Doha climate deal is conditional: what other alternative does it leave for the Least Developed Countries?

by Angeline Annesteus & Lurette Paulime One of our goals coming to the climate negotiations in Doha was to lobby the Haitian Government. We have been meeting with the delegates and have had some very thought-provoking conversations. However after a long discussion at lunch yesterday with the delegation and the Minister of the Environment, Jean Vilmond Hilaire, we realized how firm they...

Durban opened a new window: where do the emerging economies stand?

by Angeline Annesteus The climate talks in Doha are expected to be an important step in the history of the United Nations climate negotiations. The Ad Hoc Working Group under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) and the Ad Hoc Working for Long-Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) are mandated to culminate their work, and the second formal session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for...

The Arms Trade Treaty has come to its end but states parties fail to adopt an agreement.

By Angeline Annesteus The UN conference on the Arms Trade Treaty comes to its end but as always a lot can happen in the last minutes of the negotiations. Yesterday, the chair of the negotiations released a new draft text but it is full of potential loopholes. Many different areas of the text would need to be reconsidered in order for the treaty to meet its overall goal and objective: a robust,...

The Arms Trade Treaty and the P5’s dilemma

By Angeline Annesteus   With one day left to conclude the first ever Arms Trade Treaty, the African states, CARICOM, NGOS, and other delegations urge the P5 to close the remaining gaps in the treaty text that is now under negotiations. The whole point is that nobody is supposed to be making profit by transferring arms to governments or any armed group that will use them to attack civilians....

The Arms Trade Treaty’s running behind schedule and under serious threats!

By Angeline Annesteus   The opening week of the Arms Trade Treaty was characterized by procedural matters and wrangling because the Arab Group (Egypt) asked for Palestine to be recognized as a state, which Israel obviously refused. The past three weeks, states got down to some important discussions but did not have the basis for negotiations on most of the key elements of the treaty. As...