by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
On the heels of Mandela Day, global leaders and civil society groups are proud to launch the COVID-19 Grassroots Justice Fund to help marginalised and oppressed communities protect their rights during the pandemic and ensure equitable recovery.
Mary Robinson, Chair of The Elders and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: “COVID-19 has exacerbated the problems of inequality and injustice and made it harder for grassroots organisations to provide much needed support. The COVID-19 Grassroots Justice Fund is a lifeline to these organisations as they adapt to the challenges created by this unprecedented pandemic, and I am proud that The Elders are supporting it with our partners.”
The Elders, the Legal Empowerment Network, Namati, Justice For All, Pathfinders and the Fund for Global Human Rights have come together as non-funding partners to assemble the COVID-19 Grassroots Justice Fund, which aims to raise US$1 million to support 100 grassroots justice groups within 12-18 months.
The Legal Empowerment Network will ensure that grantee selection is led by and for grassroots justice leaders. The Fund for Global Human Rights will administer funds, bringing to bear its deep experience channelling resources to grassroots groups around the world. The Pathfinders develop evidence-based strategies for justice for all in a pandemic and will make the case for investing in grassroots justice organisations as part of the pandemic response. The Elders will use their powerful global platform to highlight the vital work of grassroots justice in the pandemic.
Ban Ki-moon, Deputy Chair of The Elders and former UN Secretary-General, said:
“We need to ensure that justice is at the heart of the COVID-19 response and long-term recovery plans. The Elders welcome initiatives such as this COVID-19 Grassroots Justice Fund and the efforts of governments and the private sector to help the 5.1 billion people who lack meaningful access to justice.”
A one-time grant will be provided to qualified grassroots justice defenders and aims to help save lives and address the intertwined health, economic and justice crisis. Applications will initially be limited to groups who have already participated in the Legal Empowerment Network’s COVID-19 Justice Challenge and other COVID-19 activities. An open call will be announced in the future to wider groups, depending on availability of funds.
We are delighted that the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has contributed to the COVID-19 Justice Fund as an anchor donor.
Lee Mikyung, President of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), said:
“When external shocks such as COVID-19 pandemic occur, the crises will have disproportionate impacts on the most vulnerable people and countries in the world. KOICA welcomes this timely launch of the COVID-19 Grassroots Justice Fund to support grassroots justice defenders to adapt to the new circumstance and address the entangled justice, social and health crisis of our time. KOICA believes this fund will build a momentum for us to join in solidarity towards peace and hope for all to ensure that truly no one is left behind.”
Vivek Maru, CEO of Namati, said:
“The pandemic is a justice crisis. We are experiencing a massive increase in threats to basic rights: from prisoners subject to mass infection, to migrant workers at risk of starvation, to accelerate land grabs by opportunistic corporations. Grassroots justice defenders around the world are striving to meet this moment, with little resources and at great risk to themselves. We need to stand with them. Every pandemic response package—governmental or philanthropic—should include an investment in the essential work of grassroots legal empowerment.”
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Mary Robinson, Ban Ki-moon, Lakhdar Brahimi, Ricardo Lagos and Ernesto Zedillo met with President Xi and other leaders on The Elders official trip to China.
The Elders meet with the President of China, His Excellency Xi Jinping and other senior leaders, in Beijing.
The Elders’ first official trip to China, to meet its top leadership, took place in early April 2019. It was an opportunity to engage with President Xi Jinping and other senior leaders on some of today’s most pressing issues: from multilateralism and climate change, to nuclear non-proliferation and human rights.
In addition to the President, an in-depth meeting was held with China’s top foreign affairs official Yang Jiechi, Director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission. The Elders also met Li Ganjie, Minister of Ecology and Environment; Xie Zhenhua, Special Envoy on Climate Change; Zhao Huan, Chairman of the China Development Bank; He Lifeng, Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC); and Li Baodong, Secretary-General of the Boao Forum.
Raising nuclear concerns
As China is a nuclear weapons state and a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council, the Elders were keen to discuss their new initiative on nuclear disarmament with the country’s leaders. Discussions tackled how the current behaviour of Russia and the US threatens to reverse the progress achieved on nuclear disarmament since the end of the Cold War, 30 years ago.
The Chinese leadership acknowledged the Elders’ concern over the global shift toward rearmament. For their part, the Elders’ delegation was encouraged to hear that China has no plans to increase spending on its own nuclear arsenal.
The Chinese commitments to a defensive posture and a “no-first-use” policy over nuclear weapons were welcomed by the Elders. They urged China’s leaders to show leadership in persuading the US and Russia to refrain from rearmament. The Chinese leadership stressed that it was up to the US and Russia to resolve this worrying trend bilaterally.
With regards to nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the Elders said they were disappointed by the failure of President Trump and Chairman Kim to reach a deal at the February Hanoi Summit. The Chinese leadership was more positive and felt the door was still open to an agreement. Efforts to persuade North Korea and the United States to return to the negotiating table were needed.
Pushing for ambitious climate action
Climate change continues to be one of the existential threats facing the world today, and China will have a critical role to play in the coming decades as the world’s second largest economy. As a result The Elders’ recent visit to China had a significant focus on climate change including meetings with policy makers and investors who are leading China’s action on climate change.
President Xi highlighted in his meeting with The Elders China’s new development philosophy, the “ecological civilization” and the country’s commitment to the Paris Agreement. The Elders welcomed this in light of the withdrawal of the US on international leadership on climate, and next year’s work on drafting China’s 14th 5 year plan.
Further meetings during the visit allowed the Elders an opportunity to discuss in more depth two of the key issues related to China that are most likely to impact global efforts in restraining climate change to 1.5 °C — the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the submission in 2020 of countries’ updated Nationally Defined Contributions (NDCs).
With regards to the BRI, the Elders recognised the scale of the project, as one of the most ambitious international development cooperation initiatives seen by the world in many years encompassing over 100 countries with the ambition of lifting millions of people out of poverty through infrastructure investment. The Elders were, however, keen to stress the importance of ensuring not only that investment was made in a way that was locally sustainable, providing jobs and training for local communities, but that the investments made were environmentally sustainable as well.
The Elders were particularly concerned about the need to reduce the amount of investment in fossil fuel projects and suggested that, with China’s role as the world’s largest producer of renewable energy, there was an opportunity to show leadership by exporting this low carbon technology throughout the BRI. In response, the Chinese leadership were keen to assure the Elders that the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as environmental and emissions standards, were considered when evaluating new projects and looking at risk.
With a little over a year before countries will need to submit new NDCs, China’s plans and level of ambition for their NDC was of particular concern to the Elders. The Elders pointed out that current global commitments were not sufficient to keep global warming below 1.5 °C and that they hoped that China would be able to show significant ambition with their updated NDC, particularly in light of the fact that they had shown their ability to meet previous commitments, such as their carbon intensity commitment, early.
Whilst the Chinese did not commit to any specific new target they reiterated their commitment to ecological protection, to delivering on implementation of the Paris Agreement and the importance of a multilateral approach to addressing climate change.
Meeting with students
Alongside high-level meetings, The Elders were also able to meet with students of China’s Foreign Affairs University.
Issues of intergenerational justice and global citizenship, the role of the WTO in dispute resolution, the importance of China’s UN peace-keeping efforts, and the limitations of current action on climate change were areas of discussion.
The Elders noted that thanks to the increased support China’s government is giving to multilateral engagement, many of these graduates will play leading roles for China on the international stage.
The Elders look forward to continuing discussions with China on the key global issues of our time.
