Category: Strategic Global Initiatives

Celebrating Earth Day and A Billion Acts of Green

Today, April 22nd, is celebrated as Earth Day. The idea is to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s natural environment and was first celebrated on April 22, 1970. The idea for Earth Day is credited to Gaylord Nelson, a former U.S. Senator, after he witnessed some of the side effects of the 1969 massive …

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Ratifying CEDAW, Part II

On Tuesday I posted about the history of CEDAW ratification in the United States and some of the arguments made against it, and wrote about how there is a new campaign pushing for it in the US as soon as possible. There are, of course, arguments in both directions for its ratification or not, but …

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Vulture Funds and Sovereign Debts

A couple of years ago, celebrities like Bono and highly respected individuals like Nelson Mandela brought our attention to the importance of debt relief and what such relief might mean to developing countries. Ironically, at the same time, many countries began to understand the importance of having a secondary market for debt especially when dealing …

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Remembering Rwanda

Yesterday, April 6, marked the17th anniversary of the assassination of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana which catalyzed a genocide in which 800,000 Tutsis (a Rwandan minority) and moderate Hutus (part of the majority) were systematically murdered in a three month span. A former supervisor of mine was in the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) …

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Help or Not – Series 1

Microsoft’s Bing Japan Earthquake Tweet That was the tweet that got people asking: Was Microsoft Wrong to Use the Japanese Earthquake for Marketing? It all started with what some people consider the age old scratch my back and I’ll scratch your back concept i.e. to donate $100,000 and at the same time use that effort …

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Responsibility to Protect

Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is a relatively new concept in political theory. Basically, it is the idea that governments everywhere have a responsibility to uphold and protect the human rights of their citizens. And, if a state is unwilling or unable to do so, it is the duty of the international community to step in …

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8th Annual African Economic Forum (AEF)

Friday and Saturday, March 25th & 26th, 2011, were two amazing days in New York City.  On both days, Columbia University held the 8th Annual African Economic Forum (AEF), organized by the graduate school of business, the School of International Public Affairs (SIPA Pan African Network – SPAN), and the Africa Law Students Association at …

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Water Changes Everything

Yesterday, on the 22nd of March 2011, was World Water Day. It was a day to raise awareness for something most people in developed nations take for granted – clean drinking water. Right now, almost a billion people don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water. That’s about one in every eight people.  Only …

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Human Rights vs. Oil

On March 17th, the United Nations Security Council voted to establish a no-fly zone over Libya, which allows for all measures short of foreign occupation. This is an addition to Libya being referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which I wrote about in my blog on March 3rd, and which itself was unprecedented in …

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The Philips Livable Cities Award

Lately, I have come across a lot of new concepts and initiatives but one  initiative that I feel obligated to share is the Philips Livable Cities Award (PLCA). Under the banner “better cities make better lives”, the PLCA is a global initiative which is designed to encourage individuals, community groups and businesses to develop practical, …

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