Source: ASEAN
Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, today met with the Ambassador of France for Indo-Pacific Marc Abensour, on the sidelines of the 2nd ASEAN Future Forum in Hanoi, Viet Nam. Both sides discussed ways and means to strengthen the ASEAN-France Development Partnership, particularly in areas under the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP).
The post Secretary-General of ASEAN meets the French Ambassador for Indo-Pacific in Ha Noi appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.
Source: European Anti-Fraud Offfice
The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Salla Saastamoinen as new Deputy Director-General, effective 16 February 2025. Ms Saastamoinen will contribute to strengthening OLAF’s anti-fraud role thanks to her extensive experience in the areas of justice, rule of law, and fundamental rights.
Commenting on her new assignment, Salla Saastamoinen said: “I am honored to join OLAF and contribute to its essential mission. Fraud and corruption not only cause financial losses but also weaken public trust in the EU institutions. A strong and effective anti-fraud architecture is crucial to protect EU funds and ensure accountability. I look forward to working closely with OLAF’s investigators and policymakers to further strengthen existing fraud prevention measures, enhance legal frameworks and reinforce the EU’s ability to counter fraud against the EU budget.”
Ms Saastamoinen, a Finnish national, transitions from her role as Deputy Director-General at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) where she was in charge of five scientific directorates. The JRC is the Commission’s science and knowledge service.
With over 25 years of service within the European Commission, Ms Saastamoinen offers broad expertise in the areas of legislation and international negotiations. Her background includes serving as acting Director-General in the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST). In addition, she was Director for Civil and Commercial Justice in charge of the development of the European area of civil justice. Prior to that, she was Director for Equality. Previously, she also served as Head of several units in the same DG JUST.
Before joining the Commission, Ms Saastamoinen was a Partner in a business law firm, a Researcher in law and Author of several books on environmental law and EU law.
Ms Saastamoinen speaks Finnish, English, French, German and Swedish.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 2
A summary of why energy prices are rising and how clean power will protect households from unstable global fossil fuel markets.
The price cap is the maximum amount energy suppliers can charge consumers on default tariffs for each unit of energy and standing charge.
The new price cap figure, quoted at £1,849 – represents the projected annual energy cost for a typical household, based on this maximum charge for each unit of energy and standing charges. This is 6.4% higher than the figure for the first 3 months of 2025.
In practice, this rise will mean an increase of around £9 per month for a typical household over the next 3 months.
People’s actual bills will still vary depending on their energy usage, region and payment type.
This projection is adjusted every 3 months. The next announcement will be in May 2025 for the July to September price cap level. The price cap level set in February 2025 will only apply to bills from 1 April to 30 June.
International gas prices have risen, bringing British energy bills up with them.
That’s because the price we pay for energy in the UK is set by gas prices on the global market, over which we have no control.
As a result of recent events that have affected the market, which the whole of Europe is dealing with, wholesale gas prices covered by the period of this price cap are around 15% higher than they were in the period covered under the previous price cap. This is comparable to the rise in prices across Europe.
Around 80% of this increase to the price cap level between Q1 2025 and Q2 2025 is a consequence of the increase in the wholesale price of gas.
The UK’s gas network is interconnected with Europe and with the global market through liquefied natural gas imports, meaning that factors affecting European gas prices affect our prices too.
Across the Channel a perfect storm of factors drove a steep increase in the wholesale price of gas since the start of 2025.
The pipeline delivering Russian gas to European countries through Ukraine was switched off at the start of the year, a consequence of the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine.
Wholesale gas prices have risen consistently across Europe over the past few months.
However, Britain’s power system, inherited from the previous government, is more heavily reliant on gas than some other European countries, which is why the UK’s electricity prices are higher than those of some countries with less reliance on gas.
Norway, for example, gets much of its energy from hydropower, while France has historically invested more in nuclear power. As a result, these countries currently have lower electricity bills than the UK.
Other countries with lower bills, like Spain, have a warmer climate and lower heating requirements. Spain has also invested heavily in renewable energy sources, including solar and wind power.
Our plan for clean power by 2030 will reduce our reliance on gas, and moving to a system that that is primarily based on homegrown renewable power sources can bring down bills for households and businesses for good.
Published 25 February 2025
Source: China State Council Information Office
A Chinese envoy on Monday called on the UN Security Council to play a constructive role in forging consensus for peace and promoting peace talks, as the world marked the third anniversary of the full escalation of the Ukraine crisis.
“At present, when the Ukraine issue is at a critical juncture for a negotiated settlement, we expect the international community to create a favorable atmosphere for promoting a political solution to the crisis,” Fu Cong, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, told a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine.
China expects the United Nations and the Security Council to play a constructive role in forging consensus for peace among member states, and the actions of the council to further the call for peace by promoting peace talks, he said after voting on a draft resolution on Ukraine.
“The ultimate resolution of any conflict lies at the negotiation table,” he said. “As we speak, the call for a negotiated settlement of the Ukraine issue is constantly on the rise, and the window for peace is opening.”
Although the parties’ positions may not be aligned, dialogue is still better than confrontation, and talks are better than fights, the envoy said, adding that China supports all efforts dedicated to peace, and supports the U.S.-Russia agreement to start peace talks.
“China expects all parties and stakeholders to participate in the peace talks at an appropriate time, so as to find a just and lasting solution that takes into account each other’s concerns and to reach a binding peace agreement acceptable to all parties concerned,” he said.
Fu urged Europe to play its part for peace, to jointly address the root causes of the crisis, and to find a balanced, effective and sustainable security framework, so as to achieve long-term security and stability on the European continent.
China stands ready to continue to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the crisis at the request of the parties concerned, taking into consideration the concerns of the international community, especially those of the Global South, he said.
The Security Council on Monday adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution appealing for a swift end to the conflict and urging a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine. The resolution received 10 votes in favor, none against, and five abstentions from France, Britain, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia.
Source: Asia Development Bank
Through the Mortgage Market Sector Development Program, ADB is providing a $50-million policy-based loan to support mortgage market reforms that will economize the government’s housing subsidy and policy framework and create a conducive environment and infrastructure for market-based mortgage lending. It is also providing a $300-million financial intermediation loan to finance the country’s new mortgage refinancing company that enables domestic commercial banks to provide residential mortgage and housing improvement loans. A technical assistance grant of $800,000 supports the implementation of the program.
Strengthening the policy, regulatory, and legal framework. Findings from a review of the policy, regulatory, and legal framework for the mortgage finance sector and housing market assessment formed the basis for the design of the program. The study recommended that subsidy arrangements be revised to ensure that higher subsidies are provided to lower income households and regressive subsidies are changed.
Improving the housing strategy and subsidy framework. ADB provided the Ministry of Economy and Finance recommendations on revising the housing finance and subsidy approach as a result of which the government adopted series of changes to enable gradual transformation of state housing programs toward a market-based principles and improving the subsidy targeting.
Establishing and operationalizing a wholesale mortgage refinance company. The government established the Uzbekistan Mortgage Refinancing Company with ADB support and equity investment from government and commercial banks. It provides banks with access to local currency long-term funding. The company prefinances and refinances eligible mortgage loans and housing improvement loans issued by participating banks at an interest rate close to market rates.
To support operationalization of the company, the project tapped the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and its consulting team of experts, most of them active and retired CEOs and board chairpersons of international and national mortgage refinance corporations including from Armenia, France, Malaysia, and Pakistan. The team prepared the company’s business plan, human resources plan, legal framework, institutional arrangement, internal policies and procedures, list of products and services, and risk management plan. The government believed that the first CEO of the mortgage refinancing company was of utmost importance to building everyone’s confidence in this new institution and was directly involved in vetting and hiring the CEO.
Expanding and improving data collection. The project supported work on improving housing statistics, introducing a housing price index in Uzbekistan, and developing a mortgage market database and website. International experts provided in-person and on-line training to ministries, banks, and other stakeholders. A new system was introduced to collect housing sector data (i.e., mortgage loans by type, terms, program and other categories) through updates to the annual statistical reporting forms for commercial banks. The collected data is also shared with the Ministry of Finance.
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
Press Release
VELIZY-VILLACOUBLAY, France — February 25, 2025
Dassault Systèmes Announces Centric Software’s Acquisition of AI-Powered PXM Solution, Contentserv
Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: FR0014003TT8, DSY.PA) today announced that its subsidiary Centric Software, the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) market leader, has signed an agreement to acquire Contentserv, a leading provider of product information management (PIM) and product experience management (PXM) solutions for an enterprise value
of €220 million. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source, price and sell products such as apparel, fashion, home, footwear, sporting goods, consumer electronics, cosmetics, food & beverage and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.
Founded in Germany in 2000, Contentserv enables fast-moving consumer goods and other companies to create and manage product content intuitively and effectively by means of AI to optimize consumer experiences across all digital sales channels. With Contentserv solutions, retailers, brands and manufacturers are able to execute strategies such as more or simply better product offers, regions and sales channels for increased product sell-through.
With over 1600 customers in 90 countries, Contentserv users have reported ROI such as a 30% reduction in time to market, 70% faster catalog creation, 75% more accurate product information and increased sales channel coverage in more languages.
Fashion and consumer goods brands and retailers continue to pivot around changing consumer trends and constantly evolving stock keeping units (SKUs) while also diversifying sales channels including own-stores, own e-commerce sites, marketplaces and social media. Harnessing and leveraging product information from inception through to commercialization are critical steps that not only reduce time to market, improve market success and also ensure accuracy for compliance labeling. Consumer loyalty is also increased via contextualized and personalized brand experiences.
“At Contentserv, we don’t just manage product data – we transform it into seamless, high-converting product experiences that drive revenue,” explained Michael Kugler, CEO of Contentserv. “This data flows in from multiple sources and formats and consumers expect accurate, rich and engaging product experiences, anytime, anywhere and across every conceivable channel and touchpoint. “Manufacturers and retailers strive to continuously refine and optimize product presentation based on insights from consumers, competitors and marketplaces. Contentserv meets these challenges with our AI-powered Product Experience Cloud (PXC), transforming product data into real revenue.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Contentserv to the Centric Software family. Both companies share a customer-focused, innovation culture,” said Chris Groves, CEO of Centric Software. “By integrating Contentserv into the Centric family of solutions – from PLM to planning to competitive market intelligence, pricing & inventory optimization and visual boards – brands, retailers and manufacturers can seamlessly turn product content into enriched, market-ready experiences that drive engagement and conversion. In today’s competitive market, time-to-market and product experience go hand-in-hand. Together with Contentserv, our joint innovations will ensure that the moment a product is developed, it’s enriched, optimized and ready to convert.”
The transaction is due to close in the coming weeks subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions for a transaction of this nature.
###
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions: http://www.3ds.com
ABOUT DASSAULT SYSTÈMES
Dassault Systèmes is a catalyst for human progress. Since 1981, the company has pioneered virtual worlds to improve real life for consumers, patients and citizens. With Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, 350,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, can collaborate, imagine and create sustainable innovations that drive meaningful impact. For more information, visit: www.3ds.com
Dassault Systèmes Press Contacts
Corporate / France Arnaud MALHERBE arnaud.malherbe@3ds.com +33 (0)1 61 62 87 73
North America Natasha LEVANTI natasha.levanti@3ds.com +1 (508) 449 8097
EMEA Virginie BLINDENBERG virginie.blindenberg@3ds.com +33 (0) 1 61 62 84 21
China Grace MU grace.mu@3ds.com +86 10 6536 2288
Japan Reina YAMAGUCHI reina.yamaguchi@3ds.com +81 90 9325 2545
Korea Jeemin JEONG jeemin.jeong@3ds.com +82 2 3271 6653
India Priyanka PANDEY priyanka.pandey@3ds.com +91 9886302179
Attachment
Source: Government of Queensland
Issued: 25 Feb 2025
Underwater photo of the Gothenburg shipwreck
It has been 150 years since the steam ship Gothenburg tragically sunk off the coast of Queensland in blinding rain.
At the time, the Northern Territory was an outpost of South Australia, where prominent members of political and legal circles often travelled for business.
On 24 February 1875, on its usual route from Darwin to Adelaide, Gothenburg ran into the Great Barrier Reef at low tide in monsoonal rain, 16 miles too far east, and sunk over the next 24 hours.
Sadly, many prominent public figures were swept away or drowned trying to board the four lifeboats during the wrecking – including a former premier of South Australia, a French Vice-Consul, a judge and all women and children – with only 22 recorded survivors.
As many as 112 people perished, which represented one seventh of the total European population of Darwin.
The vessel had £43,000 of uninsured gold on board that was salvaged soon after news of its sinking broke.
The historic shipwreck is situated in a protected zone and managed by the Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) under the Commonwealth Underwater Cultural Heritage Act 2018.
Principal Heritage Officer Celeste Jordan said the shipwreck was discovered in 1971 and is managed by DETSI as it remains in Queensland waters.
“The ripple effects of this tragedy were widespread and extremely significant.
“It is etched into Australia’s history as a significant maritime tragedy. Adelaide went into mourning with relief funds set up in Melbourne and Sydney. No family in Darwin or Adelaide was left untouched by Gothenburg’s sinking.
“We manage the shipwreck to ensure it is preserved and protected for generations to come. It is an offence to interfere with the remains.”
Department for Environment and Water SA Principal Maritime Heritage Officer, Mark Polzer, said that although Gothenburg did not wreck in South Australian waters, the vessel’s loss had a profound impact on the South Australian community.
“Among those that perished were residents of Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Woodville, Northfield, Gawler and Angaston,” Mr Polzer said.
“The South Australian Maritime Museum holds a commemorative turtle-shell plaque carved by South Australian survivor and rescuer James Fitzgerald in 1925 as a private act of remembrance of the tragedy.
“Immediately after the shipwreck, Fitzgerald, along with John Cleland and Robert Brazil, were presented with gold meals and gold watches for bravery by Governor Musgrave for the South Australian Government.
“He inscribed the names of the survivors on the shell, which is said to have been taken from a turtle killed for food while he and the other survivors waited on Holborne island for rescue. Fitzgerald gifted the plaque to the museum in 1932.”
To dive around the Gothenburg you will need a free permit which can be applied for through the Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database.
Source: Office of United States Attorneys
SAN JOSE – A federal jury convicted Naheed Mangi, 66, a former employee of Stanford University, of accessing a clinical research database for a multisite breast cancer study after her authorization was revoked and altering patient records in the database. The jury reached its verdict late afternoon on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, following a two-week trial before Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Mangi was employed as a clinical research coordinator in the Cancer Clinical Trials Office at Stanford’s National Cancer Institute from September 2012 until August 2013. Mangi worked with doctors and patients in the clinical research program, reporting significant patient events, monitoring research, assisting with scheduling patient appointments, and entering data into clinical dataset.
Mangi was assigned to a Genentech-sponsored study being conducted at Stanford for breast cancer patients that was referred to as the “Velvet Breast Cancer MO27782 Study.” The study sought to determine the safety and efficacy of a new, experimental pharmaceutical treatment for patients with metastatic or locally advanced breast cancer. Among other duties, Mangi was responsible for reporting any serious adverse events that a patient may experience during the course of the study and accurately entering patient medical data into the study database.
On Aug. 19, 2013, Mangi was terminated from her employment with Stanford and Mangi’s supervisor attempted to revoke her Stanford-related computer access and privileges. The supervisor emailed Genentech to terminate Mangi’s access to the clinical database, but Mangi’s credentials were not disabled until the following day.
The jury found that later in the evening on Aug. 19, after Stanford had revoked her access, Mangi logged into the clinical database and altered data in the Velvet Breast Cancer MO27782 Study, replacing patient medical data with erroneous information and insults about her former supervisor. As a result of Mangi’s unauthorized actions, Stanford undertook an internal investigation, reentered all of the data about its participants in the study from source documents into the study database, and reported the incident to local and federal regulatory authorities, including the FDA. In addition, Mangi’s criminal conduct caused thousands of dollars in financial loss to Stanford University and the Stanford School of Medicine.
“Naheed Mangi intentionally tampered with a breast cancer research database by entering false information and personal insults. Her senseless actions undermined a study into the safety and efficacy of a new treatment for breast cancer patients,” said Acting United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins. “The jury’s verdict holds the defendant accountable for her crimes.”
“Naheed Mangi’s actions jeopardized important cancer research and caused thousands in financial loss to Stanford University. The U.S. Secret Service continues to work diligently to investigate these types of crimes to ensure those responsible are held accountable,” said U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Shawn Bradstreet.
Mangi, who was convicted of two counts of Intentional Damage to a Protected Computer in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A) and one count of Accessing a Protected Computer Without Authorization in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(2)(C), will be sentenced on July 21, 2025. She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison as to each conviction for Intentional Damage to a Protected Computer and one year in prison as to the conviction for Accessing a Protected Computer Without Authorization. Any sentence will be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nikhil Bhagat and Matthew Chang are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Nina Burney, Mimi Lam, Susan Kreider, Sahib Kaur, Fernanda Gonzalez, Maureen French, and Bella Schou. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Secret Service.
Source: China State Council Information Office
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Feb. 24, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that tariffs on Mexico and Canada will “go forward.”
When asked about an upcoming deadline for tariffs on Mexico and Canada, Trump told reporters at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House that “the tariffs are going forward.”
“We’re on time with the tariffs, and it seems like that’s moving along very rapidly,” Trump said. “Now the tariffs are going forward, on time, on schedule.”
Trump again claimed that “we’ve been mistreated very badly by many countries, not just Canada and Mexico. We’ve been taken advantage of.”
“All we want is reciprocal. We want reciprocity. We want to have the same, so if somebody charges us, we charge them,” Trump said.
On Feb. 1, Trump signed an executive order to impose a 25 percent tariff on goods imported from Mexico and Canada, with a 10 percent tariff increase specifically for Canadian energy products.
On Feb. 3, Trump announced that the additional tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada would be deferred for one month, allowing more time for negotiations.
Source: China State Council Information Office
This photo taken on Aug. 15, 2024 shows a Ukrainian tank destroyed during Russian attacks in Toretsk. [Photo/Xinhua]
The UN Security Council on Monday adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution appealing for a swift end to the conflict and urging a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine, as the world marked the third anniversary since the full escalation of the crisis.
The resolution received 10 votes in favor, none against, and five abstentions including France, Britain, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia.
The document reiterates that the principal purpose of the United Nations, as expressed in the Charter of the United Nations, is to maintain international peace and security and peacefully settle disputes. The resolution implores a swift end to the conflict and mourns the loss of life in the war, without blaming Russia.
Acting U.S. Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the council that this resolution is not a “peace deal,” but “a path to peace.”
“It is high time for peace in Ukraine,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said during the Security Council meeting, while insisting that peace in Ukraine must be “just, sustainable and comprehensive.”
Earlier in the day, the UN General Assembly rejected the U.S. draft and passed a resolution submitted by Ukraine and European allies, which backs Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity and calls for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in line with the UN Charter.
Resolutions in the UN Security Council are binding under international law.
Source: China State Council Information Office 3
People pose for photos in front of the poster of the Chinese animated feature “Ne Zha 2” at a cinema in Hong Kong, Feb. 18, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
Chinese animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” grossed more than $845,900 upon its debut in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions on Saturday, achieving the highest first-day box office revenue for an animated film in the SARs.
Over 92,000 people in the two cities showed up on Saturday to watch the movie, which has raked in over 13.7 billion yuan ($1.89 billion) around the world and ranked eighth in terms of global box office revenue. This prompted distributors in the SARs to increase the number of screenings on day one from 500 to more than 800 in 2D and IMAX formats, also a record in the history of Hong Kong’s and Macao’s film industries.
In Hong Kong and Macao, the film has traditional Chinese and English subtitles. Cinemas operated by the film’s four local distributors — Mandarin Motion Pictures, Intercontinental Film Distributors, Sil-Metropole Organisation and Emperor Motion Pictures — have arranged around 400 screenings for Monday, with tickets of some screenings sold out.
On Sunday, China Retold, a local key opinion leader alliance dedicated to promoting the latest developments on the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong on social media platforms, organized a free screening of “Ne Zha 2”. Those attending the screening formed a long line outside a cinema in Causeway Bay early in the morning, and during the screening, audience members frequently erupted in laughter during humorous scenes and exclamations of awe at the spectacular special effects.
After the screening, Sebastian Lee, a student from the United Kingdom studying at Chinese University of Hong Kong, said he had heard about the movie’s box office success, which piqued his curiosity, so he decided to attend the special screening.
Although he wasn’t previously familiar with the background of Chinese mythology, the film explained these cultural elements in a simple and understandable way, making it easy for non-Chinese audiences to follow, Lee said.
He also praised the film’s special effects, particularly those in the final battle scene, saying that the unprecedented level of detail and complexity of the animation provided an excellent viewing experience.
Laurent Daury, a French lawyer who works in Hong Kong, said that although it was his first time to watch a Chinese animated film, the movie exceeded his expectations and gave him a strong sense of Chinese culture.
He said the film reaffirmed his understanding of traditional Chinese culture, particularly the importance of respect, including respect for work, family and skills.
Cultural values
Daury said that the film, compared with Western-made animated films, conveys more traditional cultural values, which he admired. He added that he would definitely recommend the film to those around him and planned to watch it again with his wife and friends.
Karolina Gruschka, a kindergarten teacher in Hong Kong, said the film’s elements of ancient Chinese mythology help viewers, especially children, better understand traditional Chinese culture.
She said she was touched by the friendship between the two main characters, Ne Zha and Ao Bing. Despite coming from entirely different backgrounds, their connection endured all challenges, showing that true friendship can overcome any obstacle, regardless of one’s origins, she added.
Gruschka also said that a unique aspect of the film is its core concept of the struggle between good and evil, conveying an uplifting belief that people can change their destiny through their choices.
“Ne Zha 2” reimagines the tale of Ne Zha, a rebellious deity from Chinese mythology, intertwining ancient folklore with modern themes of defiance and self-determination.
The film was released on the mainland on Jan. 29, the first day of the Year of the Snake, and soon became the highest-grossing film in China.
The film has been released overseas in markets such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and will debut in Singapore and Malaysia in March.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
FTSE Women Leaders Review and UK Government publish latest report on women in leadership roles at FTSE350 companies.
UK leads the world in drive to increase the number of women on boards and in leadership at the top of firms.
More than 60% of FTSE350 companies within striking distance of the 40% target for women’s representation in boardrooms
Supporting women into leadership roles could unlock billions in economic growth and deliver on Plan for Change
Top British companies are continuing to lead the way for gender equality in boardrooms with women occupying nearly 43% of roles on company boards according to a new report published today (Tuesday 25 February).
The FTSE Women Leaders Review report for 2025, backed by the government and sponsored by sector giants Lloyds Banking Group and KPMG LLP, shows that women now occupy 1,275 or 43% of roles on company boards and 6,743 (35%) of leadership roles at the 350 FTSE companies.
This marks a year-on-year increase and means the target of 40% women’s representation by the end of this year continues to be achieved by FTSE350 businesses. The results of this review show the progress being made to break down barriers to opportunity at the highest levels, within some of the most innovative and important companies in the UK.
Delivering equal opportunities for women is at the heart of the government’s growth mission as part of the Plan for Change, by ensuring they have fair access to a stable, well-paid jobs which will also help drive up living standards.
At a London event this evening, business leaders, ministers and the leaders of the Review will come together to reflect upon and celebrate this progress as well as the contribution it is making to creating a stronger, more dynamic economy.
But the government recognises there is still more to do to bring more women into roles such as company Chairs and CEOs and to increase the number of women on boards and in leadership who hold executive roles. The government will work with FTSE companies and other organisations to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve their full potential based on their talent.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said:
The UK is leading the charge for gender equality in boardrooms, but we cannot rest on our laurels.
We must break down the barriers that stop many women being represented in decision-making roles, so that top talent reaches the highest levels of leadership in businesses driving economic growth across Britain.
Minister for Investment Baroness Gustafsson OBE said:
I know from founding my own business how strong female voices inspire positive change throughout an organisation, bringing new ideas and adding greater value.
Today’s report shows that whilst the momentum is with us, we have so much further to go. Working with business leaders and investors, we will do everything we can to unlock more opportunities for women at the highest levels as we go for growth and deliver our Plan for Change.
The UK’s approach to gender equality in boardrooms is setting an international precedent for inclusive business, coming second only to France in the G7, with 43.4% representation compared to 45.4%.
Whilst France and many other countries employ the use of quotas, the action taken by British companies has been entirely voluntary demonstrating the ability of the private sector to lead the way, alongside government support, but without overburdening regulation.
By leading the way and committing to improving gender equality companies are demonstrating the market value of increased representation of women in senior roles and the diversity of thinking that this brings, trickling down into small and medium sized businesses who look to replicate this success.
The government’s flagship Employment Rights Bill and Plan to Make Work Pay will further strengthen women’s rights in the workplace and increase protections for women going through the menopause, as well as protections from dismissal whilst pregnant or on maternity leave.
Vivienne Artz, CEO of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, said:
In an increasingly disruptive world in which companies are faced with a combination of economic, geo-political and technological change British businesses are setting an international standard for balanced and inclusive leadership.
With its unique Government-backed and business-led voluntary approach, the UK has spearheaded a world-leading transformation in the highest ranks of industry. Whilst FTSE 350 company boards are now gender-balanced, sustained effort and determination is required to achieve the 40% target for women in leadership by the end of this year.
We look forward to working with businesses to deliver on this ambition.
Penny James and Nimesh Patel, Co-Chairs of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, said:
The UK is nothing short of world-leading in driving gender balance at the top of business with business leaders delivering change through voluntary action rather than quotas. Despite many competing priorities companies continue to see equality of opportunity as key to improving productivity and achieving growth.
Balance on FTSE 350 boards has been achieved and women’s representation on executive teams is steadily increasing but a step-up in commitment is required to deliver parity in the key leadership roles.
Over the coming year we urge UK business to remain focused on sustaining momentum, harnessing all of the available talent and driving towards a business environment that offers opportunity for all.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Sir Robin Budenberg, Chair of Lloyds Banking Group, said:
As proud co-sponsor of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, we applaud the significant progress made over the years in increasing gender balance on both the boards and leadership teams of the UK’s biggest companies.
A strong, diverse workforce is fundamental to business success. When leadership reflects the society it serves, companies are better equipped to understand their customers, drive innovation and deliver long-term sustainable growth. And if business does not employ the full breadth of society, it will not benefit from all the talent available.
At Lloyds Banking Group we have a gender-balanced board and over 45% representation of women at leadership level but we recognise that progress is neither linear nor inevitable. The responsibility lies with all of us to lead inclusively and to keep gender equality at the top of the agenda. By doing so, we strengthen our businesses and help build a more dynamic, successful economy.
Bina Mehta, Chair of KPMG LLP, said:
With the final year of the FTSE Women Leaders Review ahead, I’m delighted we have continued to make substantial progress in achieving greater gender balance in senior roles, something that reflects many years of voluntary effort and collective action.
It’s particularly encouraging to see the progress made by the UK’s Top 50 Private companies in their first three years of reporting. These companies are keeping pace with the FTSE100 and are currently reporting 35% of Executive Committee roles are held by women.
As Chair of KPMG UK, I am proud that our firm continues to grow the number of women in leadership roles, maintaining our position in the ‘Top Ten Best Performers’. As a firm we recognise the importance of creating an environment where everyone can succeed and thrive.
With the country’s renewed focused on economic growth, if businesses continue to work together, we can help to deliver long term prosperous and sustainable growth.
The Review
The FTSE Women Leaders Review is the independent, business-led framework supported by the Government, which sets recommendations for Britain’s biggest companies to improve the representation of women on their boards and leadership teams. The scope of the Review covers the FTSE 350 and 50 of the UK’s biggest private companies.
Adopting a voluntary approach, the Review captures and publishes progress on 26,000 roles on boards and in leadership two layers below the board, across all sectors of British business on an annual basis.
Women on Boards: 2024
Source – BoardEx:
FTSE 100 is at 44.7%, up from 42.6% in 2023
FTSE 250 is at 42.6%, up from 41.8% in 2023
FTSE 350 is at 43.4.%, up from 42.1% in 2023
50 largest UK private companies are at 30.5% (30.6% in 2023)
Almost three quarters of FTSE 350 Boards (73.4%) have met or exceeded the current 40% target with that number now standing at 257 up from 235 in 2023.
The UK FTSE 350 is in 2nd place when compared internationally to the G7 countries but this is being achieved at a greater scale and through entirely voluntary action as opposed to mandatory quota systems. In the UK 350 companies are in scope compared with 40 in France which has quota legislation in place.
FTSE 100 companies top the rankings for women on boards compared with international indices including the Euronext 100, IBEX and S&P ASK FTSE 100: 44.7% v Euronext 100: 42.2%, IBEX: 40.9% S&P ASX: 40.2%
Women in Leadership: 2024
Source – FTSE Women Leaders, Leadership Data Collection Portal as at 31 October 2024:
FTSE 100 is at 36.6% up from 35.2% in 2023
FTSE 250 is at 34.2% up from 33.9% in 2023
FTSE 350 is at 35.3% up from in 34.5% in 2023
50 largest UK private companies are at 36.8% up from 35.6% in 2023
Four Key Roles: 2024
1. Women continue to be appointed to the Chair role with a gain of seven FTSE 350 women Chairs in 2024. As a result, the number of women in the Chair role in the FTSE 350 has increased from to 53 in 2023 to 60 in 2024 (17%).
2. The number of women SIDs has increased to 192 across the FTSE 350 in 2024, up from 162 in 2023. Now over half of FTSE 350 companies (56%) have a woman SID.
3. The percentage of women Finance Directors in the FTSE 350 has increased from 48 in 2023 to 57 in 2024 (22%).
4. FTSE 350 women CEOs have reduced from 20 in 2023 to 19 in 2024.
The Recommendations for the Review
There are four Recommendations that were announced in February 2022 to fuel further progress in delivering gender balance at the top of British business:
The voluntary target for FTSE 350 Boards and Leadership teams was increased to a minimum of 40% women’s representation by the end of 2025.
Companies should have at least one woman in the Chair, Senior Independent Director role on the board and/or one woman in the Chief Executive Officer or Finance Director role by the end of 2025.
Key stakeholders should continue to set best-practice guidelines or use alternative mechanisms to encourage any FTSE 350 Board that has not yet achieved the previous 33% target for the end of 2020, to do so.
The scope of the Review is extended beyond FTSE 350 companies to include 50 of the UK’s largest private companies.
Published 25 February 2025
Source: United Nations MIL OSI b
As the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine entered its fourth year, the Security Council today adopted a resolution mourning the tragic loss of life and reiterating that the principal purpose of the United Nations is to maintain international peace and security and peacefully settle disputes.
Adopting resolution 2774 (2025) (to be issued as document S/RES/2774(2025)) by a vote of 10 in favour to none against, with 5 abstentions (Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia, United Kingdom), the Council implored a swift end to the conflict and urged a lasting peace between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
Before the vote, the representative of the United States said that the Council stands on “the precipice of history with a solemn task — creating conditions to end the bloodiest war on the European continent” since the organ was created in June 1945. Noting that her country’s draft text is “a symbolic, simple first step towards peace”, she added that it “is not a peace deal”. Rather, it represents a path to peace, and she urged all Council members to join the United States in vanquishing the scourge of this war.
However, the representative of the United Kingdom underscored: “There can be no equivalence between Russia and Ukraine in how this Council refers to this war.” Moscow chose to launch a war of aggression, and “the Council must be clear on this”, she stressed. “We must also be clear that peace must respect the UN Charter and Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders,” she added, proposing several amendments to the text on behalf of the Council members who ultimately abstained from the vote on the text as a whole.
France’s delegate noted such proposed amendments demonstrate “our resolute commitment — after three years of war — to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine”. However, he underscored that peace cannot be a synonym for capitulation of the aggressed State. The amendments, he said, also aim to recall that there is an aggressor and an aggressed State, with the Russian Federation having attacked a sovereign State that posed no threat to it.
The representative of the Russian Federation, for his part, said of today’s text: “We consider it, overall, as a common-sense initiative.” It reflects, he said, the desire of the new United States Administration to “really contribute”. He also proposed several amendments, including inserting language regarding the need to “eradicate the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis”. On the amendments proposed by the European Council members, he said they “replace the essence of the American text and make it into another anti-Russia ultimatum”.
None of the five proposed amendments were adopted, either because they failed to obtain the required number of votes or because the Russian Federation cast its veto.
Following the adoption of the unamended text, the representative of the United States welcomed Council members’ support of the resolution, welcoming the first Council action taken in three years on Ukraine to firmly call for an end to the conflict. “This resolution puts us on the path to peace,” she affirmed, and although it is a first step, it is a crucial one. The Council must now use it to build a peaceful future for Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the international community.
The representative of France, however, said that, while his country is “fully committed to peace in Ukraine”, Paris calls for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace — “certainly not for capitulation of the victim”. “There will be no peace and security if aggressors are rewarded and the law of the jungle wins,” he stressed. Similarly, the representative of the United Kingdom stressed that the terms of peace must send the message that aggression does not pay. No peace will be sustainable without Ukraine’s consent, she said, voicing regret that her delegation’s proposals making these points clear were not taken on board.
“There is nobody who wants peace more than Ukrainians and Europeans,” stressed Slovenia’s representative. However, he observed: “A person convinced against their will is against you still — there will be peace, but it will be just and it needs to last.” Building on that, Denmark’s representative stressed that peace must be on the right terms, voicing regret that today’s resolution falls far short of that vision. “We need to reaffirm our commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she stated.
For his part, the representative of the Republic of Korea — noting that Moscow’s war of aggression has “tragically claimed countless innocent lives” — expressed hope that today’s adoption will provide an opportunity “for all relevant parties to accelerate efforts to achieve just and sustainable peace”. And while Guyana’s representative said that the text is an important step towards a peaceful end to the war, she said that there would have been added value in affirming support for the UN Charter – particularly States’ obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State.
Pakistan’s representative — noting that the “priority of peace has remained largely absent and elusive”, even as the security, humanitarian and economic crises have intensified — said: “A different approach was perhaps required.” He therefore expressed hope that today’s resolution will “lend impetus to an inclusive peace process that yields a durable solution in accordance with international law”.
Panama’s representative also voiced support for the resolution, as it is not objectionable due to its simplistic content. However, “its silence speaks more eloquently than its words”, he observed, adding that his country understands the aftermath of violations of sovereignty and territorial integrity. “And for our own historic reasons, we have always rejected the aggression of one State against another,” he said.
Recalling his delegation’s repeated calls for the parties to engage in negotiations to reach a just and permanent peace in the region, the representative of Algeria said that “our call was the only criteria that Algeria used to determine its position today through our vote”. Similarly, the representative of China, Council President for February, spoke in his national capacity to recall his country’s “consistent principles and propositions on the Ukraine issue”. He added: “The ultimate solution for any conflict lies at the peace table.”
Meanwhile, the representative of the Russian Federation welcomed changes in the United States’ position on the Ukrainian conflict. “It is clear that the militarizing Europe today is the only player internationally which wants the war to continue,” he stated. And while today’s text is not ideal, it is a first attempt to have a constructive and future-oriented product by the Council. The key outline of a restored European and international security “can already be seen in the American text and this gives us a certain optimism”, he stated.
At the outset of the meeting, the representative of France proposed that today’s vote be postponed, expressing concern that the text was introduced “without real negotiations among Council members”. While the representative of the United Kingdom expressed strong support for that proposal, the representative of the United States opposed it. Ultimately, that proposal was rejected for failing to obtain a sufficient number of votes.
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By R. Nanre Nafziger, Assistant Professor, African/Black Studies in Education, McGill University
As Montréal celebrates its 34th Black History Month, it is time to fully integrate Black history into Québec education.
As an all-out war on diversity and inclusion rages below Canada’s southern border, an opportunity is opened for Québec to live up to its vision of a truly inclusive and multicultural society.
Integral to this is mainstreaming the histories of Black, Indigenous and other racialized and equity-deserving communities. This can be done through history studies and also through citizenship and cultural education.
It is important to go beyond Black History Month in order to embrace the importance of Black history for Black students and all students — ignored for too long in history textbooks and teaching.
To this urgent issue we bring our combined research and educational expertise. Nanre Nafziger, the first author of this story, has researched how Black/African peoples can reclaim their histories and cultures, and Sabrina Jafralie, who has a PhD in teacher education, has researched Québec curricula and also brings experience as a Québec-born-and-raised teacher at a Montréal high school.
Teaching Black history is essential to fighting against anti-Black racism reinforced through negative depictions of African and Black histories.
History education is important for raising critical and actively involved citizens and increasing acceptance and understanding. Educators speak of developing a “historical consciousness” — which includes learning to examine causes and consequences, and to revisit and interpret sources. This is a critical building block for fighting racism and negative depictions of racialized groups.
Québec curriculum development, like most North American curricula, has historically leaned towards a Eurocentric narrative.
Black/African history education is largely absent in Québec’s history curricula, reinforcing the erasure of the contributions of Black people to the development of Québec but also to world history. For example, history and citizenship secondary education (Cycle 1) refers to Black/Afro-Canadian history only in naming enslavement and oppression.
This creates a narrow and damaging history that fails to recognize the diverse range of achievements by Black people. It neglects the rich cultural heritage of Afro-Canadians and reinforces systemic inequities in how knowledge is produced and disseminated.
Sabrina writes: I was fortunate that my Afro Nova Scotian mother taught me our history across Canada. However, it was not present in my education until I created it in high school.
Researchers have raised concerns that Québec’s “interculturalism” — a longstanding province-specific take on how to address and integrate cultural differences — fails to take into account the complexities of identities and omits important histories.
Such an approach further compounds anti-Black racism in schools.
Black students, parents and educators have called for Black history to be taught in Québec schools year-round and activists have called for the creation of a more inclusive curriculum.
Despite systemic omissions, Black and African communities in Québec have a rich tradition of upholding and preserving their histories through the meticulous work of community archivists and memory keepers.
This includes the creation of Black libraries, books, articles and curriculum materials, oral storytelling and walking tours. Black community organizations offer cultural and community programming that focuses on diverse cultures and histories of Black people. Renowned historian, educator and long-time advocate for Black history Dorothy Williams, created a curriculum toolkit called the ABCs of Black History in French and English for teachers and educators to use in schools.
In its brief to the education minister, the Advisory Board on English Education recommended rewrites to “the K-11 history curriculum to broaden its perspective beyond Québec based content and Eurocentricity,” and allowing latitude for schools to incorporate history curriculum relevant to students’ backgrounds.
While it is helpful when school boards mark Black History Month and share resources for teachers, the integration of Black history requires a holistic and comprehensive curricular focus.
Québec may learn from other provinces. Nova Scotia has a curriculum on African Canadian history and Ontario plans to roll out a Black history curriculum in schools in September 2025. Educators in British Columbia created a Black Studies 12 course which helps promote racial equity in education.
The new Culture and Civics Curriculum (CCQ), a mandatory subject in primary and secondary schools, offers opportunities to address systemic racism with a focus on citizenship, culture and identity. Yet, there is no assurance students will gain competencies to address racism, or teachers will be well-equipped to lead such learning, given the curricular approach. For example:
The elementary program of the CCQ prepares students to understand “cultural realities” and contains a module on Indigenous perspectives. However, the approach is rooted in Euro-centered sociology.
Secondary 5 (students aged 16-17) names the compulsory concept of social inequalities (along with sexism and other inequalities related to gender and sexuality; racism and colonialism; socio-economic inequalities; environmental inequalities). However, the teacher decides how to teach these grouped concepts and what emphasis to give these areas.
This means there is a possibility that the CCQ curriculum could address anti-Black racism, but there are too many variables to guarantee it. By contrast, sexuality education and civic education are deemed mandatory and special topics.
Including Black history in the curriculum will have a profound, direct impact on students by strengthening their identity, citizenship, and “sense of pride and belonging to Québec society.”
Healthy learning can take place when students and people see their place in history and curriculum, as this creates a sense of belonging. The current curriculum creates exclusion and allows educators to hide in their bias if they desire.
Diverse curricula create space and acknowledge hidden histories and foster a shared humanity and a vision for a shared, socially just, future.
Québec’s complicated history of colonialism, systemic racism and ongoing repression associated with secularism is not one to be shied away from.
Rather, integrating Black history can serve as a portal for inspiring and encouraging critical discourses on histories of communities that are under-represented in dominant stories of Québec.
At a moment when exclusion, vitriol against difference and increasing intolerance dominates social discourse and interactions, Québec can choose another path. Only through critically assessing our past can we look forward to any form of a unified future: nous nous souvenons, we must all remember and be remembered.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
– ref. Moving beyond Black history month towards inclusive histories in Québec secondary schools – https://theconversation.com/moving-beyond-black-history-month-towards-inclusive-histories-in-quebec-secondary-schools-248832
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000565/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Liesbet Sommen (PPE)
Annex 3 to Directive 2014/47/EU on roadside inspection covers the securing of cargo (cargo securing). However, the directive merely constitutes a recommendation and not an obligation. This has resulted in some countries transposing it in full, others only partially and some not at all. These differences mean that different parties are treated differently, especially carriers, and there is an increased risk of accidents and work-related injuries for drivers.
Within Europe, there is a lot of intermodal traffic, with loads often leaving in CTUs (containers) or vehicle units (semi-trailers) that remain the same from start to finish. Because of the large number of cross-border transportations, there is no uniformity with regard to how to secure cargo or what regulations loading units must comply with to be fit for transport. This leads to strange situations, for example, where goods are allowed to be transported in France but are stopped in Belgium.
Questions:
Submitted: 7.2.2025
Source: United Nations – Geneva
João António da Costa Mira Gomes, the new Permanent Representative of Portugal to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. da Costa Mira Gomes had been serving as Portugal’s Ambassador to Spain since February 2020. He served as Ambassador to Germany from 2015 to 2020, and as Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels from 2010 to 2015. He was also Embassy Secretary at the Portuguese Delegation to the Organization from 1987 to 1993.
Mr. da Costa Mira Gomes was Portugal’s Secretary of State for National Defence and Maritime Affairs from 2006 to 2009. He was Portugal’s Representative to the European Union’s Political and Security Committee and Permanent Representative to the Western European Union in Brussels in 2005 and 2006. Other positions he has held include being Minister Counsellor at the Portuguese Embassy in Paris from 2001 to 2005; Chargé d’Affaires at the Portuguese Embassy in Sofia, on special assignment, in 2000 and 2001; and Chief of Staff to the Director-General for Foreign Policy in 1996 and 1997.
Mr. da Costa Mira Gomes has a law degree from the Portuguese Catholic University. He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1984. He was born in Lisbon on 4 December 1959 and is married with two children.
________
Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media;
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.
CR.25.054E
Source: United Nations – Geneva
The Human Rights Council this morning opened its fifty-eighth regular session, hearing statements from the President of the General Assembly, the United Nations Secretary-General, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland. The President of the Council called for a minute of silence for victims of human rights violations around the world.
Jürg Lauber, President of the United Nations Human Rights Council, declared the fifty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council open, saying they were gathered at a time of profound global challenges and an alarming backlash against human rights around the world. The Council’s responsibility was to make a tangible impact on people’s lives. Victims of human rights violations needed to be at the centre of discussions. The international community needed to rise to the challenge and reaffirm that human rights were not optional; they were essential for peace, security and development.
Philemon Yang, President of the General Assembly, said the three pillars of the United Nations were deeply interwoven. Upholding human rights was fundamental to achieving lasting peace and security, and constituted a sound basis for the realisation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The world faced serious global challenges and was witnessing a sharp decline in human rights, with growing violations and often brazen disregard for international humanitarian law. The human suffering and destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were intolerable; these injustices must end. Mr. Yang said protecting human rights and dignity was a cornerstone of his role as President of the General Assembly.
António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, said the session was beginning under the weight of a grim milestone: the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the United Nations Charter. Human rights were the oxygen of humanity. But one by one, human rights were being suffocated: by autocrats; by a patriarchy that kept girls out of school, and women from basic rights; by wars and violence; by warmongers who disregarded international law and the United Nations Charter; by the climate crisis; by a morally bankrupt global financial system; by runaway technologies like artificial intelligence; by growing intolerance against entire groups; and by voices of division and anger. This represented a direct threat to all the hard-won mechanisms and systems established over the last 80 years to protect and advance human rights.
Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the international system was going through a tectonic shift, and the human rights edifice built up over decades had never been under so much strain. Last year, the Office contributed to the release of some 3,145 arbitrarily detained people and took part in some 11,000 human rights monitoring missions. It also observed nearly 1,000 trials, and documented some 15,000 situations of human rights violations around the world. Mr. Türk said upholding human rights made eminent sense for stability, for prosperity, for a better common future, and was a winning proposition for humanity.
Ignazio Cassis, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, said today, he had mixed feelings. He was proud because Switzerland had been elected to the Human Rights Council and because Ambassador Lauber had been elected as the Council’s President, the first appointment of a Swiss President to the Council. However, Mr. Cassis said, he was also deeply concerned as they lived in a time of global uncertainty, influenced by the climate crisis and global authoritarianism; a large portion of the global population lived under authoritarian rule. In this context, the Council had a duty to act.
The webcast of the Human Rights Council meetings can be found here. All meeting summaries can be found here. Documents and reports related to the Human Rights Council’s fifty-eighth regular session can be found here.
The fifty-eighth session of the Council is being held from 24 February to 4 April. At 10 a.m., the Council started its high-level segment.
Opening Remarks by the President of the Council
JÜRG LAUBER, President of the United Nations Human Rights Council, declared the fifty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council open. They were gathered at a time of profound global challenges and an alarming backlash against human rights around the world. All needed to reflect on whether they were doing enough to protect the most vulnerable. When human rights weakened, conflicts escalated, and societies fractured. Today, they were seeing this play out in real time with the escalation of violations and the shrinking of human rights protections. This required an urgent response. The Council’s responsibility was to make a tangible impact on people’s lives. Victims of human rights violations needed to be at the centre of discussions. Their dignity needed to be everyone’s priority, Mr. Lauber said.
Mr. Lauber said all needed to rise to the challenge and reaffirm that human rights were not optional; they were essential for peace, security and development. They needed to engage in earnest discussions and ensure that their words translated into actions, he concluded.
At the request of the President, the Council held a minute’s silence in memory of victims of human rights violations around the world.
Statements by Keynote Speakers
PHILEMON YANG, President of the General Assembly, congratulated the President of the Council and the Bureau on their election. The three pillars of the United Nations were deeply interwoven. Upholding human rights was fundamental to achieving lasting peace and security, and constituted a sound basis for the realisation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The world faced serious global challenges and was witnessing a sharp decline in human rights, with growing violations and often brazen disregard for international humanitarian law. Those violations had devastating consequences: more than 300 million people now required humanitarian assistance. In every conflict, the victims were often women, children and minorities who bore the heaviest burden. The human suffering and destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo were intolerable; these injustices must end. Even war had rules. Civilians must never be targets.
The recent special session and the establishment of an independent fact-finding mission to investigate and document violations in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo were good symbols. The Council had demonstrated its availability to act swiftly and uphold accountability. The recent ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza offered a glimmer of hope. Just and lasting peace in the Middle East depended on the two State solution, which would allow Israel and Palestine to exist in peace and stability. Dialogue was a powerful weapon which needed to be used for peace everywhere. With the eightieth anniversary of the United Nations approaching, calls for global peace needed to be more resolute, harnessing the powerful symbolism of this milestone year.
Last September, world leaders unanimously adopted the Pact for the Future, along with the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration for Future Generations. The Pact charted a course toward a more just, equitable, and sustainable world, and reaffirmed international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international humanitarian law. The challenge now was implementation which required full global mobilisation, with robust engagement from governments, United Nations agencies, and civil society. Organizations in Geneva would play a critical role in this process.
Mr. Yang said protecting human rights and dignity was a cornerstone of his role as President of the General Assembly. Last month, he convened a signature event on preserving dignity in armed conflict. He was encouraged by the strong political will of Member States to uphold and reinforce their commitment to international humanitarian law. Advocacy would be continued to eliminate child labour in all forms, including in armed conflict, and a discussion on child labour would be held in this regard.
Additionally, in the coming months, a high-level meeting would be convened to consider the recommendations of the working group on aging, to ensure older persons had full enjoyment of their human rights. The spirit that guided the decision of Member States last December to declare a second International Decade for People of African Descent would be upheld. Mr. Yang said he would convene the annual commemorative meetings for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Mr. Yang said he had joined the gender champions network, pledging to promote gender equality and empowerment and implementing a gender perspective throughout the work of the General Assembly. He had re-established the Advisory Board on Gender Equality to focus on women’s economic empowerment and was happy that the Human Rights Council had followed this good practice. Additionally, co-facilitators had been appointed to lead consultations in preparation for a high-level meeting, which would commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action—Beijing+30.
This year marked the thirtieth anniversary of the World Programme for Youth, underscoring the critical role of young people in driving sustainable development. A discussion would be held in May on how digitalisation could enhance the Sustainable Development Goals. Throughout these engagements, Mr. Yang said he would outline the importance of civil society’s work in enhancing human rights. The annual high-level debate on crime prevention would be held, which would mark the ten-year anniversary of the Nelson Mandela Rules. This year, the Nelson Mandela prize would also be awarded to two individuals who had dedicated their lives to serving humanity. States and relevant stakeholders were invited to submit their nominations this month.
These topics aimed to promote human rights and preserve human dignity for all everywhere. Strengthening cooperation between the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council had never been more urgent. The shared goal of the two mechanisms was upholding human rights and dignity, for everyone, everywhere.
ANTÓNIO GUTERRES, United Nations Secretary-General, said the session was beginning under the weight of a grim milestone: the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the United Nations Charter. More than 12,600 civilians had been killed, with many more injured. Entire communities had been reduced to rubble, hospitals and schools destroyed. All needed to spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict and achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the United Nations Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions. Conflicts like the war in Ukraine exacted a heavy toll on people; on fundamental principles like territorial integrity, sovereignty and the rule of law; and on the vital business of this Council. Without respect for human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social — sustainable peace was a pipedream.
Like the Council, human rights shone a light in the darkest places. Through its work, and the work of the High Commissioner’s Office around the world, the Council was supporting brave human rights defenders risking persecution, detention and even death. It was working with governments, civil society and others to strengthen action on human rights. And it was supporting investigations and accountability. Five years ago, the United Nations launched its Call to Action for Human Rights, embedding human rights across the work of the United Nations around the world in close cooperation with partners. Mr. Guterres said he would continue supporting this important work, and the High Commissioner’s Office, as the United Nations fought for human rights everywhere.
Mr. Guterres said that human rights were the oxygen of humanity. But one by one, human rights were being suffocated — by autocrats, crushing opposition because they feared what a truly empowered people would do; by a patriarchy that kept girls out of school, and women at arm’s length from basic rights; by wars and violence that stripped populations of their right to food, water and education; and by warmongers who thumbed their nose at international law, international humanitarian law and the United Nations Charter.
Human rights were being suffocated by the climate crisis; by a morally bankrupt global financial system that too often obstructed the path to greater equality and sustainable development; by runaway technologies like artificial intelligence that held great promise, but also the ability to violate human rights at the touch of a button; by growing intolerance against entire groups — from indigenous peoples, to migrants and refugees, to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex plus community, to persons with disabilities; and by voices of division and anger who viewed human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they sought. In short, human rights were on the ropes and being pummelled hard. This represented a direct threat to all the hard-won mechanisms and systems established over the last 80 years to protect and advance human rights.
But as the recently adopted Pact for the Future reminded all, human rights were, in fact, a source of solutions. The Pact provided a playbook on how the world could win the fight for human rights on several fronts.
First, human rights through peace and peace through human rights. Conflicts inflicted human rights violations on a massive scale. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, violations of human rights had skyrocketed since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7 and the intolerable levels of death and destruction in Gaza. Mr. Guterres expressed grave concern about the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation. The world was witnessing a precarious ceasefire. The world needed to avoid at all costs a resumption of hostilities. The people in Gaza had already suffered too much. It was time for a permanent ceasefire, the dignified release of all remaining hostages, irreversible progress towards a two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.
In Sudan, bloodshed, displacement and famine were engulfing the country. The warring parties needed to take immediate action to protect civilians, uphold human rights, cease hostilities and forge peace. Domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms needed to be permitted to document what was happening on the ground.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the world was seeing a deadly whirlwind of violence and horrifying human rights abuses, amplified by the recent M23 offensive, supported by the Rwandan Defence Forces. As more cities fell, the risk of a regional war rose. It was time to silence the guns, time for diplomacy and dialogue. The recent joint summit in Tanzania offered a way forward with a renewed call for an immediate ceasefire. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo needed to be respected. The Congolese people deserved peace.
Mr. Guterres called for a renewed regional dialogue in the Sahel to protect citizens from terrorism and systemic violations of human rights, and to create the conditions for sustainable development.
In Myanmar, the situation had grown far worse in the four years since the military seized power and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected government. The world needed greater cooperation to bring an end to the hostilities and forge a path towards an inclusive democratic transition and a return to civilian rule, allowing for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees.
In Haiti, the world was seeing massive human rights violations, including more than a million people displaced, and children facing a horrific increase in sexual violence and recruitment into gangs. Mr. Guterres said that in the coming days, he would put forward proposals to the United Nations Security Council for greater stability and security for the people of Haiti, namely through an effective United Nations assistance mechanism to support the Multilateral Security Support Mission, the national police and Haitian authorities. A durable solution required a political process led and owned by the Haitian people that restored democratic institutions through elections.
The Pact for the Future called for peace processes and approaches rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law and the United Nations Charter. It proposed specific actions to prioritise conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and peacebuilding. It also included a commitment to tackle the root causes of conflict, which were so often enmeshed in denials of basic human needs and rights.
Second, the Pact for the Future advanced human rights through development. The Sustainable Development Goals and human rights were fundamentally intertwined. They represented real human needs: health, food, water, education, decent work and social protection. With less than one-fifth of the Goals on track, the Pact called for a massive acceleration through a Sustainable Development Goal Stimulus, reforming the global financial architecture, and taking meaningful action for countries drowning in debt. This needed to include focused action to conquer the most widespread human rights abuse in history: inequality for women and girls. The Pact called for investing in battling all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, and ensuring their meaningful participation and leadership across all walks of life.
Along with the Declaration on Future Generations, the Pact also called for supporting the rights and futures of young people through decent work, removing barriers for youth participation, and enhancing training. The Global Digital Compact called on nations to champion young innovators, nurture entrepreneurial spirit, and equip the next generation with digital literacy and skills.
Third, the Pact for the Future recognised that the rule of law and human rights went hand-in-hand. The rule of law, when founded on human rights, was an essential pillar of protection. It shielded the most vulnerable. It was the first line of defence against crime and corruption. It supported fair, just and inclusive economies and societies. It held perpetrators of human rights atrocities to account. It enabled civic space for people to make their voices heard, and for journalists to carry out their essential work, free from interference or threats. It also reaffirmed the world’s commitment to equal access to justice, good governance, and transparent and accountable institutions.
Fourth, the world needed to achieve human rights through climate action. Last year was the hottest on record, capping the hottest decade on record. Rising heat, melting glaciers and hotter oceans were a recipe for disaster. Floods, droughts, deadly storms, hunger, mass displacement — the war on nature was also a war on human rights. The world needed to choose a different path. Mr. Guterres said he saluted the many Member States who legally recognised the right to a healthy environment, and he called on all countries to do the same.
Governments needed to keep their promise to produce new, economy-wide national climate action plans this year, well ahead of the thirtieth Conference of the Parties in Brazil. Those plans needed to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees, including by accelerating the global energy transition. The world also needed a surge in finance for climate action in developing countries, to adapt to global heating, slash emissions and accelerate the renewables revolution, which represented a massive economic opportunity. They needed to stand up to the misleading campaign of many in the fossil fuel industry and its enablers, who were aiding and abetting this madness, while also protecting and defending those on the front lines of climate justice.
Fifth, the Pact promoted human rights through stronger, better governance of technology. Mr. Guterres expressed deep concern about human rights being undermined as fast-moving technologies expanded into every aspect of everyone’s lives. At its best, social media was a meeting ground for people to exchange ideas and spark respectful debate. But it could also be an arena of fiery combat and blatant ignorance; a place where the poisons of misinformation, disinformation, racism, misogyny and hate speech were not only tolerated, but often encouraged. Verbal violence online could easily spill into physical violence in real life. Recent rollbacks on fact-checking and content moderation online were re-opening the floodgates to more hate, more threats, and more violence. These rollbacks would lead to less free speech, not more, as people became increasingly fearful to engage on these platforms. Meanwhile, the great promise of artificial intelligence was matched by limitless peril to undermine human autonomy, human identity, human control and human rights.
In the face of these threats, the Global Digital Compact brought the world together to ensure that human rights were not sacrificed on the altar of technology. This included working with digital companies and policymakers to extend human rights to every corner of cyberspace, including a new focus on information integrity across digital platforms. Mr. Guterres said the Global Principles for Information Integrity that he launched last year would support and inform this work as all pushed for a more humane information ecosystem.
The Global Digital Compact also included the first universal agreement on the governance of artificial intelligence that brought every country to the table and set commitments on capacity building, so all countries and people benefited from artificial intelligence’s potential — by investing in affordable internet, digital literacy, and infrastructure; by helping developing countries use artificial intelligence to grow small businesses, improve public services, and connect communities to new markets; and by placing human rights at the centre of artificial intelligence-driven systems. The Pact’s decisions to create an Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence and an ongoing global dialogue that ensured all countries had a voice in shaping its future were important steps forward. All needed to implement them, Mr. Guterres said.
Mr. Guterres said all could help end the suffocation of human rights by breathing life into the Pact for the Future and the work of this Council. He called for the Council’s cooperation, saying that there was no time to lose.
VOLKER TÜRK, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the international system was going through a tectonic shift, and the human rights edifice built up over decades had never been under so much strain. Today marked the third anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Any sustainable peace must be anchored in the rights, needs and aspirations of the Ukrainian people, in accountability, and in the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law. In Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, where the suffering had been unbearable, Mr. Türk repeated his call for an independent investigation into grave violations of international law, committed by Israel in its attacks across Gaza, and by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. Any sustainable solution must be based on accountability, justice, the right to self-determination, and the human rights and dignity of both Israelis and Palestinians. Any suggestion of forcing people from their land was completely unacceptable.
Beyond Ukraine and Gaza, conflicts and crises were tearing communities and societies apart, from Sudan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Myanmar and Afghanistan. Social tensions were rising; the richest one per cent controlled more wealth than most of humanity; and the climate crisis was a human rights catastrophe. Digital technologies were widely misused to suppress, limit and violate rights, with artificial intelligence bringing new speed and scale. This was the backdrop against which the Office and the broader human rights ecosystem, including the Council, were working to safeguard and promote the rights of everyone, everywhere.
Last year, the Office contributed to the release of some 3,145 arbitrarily detained people and took part in some 11,000 human rights monitoring missions; observed nearly 1,000 trials, and documented some 15,000 situations of human rights violations around the world. In addition to daily interventions with governments, the team issued about 245 statements, shining a light on human rights concerns in some 130 countries. Teams on the ground contributed to human rights-based approaches to sustainable development, taxation and public spending, from Cambodia to Jordan and Serbia. Mr. Türk called on the international community to ensure the Office, national human rights institutions, and human rights non-governmental organizations could continue their essential work.
Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, despite setbacks, there had been steady progress, but today this could no longer be taken for granted. The global consensus on human rights was crumbling under the weight of authoritarians, strongmen and oligarchs, with autocrats now controlling around one-third of the world’s economy, more than double the proportion 30 years ago.
Everywhere, there were attempts to ignore, undermine, and redefine human rights, to chip away at gender equality and the rights of migrants, refugees, people with disabilities, and other minorities.
There needed to be an all-out effort by everyone, to make sure that human rights and the rule of law remained foundational to communities, societies and international relations. Otherwise, the picture was very dangerous. In previous centuries, the unrestrained use of force by the powerful, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, population transfers, and child labour were commonplace. Dictators could order atrocity crimes consigning vast numbers of people to their deaths. This could happen again. But the world was far from powerless to prevent it. The tools were the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the body of international law; and the institutions that worked to implement them.
Today, there needed to be an alternative vision, rooted in facts, the law and compassion. Human rights were about facts. That was why the Office was monitoring, documenting, and reporting on violations and abuses in war zones and crises around the world, including Ukraine, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan and Haiti. Facts on their own could and must prompt action, which was why the work of the Council, and the other human rights mechanisms, was so important. International legal frameworks and institutions, including the International Criminal Court, were fundamental to ensuring justice and achieving accountability, preventing future violations, and making the world safer for everyone. It was also important to have strong institutions at the national level to protect vulnerable people.
Finally, human rights were nothing without compassion, going beyond thought leadership, to heart leadership. Human rights had been central to movements for equality and justice throughout history and had the universal power to move people to action. In countries where human rights were not widely respected, people would risk their lives to defend them. Mr. Türk paid tribute to brave human rights activists everywhere. Upholding human rights made eminent sense for stability, for prosperity, for a better common future, and was a winning proposition for humanity.
IGNACIO CASSIS, Chief of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, said today, he had mixed feelings — a sense of pride and deep worry. He said he was proud because Switzerland had been elected to the Human Rights Council and because Ambassador Lauber had been elected as the Council’s President, the first appointment of a Swiss President to the Council.
However, Mr. Cassis said, he was also deeply concerned as they lived in a time of global uncertainty, influenced by the climate crisis and global authoritarianism — a large portion of the global population lived under authoritarian rule. In this context, the Council had a duty to act.
Last year was marked by major elections. More than four billion citizens, half of the world’s population, went to the ballot box. This was a test for global democracy, and the result of these elections was deep unease. Young people were becoming more radical and social networks were exposing all to unfiltered hatred. Globalisation had reduced poverty but had led to deindustrialisation. Identity claims had taken on a scale that was destabilising societies. Social networks and the climate crisis were fuelling a sense of chaos and distrust in governments.
Human rights were a fundamental bedrock on which all could stabilise societies. Rights to free and transparent elections, the right to work and the right to a sustainable environment were all very important, but the challenges to these and all rights were growing. Today, the world marked the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine. There was also conflict in the Middle East, instability in southern Africa and war in sub-Saharan Africa. It was more necessary than ever before to focus efforts on fundamental rights, including the right to education, ownership and the total prohibition of torture and slavery. The Human Rights Council needed to act in a united manner and with determination. Concerted action was needed to guarantee peace and stability. This was something the Swiss Presidency could achieve.
Human rights were not a luxury but a necessity. Switzerland was concerned by the decisions of some Member States to withdraw from the Council. Every member of the United Nations needed to shoulder their responsibilities toward human rights. Mr. Cassis expressed his full support for Ambassador Lauber, whose experience inside and outside the United Nations system would serve him well.
Switzerland would also endeavour to uphold international humanitarian law and human rights as pillars of peace and security, as a member of the United Nations Security Council. The state of the world was a reminder that Switzerland’s mission was far from complete. Mr. Cassis closed by wishing the Council fruitful discussions.
__________
Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media;
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.
HRC25.004E
US Senate News:
Source: United States Senator for Arkansas – John Boozman
WASHINGTON––U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR-04) introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) final rule capping overdraft fees at banks and credit unions, citing the rule’s damaging impact on access to important financial services.
“The CFPB’s overreach is well established and only intensified during the Biden administration. Instead of bringing more consumers into the banking system, this overdraft rule will push them away to unregulated lenders and I’m pleased to join my colleagues to block it,” said Boozman.
“The Biden administration’s CFPB routinely targeted legitimate payment incentives and practices in pursuit of political headlines over sound policies. The overdraft rule was yet another example – many consumers rely on overdraft services to make ends meet and limiting this practice will push Americans to riskier financial products. I’m proud to lead the effort to overturn this misguided rule and protect Americans’ access to important financial services,” said Scott.
“As I have consistently said, the CFPB needs guardrails on its enforcement and rulemaking powers, and this rule is another clear example of why. The CFPB’s actions on overdraft is another form of government price controls that hurt consumers who deserve financial protections and greater choice. Our CRA will help overturn this harmful rule and is a next step toward ensuring the CFPB halts all ongoing rules until it answers to Congress, just like any other non-independent federal agency,” said Hill.
The resolution is also supported by Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Jim Risch (R-ID), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Katie Britt (R-AL) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE).
The CRA has the support of key stakeholders including the Consumer Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the American Bankers Association and America’s Credit Unions.
A CRA resolution is a tool used by Congress to eliminate onerous regulations imposed by the executive branch through an expedited procedure for consideration in the Senate. A joint resolution of disapproval under the CRA is afforded special privileges that bypass normal Senate rules and allow for a vote on the Senate floor. When a CRA resolution is approved by a simple majority in both chambers of Congress and signed by the president – or if Congress successfully overrides a presidential veto – the rule is invalidated.
Click here for full text of the resolution
Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Ako Ufodike, Associate Professor, Administrative Studies, York University, Canada
As Canada moves into 2025, its productivity still lags, despite efforts by the federal government to address the issue in the 2024 federal budget.
Canada’s productivity has declined in nine of the last 10 quarters. Between 2015 and 2023, Canadian productivity fell by an average of 0.8 per cent per year. This means that, for every hour worked by Canadian employees, their output decreased by about eight per cent over that entire period.
Labour productivity measures how much an economy produces per hour of work. Increasing productivity means finding ways to help people create more value in the time they spend working. However, how productivity is measured — and who benefits from productivity stimulation initiatives — varies.
Read more:
Canada’s lagging productivity affects us all — and will take years to remedy
From an employer’s perspective, the main factor influencing productivity is the number of hours worked. For employees, the best proxy is wages received per hour worked — two related variables with differing implications.
To date, Canada’s strategy to improve productivity has been very traditional, in that its primary aim has been to provide incentives for improved business performance.
Canada’s productivity stagnation struggles are not unique. A December 2024 OECD working paper highlighted a widespread slowdown across the OECD nations.
From 1995 to 2023, ouputs from labour and capital inputs — know as multifactor productivity — declined sharply in both small and large advanced OECD countries.
In Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, productivity has nearly stalled. Greece, Italy, Luxembourg and Mexico experienced prolonged periods of negative growth.
The OECD paper also found a link between productivity decline and stagnating human capital development. Since 2003, young citizens of OECD countries have underperformed on standardized tests in science, math and reading.
At the same time, many skilled immigrants to these countries are selected from the sciences and must score exceptionally high on language proficiency exams such as the International English Language Testing System.
This raises questions about how countries assess and utilize human capital, and whether traditional productivity measures fully capture workforce potential.
Innovation improves productivity, yet Canada’s 2024 budget fails to embrace this principle. The 2024 budget prescribed five main strategies to address Canada’s productivity issues:
However, the initiatives largely continue to follow the traditional approach which focuses on incentivizing businesses to increase output, rather than focusing on workers — the factor most relevant to productivity.
One of the budget’s major assumptions, which has so far failed to materialize, was that productivity would grow by 1.8 per cent between 2024 and 2028, despite a 1.8 per cent decline over the previous three years and a 0.8 per cent decline over the preceding decade.
Another overlooked factor is that declining wages also decrease productivity. Instead of focusing solely on business incentives, a more effective labour-agency approach would also incentivize those who own the denominator in the productivity formula — workers.
Immigrants are the primary drivers of population growth in most OECD countries, yet many end up in precarious employment or underemployed, despite being exceptionally qualified.
Even when immigrants are employed at the appropriate level, many are underpaid in comparison to non-immigrant workers or their predecessors in the same roles. This wage suppression is at odds with efforts to improve productivity.
This issue is particularly evident in Canada, where conversations about productivity are being shaped by immigration trends. In 2023, Canada welcomed one million new immigrants without a corresponding increase in economic output. From July 2023 to July 2024, immigrant underemployment rose by 3.1 to 12.6 per cent.
Labour market integration varies across regions. In Alberta, for example, 80 per cent of new jobs between 2018 and 2022 were filled by immigrants, yet, productivity did not rise.
Some critics have blamed immigrants for Canada’s productivity struggles, but this narrative risks fostering anti-immigrant sentiment. While population growth may contribute to declining per capita productivity, in reality, many highly qualified immigrants end up underemployed or unemployed through no fault of their own.
A 2024 Statistics Canada report highlighted this missed economic opportunity, stating: “recent immigrants were more likely than people born in Canada to be employed in professional occupations and lower-skilled and labourer occupations.”
Despite this, the 2024 budget doesn’t address harmful “unproductive immigrant” narratives.
Canada’s current approach to productivity is incomplete. While business incentives play a role, productivity growth cannot be achieved without investing in workers — particularly immigrants, who represent a growing share of the workforce.
Canada and other OECD nations are missing an opportunity by failing to fully utilize immigrant talent. Rather than blaming immigrants for productivity declines, countries should recognize immigrants as valuable contributors. Proper credential recognition and expanding workforce integration programs could allow immigrants to contribute at their full economic potential.
Read more:
Canadian immigrants are overqualified and underemployed — reforms must address this
A truly innovative productivity strategy would fund reskilling, upskilling and mentorship programs for immigrants and youth. It would also support equity initiatives to ensure immigrants aren’t exploited or paid less than their counterparts.
Improving career mobility is also essential. Helping immigrants transition into high-output sectors, such as technology or engineering, through retraining programs and targeted incentives could strengthen productivity.
Addressing wage inequity is also crucial. Ensuring immigrants receive fair wages aligned with their qualifications will improve worker motivation and productivity, consistent with the arguments of efficient wage theory.
If these issues remain unaddressed, Canada risks continued productivity stagnation by overlooking a key opportunity to harness the potential of its immigrant workforce.
Ako Ufodike receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
– ref. Canada’s productivity strategy needs to centre workers – https://theconversation.com/canadas-productivity-strategy-needs-to-centre-workers-249669
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation
A few weeks after Ben Yeo travelled to Cambodia for what he thought was a job in a casino, he found himself locked up in a padded room. “It’s a combination between a prison and a madhouse,” he remembers. He was being punished for refusing to conduct online scams.
“They tried all kinds of coercive manoeuvres, using a fire extinguisher to try to hit me, to scare me, using a plastic bag over my head to suffocate me … Whatever you see in the movies that actually happened.”
Scam Factories is a podcast series from The Conversation Weekly taking you inside Southeast Asia’s brutal fraud compounds. It accompanies a series of multimedia articles on The Conversation.
In the second episode, Inside the Operation, we explore the history of how scam compounds emerged in Southeast Asia and who is behind them. We hear about the violent treatment people receive inside through the testimonies of two survivors, Ben, and another man we’re calling George to protect his real identity.
The Conversation collaborated for this series with three researchers: Ivan Franceschini, a lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Melbourne, Ling Li, a PhD candidate at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and Mark Bo, an independent researcher.
They’ve spent the past few years researching the expansion of scam compounds in the region for a forthcoming book. They’ve interviewed nearly 100 survivors of the compounds, analysed maps and financial documents related to the scam industry and tracked scammers online to find out how these compounds work.
Read an article by Ivan Franceschini and Ling Li which accompanies this episode about the rise of the scamming industry.
The Conversation contacted AsiaHR international for comment. We did not receive a response. We contacted all the other companies mentioned in this multimedia series for comment, except Jinshui who we could not contact. We did not receive a response from them either.
This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware, with assistance from Mend Mariwany and Katie Flood. Leila Goldstein was our producer in Cambodia and Halima Athumani recorded for us in Uganda. Hui Lin helped us with Chinese translation. Sound design by Michelle Macklem and editing help from Ashlynee McGhee and Justin Bergman.
Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here.
Mark Bo, an independent researcher who works with Ivan Franeschini and Ling Li, is also interviewed in this podcast series. Ivan, Ling, Mark, and others have co-founded EOS Collective, a non-profit organisation dedicated to investigating the criminal networks behind the online scam industry and supporting survivors.
– ref. ‘Your life becomes a nightmare’: how scam operations exploit those trapped inside – Scam Factories podcast, Ep 2 – https://theconversation.com/your-life-becomes-a-nightmare-how-scam-operations-exploit-those-trapped-inside-scam-factories-podcast-ep-2-250464
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
Powered by the latest Intel® Xeon® 6 processors, the new BullSequana SH server line-up will achieve up to 1.5x better performance and up to 1.7x better memory bandwidth for AI workload and business-critical applications compared to previous generation.
Paris, France – February 24, 2025 – Eviden, the Atos Group business leading in digital, cloud, big data and security today announces 4 new Bullsequana SH servers based on the latest Intel processing technology, the Intel® Xeon® 6 processor. Combining a performance boost, an unrivalled scale-up architecture and unique eco-efficient technologies, these servers are perfectly suited to the needs of businesses, cloud providers, and hyperscalers, enabling them to confidently deploy their critical and artificial intelligence applications.
Although virtualization and cloud adoption have favored scale-out deployments, they are not well-suited for real-time business processing, big data and analytics (e.g., SAP HANA®), which require maximum computational resources to process vast amounts of data. These applications can benefit from a scale-up architecture which offers a large number of processors in close proximity and substantial memory capacity, allowing large amounts of data to be kept close to the processor, thereby minimizing the latency when fetching data.
Designed for an optimum flexibility and scalability, these new additions to the BullSequana SH range is composed of 4 complementary servers with a computing capacity from one to eight 2-socket server modules. With up to 128 terabytes of DDR5 memory capacity and scalability from 2 to 32 processors in 2-CPU steps thanks to Eviden’s Node Controller UNC5 interconnect technology, clients can easily scale-up their infrastructure, shifting from one model to the other, avoiding over-allocation of resources as well as preserving investments and application environments.
For the first time, our BullSequana-SH scale-up servers will include our patented Eviden DLC technology as a new cooling option. This innovation gives customers the flexibility to select the ideal cooling solution tailored to their specific usage needs. With heat dispersion efficiency reaching up to 97% and functionality even at an inlet water temperature of 40°C, these servers achieve superior cooling while reducing energy consumption for heat transport, significantly enhancing the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of data centers. For example, compared to air cooling systems with similar configurations, our DLC technology offers at least a 10% reduction in energy consumption, leading to a 10% decrease in carbon emissions. Additionally, it doubles rack density and optimize the performance of Intel Xeon 6 processors.
Entirely manufactured in Eviden’s flagship factory in Angers (France) and designed by Eviden’s R&D teams, the BullSequana SH range already has a strong track record of successful deployments around the world for more than 200 clients and achieved a world record in terms of performance during a SAP HANA Benchmark in June 2024.
Charles-Philippe Gaudron, Global head of Business Computing and AI at Eviden, Atos Group quote said “Our BullSequana SH range is part of the Group’s AI expertise and its broad spectrum of AI sovereign solutions, from infrastructure to models and services. These new enterprises servers offer an evolutive platform, with or without a GPUs, able to run a large variety of models and use cases such as in-memory AI computing applications. Powered by Intel®Xeon®6 processors, the latest processing technology on the market, our new BullSequana SH servers offers a unique combination of scale-up architecture, eco-efficient technologies and optimal performance. With the launch of our new business computing servers, we are redefining the future of AI and critical applications for businesses, cloud providers and hyperscalers.”
***
About Eviden1
Eviden is a next-gen technology leader in data-driven, trusted and sustainable digital transformation with a strong portfolio of patented technologies. With worldwide leading positions in advanced computing, security, AI, cloud and digital platforms, it provides deep expertise for all industries in more than 47 countries. Bringing together 41,000 world-class talents, Eviden expands the possibilities of data and technology across the digital continuum, now and for generations to come. Eviden is an Atos Group company with an annual revenue of c. € 5 billion.
About Atos
Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with c. 82,000 employees and annual revenue of c. € 10 billion. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high-performance computing, the Group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 69 countries. A pioneer in decarbonization services and products, Atos is committed to a secure and decarbonized digital for its clients. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea) and listed on Euronext Paris.
The purpose of Atos is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.
Press contact
Constance Arnoux – constance.arnoux@atos.net – +33 (0)6 44 12 16 35
1 Eviden business is operated through the following brands: AppCentrica, ATHEA, Cloudamize, Cloudreach, Cryptovision, DataSentics, Edifixio, Engage ESM, Evidian, Forensik, IDEAL GRP, In Fidem, Ipsotek, Maven Wave, Profit4SF, SEC Consult, Visual BI, X-Perion.
Eviden is a registered trademark. © Eviden SAS, 2025.
Attachments
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
TORONTO, Feb. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — OMERS, the defined benefit pension plan for Ontario’s broader municipal sector employees, achieved a 2024 investment return of 8.3%, or $10.6 billion, net of expenses, exceeding its 7.5% benchmark for the year. Net assets at December 31, 2024, grew to $138.2 billion from $128.6 billion in 2023. The Plan reported a smoothed funded status of 98%, up from 97% in 2023. Over the past 10 years, OMERS has averaged an annual investment return of 7.1%, net of expenses, adding $70.5 billion to the Plan.
“Our strong result in 2024 reflects the quality of our people and portfolio, our active strategic decisions, and our steady progress as a long-term investor. Since becoming CEO of OMERS, I have been incredibly proud of the work of our leaders and their teams, as well as the forward-thinking strategies we have implemented over the last four years as we emerged from the pandemic. This combination has generated an average annual net return of 8.1% during that period,” said Blake Hutcheson, OMERS President and Chief Executive Officer. “As we look to the future, we are steadfast in our view that quality will see us through an unpredictable global landscape and the cycles ahead. Our talented team is focused on delivering our pension promise and is honoured to work in service of our almost 640,000 members.”
“Our actions to diversify the global portfolio positioned the Plan well in 2024,” said Jonathan Simmons, OMERS Chief Financial and Strategy Officer. “OMERS public equity investments delivered double-digit performance supported by strong contributions from private credit and infrastructure. Our net investment results benefitted from our active strategy to maintain currency exposure to the US dollar. Our real estate assets continue to generate strong operating income, but returns were held back due to lower valuations. Our asset mix continued to shift toward a higher exposure to fixed income, where return opportunities remain attractive. We expanded our overall use of leverage as we continued to use debt prudently to enhance our investment returns.”
This year, we are reporting that OMERS achieved a 58% reduction in its portfolio carbon emissions intensity, relative to 2019, and we reported an increase in green investments to $23 billion. For more information on how we define green investments, please refer to the OMERS Climate Taxonomy.
OMERS is highly rated across independent credit rating agencies, including ‘AAA’ ratings from S&P, Fitch, and DBRS.
OMERS will publish its 2024 Annual Report on February 28, 2025.
Media Contact:
Don Peat
dpeat@omers.com
416.417.7385
About OMERS
OMERS is a jointly sponsored, defined benefit pension plan, with 1,000 participating employers ranging from large cities to local agencies, and almost 640,000 active, deferred and retired members. Our members include union and non-union employees of municipalities, school boards, local boards, transit systems, electrical utilities, emergency services and children’s aid societies across Ontario. OMERS teams work in Toronto, London, New York, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Singapore, Sydney and other major cities across North America and Europe – serving members and employers, and originating and managing a diversified portfolio of high-quality investments in government bonds, public and private credit, public and private equities, infrastructure and real estate.
Net Investment Returns for the years ended December 31
| 2024 | 2023 | ||
| Government Bonds | 1.0% | 5.8% | |
| Public Credit | 6.0% | 6.2% | |
| Private Credit | 12.6% | 10.0% | |
| Public Equities | 18.8% | 10.4% | |
| Private Equities | 9.5% | 3.9% | |
| Infrastructure | 8.8% | 5.5% | |
| Real Estate | -4.9% | -7.2% | |
| Total Net Return | 8.3% | 4.6% |
2024 Asset Mix
2024 Highlights
By the numbers
Transactions in 2024
OMERS remains focused on deploying capital in line with our target asset mix. We are a disciplined investor in high-quality assets that meet the Plan’s risk and return requirements. Please find below highlights of investments made in 2024.
We rotate capital out of assets with the same level of discipline with which we invest. This activity generates capital, which we deploy into future investment opportunities that align to our strategy. In 2024, we announced or completed the following realizations:
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0d74c32c-3c0d-4915-af73-70788746bb63
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/136a43d0-d624-48ac-bd8c-133cd153643c
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)
24th February 2024 | SAINT HELIER, Jersey | CoinShares International Limited (“CoinShares” or “the Group”) (Nasdaq Stockholm: CS; US OTCQX: CNSRF), a leading global investment company specialising in digital assets, today confirms that it has no exposure to the Bybit exchange.
ABOUT COINSHARES
CoinShares is a leading global investment company specialising in digital assets, that delivers a broad range of financial services across investment management, trading and securities to a wide array of clients that includes corporations, financial institutions and individuals. Focusing on crypto since 2013, the firm is headquartered in Jersey, with offices in France, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US. CoinShares is regulated in Jersey by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, in France by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and in the US by the Securities and Exchange Commission, National Futures Association and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. CoinShares is publicly listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker CS and the OTCQX under the ticker CNSRF.
For more information on CoinShares, please visit: https://coinshares.com
Company | +44 (0)1534 513 100 | enquiries@coinshares.com
Investor Relations | +44 (0)1534 513 100 | enquiries@coinshares.com
PRESS CONTACT
CoinShares
Benoît Pellevoizin
bpellevoizin@coinshares.com
M Group Strategic Communications
Peter Padovano
press@coinshares.com
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Francisca Mutapi, Professor in Global Health Infection and Immunity. and co-Director of the Global Health Academy, University of Edinburgh
There’s been a global trend in the reduction of aid to Africa since 2018. Donors are shifting their funding priorities in response to domestic and international agendas. Germany, France and Norway, for instance, have all reduced their aid to Africa in the past five years. And, in 2020, the UK government reduced its Overseas Development Aid from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%.
Many health services across the African continent rely heavily on overseas aid to provide essential care. International funding supports everything from vaccines and HIV treatment to maternal health programmes.
Cuts to aid, particularly unilateral ones, can have widespread implications. For instance, about 72 million people missed out on treatment for neglected tropical diseases between 2021 and 2022 due to UK aid cuts.
The freeze of US aid to Africa in January 2025 is the latest in this trend. It’s already having significant and wide-ranging impacts across the African continent. For example, vaccination campaigns for polio eradication and HIV/Aids treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) have been stopped. This puts millions of lives at risk. In South Africa alone, the cut of Pepfar’s US$400 million a year to HIV programmes risks patients defaulting on treatment, infection rates going up and eventually a rise in deaths.
President Donald Trump’s actions have highlighted Africa’s reliance on foreign aid for health funding. I’m a global health expert who sits on various funding and advisory boards, including those of the World Health Organization (WHO), the UK government and boards of global resource mobilisation organisations. I am well aware of the competing funding priorities for international funders and have long advocated for local, sustainable health funding mechanisms.
Long-term strategies to reduce aid dependency are critical. Breaking away from this current funding status requires concerted efforts building on proven best practice.
Read more:
How nonprofits abroad can fill gaps when the US government cuts off foreign aid
African countries currently face the unique challenge of simultaneously dealing with high rates of communicable diseases, such as malaria and HIV/Aids, and rising levels of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
But Africa’s health systems are not sufficiently resourced. They’re not able to provide appropriate, accessible and affordable healthcare to address these challenges.
African governments spend less than 10% of their GDP on health, amounting to capital expenditure of US$4.5 billion. This falls short of the estimated US$26 billion annual investment needed to meet evolving health needs.
Aid goes towards filling this funding gap. For example, in 2021, half of sub-Saharan African countries relied on external financing, such as grants and loans, for more than one-third of their health expenditures.
Foreign aid has helped. But it clearly leaves African countries vulnerable to the political mood swings among funders.
It also leads to loss of self-determination in terms of health priorities as, ultimately, the funder determines the health priorities. This is one reason why many programmes in Africa focus on a single disease, such as HIV. This leads to poorly integrated health services. For instance health workers or services are channelled into managing a single disease.
The current trajectory of reduced aid to Africa is likely to continue. Global aid is being directed to other challenges, such as conflict and illegal immigration.
The continent cannot continue on the same path while hoping for different outcomes. Africa needs to grow a range of immediately available domestic financing options. Many of these are underutilised and include:
1.) Diversifying domestic resource mobilisation. This should include commodity taxation to fund health. For instance, tobacco taxes which are currently underutilised in Africa.
Zimbabwe offers a successful example. It has bridged donor resource gaps through its 3% Aids levy (started in 1999). Imposed on both individual and corporate incomes, it funds domestic HIV/Aids prevention, care and treatment programmes.
Nigeria’s another country that’s taken initiative, prioritising domestic budget allocation to health. It recently absorbed the 28,000 healthworkers formerly paid by USAid. This demonstrates that domestic health financing in Africa is possible.
2.) More private-public partnerships. Formed between local and international philanthropies or institutions, these can bridge financing gaps.
One successful example is the 2015 health service provision partnership between the Kenyan government and GE Healthcare. GE Healthcare provides radiography equipment and services which the government pays for over time. This allows the government to budget and plan healthcare expenditure over several years.
3.) Promotion of regional integration to boost local production. This will reduce the need for aid-funded imported medical products.
For instance, the African Union’s harmonised Africa Medicines Authority registration facility creates a single continental market for medicines. This supports local producers and exporters, by allowing them to operate on a larger scale. It also makes production and distribution more cost-effective. Finally, it reduces the reliance on imported medicines, strengthening Africa’s pharmaceutical industry.
4.) Leverage development finance institutions. These are specialised financial organisations – such as the Africa Development Bank, African Export-Import Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. They can provide capital and expertise to projects deemed too risky for traditional investors. This includes support for health financing for infrastructure development, private sector development for small and medium-sized enterprises and the regional integration.
One transformative initiative is the AfricInvest investment platform. With support from development finance institutions in the US and Europe, AfricInvest has raised over US$100 million for health investment in Africa. It has funded at least 45 dialysis facilities in Africa, delivering over 130,000 dialysis sessions annually, primarily to remote and underserved communities all at affordable costs.
A combination of these approaches at national, regional and continental level will accelerate Africa’s withdrawal from aid dependency.
Francisca Mutapi receives funding from the Aspen Global Innovation Programme, Scottish Funding Council funding to the University of Edinburgh, Academy of Medical Sciences, British Academy and the Royal Society. Francisca Mutapi is the Deputy Director of the Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa (TIBA) Partnership and Deputy Board Chair of Uniting to Combat NTDS. She sits on the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and WHO Africa Regional Director’s Scientific Advisory Groups.
– ref. Africa relies too heavily on foreign aid for health – 4 ways to fix this – https://theconversation.com/africa-relies-too-heavily-on-foreign-aid-for-health-4-ways-to-fix-this-249886
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Francisca Mutapi, Professor in Global Health Infection and Immunity. and co-Director of the Global Health Academy, University of Edinburgh
There’s been a global trend in the reduction of aid to Africa since 2018. Donors are shifting their funding priorities in response to domestic and international agendas. Germany, France and Norway, for instance, have all reduced their aid to Africa in the past five years. And, in 2020, the UK government reduced its Overseas Development Aid from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%.
Many health services across the African continent rely heavily on overseas aid to provide essential care. International funding supports everything from vaccines and HIV treatment to maternal health programmes.
Cuts to aid, particularly unilateral ones, can have widespread implications. For instance, about 72 million people missed out on treatment for neglected tropical diseases between 2021 and 2022 due to UK aid cuts.
The freeze of US aid to Africa in January 2025 is the latest in this trend. It’s already having significant and wide-ranging impacts across the African continent. For example, vaccination campaigns for polio eradication and HIV/Aids treatment through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) have been stopped. This puts millions of lives at risk. In South Africa alone, the cut of Pepfar’s US$400 million a year to HIV programmes risks patients defaulting on treatment, infection rates going up and eventually a rise in deaths.
President Donald Trump’s actions have highlighted Africa’s reliance on foreign aid for health funding. I’m a global health expert who sits on various funding and advisory boards, including those of the World Health Organization (WHO), the UK government and boards of global resource mobilisation organisations. I am well aware of the competing funding priorities for international funders and have long advocated for local, sustainable health funding mechanisms.
Long-term strategies to reduce aid dependency are critical. Breaking away from this current funding status requires concerted efforts building on proven best practice.
Read more: How nonprofits abroad can fill gaps when the US government cuts off foreign aid
African countries currently face the unique challenge of simultaneously dealing with high rates of communicable diseases, such as malaria and HIV/Aids, and rising levels of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.
But Africa’s health systems are not sufficiently resourced. They’re not able to provide appropriate, accessible and affordable healthcare to address these challenges.
African governments spend less than 10% of their GDP on health, amounting to capital expenditure of US$4.5 billion. This falls short of the estimated US$26 billion annual investment needed to meet evolving health needs.
Aid goes towards filling this funding gap. For example, in 2021, half of sub-Saharan African countries relied on external financing, such as grants and loans, for more than one-third of their health expenditures.
Foreign aid has helped. But it clearly leaves African countries vulnerable to the political mood swings among funders.
It also leads to loss of self-determination in terms of health priorities as, ultimately, the funder determines the health priorities. This is one reason why many programmes in Africa focus on a single disease, such as HIV. This leads to poorly integrated health services. For instance health workers or services are channelled into managing a single disease.
The current trajectory of reduced aid to Africa is likely to continue. Global aid is being directed to other challenges, such as conflict and illegal immigration.
The continent cannot continue on the same path while hoping for different outcomes. Africa needs to grow a range of immediately available domestic financing options. Many of these are underutilised and include:
1.) Diversifying domestic resource mobilisation. This should include commodity taxation to fund health. For instance, tobacco taxes which are currently underutilised in Africa.
Zimbabwe offers a successful example. It has bridged donor resource gaps through its 3% Aids levy (started in 1999). Imposed on both individual and corporate incomes, it funds domestic HIV/Aids prevention, care and treatment programmes.
Nigeria’s another country that’s taken initiative, prioritising domestic budget allocation to health. It recently absorbed the 28,000 healthworkers formerly paid by USAid. This demonstrates that domestic health financing in Africa is possible.
2.) More private-public partnerships. Formed between local and international philanthropies or institutions, these can bridge financing gaps.
One successful example is the 2015 health service provision partnership between the Kenyan government and GE Healthcare. GE Healthcare provides radiography equipment and services which the government pays for over time. This allows the government to budget and plan healthcare expenditure over several years.
3.) Promotion of regional integration to boost local production. This will reduce the need for aid-funded imported medical products.
For instance, the African Union’s harmonised Africa Medicines Authority registration facility creates a single continental market for medicines. This supports local producers and exporters, by allowing them to operate on a larger scale. It also makes production and distribution more cost-effective. Finally, it reduces the reliance on imported medicines, strengthening Africa’s pharmaceutical industry.
4.) Leverage development finance institutions. These are specialised financial organisations – such as the Africa Development Bank, African Export-Import Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. They can provide capital and expertise to projects deemed too risky for traditional investors. This includes support for health financing for infrastructure development, private sector development for small and medium-sized enterprises and the regional integration.
One transformative initiative is the AfricInvest investment platform. With support from development finance institutions in the US and Europe, AfricInvest has raised over US$100 million for health investment in Africa. It has funded at least 45 dialysis facilities in Africa, delivering over 130,000 dialysis sessions annually, primarily to remote and underserved communities all at affordable costs.
A combination of these approaches at national, regional and continental level will accelerate Africa’s withdrawal from aid dependency.
– Africa relies too heavily on foreign aid for health – 4 ways to fix this
– https://theconversation.com/africa-relies-too-heavily-on-foreign-aid-for-health-4-ways-to-fix-this-249886
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
A conference abstract presented at the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) Conference looks at emulsifier restriction in people with Crohn’s disease.
Dr Dominic Farsi, Postdoctoral Researcher in Nutrition Science, INRAE (l’Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement), France, said:
Does the press release accurately reflect the science?
“Yes.
Is there enough data and information available to be able to assess the quality of the science?
“Yes I believe there is enough information. In addition, ECCO is one of the prominent organisations in gastroenterology and this abstract will have been reviewed by the conference committee (though that is different from journal peer review) and also the fact that it is being presented at the meeting would suggest that it is of a high standard as it has been accepted and chosen for the meeting.
How does this work fit with the existing evidence? + What are the implications in the real world? Is there any overspeculation?
“A lot of the evidence to date surrounding emulsifiers and Crohn’s comes from rodent models, which while informative, will always have limitations, as, it is rodents, not humans. This evidence does suggest that food additive emulsifiers may negatively impact the gastrointestinal environment, including the gut microbiota. The evidence in humans is very limited and so this study could be viewed as foundational to help understand the potential impact of food additive emulsifiers in Crohn’s. This study is a first of its kind and to date, we have not had significant data such as this, the results are positive and exciting, and as more research is performed in this topic, it will help further develop our understanding. If future research confirms that making a dietary change such as removing emulsifiers from the diet can help people manage Crohn’s, then that would be viewed as very positive – but we need more evidence first.”
Prof Kim Barrett, Vice Dean for Research and Distinguished Professor of Physiology and Membrane Biology, UC Davis School of Medicine, said:
“This preliminary presentation reports that removing emulsifiers from the diet may be helpful in patients with Crohn’s disease. It’s difficult to be fully confident in the conclusions since details of the study are not yet available, and more subjects dropped out of the control group vs. the treatment arm. Nevertheless, the findings available are consistent with predictions from previous animal studies, and could offer a simple and inexpensive way to reduce symptoms in patients with limited treatment options.”
Prof Gary Frost, Chair in Nutrition and Dietetics, Imperial College London, said:
“I think that the study is well designed, it is clear how they have decreased exposure to emulsifiers to all in the trial then reintroduced them in a portfolio of food in the control group giving the low emulsifier diet (LED) group foods that had a low emulsifier content.
“The intention to treat results look clear as reported in the abstract but the protocol results suggests that about 60% of the control group did not finish the study there for the results are not so clear. There needs to be more understanding about the reasons for the stark difference in not completing the trial. (The results are expressed in two ways. The intention to treat results include all the volunteers in the study even if they dropped out. Although the authors do not say how they used the data usually the last recorded measure is taken as the final results. This means if someone dropped out at 4 weeks the results at 4 weeks will be taken as the last results and analysed with others that have completed at 8 weeks. It is this analysis that shows a significant difference. The per protocol analysis only analyses people who completed the trial. The problem they have is only 49 of the 75 controls completed the study. There is no explanation for this level of patients not completing.)”
Prof Alexandra Johnstone, Theme Lead for Nutrition, Obesity and Disease, Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen, said:
“There is currently a lot of interest in the role for ultra processed foods and health, and this study embraces this trend, to examine the role of emulsifiers, which are food additives, within a specific UK patient group. Regulatory bodies ensure that food additives are rigorously tested for safety and additives continue to undergo long‐term monitoring for their effects on chronic health conditions. Food additives that pass these safety tests are given an ‘E’ number which must be listed on packaging. Whilst consumption of some food additives (e.g. artificial sweeteners) can be limited through food choice, it is much more difficult to avoid ingestion of emulsifiers (also known as surfactants or detergents) because they are commonly added to a wide variety of foods within the modern Western diets. Some emulsifiers are man-made or synthetic (e.g. polysorbates) and some occur naturally (e.g. lecithin). In this study, the emulsifiers that were provided, were carrageenan, carboxymethylcellulose and polysorbate-80 (control). For example, carboxymethylcellulose is a non‐digestible polysaccharide polymer, hence its common use as a thickening agent and stabilizer in food emulsions.
“Emerging evidence1,2,3 suggests that permitted dietary emulsifiers may impact on gut health through impairing intestinal barrier function, thus increasing antigen exposure, and/or by modulating the microbiota, thus potentially increasing the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – Crohn’s disease is a form of IBD.
“The study to be presented at European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) Conference in Berlin provides hope for patients with Crohn’s disease to manage symptoms. The press release accurately reflects the brief data shared in the abstract, and I would welcome seeing the full dataset as a paper, once peer reviewed. The limitations of the study are that this is a relatively small group of patients (N=154) and conducted over a short time-frame (8 weeks). Patients with active flare in their disease were recruited, which was measured as inflammatory response, and the study abstract results indicate that the low emulsifier diet reduced inflammatory symptoms and promoted remission. It was good to read the quote from the patient in the press release about the positive impact this had on quality of life. Going forward, a peer-reviewed publication will likely reveal a more comprehensive analysis and discussion from the study team, including exploring the putative mechanism(s) of action. For example, recognising the small subject numbers and limitations of the results that would need to be explored in a larger cohort of patients. The study does offers hope for patients for future research on management of symptoms through dietary changes.”
1 Partridge D, Lloyd KA, Rhodes JM, Walker AW, Johnstone AM, Campbell BJ. Food additives: Assessing the impact of exposure to permitted emulsifiers on bowel and metabolic health – introducing the FADiets study. Nutr Bull. 2019 Dec;44(4):329-349. doi: 10.1111/nbu.12408.
2 Naimi, S., Viennois, E., Gewirtz, A.T. et al. Direct impact of commonly used dietary emulsifiers on human gut microbiota. Microbiome 9, 66 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00996-6
3 Chassaing B, Koren O, Goodrich JK, Poole AC, Srinivasan S, Ley RE, Gewirtz AT. Dietary emulsifiers impact the mouse gut microbiota promoting colitis and metabolic syndrome. Nature. 2015 Mar 5;519(7541):92-6. doi: 10.1038/nature14232. Epub 2015 Feb 25. Erratum in: Nature. 2016 Aug 11;536(7615):238. doi: 10.1038/nature18000.
Dr Elizabeth Lund, Independent Nutrition Consultant, previously Research Leader at Quadram Institute of Biological Sciences, Norwich, said:
“This study looking at the potential benefit of diets low in emulsifiers shows a potential benefit for patients with mild to moderate Crohn’s disease. It is only an abstract for a meeting and thus lacks detail and has not yet been peer reviewed. This is important for journalists to recognise. The nearly 20% drop out rate, that is the difference between those recruited and those completing the study, is on the high side but not atypical. I would want to better understand why these people dropped out. Nevertheless, the data looks very promising and – emphasising this data is yet to be peer reviewed – would suggest that this diet is well worth a try for Crohn’s patients, probably helping many if not all who suffer from this condition. It is unlikely this is the only trigger for Crohn’s; inflammatory conditions tend to be very individual.”
Dr Baptiste Leurent, Associate Professor in Medical Statistics, UCL, said:
“This research is only published as a short summary, and it is difficult to assess its quality. The results could be interesting, but their validity can only be assessed (and communicated to the public) once the full study will be published.
“I am particularly concerned by the data presented in Table 1, which suggest that the differences found could be related to assumptions made regarding missing data.
“The abstract does not state clearly how many participants had Crohn’s disease activity index (CDAI) data at 8 weeks, but the numbers reported suggest there may have been participants with missing CDAI response, particularly in the control group. And that all of them may have been counted as “no CDAI response” in the primary (intention-to-treat) analysis.
“Given there was much more missing data in the control group, this would explain (at least some of) the lower CDAI response seen in the intervention group. When looking at the `per-protocol’ analysis (participants with actual CDAI data) none of the results were statistically different between the two groups.
“Much other information is missing from the abstract to assess the study validity. For example, it is not clear if the participants were aware of the emulsifier content of the food they were receiving, how similar were the two types of food received (apart from the emulsifier content), and to which extent participants ate the food they received. Note that what is being evaluated here is receiving regular emulsifier-free food, compared to receiving regular high emulsifier content food. It is not what is defined as LED (“low emulsifier diet”) in the abstract, which consisted of dietary advice and other material (both groups received this). No protocol or analysis plan were published – it would be important to know if the outcomes reported here are all the outcomes that were originally planned to be looked at or if there were others.
“Further information is needed before these results can be communicated to the public, and I would be very concerned if any diet recommendation is made based on this abstract.”
Rachel Richardson, Methods Support Unit Manager, Evidence Production and Methods Directorate, Cochrane, said:
“It is difficult to properly assess this study as all we have is an abstract. This means that the full report of the study is not available for scrutiny. It would be helpful to have more detail in order to assess the validity and generalisability of these results.
“A few examples: the number of people who dropped out was high – only 73% completed the study, even though it only lasted for 8 weeks and the drop-out rate was higher in the control group than in the intervention group. High rates of dropout can lead to bias in a study’s results, so it would be helpful to know more about why people dropped out.
“Another example is the fact that the authors adjusted the results for a variety of possible confounding factors, including BMI. However this was a randomised trial which means that confounders should be evenly distributed between groups and no adjustments are necessary. It would be useful to know why authors needed to do this.
“A final striking point is that we do not know from the abstract whether the results were precise enough to demonstrate meaningful improvement across all possible scenarios. The confidence intervals, or margins of error, were quite wide for a number of the effect estimates. Whilst improvement could be significant, there is also the possibility that the effect could be small, which may mean no clinical difference.”
Prof Kevin McConway, Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics, Open University, said:
“These findings are interesting. However, they are based on a conference abstract. The full research report will not (yet) have been through the full peer review process, that it will need to go through before it can be published in a scientific journal. Peer reviewers might (or might not) pick up important problems in the complete trial report. Also, we don’t have by any means complete information, only a press release and a rather brief abstract (summary) of the findings. So, while on the face of it the results look encouraging, it’s just not possible to evaluate the quality of the research properly on the basis of the information available.
“Overall, statistically, the results don’t seem to me to be nearly as clear-cut as the press release implies. I’ll explain why I think this below. It all rather depends on the reasons for the different rates of completing the full trial for the trial in the two groups (those who were on the diet without emulsifiers, and the control group who had emulsifiers). The small amount of information we have doesn’t allow me to make a judgement on that. Maybe the trial does show everything that the press release says it shows, but it remains possible that it doesn’t, not entirely anyway. We need to know more.
“One issue is as follows. As is usual in reports of randomised clinical trials, the researchers present two different sets of comparisons between the ‘intervention’ group (who had a diet without emulsifiers) and the ‘control’ group (who were given some emulsifiers). One is the so-called ‘intention to treat’ comparison, which compared the results for everyone for whom results are available, regardless of whether they stayed on the diet that they were allocated to for the duration of the trial. The other is the so-called ‘per-protocol’ analysis, that compares the results of only those patients who continued on the diet they were allocated to, for the full duration of the trial. Usually the results of the intention to treat analysis are considered to be more revealing. However, it’s important to consider the per-protocol results as well, particularly if a lot of people didn’t remain on the allocated treatment for the full period. In this trial, about four out of five (81%) of those allocated to the emulsifier-free diet were on that diet throughout, and so contributed to the per-protocol analysis. But a considerably smaller proportion, only about two out of three (65%), of those allocated to the control diet remained on it throughout. The information we have doesn’t give an explanation for the differences in completion rates, and it might well matter. Maybe people on the control diet were more likely to drop out because they felt it wasn’t helping them, or maybe they were eating more emulsifiers than usual and felt this was disagreeing with their digestion or health, or maybe something else – we don’t know.
“The results repeated in the press release are based on the intention to treat analysis. But the results from the per-protocol analysis are less clear-cut, and indeed, apart from the finding about the proportion who said their symptoms improved, the other three outcomes given in the table in the Abstract don’t have large enough differences between the no-emulsifier and the control group to allow a conclusion that differences are definitely due to anything other than random chance. (This doesn’t mean that they are due to no more than chance, just that it’s still feasible that they could be no more than chance.)
“Another issue is that the trial is not comparing what patients with Crohn’s disease do on a diet without emulsifiers, compared to what they would otherwise have eaten. The control group of patients ate a diet containing emulsifiers, together with some snacks provided by the researchers, that also contained emulsifiers. The patients in the intervention (no emulsifiers) group also were given snacks and some food provided by the researchers, but without emulsifiers. I am no dietician, but I do know some people with Crohn’s disease, and they all avoid various types of food. So the comparison in the trial seems to be between people definitely eating a special diet with no emulsifiers, with another group who are eating a different special diet that does contain emulsifiers. This makes sense, to ensure, as far as practicable, that all the patients in each of the two groups are eating more or less the same things as the others in their group, but it does imply that the researchers are not comparing people on a special diet free of emulsifiers, with those eating what they would typically eat anyway. You’d have to ask a dietician rather than a statistician to be sure of how important this is in the context of real-world diets.”
Abstract title: ‘Emulsifier restriction is an effective therapy for active Crohn’s disease: the ADDapt trial – a multi-centre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, re-supplementation trial in 154 patients’ by A. Bancil et al was presented at the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) Conference in Berlin. The embargo lifted at 17:20 UK time on Friday 21 February 2025.
There is no paper.
Declared interests
Dr Dominic Farsi: “During part of this study, I was within the department and involved in other diet trials, however not this one (the ADDapt trial). I have since left this role and I am now a Postdoctoral Researcher at INRAE in France. I have no other conflicts of interest.”
Prof Kim Barrett: “I have no conflicts of interest.”
Prof Gary Frost: “None.”
Prof Alexandra Johnstone: “AJ holds funding from UKRI which involves UK retail partners, the Scottish Government. She currently holds voluntary committee position with Nutrition Society, Association for Nutrition and British Nutrition Foundation.”
Dr Elizabeth Lund: “No conflicts of interest to declare.”
Dr Baptiste Leurent: “No conflict of interest.”
Rachel Richardson: “I have no interests to declare.”
Prof Kevin McConway: “Previously a Trustee of the SMC and a member of its Advisory Committee.”
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Stefan Wolff, Professor of International Security, University of Birmingham
There has been much and justified focus on the implications of a likely deal between US president Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and the overwhelmingly negative consequences this will have for Ukraine and Europe. But if Trump and Putin make a deal, there is much more at stake than Ukraine’s future borders and Europe’s relationship with the US.
As we are nearing the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s future is more in doubt than it has ever been since February 2022. For once, analogies to Munich in 1938 are sadly appropriate. This is not because of a mistaken belief that Putin can be appeased, but rather because great powers, once again, make decisions on the fate of weaker states and without them in the room.
Similar to the pressure that Czechoslovakia experienced from both Germany and its supposed allies France and Britain in 1938, Ukraine is now under pressure from Russia on the battlefield and the US both diplomatically and economically. Trump and his team are pushing hard for Ukraine to make territorial concessions to Russia and accept that some 20% of Ukrainian lands under Russia’s illegal occupation are lost. In addition, Trump demands that Ukraine compensate the United States for past military support by handing over half of its mineral and rare earth resources.
The American refusal to provide tangible security guarantees not only for Ukraine but also for allied Nato troops if they were deployed to Ukraine as part of a ceasefire or peace agreement smacks of the Munich analogy. Not only did France and Britain at the time push Czechoslovakia to cede the ethnic German-majority Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. They also did nothing when Poland and Hungary also seized parts of the country. And they failed to respond when Hitler – a mere six months after the Munich agreement – broke up what was left of Czechoslovakia by creating a Slovak puppet state and occupying the remaining Czech lands.
There is every indication that Putin is unlikely to stop in or with Ukraine. And it is worth remembering that the second world war started 11 months after Neville Chamberlain thought he had secured “peace in our time”.
The Munich analogy may not carry that far, however. Trump is not trying to appease Putin because he thinks, as Chamberlain and Daladier did in 1938, that he has weaker cards than Putin. What seems to drive Trump is a more simplistic view of the world in which great powers carve out spheres of influence in which they do not interfere.
The problem for Ukraine and Europe in such a world order is that Ukraine is certainly not considered by anyone in Trump’s team as part of an American zone of influence, and Europe is at best a peripheral part of it.
For Trump, this isn’t really about Ukraine or Europe but about re-ordering the international system in a way that fits his 19th-century view of the world in which the US lives in splendid isolation and virtually unchallenged in the western hemisphere. In this world view, Ukraine is the symbol of what was wrong with the old order. Echoing the isolationism of Henry Cabot, Trump’s view is that the US has involved itself into too many different foreign adventures where none of its vital interests were at stake.
Echoing Putin’s talking points, the war against Ukraine no longer is an unjustified aggression but was, as Trump has now declared, Kyiv’s fault. Ukraine has become the ultimate test that the liberal international order failed to pass.
The war against Ukraine clearly is a symbol of the failure of the liberal international order, but hardly its sole cause. In the hands of Trump and Putin it has become the tool to deal it a final blow. But while the US and Russia, in their current political configurations, may have found it easy to bury the existing order, they will find it much harder to create a new one.
The push-back from Ukraine and key European countries may seem inconsequential for now, but even without the US, the EU and Nato have strong institutional roots and deep pockets. For all the justified criticism of the mostly aspirational responses from Europe so far, the continent is built on politically and economically far stronger foundations than Russia and the overwhelming majority of its people have no desire to emulate the living conditions in Putin’s want-to-be empire.
Nor will Trump and Putin be able to rule the world without China. A deal between them may be Trump’s idea of driving a wedge between Moscow and Beijing, but this is unlikely to work given Russia’s dependence on China and China’s rivalry with the US.
If Trump makes a deal with Xi as well, for example over Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, let alone over Taiwan, all he would achieve is further retrenchment of the US to the western hemisphere. This would leave Putin and Xi to pursue their own, existing deal of a no-limits partnership unimpeded by an American-led counter-weight.
From the perspective of what remains of the liberal international order and its proponents, a Putin-Xi deal, too, has an eerie parallel in history – the short-lived Hitler-Stalin pact of 1939. Only this time, there is little to suggest that the Putin-Xi alliance will break down as quickly.
Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.
– ref. Ukraine war: Trump is not trying to appease Putin – he has a vision of a new US-China-Russia order – https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-trump-is-not-trying-to-appease-putin-he-has-a-vision-of-a-new-us-china-russia-order-249979
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000484/2025/rev.1
to the Commission
Rule 144
Alessandro Ciriani (ECR), Carlo Fidanza (ECR), Nicola Procaccini (ECR), Sergio Berlato (ECR), Stefano Cavedagna (ECR), Carlo Ciccioli (ECR), Giovanni Crosetto (ECR), Elena Donazzan (ECR), Alberico Gambino (ECR), Chiara Gemma (ECR), Lara Magoni (ECR), Mario Mantovani (ECR), Michele Picaro (ECR), Daniele Polato (ECR), Ruggero Razza (ECR), Marco Squarta (ECR), Francesco Torselli (ECR), Mariateresa Vivaldini (ECR), Pietro Fiocchi (ECR), Francesco Ventola (ECR)
For many decades, on the hill known as Sabotin in Slovenia, the word ‘TITO’ has been inscribed in huge letters clearly visible even from Italy. As well as being provocative towards Italy, the inscription is also a tribute to Josip Broz Tito, the Communist dictator responsible for brutal crimes against humanity, including the Foibe massacres and the persecution of thousands of Italians after the Second World War.
The EU promotes respect for human dignity, reconciliation between peoples and the protection of historical memory and condemns all forms of celebration of totalitarian regimes guilty of crimes against humanity. The continuing presence of this inscription is therefore clearly an obstacle to these values since it is not just a historical reference but a monument celebrating a bloody regime, in contrast with the principles of democracy and respect for fundamental rights.
In light of the above:
Submitted: 4.2.2025
Source: United Nations – English
Scroll down for all-English and all-French versions]
Mr. President of the General Assembly, Mr. President of the Human Rights Council, High Commissioner,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
We begin this session under the weight of a grim milestone — the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the UN charter.
More than 12,600 civilians killed, with many more injured.
Entire communities reduced to rubble.
Hospitals and schools destroyed.
We must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict, and to achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.
Conflicts like the war in Ukraine exact a heavy toll.
A toll on people.
A toll on fundamental principles like territorial integrity, sovereignty and the rule of law.
And a toll on the vital business of this Council.
Without respect for human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social — sustainable peace is a pipedream.
And like this Council, human rights shine a light in the darkest places.
Through your work, and the work of the High Commissioner’s Office around the world, you’re supporting brave human rights defenders risking persecution, detention and even death.
You’re working with governments, civil society and others to strengthen action on human rights.
And you’re supporting investigations and accountability.
Five years ago, we launched our Call to Action for Human Rights, embedding human rights across the work of the United Nations around the world in close cooperation with our partners.
I will continue supporting this important work, and the High Commissioner’s Office, as we fight for human rights everywhere.
Excellencies,
We have our work cut out for us.
Human rights are the oxygen of humanity.
But one by one, human rights are being suffocated.
By autocrats, crushing opposition because they fear what a truly empowered people would do.
By a patriarchy that keeps girls out of school, and women at arm’s length from basic rights.
By wars and violence that strip populations of their right to food, water and education.
By warmongers who thumb their nose at international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.
Human rights are being suffocated by the climate crisis.
And by a morally bankrupt global financial system that too often obstructs the path to greater equality and sustainable development.
By runaway technologies like Artificial Intelligence that hold great promise, but also the ability to violate human rights at the touch of a button.
By growing intolerance against entire groups — from Indigenous peoples, to migrants and refugees, to the LGBTQI+ community, to persons with disabilities.
And by voices of division and anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they seek.
In short — human rights are on the ropes and being pummeled hard.
This represents a direct threat to all of the hard-won mechanisms and systems established over the last 80 years to protect and advance human rights.
But as the recently adopted Pact for the Future reminds us, human rights are, in fact, a source of solutions.
The Pact provides a playbook on how we can win the fight for human rights on several fronts.
First — human rights through peace and peace through human rights.
Conflicts inflict human rights violations on a massive scale.
In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, violations of human rights have skyrocketed since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7 and the intolerable levels of death and destruction in Gaza.
And I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation. We are witnessing a precarious ceasefire. We must avoid at all costs a resumption of hostilities. The people in Gaza have already suffered too much.
It’s time for a permanent ceasefire, the dignified release of all remaining hostages, irreversible progress towards a two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.
In Sudan, bloodshed, displacement and famine are engulfing the country.
The warring parties must take immediate action to protect civilians, uphold human rights, cease hostilities and forge peace.
And domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms should be permitted to document what is happening on the ground.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we see a deadly whirlwind of violence and horrifying human rights abuses, amplified by the recent M23 offensive, supported by the Rwandan Defense Forces.
As more cities fall, the risk of a regional war rises.
It’s time to silence the guns.
It’s time for diplomacy and dialogue.
The recent joint summit in Tanzania offered a way forward with a renewed call for an immediate ceasefire.
The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.
The Congolese people deserve peace.
In the Sahel, I call for a renewed regional dialogue to protect citizens from terrorism and systemic violations of human rights, and to create the conditions for sustainable development.
In Myanmar, the situation has grown far worse in the four years since the military seized power and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected government.
We need greater cooperation to bring an end to the hostilities and forge a path towards an inclusive democratic transition and a return to civilian rule, allowing for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees.
And in Haiti, we are seeing massive human rights violations — including more than a million people displaced, and children facing a horrific increase in sexual violence and recruitment into gangs.
In the coming days, I will put forward proposals to the United Nations Security Council for greater stability and security for the people of Haiti — namely through an effective UN assistance mechanism to support the Multilateral Security Support mission, the national police and Haitian authorities.
A durable solution requires a political process — led and owned by the Haitian people — that restores democratic institutions through elections.
The Pact for the Future calls for peace processes and approaches rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law and the UN Charter.
It proposes specific actions to prioritize conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and peacebuilding.
And it includes a commitment to tackle the root causes of conflict, which are so often enmeshed in denials of basic human needs and rights.
Second — the Pact for the Future advances human rights through development.
The Sustainable Development Goals and human rights are fundamentally intertwined.
They represent real human needs — health, food, water, education, decent work and social protection.
With less than one-fifth of the Goals on track, the Pact calls for a massive acceleration through an SDG Stimulus, reforming the global financial architecture, and taking meaningful action for countries drowning in debt.
This must include focused action to conquer the most widespread human rights abuse in history — inequality for women and girls.
The Pact calls for investing in battling all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, and ensuring their meaningful participation and leadership across all walks of life.
And along with the Declaration on Future Generations, the Pact calls for supporting the rights and futures of young people through decent work, removing barriers for youth participation, and enhancing training.
And the Global Digital Compact calls on nations to champion young innovators, nurture entrepreneurial spirit, and equip the next generation with digital literacy and skills.
Third — the Pact for the Future recognizes that the rule of law and human rights go hand-in-hand.
The rule of law, when founded on human rights, is an essential pillar of protection.
It shields the most vulnerable.
It’s the first line of defense against crime and corruption.
It supports fair, just and inclusive economies and societies.
It holds perpetrators of human rights atrocities to account.
It enables civic space for people to make their voices heard — and for journalists to carry out their essential work, free from interference or threats.
And it reaffirms the world’s commitment to equal access to justice, good governance, and transparent and accountable institutions.
Quatrièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à l’action climatique.
L’année dernière a été la plus chaude jamais enregistrée, et vient couronner la décennie la plus chaude jamais enregistrée.
La hausse des températures, la fonte des glaciers et le réchauffement des océans ne peuvent mener qu’au désastre.
Inondations, sécheresses, tempêtes meurtrières, famine, déplacements massifs : notre guerre contre la nature est aussi une guerre contre les droits humains.
Nous devons prendre un autre chemin.
Je salue les nombreux États Membres qui reconnaissent légalement le droit à un environnement sain, et j’appelle tous les pays à faire de même.
Les gouvernements doivent tenir leur promesse d’élaborer cette année de nouveaux plans d’action nationaux pour le climat couvrant l’ensemble de l’économie, et ce bien avant la COP 30 qui se tiendra au Brésil.
Ces plans doivent limiter la hausse de la température mondiale à 1,5 degré, notamment en accélérant la transition énergétique mondiale.
Nous avons également besoin d’une augmentation massive des financements pour l’action climatique dans les pays en développement, afin de s’adapter au réchauffement de la planète, de réduire les émissions et d’accélérer la révolution des énergies renouvelables, qui offre d’énormes possibilités économiques.
Nous devons nous opposer aux campagnes mensongères menées par de nombreux acteurs de l’industrie des combustibles fossiles et à ceux qui la font vivre et s’en rendent complices…
Tout comme nous devons protéger et défendre les personnes qui sont en première ligne de la lutte pour une justice climatique.
Et cinquièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à une gouvernance renforcée et améliorée des technologies.
À l’heure où des technologies en rapide mutation s’immiscent dans tous les aspects de notre vie, je m’inquiète des risques qu’elles représentent pour les droits humains.
Dans le meilleur des cas, les médias sociaux sont un lieu de rencontre où l’on peut échanger des idées et débattre avec respect.
Mais ils peuvent aussi devenir un théâtre de confrontations enflammées et d’une ignorance flagrante.
Un lieu où les poisons que sont la mésinformation, la désinformation, le racisme, la misogynie et les discours de haine sont non seulement tolérés, mais, bien souvent, encouragés.
La violence verbale en ligne peut facilement se transformer en violence physique dans le monde réel.
Les reculs récents en matière de vérification des faits et de modération de contenu sur les réseaux sociaux rouvrent grand la porte à plus de haine, plus de menaces et plus de violence.
Que l’on ne s’y trompe pas.
Ces reculs entraîneront une diminution de la liberté d’expression, et non une amplification – car les gens craignent de plus en plus de s’exprimer sur ces plateformes.
Dans le même temps, la grande promesse de l’intelligence artificielle s’accompagne d’un risque insondable qui met en péril l’autonomie, l’identité et le contrôle humains – jusqu’aux droits humains.
Face à ces menaces, le Pacte numérique mondial rassemble le monde entier pour veiller à ce que les droits humains ne soient pas sacrifiés sur l’autel de la technologie.
Il s’agit notamment de collaborer avec les entreprises numériques et les décideurs politiques pour étendre le respect des droits humains à tous les recoins du cyberespace, en mettant notamment l’accent sur l’intégrité de l’information sur toutes les plateformes numériques.
Les Principes mondiaux pour l’intégrité de l’information que j’ai lancés l’année dernière viendront étayer et orienter les efforts que nous déploierons en vue de créer un écosystème de l’information plus humain.
Le Pacte numérique mondial comprend également le premier accord universel sur la gouvernance de l’intelligence artificielle qui donne voix au chapitre à tous les pays, ainsi que des engagements en matière de renforcement des capacités, visant à ce que tous les pays et toutes les personnes bénéficient du potentiel de l’intelligence artificielle.
Pour cela, il faut investir dans l’accès à l’Internet à un prix abordable, dans les formations au numérique et dans les infrastructures ;
Aider les pays en développement à utiliser l’intelligence artificielle pour développer les petites entreprises, améliorer les services publics et connecter les communautés à de nouveaux marchés.
Et mettre les droits humains au centre des systèmes fondés sur l’intelligence artificielle.
Les décisions du Pacte – d’établir un Groupe scientifique international indépendant et un Dialogue mondial régulier garantissant la participation de tous les pays dans l’élaboration de l’avenir de l’intelligence artificielle – constituent des avancées importantes. Il faut les concrétiser.
Excellences,
Mesdames et Messieurs,
Nous pouvons mettre fin à l’asphyxie des droits humains en donnant vie au Pacte pour l’avenir et aux travaux de ce Conseil.
Attelons-nous à cette tâche – ensemble. Nous n’avons pas un instant à perdre.
Et je vous remercie.
[all-English version]
Mr. President of the General Assembly, Mr. President of the Human Rights Council, High Commissioner,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
We begin this session under the weight of a grim milestone — the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the UN charter.
More than 12,600 civilians killed, with many more injured.
Entire communities reduced to rubble.
Hospitals and schools destroyed.
We must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict, and to achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.
Conflicts like the war in Ukraine exact a heavy toll.
A toll on people.
A toll on fundamental principles like territorial integrity, sovereignty and the rule of law.
And a toll on the vital business of this Council.
Without respect for human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social — sustainable peace is a pipedream.
And like this Council, human rights shine a light in the darkest places.
Through your work, and the work of the High Commissioner’s Office around the world, you’re supporting brave human rights defenders risking persecution, detention and even death.
You’re working with governments, civil society and others to strengthen action on human rights.
And you’re supporting investigations and accountability.
Five years ago, we launched our Call to Action for Human Rights, embedding human rights across the work of the United Nations around the world in close cooperation with our partners.
I will continue supporting this important work, and the High Commissioner’s Office, as we fight for human rights everywhere.
Excellencies,
We have our work cut out for us.
Human rights are the oxygen of humanity.
But one by one, human rights are being suffocated.
By autocrats, crushing opposition because they fear what a truly empowered people would do.
By a patriarchy that keeps girls out of school, and women at arm’s length from basic rights.
By wars and violence that strip populations of their right to food, water and education.
By warmongers who thumb their nose at international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.
Human rights are being suffocated by the climate crisis.
And by a morally bankrupt global financial system that too often obstructs the path to greater equality and sustainable development.
By runaway technologies like Artificial Intelligence that hold great promise, but also the ability to violate human rights at the touch of a button.
By growing intolerance against entire groups — from Indigenous peoples, to migrants and refugees, to the LGBTQI+ community, to persons with disabilities.
And by voices of division and anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they seek.
In short — human rights are on the ropes and being pummeled hard.
This represents a direct threat to all of the hard-won mechanisms and systems established over the last 80 years to protect and advance human rights.
But as the recently adopted Pact for the Future reminds us, human rights are, in fact, a source of solutions.
The Pact provides a playbook on how we can win the fight for human rights on several fronts.
First — human rights through peace and peace through human rights.
Conflicts inflict human rights violations on a massive scale.
In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, violations of human rights have skyrocketed since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7 and the intolerable levels of death and destruction in Gaza.
And I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation. We are witnessing a precarious ceasefire. We must avoid at all costs a resumption of hostilities. The people in Gaza have already suffered too much.
It’s time for a permanent ceasefire, the dignified release of all remaining hostages, irreversible progress towards a two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.
In Sudan, bloodshed, displacement and famine are engulfing the country.
The warring parties must take immediate action to protect civilians, uphold human rights, cease hostilities and forge peace.
And domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms should be permitted to document what is happening on the ground.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we see a deadly whirlwind of violence and horrifying human rights abuses, amplified by the recent M23 offensive, supported by the Rwandan Defense Forces.
As more cities fall, the risk of a regional war rises.
It’s time to silence the guns.
It’s time for diplomacy and dialogue.
The recent joint summit in Tanzania offered a way forward with a renewed call for an immediate ceasefire.
The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.
The Congolese people deserve peace.
In the Sahel, I call for a renewed regional dialogue to protect citizens from terrorism and systemic violations of human rights, and to create the conditions for sustainable development.
In Myanmar, the situation has grown far worse in the four years since the military seized power and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected government.
We need greater cooperation to bring an end to the hostilities and forge a path towards an inclusive democratic transition and a return to civilian rule, allowing for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees.
And in Haiti, we are seeing massive human rights violations — including more than a million people displaced, and children facing a horrific increase in sexual violence and recruitment into gangs.
In the coming days, I will put forward proposals to the United Nations Security Council for greater stability and security for the people of Haiti — namely through an effective UN assistance mechanism to support the Multilateral Security Support mission, the national police and Haitian authorities.
A durable solution requires a political process — led and owned by the Haitian people — that restores democratic institutions through elections.
The Pact for the Future calls for peace processes and approaches rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law and the UN Charter.
It proposes specific actions to prioritize conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and peacebuilding.
And it includes a commitment to tackle the root causes of conflict, which are so often enmeshed in denials of basic human needs and rights.
Second — the Pact for the Future advances human rights through development.
The Sustainable Development Goals and human rights are fundamentally intertwined.
They represent real human needs — health, food, water, education, decent work and social protection.
With less than one-fifth of the Goals on track, the Pact calls for a massive acceleration through an SDG Stimulus, reforming the global financial architecture, and taking meaningful action for countries drowning in debt.
This must include focused action to conquer the most widespread human rights abuse in history — inequality for women and girls.
The Pact calls for investing in battling all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, and ensuring their meaningful participation and leadership across all walks of life.
And along with the Declaration on Future Generations, the Pact calls for supporting the rights and futures of young people through decent work, removing barriers for youth participation, and enhancing training.
And the Global Digital Compact calls on nations to champion young innovators, nurture entrepreneurial spirit, and equip the next generation with digital literacy and skills.
Third — the Pact for the Future recognizes that the rule of law and human rights go hand-in-hand.
The rule of law, when founded on human rights, is an essential pillar of protection.
It shields the most vulnerable.
It’s the first line of defense against crime and corruption.
It supports fair, just and inclusive economies and societies.
It holds perpetrators of human rights atrocities to account.
It enables civic space for people to make their voices heard — and for journalists to carry out their essential work, free from interference or threats.
And it reaffirms the world’s commitment to equal access to justice, good governance, and transparent and accountable institutions.
Fourth — human rights through climate action.
Last year was the hottest on record — capping the hottest decade on record.
Rising heat, melting glaciers and hotter oceans are a recipe for disaster.
Floods, droughts, deadly storms, hunger, mass displacement — our war on nature is also a war on human rights.
We must choose a different path.
I salute the many Member States who legally recognize the right to a healthy environment — and I call on all countries to do the same.
Governments must keep their promise to produce new, economy-wide national climate action plans this year, well ahead of COP30 in Brazil.
Those plans must limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees — including by accelerating the global energy transition.
We also need a surge in finance for climate action in developing countries, to adapt to global heating, slash emissions and accelerate the renewables revolution, which represents a massive economic opportunity.
We must stand up to the misleading campaign of many in the fossil fuel industry and its enablers who are aiding and abetting this madness, while also protecting and defending those on the front lines of climate justice.
And fifth — human rights through stronger, better governance of technology.
As fast-moving technologies expand into every aspect of our lives, I am deeply concerned about human rights being undermined.
At its best, social media is a meeting ground for people to exchange ideas and spark respectful debate.
But it can also be an arena of fiery combat and blatant ignorance.
A place where the poisons of misinformation, disinformation, racism, misogyny and hate speech are not only tolerated — but often encouraged.
Verbal violence online can easily spill into physical violence in real life.
Recent rollbacks on social media fact-checking and content moderation are re-opening the floodgates to more hate, more threats, and more violence.
Make no mistake.
These rollbacks will lead to less free speech, not more, as people become increasingly fearful to engage on these platforms.
Meanwhile, the great promise of Artificial Intelligence is matched by limitless peril to undermine human autonomy, human identity, human control — and yes, human rights.
In the face of these threats, the Global Digital Compact brings the world together to ensure that human rights are not sacrificed on the altar of technology.
This includes working with digital companies and policymakers to extend human rights to every corner of cyberspace — including a new focus on information integrity across digital platforms.
The Global Principles for Information Integrity I launched last year will support and inform this work as we push for a more humane information ecosystem.
The Global Digital Compact also includes the first universal agreement on the governance of AI that brings every country to the table and commitments on capacity-building, so all countries and people benefit from AI’s potential.
By investing in affordable internet, digital literacy, and infrastructure.
By helping developing countries use AI to grow small businesses, improve public services, and connect communities to new markets.
And by placing human rights at the centre of AI-driven systems.
The Pact’s decisions to create an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and an ongoing Global Dialogue that ensure all countries have a voice in shaping its future are important steps forward. We must implement them.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
We can help end the suffocation of human rights by breathing life into the Pact for the Future and the work of this Council.
Let’s do that together. We don’t have a moment to lose.
And I thank you.
[all-French translation]
L’ouverture de la présente session coïncide avec un sinistre jalon : le troisième anniversaire de l’invasion de l’Ukraine par la Russie, en violation de la Charte des Nations Unies.
Plus de 12 600 civils ont été tués et bien plus encore ont été blessés.
Des communautés entières ont été anéanties.
Des hôpitaux et des écoles ne sont plus que décombres.
Nous ne devons ménager aucun effort pour mettre un terme à ce conflit et parvenir à une paix juste et durable, conformément à la Charte des Nations Unies, au droit international et aux résolutions de l’Assemblée générale.
Les conflits comme la guerre en Ukraine prélèvent un lourd tribut.
Ils déciment les populations.
Ils érodent les principes fondamentaux que sont l’intégrité territoriale, la souveraineté et l’état de droit.
Ils sapent les activités vitales de ce Conseil.
Sans le respect des droits humains – qu’ils soient civils, culturels, économiques, politiques ou sociaux – la paix durable n’est qu’une chimère.
Et comme ce Conseil, les droits humains sont une source de lumière dans l’obscurité la plus profonde.
Grâce à vos travaux et à ceux que le Haut-Commissariat mène dans le monde entier, vous soutenez les défenseurs et défenseuses des droits humains qui, avec courage, risquent la persécution, la détention et même la mort.
Vous travaillez avec les gouvernements, la société civile et d’autres acteurs pour renforcer l’action en faveur des droits humains.
Et vous apportez votre soutien aux mécanismes d’enquête et d’établissement des responsabilités.
Il y a cinq ans, nous avons lancé notre appel à l’action en faveur des droits humains, l’objectif étant d’intégrer les droits humains dans toutes les activités des Nations Unies menées à travers le monde, en étroite collaboration avec nos partenaires.
Je continuerai d’apporter mon appui à ces travaux importants, ainsi qu’au Haut-Commissariat, dans notre lutte pour les droits humains partout dans le monde.
Excellences,
Nous avons du pain sur la planche.
Les droits humains sont l’oxygène de l’humanité.
Mais ils sont asphyxiés, les uns après les autres.
Par les autocrates, qui écrasent l’opposition parce qu’ils craignent ce dont serait capable un peuple ayant pleinement les moyens d’agir.
Par le patriarcat, qui empêche les filles d’aller à l’école et les femmes de jouir de leurs droits fondamentaux.
Par les guerres et la violence, qui privent les populations de leur droit à l’alimentation, à l’eau, et à l’éducation.
Par les bellicistes, qui se rient du droit international, du droit international humanitaire et de la Charte des Nations Unies.
Les droits humains sont asphyxiés par la crise climatique.
Par un système financier mondial en faillite morale, qui fait trop souvent obstacle à une plus grande égalité et au développement durable.
Par des technologies incontrôlables comme l’intelligence artificielle, qui suscitent de grands espoirs mais recèlent aussi la capacité de violer les droits humains en un seul clic.
Par une intolérance croissante à l’égard de groupes entiers, qu’il s’agisse des peuples autochtones, des migrants et réfugiés, de la communauté LGBTQI+, ou encore des personnes handicapées.
Et par les discours de ceux qui, prêchant la division et la colère, considèrent les droits humains non pas comme un bienfait pour l’humanité, mais comme un obstacle au pouvoir, au profit et au contrôle qu’ils convoitent.
En bref, les droits humains, sous le coup d’attaques vicieuses, sont dans leurs derniers retranchements.
Cette situation représente une menace directe pour tous les mécanismes et systèmes établis de haute lutte au cours des 80 dernières années pour protéger et faire progresser les droits humains.
Or, comme le rappelle le Pacte pour l’avenir adopté récemment, les droits humains sont, en fait, une source de solutions.
Le Pacte définit les mesures que nous pouvons prendre pour gagner le combat pour les droits humains sur plusieurs fronts.
Premièrement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à la paix et instaurer la paix grâce aux droits humains.
Les conflits infligent des violations massives des droits humains.
Dans le Territoire palestinien occupé, les violations des droits humains ont connu une hausse vertigineuse depuis les horribles attaques perpétrées par le Hamas le 7 octobre, et les niveaux intolérables de mort et de destruction à Gaza.
Je suis gravement préoccupé par la montée des violences et des autres violations commises en Cisjordanie occupée par les colons israéliens, ainsi que par les appels à l’annexion. Nous assistons à un cessez-le-feu précaire. Nous devons éviter à tout prix une reprise des hostilités. La population de Gaza a déjà trop souffert.
Il est temps d’instaurer un cessez-le-feu permanent, de libérer tous les otages restants, de réaliser des progrès irréversibles vers la solution des deux États, la fin l’occupation, et la création d’un État palestinien indépendant, dont Gaza ferait partie intégrante.
Au Soudan, les bains de sang, les déplacements de population et la famine ravagent le pays.
Les parties en conflit doivent prendre immédiatement des mesures pour protéger les civils, défendre les droits humains, cesser les hostilités et instaurer la paix.
Les mécanismes nationaux et internationaux de surveillance et d’enquête en matière de droits humains devraient être autorisés à documenter ce qui se déroule sur le terrain.
En République démocratique du Congo, nous sommes témoins d’un tourbillon mortel de violences et d’atroces violations des droits humains, amplifié par la récente offensive du M23, soutenue par les forces de défense rwandaises.
Plus les villes tombent, plus le risque d’une guerre régionale augmente.
Il est temps de faire taire les armes.
L’heure est à la diplomatie et au dialogue.
Le récent sommet conjoint qui s’est tenu en Tanzanie a ouvert la voie en renouvelant l’appel à un cessez-le-feu immédiat.
La souveraineté et l’intégrité territoriale de la RDC doivent être respectées.
Le peuple congolais mérite la paix.
Au Sahel, j’appelle à la reprise du dialogue régional afin de protéger les citoyens du terrorisme et des violations systémiques des droits humains et de créer les conditions du développement durable.
Au Myanmar, la situation s’est considérablement aggravée au cours des quatre années qui se sont écoulées depuis que les militaires ont pris le pouvoir et détenu arbitrairement des membres du gouvernement démocratiquement élu.
Il nous faut resserrer la coopération pour mettre fin aux hostilités et ouvrir la voie à une transition démocratique inclusive et au retour à un régime civil, permettant le retour en toute sécurité des réfugiés rohingyas.
En Haïti, nous constatons des violations massives des droits humains : plus d’un million de personnes ont été déplacées et les enfants sont en proie à une augmentation effroyable des violences sexuelles et de l’enrôlement dans les gangs.
Dans les jours à venir, je présenterai au Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies des propositions pour renforcer la stabilité et la sécurité du peuple haïtien, notamment par le biais d’un mécanisme d’assistance efficace des Nations unies destiné à soutenir la Mission multilatérale de soutien à la sécurité, à la police nationale et aux autorités haïtiennes.
Une solution durable nécessite un processus politique – mené et pris en charge par le peuple haïtien – qui rétablisse les institutions démocratiques à travers des élections.
Le Pacte pour l’avenir demande la mise en place de processus et de démarches pour la paix ancrés dans la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’Homme, le droit international et la Charte des Nations Unies.
Le Pacte pour l’avenir appelle à des processus et des approches de paix fondés sur la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme, le droit international et la Charte des Nations unies.
Il propose des mesures précises visant à privilégier la prévention des conflits, la médiation, le règlement des conflits et la consolidation de la paix.
Il énonce également l’engagement pris de s’attaquer aux causes profondes des conflits, qui sont bien souvent liées au déni des besoins et des droits humains fondamentaux.
Deuxièmement, le Pacte pour l’avenir fait progresser les droits humains grâce au développement.
Les objectifs de développement durable et les droits humains sont intrinsèquement liés.
Ils représentent des besoins humains réels : la santé, l’alimentation, l’eau, l’éducation, le travail décent et la protection sociale.
Alors que moins d’un cinquième des objectifs sont en passe d’être réalisés, le Pacte appelle à une accélération massive des progrès grâce au plan de relance des objectifs de développement durable, à la réforme de
l’architecture financière mondiale et à la prise de mesures réfléchies pour les pays qui croulent sous la dette.
Il s’agit donc, notamment, de mener une action ciblée pour vaincre la violation des droits humains la plus répandue dans l’histoire : l’inégalité pour les femmes et les filles.
Le Pacte appelle à investir pour lutter contre toutes les formes de discrimination et de violence à l’égard des femmes et des filles et pour permettre à celles-ci de participer véritablement à tous les domaines de la vie et d’y jouer un rôle moteur.
Avec la Déclaration sur les générations futures, le Pacte appelle à défendre les droits et l’avenir des jeunes en promouvant le travail décent, en éliminant les obstacles à la participation des jeunes et en améliorant la formation.
Le Pacte numérique mondial appelle tous les pays à soutenir les jeunes innovateurs, à cultiver l’esprit entrepreneurial et à doter la prochaine génération des connaissances et compétences numériques nécessaires.
Troisièmement, le Pacte pour l’avenir établit que l’état de droit et les droits humains vont de pair.
L’état de droit, lorsqu’il est fondé sur les droits humains, est un pilier essentiel de la protection.
Il protège les plus vulnérables.
C’est la première ligne de défense contre la criminalité et la corruption.
Il favorise des économies et des sociétés équitables, justes et inclusives.
Il oblige les auteurs d’atrocités commises en violation des droits humains à rendre compte de leurs actes.
Il offre aux individus un espace civique où faire entendre leur voix et permet aux journalistes d’accomplir leur travail essentiel, à l’abri des ingérences et des menaces.
Et il réaffirme l’engagement du monde en faveur de l’égalité d’accès à la justice, de la bonne gouvernance et d’institutions transparentes et responsables.
Quatrièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à l’action climatique.
L’année dernière a été la plus chaude jamais enregistrée, et vient couronner la décennie la plus chaude jamais enregistrée.
La hausse des températures, la fonte des glaciers et le réchauffement des océans ne peuvent mener qu’au désastre.
Inondations, sécheresses, tempêtes meurtrières, famine, déplacements massifs : notre guerre contre la nature est aussi une guerre contre les droits humains.
Nous devons prendre un autre chemin.
Je salue les nombreux États Membres qui reconnaissent légalement le droit à un environnement sain, et j’appelle tous les pays à faire de même.
Les gouvernements doivent tenir leur promesse d’élaborer cette année de nouveaux plans d’action nationaux pour le climat couvrant l’ensemble de l’économie, et ce bien avant la COP 30 qui se tiendra au Brésil.
Ces plans doivent limiter la hausse de la température mondiale à 1,5 degré, notamment en accélérant la transition énergétique mondiale.
Nous avons également besoin d’une augmentation massive des financements pour l’action climatique dans les pays en développement, afin de s’adapter au réchauffement de la planète, de réduire les émissions et d’accélérer la révolution des énergies renouvelables, qui offre d’énormes possibilités économiques.
Nous devons nous opposer aux campagnes mensongères menées par de nombreux acteurs de l’industrie des combustibles fossiles et à ceux qui la font vivre et s’en rendent complices…
Tout comme nous devons protéger et défendre les personnes qui sont en première ligne de la lutte pour une justice climatique.
Et cinquièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à une gouvernance renforcée et améliorée des technologies.
À l’heure où des technologies en rapide mutation s’immiscent dans tous les aspects de notre vie, je m’inquiète des risques qu’elles représentent pour les droits humains.
Dans le meilleur des cas, les médias sociaux sont un lieu de rencontre où l’on peut échanger des idées et débattre avec respect.
Mais ils peuvent aussi devenir un théâtre de confrontations enflammées et d’une ignorance flagrante.
Un lieu où les poisons que sont la mésinformation, la désinformation, le racisme, la misogynie et les discours de haine sont non seulement tolérés, mais, bien souvent, encouragés.
La violence verbale en ligne peut facilement se transformer en violence physique dans le monde réel.
Les reculs récents en matière de vérification des faits et de modération de contenu sur les réseaux sociaux rouvrent grand la porte à plus de haine, plus de menaces et plus de violence.
Que l’on ne s’y trompe pas.
Ces reculs entraîneront une diminution de la liberté d’expression, et non une amplification – car les gens craignent de plus en plus de s’exprimer sur ces plateformes.
Dans le même temps, la grande promesse de l’intelligence artificielle s’accompagne d’un risque insondable qui met en péril l’autonomie, l’identité et le contrôle humains – jusqu’aux droits humains.
Face à ces menaces, le Pacte numérique mondial rassemble le monde entier pour veiller à ce que les droits humains ne soient pas sacrifiés sur l’autel de la technologie.
Il s’agit notamment de collaborer avec les entreprises numériques et les décideurs politiques pour étendre le respect des droits humains à tous les recoins du cyberespace, en mettant notamment l’accent sur l’intégrité de l’information sur toutes les plateformes numériques.
Les Principes mondiaux pour l’intégrité de l’information que j’ai lancés l’année dernière viendront étayer et orienter les efforts que nous déploierons en vue de créer un écosystème de l’information plus humain.
Le Pacte numérique mondial comprend également le premier accord universel sur la gouvernance de l’intelligence artificielle qui donne voix au chapitre à tous les pays, ainsi que des engagements en matière de renforcement des capacités, visant à ce que tous les pays et toutes les personnes bénéficient du potentiel de l’intelligence artificielle.
Pour cela, il faut investir dans l’accès à Internet à un prix abordable, dans les formations au numérique et dans les infrastructures ;
Aider les pays en développement à utiliser l’intelligence artificielle pour développer les petites entreprises, améliorer les services publics et connecter les communautés à de nouveaux marchés.
Et mettre les droits humains au centre des systèmes fondés sur l’intelligence artificielle.
Les décisions du Pacte – d’établir un Groupe scientifique international indépendant et un Dialogue mondial régulier garantissant la participation de tous les pays dans l’élaboration de l’avenir de l’intelligence artificielle – constituent des avancées importantes. Il faut les concrétiser.
Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs,
Nous pouvons mettre fin à l’asphyxie des droits humains en donnant vie au Pacte pour l’avenir et aux travaux de ce Conseil.
Attelons-nous à cette tâche – ensemble. Nous n’avons pas un instant à perdre.
Et je vous remercie.
Source: United Nations secretary general
[Scroll down for all-English and all-French versions]
Mr. President of the General Assembly, Mr. President of the Human Rights Council, High Commissioner,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
We begin this session under the weight of a grim milestone — the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the UN charter.
More than 12,600 civilians killed, with many more injured.
Entire communities reduced to rubble.
Hospitals and schools destroyed.
We must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict, and to achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.
Conflicts like the war in Ukraine exact a heavy toll.
A toll on people.
A toll on fundamental principles like territorial integrity, sovereignty and the rule of law.
And a toll on the vital business of this Council.
Without respect for human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social — sustainable peace is a pipedream.
And like this Council, human rights shine a light in the darkest places.
Through your work, and the work of the High Commissioner’s Office around the world, you’re supporting brave human rights defenders risking persecution, detention and even death.
You’re working with governments, civil society and others to strengthen action on human rights.
And you’re supporting investigations and accountability.
Five years ago, we launched our Call to Action for Human Rights, embedding human rights across the work of the United Nations around the world in close cooperation with our partners.
I will continue supporting this important work, and the High Commissioner’s Office, as we fight for human rights everywhere.
Excellencies,
We have our work cut out for us.
Human rights are the oxygen of humanity.
But one by one, human rights are being suffocated.
By autocrats, crushing opposition because they fear what a truly empowered people would do.
By a patriarchy that keeps girls out of school, and women at arm’s length from basic rights.
By wars and violence that strip populations of their right to food, water and education.
By warmongers who thumb their nose at international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.
Human rights are being suffocated by the climate crisis.
And by a morally bankrupt global financial system that too often obstructs the path to greater equality and sustainable development.
By runaway technologies like Artificial Intelligence that hold great promise, but also the ability to violate human rights at the touch of a button.
By growing intolerance against entire groups — from Indigenous peoples, to migrants and refugees, to the LGBTQI+ community, to persons with disabilities.
And by voices of division and anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they seek.
In short — human rights are on the ropes and being pummeled hard.
This represents a direct threat to all of the hard-won mechanisms and systems established over the last 80 years to protect and advance human rights.
But as the recently adopted Pact for the Future reminds us, human rights are, in fact, a source of solutions.
The Pact provides a playbook on how we can win the fight for human rights on several fronts.
First — human rights through peace and peace through human rights.
Conflicts inflict human rights violations on a massive scale.
In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, violations of human rights have skyrocketed since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7 and the intolerable levels of death and destruction in Gaza.
And I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation. We are witnessing a precarious ceasefire. We must avoid at all costs a resumption of hostilities. The people in Gaza have already suffered too much.
It’s time for a permanent ceasefire, the dignified release of all remaining hostages, irreversible progress towards a two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.
In Sudan, bloodshed, displacement and famine are engulfing the country.
The warring parties must take immediate action to protect civilians, uphold human rights, cease hostilities and forge peace.
And domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms should be permitted to document what is happening on the ground.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we see a deadly whirlwind of violence and horrifying human rights abuses, amplified by the recent M23 offensive, supported by the Rwandan Defense Forces.
As more cities fall, the risk of a regional war rises.
It’s time to silence the guns.
It’s time for diplomacy and dialogue.
The recent joint summit in Tanzania offered a way forward with a renewed call for an immediate ceasefire.
The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.
The Congolese people deserve peace.
In the Sahel, I call for a renewed regional dialogue to protect citizens from terrorism and systemic violations of human rights, and to create the conditions for sustainable development.
In Myanmar, the situation has grown far worse in the four years since the military seized power and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected government.
We need greater cooperation to bring an end to the hostilities and forge a path towards an inclusive democratic transition and a return to civilian rule, allowing for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees.
And in Haiti, we are seeing massive human rights violations — including more than a million people displaced, and children facing a horrific increase in sexual violence and recruitment into gangs.
In the coming days, I will put forward proposals to the United Nations Security Council for greater stability and security for the people of Haiti — namely through an effective UN assistance mechanism to support the Multilateral Security Support mission, the national police and Haitian authorities.
A durable solution requires a political process — led and owned by the Haitian people — that restores democratic institutions through elections.
The Pact for the Future calls for peace processes and approaches rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law and the UN Charter.
It proposes specific actions to prioritize conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and peacebuilding.
And it includes a commitment to tackle the root causes of conflict, which are so often enmeshed in denials of basic human needs and rights.
Second — the Pact for the Future advances human rights through development.
The Sustainable Development Goals and human rights are fundamentally intertwined.
They represent real human needs — health, food, water, education, decent work and social protection.
With less than one-fifth of the Goals on track, the Pact calls for a massive acceleration through an SDG Stimulus, reforming the global financial architecture, and taking meaningful action for countries drowning in debt.
This must include focused action to conquer the most widespread human rights abuse in history — inequality for women and girls.
The Pact calls for investing in battling all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, and ensuring their meaningful participation and leadership across all walks of life.
And along with the Declaration on Future Generations, the Pact calls for supporting the rights and futures of young people through decent work, removing barriers for youth participation, and enhancing training.
And the Global Digital Compact calls on nations to champion young innovators, nurture entrepreneurial spirit, and equip the next generation with digital literacy and skills.
Third — the Pact for the Future recognizes that the rule of law and human rights go hand-in-hand.
The rule of law, when founded on human rights, is an essential pillar of protection.
It shields the most vulnerable.
It’s the first line of defense against crime and corruption.
It supports fair, just and inclusive economies and societies.
It holds perpetrators of human rights atrocities to account.
It enables civic space for people to make their voices heard — and for journalists to carry out their essential work, free from interference or threats.
And it reaffirms the world’s commitment to equal access to justice, good governance, and transparent and accountable institutions.
Quatrièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à l’action climatique.
L’année dernière a été la plus chaude jamais enregistrée, et vient couronner la décennie la plus chaude jamais enregistrée.
La hausse des températures, la fonte des glaciers et le réchauffement des océans ne peuvent mener qu’au désastre.
Inondations, sécheresses, tempêtes meurtrières, famine, déplacements massifs : notre guerre contre la nature est aussi une guerre contre les droits humains.
Nous devons prendre un autre chemin.
Je salue les nombreux États Membres qui reconnaissent légalement le droit à un environnement sain, et j’appelle tous les pays à faire de même.
Les gouvernements doivent tenir leur promesse d’élaborer cette année de nouveaux plans d’action nationaux pour le climat couvrant l’ensemble de l’économie, et ce bien avant la COP 30 qui se tiendra au Brésil.
Ces plans doivent limiter la hausse de la température mondiale à 1,5 degré, notamment en accélérant la transition énergétique mondiale.
Nous avons également besoin d’une augmentation massive des financements pour l’action climatique dans les pays en développement, afin de s’adapter au réchauffement de la planète, de réduire les émissions et d’accélérer la révolution des énergies renouvelables, qui offre d’énormes possibilités économiques.
Nous devons nous opposer aux campagnes mensongères menées par de nombreux acteurs de l’industrie des combustibles fossiles et à ceux qui la font vivre et s’en rendent complices…
Tout comme nous devons protéger et défendre les personnes qui sont en première ligne de la lutte pour une justice climatique.
Et cinquièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à une gouvernance renforcée et améliorée des technologies.
À l’heure où des technologies en rapide mutation s’immiscent dans tous les aspects de notre vie, je m’inquiète des risques qu’elles représentent pour les droits humains.
Dans le meilleur des cas, les médias sociaux sont un lieu de rencontre où l’on peut échanger des idées et débattre avec respect.
Mais ils peuvent aussi devenir un théâtre de confrontations enflammées et d’une ignorance flagrante.
Un lieu où les poisons que sont la mésinformation, la désinformation, le racisme, la misogynie et les discours de haine sont non seulement tolérés, mais, bien souvent, encouragés.
La violence verbale en ligne peut facilement se transformer en violence physique dans le monde réel.
Les reculs récents en matière de vérification des faits et de modération de contenu sur les réseaux sociaux rouvrent grand la porte à plus de haine, plus de menaces et plus de violence.
Que l’on ne s’y trompe pas.
Ces reculs entraîneront une diminution de la liberté d’expression, et non une amplification – car les gens craignent de plus en plus de s’exprimer sur ces plateformes.
Dans le même temps, la grande promesse de l’intelligence artificielle s’accompagne d’un risque insondable qui met en péril l’autonomie, l’identité et le contrôle humains – jusqu’aux droits humains.
Face à ces menaces, le Pacte numérique mondial rassemble le monde entier pour veiller à ce que les droits humains ne soient pas sacrifiés sur l’autel de la technologie.
Il s’agit notamment de collaborer avec les entreprises numériques et les décideurs politiques pour étendre le respect des droits humains à tous les recoins du cyberespace, en mettant notamment l’accent sur l’intégrité de l’information sur toutes les plateformes numériques.
Les Principes mondiaux pour l’intégrité de l’information que j’ai lancés l’année dernière viendront étayer et orienter les efforts que nous déploierons en vue de créer un écosystème de l’information plus humain.
Le Pacte numérique mondial comprend également le premier accord universel sur la gouvernance de l’intelligence artificielle qui donne voix au chapitre à tous les pays, ainsi que des engagements en matière de renforcement des capacités, visant à ce que tous les pays et toutes les personnes bénéficient du potentiel de l’intelligence artificielle.
Pour cela, il faut investir dans l’accès à l’Internet à un prix abordable, dans les formations au numérique et dans les infrastructures ;
Aider les pays en développement à utiliser l’intelligence artificielle pour développer les petites entreprises, améliorer les services publics et connecter les communautés à de nouveaux marchés.
Et mettre les droits humains au centre des systèmes fondés sur l’intelligence artificielle.
Les décisions du Pacte – d’établir un Groupe scientifique international indépendant et un Dialogue mondial régulier garantissant la participation de tous les pays dans l’élaboration de l’avenir de l’intelligence artificielle – constituent des avancées importantes. Il faut les concrétiser.
Excellences,
Mesdames et Messieurs,
Nous pouvons mettre fin à l’asphyxie des droits humains en donnant vie au Pacte pour l’avenir et aux travaux de ce Conseil.
Attelons-nous à cette tâche – ensemble. Nous n’avons pas un instant à perdre.
Et je vous remercie.
[all-English version]
Mr. President of the General Assembly, Mr. President of the Human Rights Council, High Commissioner,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
We begin this session under the weight of a grim milestone — the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in violation of the UN charter.
More than 12,600 civilians killed, with many more injured.
Entire communities reduced to rubble.
Hospitals and schools destroyed.
We must spare no effort to bring an end to this conflict, and to achieve a just and lasting peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.
Conflicts like the war in Ukraine exact a heavy toll.
A toll on people.
A toll on fundamental principles like territorial integrity, sovereignty and the rule of law.
And a toll on the vital business of this Council.
Without respect for human rights — civil, cultural, economic, political and social — sustainable peace is a pipedream.
And like this Council, human rights shine a light in the darkest places.
Through your work, and the work of the High Commissioner’s Office around the world, you’re supporting brave human rights defenders risking persecution, detention and even death.
You’re working with governments, civil society and others to strengthen action on human rights.
And you’re supporting investigations and accountability.
Five years ago, we launched our Call to Action for Human Rights, embedding human rights across the work of the United Nations around the world in close cooperation with our partners.
I will continue supporting this important work, and the High Commissioner’s Office, as we fight for human rights everywhere.
Excellencies,
We have our work cut out for us.
Human rights are the oxygen of humanity.
But one by one, human rights are being suffocated.
By autocrats, crushing opposition because they fear what a truly empowered people would do.
By a patriarchy that keeps girls out of school, and women at arm’s length from basic rights.
By wars and violence that strip populations of their right to food, water and education.
By warmongers who thumb their nose at international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.
Human rights are being suffocated by the climate crisis.
And by a morally bankrupt global financial system that too often obstructs the path to greater equality and sustainable development.
By runaway technologies like Artificial Intelligence that hold great promise, but also the ability to violate human rights at the touch of a button.
By growing intolerance against entire groups — from Indigenous peoples, to migrants and refugees, to the LGBTQI+ community, to persons with disabilities.
And by voices of division and anger who view human rights not as a boon to humanity, but as a barrier to the power, profit and control they seek.
In short — human rights are on the ropes and being pummeled hard.
This represents a direct threat to all of the hard-won mechanisms and systems established over the last 80 years to protect and advance human rights.
But as the recently adopted Pact for the Future reminds us, human rights are, in fact, a source of solutions.
The Pact provides a playbook on how we can win the fight for human rights on several fronts.
First — human rights through peace and peace through human rights.
Conflicts inflict human rights violations on a massive scale.
In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, violations of human rights have skyrocketed since the horrific Hamas attacks of October 7 and the intolerable levels of death and destruction in Gaza.
And I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation. We are witnessing a precarious ceasefire. We must avoid at all costs a resumption of hostilities. The people in Gaza have already suffered too much.
It’s time for a permanent ceasefire, the dignified release of all remaining hostages, irreversible progress towards a two-State solution, an end to the occupation, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.
In Sudan, bloodshed, displacement and famine are engulfing the country.
The warring parties must take immediate action to protect civilians, uphold human rights, cease hostilities and forge peace.
And domestic and international human rights monitoring and investigation mechanisms should be permitted to document what is happening on the ground.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we see a deadly whirlwind of violence and horrifying human rights abuses, amplified by the recent M23 offensive, supported by the Rwandan Defense Forces.
As more cities fall, the risk of a regional war rises.
It’s time to silence the guns.
It’s time for diplomacy and dialogue.
The recent joint summit in Tanzania offered a way forward with a renewed call for an immediate ceasefire.
The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.
The Congolese people deserve peace.
In the Sahel, I call for a renewed regional dialogue to protect citizens from terrorism and systemic violations of human rights, and to create the conditions for sustainable development.
In Myanmar, the situation has grown far worse in the four years since the military seized power and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected government.
We need greater cooperation to bring an end to the hostilities and forge a path towards an inclusive democratic transition and a return to civilian rule, allowing for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees.
And in Haiti, we are seeing massive human rights violations — including more than a million people displaced, and children facing a horrific increase in sexual violence and recruitment into gangs.
In the coming days, I will put forward proposals to the United Nations Security Council for greater stability and security for the people of Haiti — namely through an effective UN assistance mechanism to support the Multilateral Security Support mission, the national police and Haitian authorities.
A durable solution requires a political process — led and owned by the Haitian people — that restores democratic institutions through elections.
The Pact for the Future calls for peace processes and approaches rooted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international law and the UN Charter.
It proposes specific actions to prioritize conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and peacebuilding.
And it includes a commitment to tackle the root causes of conflict, which are so often enmeshed in denials of basic human needs and rights.
Second — the Pact for the Future advances human rights through development.
The Sustainable Development Goals and human rights are fundamentally intertwined.
They represent real human needs — health, food, water, education, decent work and social protection.
With less than one-fifth of the Goals on track, the Pact calls for a massive acceleration through an SDG Stimulus, reforming the global financial architecture, and taking meaningful action for countries drowning in debt.
This must include focused action to conquer the most widespread human rights abuse in history — inequality for women and girls.
The Pact calls for investing in battling all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls, and ensuring their meaningful participation and leadership across all walks of life.
And along with the Declaration on Future Generations, the Pact calls for supporting the rights and futures of young people through decent work, removing barriers for youth participation, and enhancing training.
And the Global Digital Compact calls on nations to champion young innovators, nurture entrepreneurial spirit, and equip the next generation with digital literacy and skills.
Third — the Pact for the Future recognizes that the rule of law and human rights go hand-in-hand.
The rule of law, when founded on human rights, is an essential pillar of protection.
It shields the most vulnerable.
It’s the first line of defense against crime and corruption.
It supports fair, just and inclusive economies and societies.
It holds perpetrators of human rights atrocities to account.
It enables civic space for people to make their voices heard — and for journalists to carry out their essential work, free from interference or threats.
And it reaffirms the world’s commitment to equal access to justice, good governance, and transparent and accountable institutions.
Fourth — human rights through climate action.
Last year was the hottest on record — capping the hottest decade on record.
Rising heat, melting glaciers and hotter oceans are a recipe for disaster.
Floods, droughts, deadly storms, hunger, mass displacement — our war on nature is also a war on human rights.
We must choose a different path.
I salute the many Member States who legally recognize the right to a healthy environment — and I call on all countries to do the same.
Governments must keep their promise to produce new, economy-wide national climate action plans this year, well ahead of COP30 in Brazil.
Those plans must limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees — including by accelerating the global energy transition.
We also need a surge in finance for climate action in developing countries, to adapt to global heating, slash emissions and accelerate the renewables revolution, which represents a massive economic opportunity.
We must stand up to the misleading campaign of many in the fossil fuel industry and its enablers who are aiding and abetting this madness, while also protecting and defending those on the front lines of climate justice.
And fifth — human rights through stronger, better governance of technology.
As fast-moving technologies expand into every aspect of our lives, I am deeply concerned about human rights being undermined.
At its best, social media is a meeting ground for people to exchange ideas and spark respectful debate.
But it can also be an arena of fiery combat and blatant ignorance.
A place where the poisons of misinformation, disinformation, racism, misogyny and hate speech are not only tolerated — but often encouraged.
Verbal violence online can easily spill into physical violence in real life.
Recent rollbacks on social media fact-checking and content moderation are re-opening the floodgates to more hate, more threats, and more violence.
Make no mistake.
These rollbacks will lead to less free speech, not more, as people become increasingly fearful to engage on these platforms.
Meanwhile, the great promise of Artificial Intelligence is matched by limitless peril to undermine human autonomy, human identity, human control — and yes, human rights.
In the face of these threats, the Global Digital Compact brings the world together to ensure that human rights are not sacrificed on the altar of technology.
This includes working with digital companies and policymakers to extend human rights to every corner of cyberspace — including a new focus on information integrity across digital platforms.
The Global Principles for Information Integrity I launched last year will support and inform this work as we push for a more humane information ecosystem.
The Global Digital Compact also includes the first universal agreement on the governance of AI that brings every country to the table and commitments on capacity-building, so all countries and people benefit from AI’s potential.
By investing in affordable internet, digital literacy, and infrastructure.
By helping developing countries use AI to grow small businesses, improve public services, and connect communities to new markets.
And by placing human rights at the centre of AI-driven systems.
The Pact’s decisions to create an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and an ongoing Global Dialogue that ensure all countries have a voice in shaping its future are important steps forward. We must implement them.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
We can help end the suffocation of human rights by breathing life into the Pact for the Future and the work of this Council.
Let’s do that together. We don’t have a moment to lose.
And I thank you.
[all-French translation]
L’ouverture de la présente session coïncide avec un sinistre jalon : le troisième anniversaire de l’invasion de l’Ukraine par la Russie, en violation de la Charte des Nations Unies.
Plus de 12 600 civils ont été tués et bien plus encore ont été blessés.
Des communautés entières ont été anéanties.
Des hôpitaux et des écoles ne sont plus que décombres.
Nous ne devons ménager aucun effort pour mettre un terme à ce conflit et parvenir à une paix juste et durable, conformément à la Charte des Nations Unies, au droit international et aux résolutions de l’Assemblée générale.
Les conflits comme la guerre en Ukraine prélèvent un lourd tribut.
Ils déciment les populations.
Ils érodent les principes fondamentaux que sont l’intégrité territoriale, la souveraineté et l’état de droit.
Ils sapent les activités vitales de ce Conseil.
Sans le respect des droits humains – qu’ils soient civils, culturels, économiques, politiques ou sociaux – la paix durable n’est qu’une chimère.
Et comme ce Conseil, les droits humains sont une source de lumière dans l’obscurité la plus profonde.
Grâce à vos travaux et à ceux que le Haut-Commissariat mène dans le monde entier, vous soutenez les défenseurs et défenseuses des droits humains qui, avec courage, risquent la persécution, la détention et même la mort.
Vous travaillez avec les gouvernements, la société civile et d’autres acteurs pour renforcer l’action en faveur des droits humains.
Et vous apportez votre soutien aux mécanismes d’enquête et d’établissement des responsabilités.
Il y a cinq ans, nous avons lancé notre appel à l’action en faveur des droits humains, l’objectif étant d’intégrer les droits humains dans toutes les activités des Nations Unies menées à travers le monde, en étroite collaboration avec nos partenaires.
Je continuerai d’apporter mon appui à ces travaux importants, ainsi qu’au Haut-Commissariat, dans notre lutte pour les droits humains partout dans le monde.
Excellences,
Nous avons du pain sur la planche.
Les droits humains sont l’oxygène de l’humanité.
Mais ils sont asphyxiés, les uns après les autres.
Par les autocrates, qui écrasent l’opposition parce qu’ils craignent ce dont serait capable un peuple ayant pleinement les moyens d’agir.
Par le patriarcat, qui empêche les filles d’aller à l’école et les femmes de jouir de leurs droits fondamentaux.
Par les guerres et la violence, qui privent les populations de leur droit à l’alimentation, à l’eau, et à l’éducation.
Par les bellicistes, qui se rient du droit international, du droit international humanitaire et de la Charte des Nations Unies.
Les droits humains sont asphyxiés par la crise climatique.
Par un système financier mondial en faillite morale, qui fait trop souvent obstacle à une plus grande égalité et au développement durable.
Par des technologies incontrôlables comme l’intelligence artificielle, qui suscitent de grands espoirs mais recèlent aussi la capacité de violer les droits humains en un seul clic.
Par une intolérance croissante à l’égard de groupes entiers, qu’il s’agisse des peuples autochtones, des migrants et réfugiés, de la communauté LGBTQI+, ou encore des personnes handicapées.
Et par les discours de ceux qui, prêchant la division et la colère, considèrent les droits humains non pas comme un bienfait pour l’humanité, mais comme un obstacle au pouvoir, au profit et au contrôle qu’ils convoitent.
En bref, les droits humains, sous le coup d’attaques vicieuses, sont dans leurs derniers retranchements.
Cette situation représente une menace directe pour tous les mécanismes et systèmes établis de haute lutte au cours des 80 dernières années pour protéger et faire progresser les droits humains.
Or, comme le rappelle le Pacte pour l’avenir adopté récemment, les droits humains sont, en fait, une source de solutions.
Le Pacte définit les mesures que nous pouvons prendre pour gagner le combat pour les droits humains sur plusieurs fronts.
Premièrement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à la paix et instaurer la paix grâce aux droits humains.
Les conflits infligent des violations massives des droits humains.
Dans le Territoire palestinien occupé, les violations des droits humains ont connu une hausse vertigineuse depuis les horribles attaques perpétrées par le Hamas le 7 octobre, et les niveaux intolérables de mort et de destruction à Gaza.
Je suis gravement préoccupé par la montée des violences et des autres violations commises en Cisjordanie occupée par les colons israéliens, ainsi que par les appels à l’annexion. Nous assistons à un cessez-le-feu précaire. Nous devons éviter à tout prix une reprise des hostilités. La population de Gaza a déjà trop souffert.
Il est temps d’instaurer un cessez-le-feu permanent, de libérer tous les otages restants, de réaliser des progrès irréversibles vers la solution des deux États, la fin l’occupation, et la création d’un État palestinien indépendant, dont Gaza ferait partie intégrante.
Au Soudan, les bains de sang, les déplacements de population et la famine ravagent le pays.
Les parties en conflit doivent prendre immédiatement des mesures pour protéger les civils, défendre les droits humains, cesser les hostilités et instaurer la paix.
Les mécanismes nationaux et internationaux de surveillance et d’enquête en matière de droits humains devraient être autorisés à documenter ce qui se déroule sur le terrain.
En République démocratique du Congo, nous sommes témoins d’un tourbillon mortel de violences et d’atroces violations des droits humains, amplifié par la récente offensive du M23, soutenue par les forces de défense rwandaises.
Plus les villes tombent, plus le risque d’une guerre régionale augmente.
Il est temps de faire taire les armes.
L’heure est à la diplomatie et au dialogue.
Le récent sommet conjoint qui s’est tenu en Tanzanie a ouvert la voie en renouvelant l’appel à un cessez-le-feu immédiat.
La souveraineté et l’intégrité territoriale de la RDC doivent être respectées.
Le peuple congolais mérite la paix.
Au Sahel, j’appelle à la reprise du dialogue régional afin de protéger les citoyens du terrorisme et des violations systémiques des droits humains et de créer les conditions du développement durable.
Au Myanmar, la situation s’est considérablement aggravée au cours des quatre années qui se sont écoulées depuis que les militaires ont pris le pouvoir et détenu arbitrairement des membres du gouvernement démocratiquement élu.
Il nous faut resserrer la coopération pour mettre fin aux hostilités et ouvrir la voie à une transition démocratique inclusive et au retour à un régime civil, permettant le retour en toute sécurité des réfugiés rohingyas.
En Haïti, nous constatons des violations massives des droits humains : plus d’un million de personnes ont été déplacées et les enfants sont en proie à une augmentation effroyable des violences sexuelles et de l’enrôlement dans les gangs.
Dans les jours à venir, je présenterai au Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies des propositions pour renforcer la stabilité et la sécurité du peuple haïtien, notamment par le biais d’un mécanisme d’assistance efficace des Nations unies destiné à soutenir la Mission multilatérale de soutien à la sécurité, à la police nationale et aux autorités haïtiennes.
Une solution durable nécessite un processus politique – mené et pris en charge par le peuple haïtien – qui rétablisse les institutions démocratiques à travers des élections.
Le Pacte pour l’avenir demande la mise en place de processus et de démarches pour la paix ancrés dans la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’Homme, le droit international et la Charte des Nations Unies.
Le Pacte pour l’avenir appelle à des processus et des approches de paix fondés sur la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme, le droit international et la Charte des Nations unies.
Il propose des mesures précises visant à privilégier la prévention des conflits, la médiation, le règlement des conflits et la consolidation de la paix.
Il énonce également l’engagement pris de s’attaquer aux causes profondes des conflits, qui sont bien souvent liées au déni des besoins et des droits humains fondamentaux.
Deuxièmement, le Pacte pour l’avenir fait progresser les droits humains grâce au développement.
Les objectifs de développement durable et les droits humains sont intrinsèquement liés.
Ils représentent des besoins humains réels : la santé, l’alimentation, l’eau, l’éducation, le travail décent et la protection sociale.
Alors que moins d’un cinquième des objectifs sont en passe d’être réalisés, le Pacte appelle à une accélération massive des progrès grâce au plan de relance des objectifs de développement durable, à la réforme de
l’architecture financière mondiale et à la prise de mesures réfléchies pour les pays qui croulent sous la dette.
Il s’agit donc, notamment, de mener une action ciblée pour vaincre la violation des droits humains la plus répandue dans l’histoire : l’inégalité pour les femmes et les filles.
Le Pacte appelle à investir pour lutter contre toutes les formes de discrimination et de violence à l’égard des femmes et des filles et pour permettre à celles-ci de participer véritablement à tous les domaines de la vie et d’y jouer un rôle moteur.
Avec la Déclaration sur les générations futures, le Pacte appelle à défendre les droits et l’avenir des jeunes en promouvant le travail décent, en éliminant les obstacles à la participation des jeunes et en améliorant la formation.
Le Pacte numérique mondial appelle tous les pays à soutenir les jeunes innovateurs, à cultiver l’esprit entrepreneurial et à doter la prochaine génération des connaissances et compétences numériques nécessaires.
Troisièmement, le Pacte pour l’avenir établit que l’état de droit et les droits humains vont de pair.
L’état de droit, lorsqu’il est fondé sur les droits humains, est un pilier essentiel de la protection.
Il protège les plus vulnérables.
C’est la première ligne de défense contre la criminalité et la corruption.
Il favorise des économies et des sociétés équitables, justes et inclusives.
Il oblige les auteurs d’atrocités commises en violation des droits humains à rendre compte de leurs actes.
Il offre aux individus un espace civique où faire entendre leur voix et permet aux journalistes d’accomplir leur travail essentiel, à l’abri des ingérences et des menaces.
Et il réaffirme l’engagement du monde en faveur de l’égalité d’accès à la justice, de la bonne gouvernance et d’institutions transparentes et responsables.
Quatrièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à l’action climatique.
L’année dernière a été la plus chaude jamais enregistrée, et vient couronner la décennie la plus chaude jamais enregistrée.
La hausse des températures, la fonte des glaciers et le réchauffement des océans ne peuvent mener qu’au désastre.
Inondations, sécheresses, tempêtes meurtrières, famine, déplacements massifs : notre guerre contre la nature est aussi une guerre contre les droits humains.
Nous devons prendre un autre chemin.
Je salue les nombreux États Membres qui reconnaissent légalement le droit à un environnement sain, et j’appelle tous les pays à faire de même.
Les gouvernements doivent tenir leur promesse d’élaborer cette année de nouveaux plans d’action nationaux pour le climat couvrant l’ensemble de l’économie, et ce bien avant la COP 30 qui se tiendra au Brésil.
Ces plans doivent limiter la hausse de la température mondiale à 1,5 degré, notamment en accélérant la transition énergétique mondiale.
Nous avons également besoin d’une augmentation massive des financements pour l’action climatique dans les pays en développement, afin de s’adapter au réchauffement de la planète, de réduire les émissions et d’accélérer la révolution des énergies renouvelables, qui offre d’énormes possibilités économiques.
Nous devons nous opposer aux campagnes mensongères menées par de nombreux acteurs de l’industrie des combustibles fossiles et à ceux qui la font vivre et s’en rendent complices…
Tout comme nous devons protéger et défendre les personnes qui sont en première ligne de la lutte pour une justice climatique.
Et cinquièmement, réaliser les droits humains grâce à une gouvernance renforcée et améliorée des technologies.
À l’heure où des technologies en rapide mutation s’immiscent dans tous les aspects de notre vie, je m’inquiète des risques qu’elles représentent pour les droits humains.
Dans le meilleur des cas, les médias sociaux sont un lieu de rencontre où l’on peut échanger des idées et débattre avec respect.
Mais ils peuvent aussi devenir un théâtre de confrontations enflammées et d’une ignorance flagrante.
Un lieu où les poisons que sont la mésinformation, la désinformation, le racisme, la misogynie et les discours de haine sont non seulement tolérés, mais, bien souvent, encouragés.
La violence verbale en ligne peut facilement se transformer en violence physique dans le monde réel.
Les reculs récents en matière de vérification des faits et de modération de contenu sur les réseaux sociaux rouvrent grand la porte à plus de haine, plus de menaces et plus de violence.
Que l’on ne s’y trompe pas.
Ces reculs entraîneront une diminution de la liberté d’expression, et non une amplification – car les gens craignent de plus en plus de s’exprimer sur ces plateformes.
Dans le même temps, la grande promesse de l’intelligence artificielle s’accompagne d’un risque insondable qui met en péril l’autonomie, l’identité et le contrôle humains – jusqu’aux droits humains.
Face à ces menaces, le Pacte numérique mondial rassemble le monde entier pour veiller à ce que les droits humains ne soient pas sacrifiés sur l’autel de la technologie.
Il s’agit notamment de collaborer avec les entreprises numériques et les décideurs politiques pour étendre le respect des droits humains à tous les recoins du cyberespace, en mettant notamment l’accent sur l’intégrité de l’information sur toutes les plateformes numériques.
Les Principes mondiaux pour l’intégrité de l’information que j’ai lancés l’année dernière viendront étayer et orienter les efforts que nous déploierons en vue de créer un écosystème de l’information plus humain.
Le Pacte numérique mondial comprend également le premier accord universel sur la gouvernance de l’intelligence artificielle qui donne voix au chapitre à tous les pays, ainsi que des engagements en matière de renforcement des capacités, visant à ce que tous les pays et toutes les personnes bénéficient du potentiel de l’intelligence artificielle.
Pour cela, il faut investir dans l’accès à Internet à un prix abordable, dans les formations au numérique et dans les infrastructures ;
Aider les pays en développement à utiliser l’intelligence artificielle pour développer les petites entreprises, améliorer les services publics et connecter les communautés à de nouveaux marchés.
Et mettre les droits humains au centre des systèmes fondés sur l’intelligence artificielle.
Les décisions du Pacte – d’établir un Groupe scientifique international indépendant et un Dialogue mondial régulier garantissant la participation de tous les pays dans l’élaboration de l’avenir de l’intelligence artificielle – constituent des avancées importantes. Il faut les concrétiser.
Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs,
Nous pouvons mettre fin à l’asphyxie des droits humains en donnant vie au Pacte pour l’avenir et aux travaux de ce Conseil.
Attelons-nous à cette tâche – ensemble. Nous n’avons pas un instant à perdre.
Et je vous remercie.
