Winners of the Transformative Cities Award were announced at an international online event yesterday, following a global online vote with 11,000 participants. The 2020 Transformative Cities People’s Choice Award went to four initiatives for their work in the areas of water, energy, housing and food systems. The winners were chosen from a selection of 12 international finalists through a process that is likely the most participatory public city award in the world.
In a historic vote, the United Nations (UN) has finally recognised the medicinal value of cannabis.
A group of prominent drug policy organisations has welcomed the move, but also expressed disappointment that this reform does not go far enough, as cannabis remains categorised internationally alongside drugs like heroin and cocaine.
The review was revisiting cannabis scheduling decisions made in the 1950s, which were driven by prevailing racist and colonial attitudes, and not based on scientific evaluations. This has remained unchallenged.
Days after the drawn-out U.S. elections, a new report reveals that the wall sold by Trump as a supposed achievement of his administration is just one of more than 63 new border walls built along borders or in occupied territories worldwide.
This research by the Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derecho, CEDD) analyzes a duality facing Latin America: the prohibitionist discourse and its effects on human rights persist, alongside reforms to laws and policies related to the use of cannabis.
As corporate executives fly into Davos for the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum, more than 400 civil society organizations and 40 international networks have denounced a Strategic Partnership Agreement between WEF and the UN and have called on the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General to end it.
On the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, a new report reveals the European businesses profiting from the construction of new walls across Europe. It identifies three key players – the arms firms Thales, Airbus and Leonardo – as well as a whole host of construction, shipping, technology and security firms from across Europe winning border militarisation contracts.
The call, made in an open letter, denounces attempts to ‘delegitimiz[ing] the United Nations and weaken(ing) the role of states in global decision-making.
Geneva: March 16, 2018 – The Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity (Global Campaign) (1) welcomes the presentation and acceptance of the report on the 3rd session of the Open-ended intergovernmental working group (OEIGWG) on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (2) in the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council 37th session.
On March 17th and 18th, more than 250 scholars, activists, practitioners, and policymakers—representing more than 60 countries from diverse parts of the world—will gather at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague to share views and insights on the rise of authoritarian populism and its effects. This resurgence of exclusionary politics—particularly manifested in the countryside—is generating deepening inequalities, jobless 'growth', climate chaos, and social division.
A push by 39 WTO members, including China, Russia, the EU, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico to reintroduce formal discussions on investment facilitation at the 11th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial conference has failed.
As Trade Ministers from 164 countries meet in Buenos Aires, Argentina this week for the 11 World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial conference,
the Transnational Institute has published a new report that analyses the 234 known investment arbitration lawsuits against Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) states.
The Transnational Institute condemns the last minute decision to block dozens of civil society experts and campaigners from next week's World Trade Organisation summit in Argentina. The decision, apparently made by the Argentinian Government for undisclosed reasons, is unprecedented in recent WTO history.
Transnational corporations are winning millions of euros of public research funds to develop ever more intrusive surveillance and snooping technologies, a new report by Statewatch and the Transnational Institute reveals today.
Hyderabad/Amsterdam, July 20. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is being negotiated in Hyderabad, India this week (July 22). If signed, RCEP would grant corporations the exclusive right to bypass domestic legal systems and sue States at international tribunals whenever they feel government regulation can limit their profits. India is already the target of 40% of all cases filed against RCEP countries. The country also tops the ranking with regard to financial claims: India has been sued for at least 12.3 billion USD by foreign investors since 1994.
Trade talks between Mexico and the EU commenced this week as efforts intensify to update a free trade agreement signed in 2000. Serious concerns about transparency, human rights, and investor obligations saw more than fifty civil society organisations from Mexico and the EU articulate their concerns[1] in a letter demanding a halt to negotiations until certain criteria are met.
The Ecuadorian government announced yesterday that it will complete the process to terminate its remaining 16 Bilateral Investment Treaties. This decision is based on the recommendation of the audit commission’s 668 page report (In Spanish).
(Quito/Amsterdam, 3 May 2017) A unique international audit commission that examined the benefits and costs of Ecuador’s investment protection treaties will publish its findings on Monday 8 May. The report is to be released 5 days after Ecuador’s National Assembly recommended the government to terminate 12 remaining Bilateral Investment Treaties.
