News Archives: January - June 2007

July 4th 2007
Global Forum on Migration and Development
On 9, 10 and 11 July 2007 the Belgian government hosts the first meeting of the ???Global Forum on Migration and Development???. The ???Civil Society Day??? on 9 July is being chaired by Mary Robinson, President of Realizing Rights, and will gather a broad range of non-governmental actors to discuss the migration and development nexus and give input to the governmental discussions.

June 14th 2007
New Toolkit calls on governments to put the health of their citizens first
A toolkit that calls on governments to put the health of their citizens first was released by the British Medical Association and the Commonwealth Medical Trust [COMMAT] has just been launched. Mary Robinson, President of Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative, launched the 'Right to Health' toolkit and described it, in the keynote speech, as a charter to promote and protect health.

June 7th 2007
A unique opportunity for G8 leaders in Germany
As G8 leaders gather for their annual summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, they have a unique opportunity to help poorer nations tackle a huge and urgent problem. The problem is paying for health care for the 3.5 billion people who live on less than $2 per day in developing countries.

May 15th 2007
New initative seeks practical solutions to tackle health worker migration
Worldwide demand for a scarce resource is increasing... A shockingly low supply results in thousands of deaths every day... A new initiative seeks practical solutions to the worsening problem of health worker migration.

May 3rd 2007
Mary Robinson speaks on Australian TV about illegal arms trade
In an interview on Australian TV's Lateline program, Mary Robinson discussed how Australia may be indirectly fuelling the black market arms trade across the Pacific. "Many guns that are supplied legally, in the sense of going to a legal government, if they are not properly secured, very quickly get into the hands of bandits, of gangsters of rebel groups," she said.

May 3rd 2007
Mary Robinson urges US action on Arms Trade Treaty
Speaking at a UN press conference in New York, Mary Robinson noted that 1000 people are killed around the world every day by unregulated small arms and expressed hope that the tragic April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech University that left 33 people dead in the largest shooting rampage in US history might prompt the United States to take action in support of an international arms trade treaty.

April 20th 2007
Roundtable discussion on the issue of migration
On March 20, 2007, Mary Robinson, President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, along with the Pacific Council on International Policy and USCпїЅs Center for Religion and Civic Culture, convened a roundtable discussion with business, civil society, government, and academic leaders from the United States and Mexico.

April 19th 2007
Ministerial Meeting in Madrid
Health representatives from thirteen countries gathered in Madrid, Spain to participate in a meeting of the Ministerial Leadership Initiative. All continents were represented at the two day meeting (13-14 April 2007), co-organized by Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative and the Council of Women World Leaders.

April 18th 2007
Business and Migration Meetings in California
Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative engaged government authorities, business leaders, academic institutions, civil society organizations, religious institutions and migrant representatives in a series of migration-related meetings in Los Angeles recently. The meetings occurred at a time when there is increasing national and international attention being paid to the issue of migration.

April 9th 2007
Mary Robinson responds to The Economist
The Economist Magazine recently published two articles on the topic of Human Rights and the work of Amnesty International. Mary Robinson took issue with the magazine's analysis of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and challenged the magazine to engage in a broad discussion on the importance of the full range of rights recognized in the Universal Declaration.

March 28th 2007
Mary Robinson interviewed on Los Angeles Radio
Mary Robinson gave an interview with KPFK FM in Los Angeles where she talked about human rights, globalization, immigration and global warming with Maria Armoudian on the live public affairs show 'The Insighters' which offers insight into today's most pressing issues.

March 15th 2007
Online Q&A session with Mary Robinson
The International Herald Tribune's global economics columnist, Daniel Altman, recently moderated an online discussion between readers and Mary Robinson. The questions posed to Mary Robinson dealt primarily with issues related to globalization but also touched on other issues, e.g. the situation in Darfur, Sudan.

March 12th 2007
Event report from IBLF's Council Meeting at Trinity House, London
In the face of growing global challenges and public activism, companies and NGOs need to develop new ways of working together to find common purpose and develop solutions to mutual problems. This was the conclusion from a debate, entitled "Caught in the Headlights", organised by IBLF with corporate and other partners at its Council Meeting on 23 February at Trinity House, London.

March 8th 2007
International Women's Day 2007
Violence against women remains a devastating reality in many parts of the world; a morally and legally unacceptable reality, whether in the public or private sphere, perpetrated by individuals, states, or organizations. It is a painful manifestation of the wider inequities which persist, and which make women more vulnerable to poverty and disease.

March 7th 2007
Mary Robinson writes in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization
There is a special theme for the latest issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization: 'Health and Foreign Policy', which features many articles contesting that the relationship between health and foreign policy is vital and complex, including one contributed by Mary Robinson entitled "The value of a human rights perspective in health and foreign policy".

March 6th 2007
UN General Assembly Debate on Gender Equality
An informal thematic debate of the United Nations General Assembly on the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women took place today, March 6th 2007.
Watch video coverage of panel discussions on women in decision-making, featuring Mary Robinson, President of Realizing Rights.

February 28th 2007
Meeting in LA on Migration in Major Cities
Realizing Rights is co-convening a roundtable discussion entitled 'Meeting the Challenges of Migration in Major Cities: The Role of the Business Community', on March 19, 2007 in Los Angeles, to be chaired by Mary Robinson. It is is the third meeting in a global series that brings together business leaders, public officials and civil society organizations for candid discussion.

February 22nd 2007
Worldwide Security Conference 2007
The EastWest InstitutesпїЅs Annual Worldwide Security Conference has become one of the largest and most prestigious events mobilizing global cooperation in the fight against international terrorism and organized crime. speaking at this year's conference in Brussels, Mary Robinson suggested that the US-led invasion in Iraq was possibly "feeding" the very problem it was meant to address.

January 31st 2007
World Economic Forum 2007
"There have been many complaints over the years that plenary meetings are not balanced, even in the narrow context of those fortunate enough to be invited to Davos. I have learned to be pragmatic and take the World Economic Forum for what it is пїЅ essentially a membership group of corporate leaders, who want to benefit from interaction with political figures and to have some wider intellectual stimuli..."

January 24th 2007
World Social Forum 2007
The 7th edition of the World Social Forum took place in Kenya from January 20-25 as activists, social movements, networks, coalitions and other progressive forces from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, Europe and all corners of the African continent converged in the capital Nairobi for five days of cultural resistance and celebration.

January 22nd 2007
Johannesburg Conference on business and human rights
Does business have human rights obligations, and if so, what are they? Mary Robinson reviewed the debate on this issue at a conference in Johannesburg last week. Robinson suggests there is value in having a normative core of rights, binding on corporations generally, and negotiated at UN level. The content of this core could be inspired by the UN Declaration on Human Rights.

January 18th 2007
Leadership Summit in Cape Town for Women and Girls
A Pan-African leadership summit was held in Cape Town from January 15th to 19th. During the conference, organised by the Vital Voices Global Partnership, based in Washington DC, participants developed an action plan to address pressing issues facing the continent, including trade, economic development, good governance and violence against women.

January 10th 2007
Mary Robinson interviewed on WHYY-FM's Radio Times
Mary Robinson participated yesterday in an interview on WHYY-FM's Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane. The discussion covered a range of topics including the situation in Darfur, migration as the human face of globalization, human rights responsibilities of corporations, the situation in Iraq, and how the area of human rights matters in an age of terrorism.

January 9th 2007
International Institute for Environment and Development Lecture
Mary Robinson delivered a lecture in London recently, in honour of the late thinker and environmentalist Barbara Ward, entitled "Climate Change and Justice" in which she called for policymakers to adopt an approach to climate change that is rooted in the international human rights framework.