Aidana Tastanova is a Kazakhstan national and a 4th-year law student attending the Moscow State Institute of International Relations under a Kazakh government scholarship. In May 2024, Kazakhstan, together with Australia, will head the International Conference of the IAEA on Nuclear Security. This comes in the wake of the 67th session of the General Conference [...]
Search Results for: UN General Assembly
Palestine UN ambassador criticizes US for blocking Gaza ceasefire resolutions
Palestine Permanent Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour criticized the US at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday for its repeated “misuse of veto power” against a ceasefire in Gaza. Mansour stated that Israel has been committing “genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid” against Palestinians for decades, and the reason why such crimes occurred is because [...]
France parliament votes to include right to abortion in constitution
France’s parliament voted Monday to include the right to abortion in the Constitution of France. The draft law was registered in December 2023 and has been adopted by lawmakers with some amendments. This is a monumental move, marking the first time in history the right to abortion has been enshrined into a country’s constitution. The [...]
Lessons from Oppenheimer: The Imperative of Nuclear Conflict Avoidance
“Where there were great military actions, there lies whitening now the jawbone of an ass.” Saint-John Perse (French poet, 1887-1975) As film, the core importance of “Oppenheimer” lies in its messages on human survival. The personal, emotional and romantic aspects of the film are captivating, to be sure, but they are less consequential than any [...]
South Africa accuses Israel of apartheid against Palestinians in ongoing case before ICJ
South Africa accused Israel of implementing apartheid against Palestinians during a hearing before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Tuesday, alleging that Israel subjects Palestinians to “discriminatory land zoning and planning policies, punitive and administrative house demolitions and violent army incursions into their villages towns, cities and refugee camps.” Making submissions before the ICJ, [...]
Is Canada’s Decision to Suspend UNRWA Funding a Failure in Its Duty to Prevent Genocide?
In January, reports emerged alleging the involvement of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) employees in the October 7, 2023 attack conducted by Hamas. Reacting to it, several state parties, including Canada, suspended funding to UNRWA, an institution that is considered a vital lifeline in Gaza. Ahmed [...]
Palestine calls for end to Israeli occupation as ICJ begins hearings on UN advisory opinion request
Representatives for Palestine called for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order a halt to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and declare that states have obligations to refrain from supporting the occupation as hearings commenced Monday in a case brought by the UN General Assembly. The General Assembly requested an advisory opinion from the [...]
UN must amend cybercrime treaty draft to uphold human rights protections: NGO coalition
A coalition of organizations issued an open letter on Wednesday to the Chair of the UN’s Ad Hoc Committee on Cybercrime, emphasizing “critical flaws” in the latest draft of the UN Cybercrime Convention—the so-called Zero Draft—and urging significant amendments. The coalition warned that without significant amendments, the convention could compromise global cyberspace security and human [...]
On December 6, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres, acting under Article 99 of the UN Charter, formally warned the UN Security Council of a looming global threat from the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. This is the first time that Guterres has invoked Article 99 since becoming Secretary-General, and only the fourth [...]
Explainer: The Legal and Practical Impacts of the ICJ Genocide Case Against Israel
On Friday, Jan. 26, a panel of 17 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its ruling on South Africa’s request for the indication of provisional measures submitted in the landmark case: Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel). Although [...]