DOCSLIB.ORG

Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) Thursday Volume 493 4 June 2009 No. 85 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Thursday 4 June 2009 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2009 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/ Enquiries to the Office of Public Sector Information, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; Tel: 0044 (0) 208876344; e-mail: [email protected] 373 4 JUNE 2009 374 We are strong supporters of the United Nations House of Commons framework convention on climate change adaptation fund, and we have given a considerable sum of money Thursday 4 June 2009 to the climate resilience programme, which is enabling countries to adapt. In Zambia, we are helping people living on the Zambezi flood plain to protect their crops The House met at half-past Ten o’clock against damage caused by flooding; in Lesotho, we are helping people establish small gardens to make them PRAYERS less vulnerable to food shortage caused by drought; and in Bangladesh, we are helping people to raise their homes on plinths to protect them from the seasonal [MR.SPEAKER in the Chair] rains. This country has led the way on climate change, not only on mitigation but on adaptation. Mr. Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con): Oral Answers to Questions First, I congratulate the Secretary of State. I want to ask the Minister whether the Government’s policy is based on ideology or science. She knows that for a theory to be scientific, it must be capable of being ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE refuted by the evidence. Given that we have had three decades of rising temperatures, followed by a decade of The Secretary of State was asked— stable and slightly falling temperatures worldwide, how many decades would she require before she were convinced Global Population that the theory on which she is committing £400 billion of taxpayers’ money might be slightly wrong? 1. Martin Linton (Battersea) (Lab): What recent Joan Ruddock: The right hon. Gentleman is very discussions he has had with his international fond of quoting rather alarmist figures— counterparts on the effects of climate change on the global population; and if he will make a statement. Mr. Lilley: They are your figures. [277918] Joan Ruddock: Indeed, they are our figures, but we The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy are talking about a sum of money that will be spent and Climate Change (Joan Ruddock): May I first apologise over more than 40 years, whereas the right hon. Gentleman for the absence of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of presents it as if it were all for today. The issue that he State this morning? His partner, Justine, gave birth to a has raised about science is very important. Scientists son on Tuesday, so he is taking paternity leave—thanks, have been predicting for decades the effects of global of course, to the policy of this Government. warming, and the predicted effects are indeed happening. He needs to look at sea level rises, for example, which To answer the question, the Secretary of State has have been consistent, and the predictions are very extreme frequent discussions with his international counterparts indeed. Where he claims that the temperature has gone on the effects of climate change on the global population. down, that is very much a short-term phenomenon. Adaptation to the impacts of climate change is a key When the period of temperature rises is measured against priority for international climate change negotiations, all historic records, it is very unusual. The consensus and we recognise that the effects of climate change will opinion of world scientists is that it extremely likely that have the greatest impacts on the poorest and most all these effects are man-made. Even if he does not vulnerable countries. believe in the science, he should believe in taking action to adapt to what is happening—whatever the causes Martin Linton: I congratulate the Secretary of State might be. We are quite clear as a Government that the and his partner on this new addition to world population. consensus of world scientists is that this is a man-made Has my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary read Kofi phenomenon. We must take proper steps to tackle the Annan’s report for the Global Humanitarian Forum, continuing rise in greenhouse gas emissions, and we will showing that climate change is now responsible for do so. 300,000 deaths a year—98 per cent. of them in developing countries? Has she also seen the forecast that if emissions Colin Challen (Morley and Rothwell) (Lab): Quite are not brought under control, climate change will right too. My hon. Friend will know that the Waxman- create 75 million refugees by 2034? Markey Bill on tackling climate change is working its way through the US Congress, but it has already been Joan Ruddock: I thank my hon. Friend for bringing watered down somewhat—and it has not yet reached that most important report to the House’s attention. I the Senate. That suggests that the Bill could be watered have indeed seen the report and the figures that he has down more. mentioned. We have absolutely no doubt that that adds Considering that background, if we are to have higher to the pressure that we all as part of the international ambitions in the EU based on a deal, should we not community properly need to absorb and bring to the have benchmarks in place—I do not ask my hon. Friend discussions at Copenhagen at the end of this year. We to reveal those now, as they are obviously a matter of will not get a global deal unless we can help developing negotiation—to say that other annexe 1 countries, which countries to adapt to the effects of climate change, one hopes the United States will soon become, should which are already happening and are, of course, the have higher standards and a better approach than that responsibility of the developed world. represented by the Waxman-Markey Bill? 375 Oral Answers4 JUNE 2009 Oral Answers 376 Joan Ruddock: We are most optimistic about the Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr. Lilley) by saying that we commitment made by President Obama, who has said cannot go on acidifying the sea because the changes in that the US will lead in the climate change talks. His that environment have gone way too far? That powerful Secretary of State has said that the US is determined to argument for reducing carbon dioxide emissions is rarely see that the talks produce a result, and we are confident used. that it will play a proper part. Mr. O’Brien: My hon. Friend is right that we need to My hon. Friend is correct about the Bill—it has been ensure that we are aware of the acidification of the sea somewhat watered down—and we are encouraging the and that we recognise it as part of the overall development Administration to have the greatest possible ambition: of a transport and environment policy. they are engaged; they accept the science; and they have negotiators with a positive approach. We believe that The Government have been clear about the fact that we will be able to achieve a global deal. It will be we want real investment to go into developing vehicles important that there is a commitment by the US to that are less polluting—indeed, are low polluting—of make the emissions reduction that is required by 2050, the atmosphere. That is why we put £100 million into which is 80 per cent. for developed countries. Already, supporting research and demonstration of new vehicles the President has said that the US can make that and £250 million has been announced for consumer commitment. It is in a difficult situation because of the incentives in coming years for lower-carbon vehicles. history under the previous Administration. We understand There is a £20 million procurement of low-carbon vehicles that, but there is a great deal of good will. This is a for the Government and a £2.3 billion package of matter of negotiation, and we will continue to press the support for the automotive sector in the downturn, Administration for the greatest possible ambition. which has been tailored to support the development of low-carbon products. Road Transport (Emissions) Mr. John Randall (Uxbridge) (Con): Does the Minister 2. Andrew Selous (South-West Bedfordshire) (Con): agree that his Government’s proposal to expand Heathrow What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary will inevitably lead to increased road transport and of State for Transport on the reduction of carbon increased carbon dioxide emissions? dioxide emissions arising from road transport. [277919] Mr. O’Brien: As part of the process of developing The Minister of State, Department of Energy and our transport policy, particularly in relation to Heathrow, Climate Change (Mr. Mike O’Brien): I join in the we have ensured that we have clear targets for emissions congratulations offered to my right hon. Friend the reduction. Clearly, bringing aviation into our climate Secretary of State and his partner on the birth of their change policies is part of that. In relation to road son. There are regular discussions between Departments. transport and Heathrow, we want to ensure that we Indeed, on 19 May, the Secretaries of State discussed develop policies on hybrid and electric vehicles that will carbon budgets. reduce overall emissions from motor vehicles in the coming decades. Andrew Selous: The Minister may be aware of the Chinese company BYD, which is spending billions on Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con): Will the Minister developing the battery-powered cars of the future.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Annual Report and Financial Statements 20-21
    Annual report and financial statements 2020-21 1 Annual report and financial statements 2020-21 Contents Welcome from the Chair 3 The impact of COVID-19 5 Our purpose and method 6 Vision and strategic objectives 6 Skills for Life Our plan to prepare better futures 2018-2023 7 How we operate 8 Our members 9 Growth during a global pandemic 10 Governance structure and Board membership 11 Our advisers Team Cheshire 12 Roll of Honour 13 Our finances 20 Independent Examiners Report Financial statements 21 Our thanks 2 This has given us the peculiar Administration Welcome situation of the current County Thanks to the foresight of Graham Commissioner Dave Hopley Phillips and the backing of the Scout from the reporting on the year when the Association we have been at the previous County Commissioner was forefront of creating young leaders County Chair in office. Dave Hopley was well in roles that helped us well at the prepared coming from his role as start of this pandemic, switching Deputy County Commissioner and from face-to-face scouting to online Be Prepared! reading his report I think you will at the drop of a hat. All Meetings of This has been the most agree that we have had a smooth the Executive, and its sub- extraordinary year in Scouting, not transition. At this stage I would like committees have met online. I thank so much for planned activities but to thank those people who also put Janet Williamson our County for the lack of them when actions their names forward for the role of Secretary for organising and taken have been to keep Scouting CC.
    [Show full text]
  • Scenarios for a Transition to a Prosperous Market Economy in North Korea
    Scenarios for a transition to a prosperous market economy in North Korea. Byung-Yeon Kim* and Gerard Roland** ABSTRACT: We examine in detail two possible scenarios for a transition to the market economy in North Korea. In a first scenario, we explore a path of transition of North Korea to the market economy following a regime collapse. In a second scenario, we explore a path of transition that would be chosen by the North Korean leaders, following the experience of China and Vietnam. While these scenarios have common features, they also involve important differences. Keywords: North Korea, South Korea, transition, reforms, unification, integration. JEL classification codes: P3, P31, P36, P37. * Professor of Economics at Seoul National University ** Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California Berkeley and CEPR. 1 1. Introduction The North Korean economy has been in disastrous shape for many years causing starvation and extreme poverty. The North Korean leaders are unable to feed their people and have been shamelessly using the threat of nuclear weapons to ransom the outside world to extract food imports to keep their despotic regime alive. The death of Kim Jong-Il and accession of inexperienced son Kim Jong-Un to power raises new possibilities of big changes in North Korea. Given the inexperience of the new leader, a collapse scenario becomes more likely. Fights within the leadership might lead to chaos and a power vacuum. This is a dangerous scenario but one that is needed to be prepared for. International cooperation will be required to organize emergency aid (food, medicine, basic order) fast and efficiently and avoid mass migration.
    [Show full text]
  • The Speaker of the House of Commons: the Office and Its Holders Since 1945
    The Speaker of the House of Commons: The Office and Its Holders since 1945 Matthew William Laban Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 1 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I, Matthew William Laban, confirm that the research included within this thesis is my own work or that where it has been carried out in collaboration with, or supported by others, that this is duly acknowledged below and my contribution indicated. Previously published material is also acknowledged below. I attest that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge break any UK law, infringe any third party’s copyright or other intellectual Property Right, or contain any confidential material. I accept that the College has the right to use plagiarism detection software to check the electronic version of this thesis. I confirm that this thesis has not been previously submitted for the award of a degree by this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author. Signature: Date: Details of collaboration and publications: Laban, Matthew, Mr Speaker: The Office and the Individuals since 1945, (London, 2013). 2 ABSTRACT The post-war period has witnessed the Speakership of the House of Commons evolving from an important internal parliamentary office into one of the most recognised public roles in British political life. This historic office has not, however, been examined in any detail since Philip Laundy’s seminal work entitled The Office of Speaker published in 1964.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography
    BIBLIOGRAPHY A. INTERVIEWS Jacob Rees-Mogg MP (London), 9th February 2016. Jesse Norman MP (London), 12th September 2016. Nicholas Winterton (Cheshire), 23rd September 2016. Ann Winterton (Cheshire), 23rd September 2016. Peter Hitchens (London), 11th October 2016. Anne Widdecombe (London), 11th October 2016. Lord Salisbury (London), 12th October 2016. Sir William Cash MP (London), 13th October 2016. Sir Edward Leigh MP (London), 17th January 2017. David Burrowes MP (London), 17th January 2017. Charles Moore (London), 17th January 2017. Philip Davies MP (London), 19th January 2017. Sir Gerald Howarth MP (London), 19th January 2017. Dr. Myles Harris (London), 27th January 2017. Lord Sudeley (London), 6th February 2017. Jonathan Aitken (London), 6th February 2017. David Nicholson (London), 13th February 2017. Gregory Lauder-Frost (telephone), 23rd February 2017. Richard Ritchie (London), 8th March 2017. Tim Janman (London), 27th March 2017. Lord Deben (London), 4th April 2017. Lord Griffths of Fforestfach (London), 6th April 2017. Lord Tebbit (London), 6th April 2017. Sir Adrian Fitzgerald (London), 10th April 2017. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020 191 K. Hickson, Britain’s Conservative Right since 1945, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27697-3 192 BIBLIOGRAPHY Edward Norman (telephone), 28th April 2017. Cedric Gunnery (London), 2nd May 2017. Paul Bristol (London), 3rd May 2017. Harvey Thomas (London), 3rd May 2017. Ian Crowther (telephone), 12th May 2017. Iain Duncan Smith MP (London), 4th July 2017. Angela Ellis-Jones (London), 4th July 2017. John Hayes MP (London), 4th July 2017. Dennis Walker (London), 24th July 2017. Lord Howard of Lympne (London), 12th September 2017.
    [Show full text]
  • Liberal Cosmopolitanism and Economic Justice
    LIBERAL COSMOPOLITANISM AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE Katherine Erbeznik A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2008 Committee: Steven Wall, Advisor Rachel A. Vannatta Graduate Faculty Representative Fred D. Miller, Jr. Ellen Frankel Paul Jeffrey Moriarty ii ABSTRACT Steven Wall, Advisor The goal of this dissertation is to answer two questions: Is global poverty unjust, such that coercive remedies may be imposed to alleviate it? And if so, does it justify global redistribution as a remedy? This dissertation takes up the same task initiated by Thomas Pogge in his 2002 book, World Poverty and Human Rights, in that the theory of justice from which these questions are answered assigns priority to negative duties of non-interference, rather than positive duties of assistance. More specifically, the theory of cosmopolitan justice underlying this evaluation is that of natural rights liberalism in the tradition of John Locke and Robert Nozick. According to this theory, global poverty could be unjust only if it was the result of violating individual rights. The first half of the dissertation explores the ways in which Pogge claims poverty is the result of rights violations – that such poverty is the result of a tainted global history and that the current distribution of global resources violates the right to fair shares, – ultimately denying that these ground the injustice of poverty. Instead, I argue that global poverty is unjust because a distribution of resources that contains severe poverty violates the minimal access proviso, a constraint on property rights that takes the deprivation of others to limit the property rights of some.
    [Show full text]
  • Mr Blair's Poodle
    LOGO Mr Blair’s Poodle An agenda for reviving the House of Commons ANDREW TYRIE MP CENTRE FOR POLICY STUDIES 57 Tufton Street London SW1P 3QL 2000 THE AUTHOR Andrew Tyrie MP has been Conservative Member of Parliament for Chichester since May 1997. He was special adviser to successive Chancellors of the Exchequer, first Nigel Lawson and then John Major, between 1986 and 1990. He was Senior Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. His previous publications include Subsidiarity as History and Policy (with Andrew Adonis, Institute for Economic Affairs, 1990); A Cautionary Tale of EMU (Centre for Policy Studies, 1991); The Prospects for Public Spending (Social Market Foundation, 1996); Reforming the Lords: a Conservative Approach (Conservative Policy Forum, 1998); and Leviathan at Large: the new regulator for the financial markets (with Martin McElwee, Centre for Policy Studies, 2000). The Centre for Policy Studies never expresses a corporate view in any of its publications. Contributions are chosen for their independence of thought and cogency of argument. ISBN No. 1 903219 11 6 Centre for Policy Studies, June 2000 Printed by The Chameleon Press, 5 – 25 Burr Road, London SW18 CONTENTS Summary and Recommendations 1 1 Introduction 4 2 What is Parliament for? 8 3 The Origins of Executive Supremacy 16 4 The New Threats to Parliament 28 5 The Realm of the Possible 35 6 Stopping the Rot 39 7 Conclusion 61 Appendix A: Recent complaints by the Speaker Appendix B: The New Structure of Number 10 Bibliography ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS THIS PAPER BEGAN LIFE IN conversation in the tearoom with the then shadow Leader of the House, Gillian Shepherd, and developed as a submission to Philip Norton’s Commission on “Strengthening Parliament”.1 Both gave me a good deal of helpful guidance.
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix: “Ideology, Grandstanding, and Strategic Party Disloyalty in the British Parliament”
    Appendix: \Ideology, Grandstanding, and Strategic Party Disloyalty in the British Parliament" August 8, 2017 Appendix Table of Contents • Appendix A: Wordscores Estimation of Ideology • Appendix B: MP Membership in Ideological Groups • Appendix C: Rebellion on Different Types of Divisions • Appendix D: Models of Rebellion on Government Sponsored Bills Only • Appendix E: Differences in Labour Party Rebellion Following Leadership Change • Appendix F: List of Party Switchers • Appendix G: Discussion of Empirical Model Appendix A: Wordscores Estimation of Ideology This Appendix describes our method for ideologically scaling British MPs using their speeches on the welfare state, which were originally produced for a separate study on welfare reform (O'Grady, 2017). We cover (i) data collection, (ii) estimation, (iii) raw results, and (iv) validity checks. The resulting scales turn out to be highly valid, and provide an excellent guide to MPs' ideologies using data that is completely separate to the voting data that forms the bulk of the evidence in our paper. A1: Collection of Speech Data Speeches come from an original collection of every speech made about issues related to welfare in the House of Commons from 1987-2007, covering the period over which the Labour party moved 1 to the center under Tony Blair, adopted and enacted policies of welfare reform, and won office at the expense of the Conservatives. Restricting the speeches to a single issue area is useful for estimating ideologies because with multiple topics there is a danger of conflating genuine extremism (a tendency to speak in extreme ways) with a tendency or requirement to talk a lot about topics that are relatively extreme to begin with (Lauderdale and Herzog, 2016).
    [Show full text]
  • Version 1.0 CIVIC SUB COMMITTEE ITEM 6 HONORARY ALDERMEN
    CIVIC SUB COMMITTEE ITEM 6 HONORARY ALDERMEN AND FREEMAN A list of Honorary Aldermen and Freemen admitted by the demised Cheshire East authorities has been researched. Using the records available a list of Honorary Aldermen and Freemen is enclosed at Appendix 1. The criteria and rights and privileges conferred to Honorary Aldermen and Freemen admitted by the demised Cheshire East authorities has been researched. Using the records available the rights and privileges conferred are enclosed at Appendix 2. (Note: Those Honorary Aldermen and Freemen who are deceased have been omitted from the list.) Version 1.0 Appendix 1 ALDERMEN AND FREEMAN OF THE FORMER CHESHIRE COUNTY AND BOROUGH COUNCILS Prior to disbandment on 31 March 2009, Cheshire County Council, Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council, Congleton Borough Council and Macclesfield Borough Council had conferred the title of Honorary Alderman and Freeman onto the following recipients: Cheshire County Council Alderman Mrs J E Hill Pre 1998 Mr D P Hood Pre 1998 Mr Alan Barnes 2001 Mrs Margaret Melrose DL 2001 Mr David Palmer 2001 Mr William Talbot 2001 Mr D A Bould 2005 Mr K A Hemsley 2005 Cllr John Paul Findlow 2009 Mr John Gordon Alexander Fyffe 2009 Mr Barrie Rushworth Hardern 2009 Mr David Lloyd-Griffiths 2009 Cllr Peter Herbert Mason 2009 Cllr Arthur Moran 2009 Mr David John Newton DL 2009 Mr Peter Nurse 2009 Mr Neville Thomas Price 2009 Cllr Stephen Roger Wilkinson 2009 No Honorary Freedom have been admitted Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council Alderman Mr Alan Gilderthorpe Chapman 1990 Mr
    [Show full text]
  • Path to Peace: the Case for a Peace Agreement to End the Korean
    Path Theto Case Peace for a Peace Agreement to End the Korean War Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to End the War | February 2021 Path to Peace: The Case for a Peace Agreement to End the Korean War February 2021 Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to End the War, a global campaign to end the Korean War, produced the present report to assess how a peace-first approach can resolve the security crisis on the Korean Peninsula. This report is a collective work that benefited from Korea Peace Now! would also like to thank Kevin Gray, months of consensus-building and input. Ph.D., Professor of International Relations at the University Korea Peace Now! would like to acknowledge of Sussex; Suzy Kim, Ph.D., Professor of Korean History in particular Henri Féron, Senior Fellow at the at Rutgers University; and Paul Liem, Korea Policy Center for International Policy, as project lead. Institute, who contributed their feedback and review. This report is the collective work of the following people: External contributions were made by Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, Senior Fellow and Military Expert at Defense Ray Acheson, Director of Reaching Critical Will, Women’s Priorities; Jessica Lee, Senior Research Fellow on East International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Asia at Quincy Institute; Adam Mount, Senior Fellow and Christine Ahn, Executive Director, Women Director of the Defense Posture Project at the Federation Cross DMZ (Chapter V, “Why Women Should of American Scientists; and Hazel Smith, Professorial Be Involved in the Peace Process”) Research Associate at SOAS, University of London. Kozue Akibayashi, Professor at Doshisha University, These external contributions are strictly independent former International President of Women’s International from the Korea Peace Now! campaign and represent League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) (Chapter V, the personal views of the contributors.
    [Show full text]
  • North Korea, Preview Chapter 2
    2 Perils of Refugee Life As we argued in the introduction, our interest in the North Korean refu- gees is twofold: We are concerned about their material and psychological well-being—their experiences as refugees—as well as interested in the insights they might provide with respect to life in North Korea itself. This chapter takes up the fi rst question, drawing primarily on the results of the China survey of 2004–05. We fi rst consider the reasons why refugees left North Korea and their living conditions in China. Despite the precariousness of their status and their preference for a decent life in North Korea, few plan on returning. Most envision themselves as temporarily residing in China before moving on to a third country. Yet there is evidence of considerable movement back and forth across the border, mostly people carrying money and food back to their extended family members in North Korea. The refugee community in China is exposed to multiple sources of vulnerability, including not only fear of arrest but also the uncertainty of their work circumstances. We highlight the particular vulnerability of women to forms of abuse such as traffi cking, which has recently received increasing attention (Hawk 2003, K. Lee 2006, Sheridan 2006, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 2009, National Human Rights Commis- sion of Korea 2010). In the third section we extend this analysis of objective conditions to a consideration of the psychology of the refugees. A key fi nding, confi rmed by more detailed clinical work in South Korea (Jeon 2000, Y.
    [Show full text]
  • A Human Rights-Based Approach to the Sdgs in the DPRK
    A Human Rights-based Approach to the SDGs in the DPRK CSO SPOTLIGHT REPORT 2021 NKDB HILC NKHR PSCORE ONK Unification Academy A Human Rights-based Approach to the SDGs in the DPRK: Focusing on vulnerable groups and calling for collective efforts in times of COVID-19 Authored by Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) Handong International Law Centre (HILC) Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) People for Successful COrean REunification (PSCORE) Open North Korea (ONK) Unification Academy (UA) Supported by National Democratic Institute (NDI) TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 6 Executive Summary 8 Introduction 10 17 SDGs and North Korea 12 SDGs and Vulnerable Groups of People 21 Persons with Disabilities 22 Women 31 Children 42 Building a Peaceful and Inclusive Society for Sustainable Development by Ending Exploitation and Corruption 63 Conclusion and Key Recommendations 82 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In anticipation of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, A Human Rights-based Approach to the SDGs in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was written by the Working Group for Human Rights and SDGs in North Korea, a coalition of five Seoul-based civil society organizations (CSOs) and one academic research institute, dedicated to promoting human rights in North Korea by conducting human rights research and raising international awareness. The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) provided technical and coordination support to the working group to prepare for the joint spotlight report. The views expressed in this publication are those of the organizations that authored their individual contributions and do not necessarily represent the views of NDI.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparative Connections, Volume 8, Number 4
    Pacific Forum CSIS Comparative Connections A Quarterly E-Journal on East Asian Bilateral Relations edited by Brad Glosserman Sun Namkung 4th Quarter (October-December) 2006 Vol. 8, No. 4 January 2007 www.csis.org/pacfor/ccejournal.html Pacific Forum CSIS Based in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Pacific Forum CSIS operates as the autonomous Asia Pacific arm of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1975, the thrust of the Forum’s work is to help develop cooperative policies in the Asia Pacific region through debate and analyses undertaken with the region’s leaders in the academic, government, and corporate arenas. The Forum’s programs encompass current and emerging political, security, economic/business, and oceans policy issues. It collaborates with a network of more than 30 research institutes around the Pacific Rim, drawing on Asian perspectives and disseminating its projects’ findings and recommendations to opinion leaders, governments, and publics throughout the region. An international Board of Governors guides the Pacific Forum’s work. The Forum is funded by grants from foundations, corporations, individuals, and governments, the latter providing a small percentage of the forum’s $1.2 million annual budget. The Forum’s studies are objective and nonpartisan and it does not engage in classified or proprietary work. Comparative Connections A Quarterly E-Journal on East Asian Bilateral Relations Edited by Brad Glosserman and Sun Namkung Volume 8, Number 4 Fourth Quarter (October-December) 2006 Honolulu, Hawaii January 2007 Comparative Connections A Quarterly Electronic Journal on East Asian Bilateral Relations Bilateral relationships in East Asia have long been important to regional peace and stability, but in the post-Cold War environment, these relationships have taken on a new strategic rationale as countries pursue multiple ties, beyond those with the U.S., to realize complex political, economic, and security interests.
    [Show full text]