Daily Multilateralism
Thursday, October 1, 2020
World Bank president David Malpass is seeking approval for a $12 billion fund to help low-income countries acquire doses of coronavirus vaccines. According to Malpass, “[t]his is a market signal to the manufacturers that there will be financing available for the developing countries and there will be demand. We will begin asking the manufacturers to begin creating allocations for these countries.”
United Nations agencies are reacting to multiple reports of sexual exploitation during the international response to the Ebola epidemic. The report identified a pattern of abuse reportedly involving a number of UN agencies and some nongovernmental organizations:
In the investigation, the largest number of accusations - made by 30 women - involved men who identified themselves as being with the [World Health Organization]. Other organizations named by women included the U.N. Children’s Fund UNICEF, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, World Vision, the U.N. migration agency IOM, medical charity ALIMA and Congo’s health ministry.
The European Union has issued its first ever “rule of law” report, with chapters examining the situation in each member country. As expected, the report highlights problems with judicial independence in Poland and Hungary.
A group of independent experts has released its report on the functioning of the International Criminal Court. The review document exceeds three hundred pages and includes hundreds of recommendations. One of the more notable is for the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) to focus on a more limited range of situations:
The OTP should focus on a narrower range of situations, and limit their interventions to the extent possible, focusing on situations of the highest gravity and on those most responsible for the crimes, which may well include mid-level perpetrators. The Prosecutor should adopt a higher threshold for the gravity of the crimes alleged to have been perpetrated.
With tensions high over maritime rights in the eastern Mediterranean, Spain’s foreign minister rejects Turkey’s “unilateral” search for resources:
Spain’s top diplomat said negotiations and dialogue are the only way to resolve the complex maritime boundaries issue, which also triggered a weeks-long naval standoff between NATO allies Greece and Turkey this month.
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted an inspection of a site in Iran. Via Al Jazeera:
The spokesman of Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, confirmed the news of the inspection, saying he hopes it will stop the United States from taking advantage of the issue.
“We had a difference of opinion with the agency [IAEA] and this difference was leading to an impasse due to political pressures. A country like the US could take advantage of the continuation of these conditions,” he said.
Very briefly noted:
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has increased strain on the already tense relationship between NATO members France and Turkey.
With its dispute with Ethiopia still simmering, Egypt takes the helm of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council.
The United Arab Emirates wants a seat on the UN Security Council. The UAE last served on the Council in 1986-87.