China was forced on Friday to drop a measure at the UN that targeted non-governmental organizations (NGO) seeking to be heard at the world body.
China had proposed that the UN refrain from naming nations that criticize NGOs during meetings of a committee that decides which groups are accredited to the UN.
The information blackout would have allowed China and other nations distrustful of NGOs to air their opposition without being singled out in any UN public report.
The US had sharply criticized the Chinese proposal at the UN’s NGO Committee, saying it would be a setback for transparency and openness at the UN.
However, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that after talks between US and Chinese officials, the committee would continue to report on the stance of nations.
“The UN will continue its standard practice in terms of how press releases are written for committee works, which summarizes the position of different nations,” Dujarric said.
Hundreds of NGOs accredited to the UN are allowed to present recommendations on the many issues tackled by the world body, from development to peacekeeping in all 193 nations.
A UN diplomat said China had “shocked” delegations when it proposed to restrict information on the committee’s decisions.
“China has long been pushing to restrict NGO and press access to the committee proceedings, however they have never made a motion like they did this morning,” said a diplomat, who asked not to be identified.
“In an era of global crackdown on civil society, the UN’s NGO Committee must set an example for openness and transparency,” US Ambassador Samantha Power tweeted on Thursday.
The Chinese mission at the UN declined to comment.
The move to restrict openness at the UN committee came as China prepared to take the monthly presidency of the UN Security Council for this month.
The agenda-setting position will allow Beijing to highlight some of its concerns at the 15-member council.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
RSS