through space. ___________________________________________ Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: http://goo.gl/EpIDGd Support us on Patreon: https://goo.gl/ZVgLQZ And visit our website: https://www.minuteearth.com/ Say hello on Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6 And Twitter: http://goo.gl/Y1aWVC And download our videos on itunes: https://goo.gl/sfwS6n ___________________________________________ Credits (and Twitter handles): Video Writer, Director, and Narrator: David Goldenberg (@dgoldenberg) Video Illustrator: Sarah Berman (@sarahjberman) With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Alex Reich, Kate Yoshida, Ever Salazar, Peter Reich, Julián Gómez, Arcadi Garcia Rius Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder ___________________________________________ References: Terzi, L., Kalinowski, M., Schoeppner, M., and Wotawa, G. (2019). How to predict seasonal weather and monsoons with radionuclide monitoring. Nature. 9: 2729. Retrieved from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-39664-7. Köhn‐Reich, L., Bürger, G. (2019). Dynamical prediction of Indian monsoon: Past and present skill. International Journal of Climatology. 38:3574-3581. Retrieved from: https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/joc.6039. Delaygue, G., Bekki, S., and Bard, E. (2015) Modelling the stratospheric budget of beryllium isotopes. Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 67:1 Retrieved from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/tellusb.v67.28582. Palukkat, H. (2016) The odds of foretelling rains: Why monsoon prediction is hard, and why it could soon improve. Economic Times. Retrieved from: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/the-odds-of-foretelling-rains-why-monsoon-prediction-is-hard-and-why-it-could-soon-improve/articleshow/52876823.cms. Kalinowski, M. (2020). Personal Communication. Provisional Technical Secretariat, Preparatory Commission for the Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.

The Norwegian Atlantic Committee, the Norwegian Nobel Institute and the Nobel Peace Center had the pleasure to invitie to Sikkerhetspolitisk dypdykk: Nuclear Security. Nuclear security is at the heart of the evolving nuclear proliferation agenda. There has been a nonproliferation treaty in place since 1970, but there is nothing in place to stop countries from enriching uranium for civilian purposes. Ultimately, what are the implications of producing material on a large scale that easily can be converted into highly enriched forms used in nuclear weapons? The Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank that is being established in Kazakhstan may be part of the answer. THE PANEL With us to discuss the lessons from this initiative is some of the best qualified voices in the world: Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Erlan Idrissov, prev. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan. Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBO). Introduction was given by Liv Tørres, Director of the Nobel Peace Center. End remarks was given by Olav Njølstad, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Moderator was author and journalist Christian Borch.

The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), and the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) which forms part of the Commission, occupies a special place in the history of disarmament and non-proliferation as well as in the history of international organizations. It has a number of features that distinguish it from other organizations and that have influenced the course of its history over the last 15 years.

In 2011, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) took further important steps towards fulfilling its mandate to promote the Treaty’s entry into force and establish the verification regime. International support for the Treaty continued to increase with Ghana and Guinea ratifying the Treaty, bringing the number of ratifications up to 155. As an Annex 2 State which must ratify the Treaty before it can enter into force, the decision by the Parliament of Indonesia on 6 December to ratify the Treaty was especially significant. Of the 44 States listed in Annex 2 to the Treaty, 35 had ratified as of 31 December 2011. Once Indonesia has completed its ratification process, only eight Annex 2 States will still need to ratify. A total of 182 States had signed the CTBT by the end of 2011.

This issue of CTBTO Spectrum focuses on the legal aspects of building the verification regime. It sets out to examine the essential role played by facility agreements and other legal arrangements in placing the provisional operation and maintenance of the IMS on a secure legal foundation. An interview with Palitha Kohona, Chief of the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs at the United Nations in New York, a special feature article by Anthony Aust, former Legal Counsellor of the United Kingdom Foreign Office, and the cover story by Peter Hulsroj, PTS Legal Advisor, give further insights into the unique legal status of the Preparatory Commission and its verification regime.

This issue of CTBTO Spectrum looks at the ‘mechanisms’ of Conferences on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the CTBT, focusing in particular on the upcoming Conference, which will take place in Vienna from 3 to 5 September this year. An interview with Ambassador Tom Grönberg, who is chairing the preparatory process of the 2003 Conference, and a special feature article by the former United Nations Under-Secretary General Jayantha Dhanapala, concentrate on this theme. This issue also provides an overview of the Commission's work over the past six months, including an update on the latest session of the Preparatory Commission. In addition, the cover story by David McCormack, a Canadian seismologist, gives an example of the potential benefits of civil and scientific applications of the CTBT verification technologies.

This first issue gives an overview of the status of the verification regime build-up and, as an overarching theme, it highlights the significant role of the Treaty in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. An interview with Sergei A. Ordzhonikidze, Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, and a special feature article by Peter Marshall, an expert on seismology, focus on this theme. This issue also provides an update on the latest session of the Preparatory Commission, in addition to regular columns on verification science, the potential civil and scientific applications of the CTBT verification technologies and a column on the PTS staff, which introduces the PTS mission statement.

In 2010, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) took further important steps in the fulfillment of its mandate to promote the Treaty’s entry into force and establish the verification regime. International support for the Treaty continued to increase with Trinidad and Tobago and the Central African Republic ratifying the CTBT, bringing the number of ratifications to 153. Among the States that have ratified are 35 of the 44 States listed in Annex 2 to the Treaty, whose ratification is required for its entry into force. Indonesia, Iraq, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea and Thailand also expressed their intention to initiate the ratification procedure. As of 31 December 2010, the CTBT had been signed by 182 States.

Preparatory Commission Organizational Structure

In this special 15th anniversary issue of Spectrum and video, a number of former and current staff share some of their personal memories of the journey since March 1997 when the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) began its operations in Vienna. In the words of the first Executive Secretary of the CTBTO, Wolfgang Hoffmann: ‘We were a very small group of people with a huge task. Although confronted with numerous challenges, many staff refer to the enthusiasm, optimism and team spirit which have made it all worthwhile and have enabled great progress to be made.’ Reflecting on the last 15 years, the CTBTO’s Executive Secretary Tibor Tóth concludes: ‘I think we can be proud that we have managed to deliver on things that were just dreams in March 1997 and to turn them into reality by spring 2012.

The African region, which this issue of CTBTO Spectrum focuses on as an overarching theme, is a particularly good example for the ever increasing numbers of signatures and ratifications: Of those States, who signed and ratified the Treaty in 2004, 75 and 66 percent respectively, were from the African region. Besides looking at the relations between Africa and the CTBT, this issue of CTBTO Spectrum provides an overview of the Commission’s work over the past six months, including an update on the latest session of the Preparatory Commission.

This issue of CTBTO Spectrum looks at the results of the Article XIV Conference. The cover story by Ambassador Yukio Takasu provides a Member State’s view of the Conference. As an overarching theme, this issue focuses on the benefits of signing the Treaty, both political and those deriving from the potential civil and scientific applications of the verification technologies. An interview with Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and a special feature article by Hein Haak, a Dutch infrasound expert, concentrate on this theme. As usual, we include an overview of the Commission’s work over the past six months, including an update on the latest session of the Preparatory Commission.