Showing posts with label Peace & Security. Show all posts

Monday, September 14, 2026

"The White Dove" by artist Reem Arkan

"The White Dove" by artist Reem Arkan

Pal Arts

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1383426310438764&set=a.191541839627223

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies here, there- and everywhere]

"It’s worth remembering that no one actually asked for AI, and yet here it suddenly is trying to kill us. And even if that’s averted, it’s embedding itself in our workplaces and in our emotional lives (ChatGPT may be the largest provider of mental health services in the US), robbing us of the capacity for critical thinking, and threatening economic and social stability." Brigid Delaney

‘Flourishing is having a direct relationship with the natural world – not the world through a screen, or the natural world itself destroyed and degraded to create more capacity for screen-based existence.’ Photograph: Martyn Williams/Alamy

Opinion

AI (artificial intelligence)

We greet the news that AI could extinguish us with a glazed indifference. What is the way out of this nihilism?

There are several answers, and none of them will be provided by tech. One thing we must do is identify the ingredients for human flourishing

Brigid Delaney

Sun 13 Sep 2026

Imagining the future as almost entirely bleak has somehow crept into the collective consciousness this year.

Last week I was having coffee with an old friend. He was telling me about what his kids wanted to study when they went to university, when he suddenly broke off, stared into the middle distance and said, “I wish I’d never had children.”

He’d been a father for 20 years and I’d never heard him say that.

“Oh my god, why?”

He loves his kids beyond measure, but right at that moment, he looked desolate.

“AI,” he replied.

“What about it?”

It could have been anything AI-related at this point in time. Was it that AI was going to take all the jobs his kids would have done, rendering their lives impoverished and without purpose or meaning? Or was it environmental, with all the water and energy AI consumes that is going to create further stress on the climate and make the planet uninhabitable? Or was it the news that week that AI could “kill all humans” within the next 10 years?

It was the latter. We talked listlessly about the “killing all humans” thing for a bit, then moved on. But the shadow had fallen and I started wondering: is the polycrisis that we are facing so overwhelming that we don’t even have the capacity to talk about it with urgency any more? Instead it’s just there, in the air, ambient, like pollution, each particle containing its own particular doomsday scenario – and the only way to be in this atmosphere is to be numb to it.

Currently, for so many, all our past and future decisions are being refracted through this strange and dark moment.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/14/we-greet-the-news-that-ai-could-extinguish-us-with-a-glazed-indifference-what-is-the-way-out-of-this-nihilism

Saturday, September 12, 2026

A quarter century later, we must recognize that “wars on terror” have undermined Human Rights and stretched the fundamental principles of international law to breaking point. Security and human rights must go hand in hand

United Nations Special Procedures

@UN_SPExperts

A quarter century later, we must recognize that “wars on terror” have undermined #HumanRights and stretched the fundamental principles of international law to breaking point. Security and human rights must go hand in hand - UN experts. See full statement: ohchr.org/en/statements-

https://x.com/UN_SPExperts/status/2098433756491059327

9/11 anniversary: A quarter century of global counter-terrorism has endangered human rights

11 September 2026

On today’s 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States of America, we pay tribute to the thousands of victims who lost their lives, to their families, and to the communities whose lives were forever changed by those horrific acts of violence. We equally acknowledge the millions of other victims worldwide of terrorist attacks, excessive counter-terrorism responses, and conflicts in the name of countering terrorism.

Terrorist violence causes profound human suffering, and every State has a duty to protect people from it and to uphold the right to life. We welcome that many governments have assisted and protected the victims of terrorism, and provided remedies, reparation and memorialization. Many countries have also strengthened security measures in ways that respect human rights.

Yet, too many governments have adopted unnecessary and disproportionate responses that have seriously undermined human rights, civil society, civic space, democracy, and the rule of law. Our worldwide monitoring over the past quarter century has exposed the gravest violations of international law in the name of countering terrorism. Wars of aggression. Unlawful occupations. Countless war crimes and crimes against humanity, and plausible allegations of genocide. Assassinations dressed up as “targeted killings”. Torture disguised as “interrogation”. Transboundary abductions, extraordinary renditions, and transnational repression. Secret detention and enforced disappearances. Unfair military trials and special courts, including at Guantanamo Bay. Toxic residues from conflicts have severely harmed human health.

“Wars on terror” have stretched foundational rules of international law beyond their breaking point, including excessive claims about national self-defence and what is permissible under international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. State violence, foreign intervention, and impunity have counter-productively fuelled terrorism and insecurity locally and even globally, as with the spread of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant after the 2003 aggression in Iraq.

State violations have also entrenched cycles of violence and impeded the just resolution of protracted conflicts in line with international law, as in the unlawfully occupied Palestinian territory.

Other violations have become almost routine in some countries, including the politicized abuse of overbroad terrorism and “extremism” laws, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment including inadequate health care, denial of fair trial before independent courts, the unjustified imposition of the death penalty and disproportionate penalties, and breaches of privacy and other basic rights. Exceptional temporary laws to address public emergencies have increasingly been made permanent.

Human rights have been further undermined by the arbitrary use of restrictive administrative measures. These include security detention, “control orders”, terrorist and “State terrorist” designations and sanctions (some of which affected whole populations), coercive “re-education”, travel bans, migration controls, citizenship revocation, and internet, communications and online content restrictions.

The use of new and emerging technologies, without adequate safeguards, is a key facilitator of violations. This includes drones, online and offline mass surveillance, spyware, biometric systems, and border security tools. Artificial intelligence and the automation of weapons systems pose heightened risks to the right to life and can undermine accountability. Businesses developing, supplying, or deploying these technologies should ensure that human rights are respected throughout their lifecycle, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Civil society has been heavily impacted by counter-terrorism measures, which have been used to target, harass, intimidate, threaten and silence many actors. These include human rights defenders, journalists, dissidents, environmental and land defenders, academics, scientists, artists, non-governmental organizations, social movements, minorities, Indigenous Peoples, peasants and migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Civic space has been eroded by unjustified restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and the right to take part in public affairs.

Terrorism sanctions, financing laws and “support” offences, and bank de-risking and over-compliance, have led to over-regulation of non-profit organizations, contrary to the risk-based, proportionate approach required under international standards. Such measures have impeded and deterred impartial humanitarian activities in conflict zones, preventing assistance to civilians and undermining economic, social and cultural rights. Security Council and Financial Action Task Force standards have not adequately mitigated these risks and have been misused by some States to restrict civil society.

Counter-terrorism measures have violated the rights of vulnerable groups, including by failing to recognize children as victims of terrorist groups, consider their best interests, provide for their rehabilitation and reintegration, detain them only as last resort and for the shortest possible time, and use specialized juvenile justice processes. Women have experienced differential impacts of counter-terrorism and gendered assumptions about their agency as perpetrators, victims, and participants in counter-terrorism and civil society. Religious, racial and ethnic profiling has victimized some groups.

The Security Council has been part of the problem, by requiring all States to adopt highly intrusive measures without defining terrorism, guaranteeing safeguards, or effectively enforcing international law.

The sheer number, breadth, and invasive nature of counter-terrorism measures has strengthened repression and authoritarianism, in an era of backsliding on human rights and democracy. State violations not only cannot defeat terrorism, but can breed it. They also deny justice to victims of terrorism.

We urge States to review their counter-terrorism laws and practices to comply with international human rights, humanitarian, and refugee law, to establish effective independent oversight and accountability mechanisms to prevent and effectively remedy violations, and to protect and assist victims of terrorism and of unlawful counter-terrorism measures alike.

We also call on States to more meaningfully address the conditions conducive to terrorism under the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Trillions of dollars have been spent on highly securitized responses, yet terrorism is more prevalent, in more places, than before 9/11. The world must adequately fund long-term initiatives to prevent terrorism, by prioritizing conflict resolution and peace building, good governance and political inclusion, the rule of law, sustainable development, humanitarian assistance, and human rights for all.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2026/09/911-anniversary-quarter-century-global-counter-terrorism-has

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk stresses that respect for human rights, international law & accountability are essential to building lasting peace...

High Commissioner Türk updates Human Rights Council: Human rights are carriers of hope

07 September 2026

63rd session of the Human Rights Council - GENEVA

Trilingual version (PDF)

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants,

We live in an age of extremes.

Raging wars, painful polarization, climate chaos, and head-spinning technological change make people feel disoriented and even powerless.

Strong forces are working to create and sustain that feeling.

Tech moguls, populists, and vested interests, amplified by social media echo chambers, tell us these trends are inevitable.

In fact, the opposite is true.

History is full of brave people who took action to resist oppression and demand their rights. People who called out injustice and inequality. People who refused to accept their fate, coming together to channel the universal values that underpin our humanity.

This truth is a force to be reckoned with, underpinning all we are doing.

The past years have been marked by a growing number of armed conflicts, and diminishing respect for international human rights and humanitarian law, and the United Nations Charter itself.

There are now more than 60 wars involving at least one State – the highest number since the end of the Second World War. The surge in conflict between States takes us into particularly dangerous territory.

I am alarmed by the resumption of attacks between the United States and Iran, affecting the entire Gulf region. Recent reports of civilian deaths and injuries, including at a wedding in Hormozgan province, are particularly concerning. The geopolitical and economic impacts of this entirely avoidable crisis are again reverberating around the world, and I appeal for an immediate return to negotiations.

Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, is on a menacing trajectory, with soaring civilian casualties and intensified attacks on energy infrastructure. While the overwhelming majority of civilians killed are Ukrainians, there are also reports of growing numbers of deaths and injuries in Russia.

I am horrified by reports that fully autonomous drones launched by the Russian Federation killed three Ukrainians last month. Ukraine has reportedly also field-tested such weapons. I join calls for the urgent prohibition of weapons that can take lives without human involvement.

There is only one way out of this madness: peace negotiations that respect the UN Charter.

In its fourth year, the war in Sudan is expanding. Parties to the conflict continue to launch attacks on markets, hospitals, fuel stations and other civilian infrastructure. I urge the Council to focus on the deteriorating situation in Kordofan, Blue Nile, and North and West Darfur, where civilians are at imminent risk. Again, there needs to be an immediate ceasefire, an end to foreign involvement, and a return to inclusive civilian rule.

In Gaza, Israel has killed more than 1,300 Palestinians in daily strikes, despite the ceasefire that was announced almost a year ago, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It continues to restrict the entry of humanitarian aid. I am appalled by Israeli proposals for the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, and the constant stream of dehumanising rhetoric by some senior officials.

I am also troubled that armed groups affiliated with Hamas have executed and tortured several Palestinians suspected of collaboration.

In the West Bank, Israel’s annexation is unfolding, unobstructed, despite the clear ruling of the International Court of Justice. What more will it take for States to take action to prevent the entrenchment of occupation across land earmarked for Palestinians under the two-state solution? They need to end the transfer to Israel of arms that risk being used to violate international law. Companies also need to end business practices that support illegal settlements.

We need far greater efforts by the international community towards sustainable peace, in which Palestine and Israel live side by side in equal dignity and rights, in line with UN resolutions and international law. Words of condemnation ring hollow in the face of deliberate violations and suffering.

In Lebanon, Israeli forces must end attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. My Office’s assessment team is investigating violations committed by both Israel and Hezbollah since 2 March; this is crucial for truth-telling and accountability.

Beyond these conflicts, there are many places around the world where people are neither at war, nor at peace.

Negotiations are breaking down. Ceasefires are disregarded.

I am concerned about renewed hostilities in South Sudan and escalating tensions in Yemen. I urge the parties to exercise restraint and the international community to do all it can to avert a return to all-out war.

And I again urge the Houthis... READ MORE https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2026/09/high-commissioner-turk-updates-human-rights-council-human-rights

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

"As the Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows have said numerous times, war will not end terrorism or bring peace." William Lambers

William Lambers is an author who partnered with the U.N. World Food Program on the book Ending World Hunger.

On the anniversary of Sept. 11, we should save Afghanistan’s children — Opinion

Published: Sep. 07, 2026

Monique Nagelkerke looks over the north reflecting pool at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in 2021. While midlifers have visceral memories of the day, more than 30% of Americans are too young to remember it. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)AP

Deora Frances Bodley, the youngest victim on Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, once wrote “People ask who, what, where, when, why, how. I ask peace.” Bodley was just 20 when she died on 9/11, and left these words of wisdom.

Upon the 25th anniversary of the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, peace is the best path forward for healing. As the Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows have said numerous times, war will not end terrorism or bring peace.

Our road to peace and healing is long even 25 years after 9/11. We could save Afghanistan’s children from starvation because there is extreme hunger in that impoverished nation right now.

The tragedy of Sept. 11 claimed nearly 3,000 lives when terrorists hijacked four airplanes and rammed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Flight 93 did not reach the intended target in Washington, D.C. because the passengers, including Deora Bodley, fought back against the terrorists. The heroic passengers of Flight 93 caused the plane to crash in a Pennsylvania field. They lost their lives but saved countless others.

The 9/11 attacks led to years of warfare and tragedy in Afghanistan in... READ MORE https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2026/09/on-the-anniversary-of-sept-11-we-should-save-afghanistans-children-opinion.html?gift=98ec6c20-d6f6-4f67-a02e-ff6c9a81647b

Friday, August 21, 2026

"59 years of predatory occupation. 1,049 days of genocide. 7 governments. One statement. Zero sanctions. And it even misses the international law obligation: per the ICJ 2024 Advisory Opinion, it's the occupation itself -not just the E1 plans- that must end. So: Cut trade now. " Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt, Int'l Lawyer | Scholar | Former UN Official | Sen.Adviser"

Int'l Lawyer | Scholar | Former UN Official | Sen.Adviser @ARDD

@ar_renaissance #Ahimsa: non-violence toward all beings.

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt

@FranceskAlbs

59 years of predatory occupation.

1,049 days of genocide.

7 governments.

One statement.

Zero sanctions.

And it even misses the international law obligation: per the ICJ 2024 Advisory Opinion, it's the occupation itself -not just the E1 plans- that must end.

So: Cut trade now.

https://x.com/FranceskAlbs/status/2090714085272780852

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

UK Prime Minister

@10DowningStreet

Joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and Canada.

Annie's New Letters (& notes)

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