Morning Multilateralism
Friday, July 31 2020
The European Union has prohibited funding to Polish towns that have designated themselves “L.G.B.T. free.” Euobserver reports that funding limitations have been imposed specifically through the organization’s Town Twinning Programme:
The commission's decision to exclude the six municipalities from funding was taken after local Polish authorities failed to clarify whether the national anti-LGTBI rights resolutions would not allow access to some citizens.
While quite narrow, the move on Poland is significant given the broader debate that played out this month about whether new EU funding instruments to respond to the economic crisis should be conditioned on member states respecting certain core values.
Most world leaders will be speaking remotely, but President Trump plans to address this year’s UN General Assembly meeting in person. As Politico reports:
Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told a virtual event Thursday morning that Trump would be “the only world leader to be speaking in person,” noting that “this is the 75th anniversary (of the U.N.), so it makes it even more special.”
The embattled World Trade Organization is in the midst of selecting its new director-general, with multiple candidates in the mix. But even as that process continues, the selection of an interim leader for the organization has proved contentious.
The United Nations is attempting to ensure that the regular rotation of peacekeeping troops from multiple countries does not become a vector for transmitting the coronavirus. The UN’s longstanding mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, recently released information on its own efforts. (The concern that peacekeepers might inadvertently spread disease should have a particular salience for the organization, given the role that peacekeepers played a decade ago in generating a cholera epidemic in Haiti.)
Ukraine has reportedly sent more information to the International Criminal Court documenting alleged Russian crimes in Crimea. The ICC opened a preliminary examination regarding Ukraine in 2014. The ICC’s probe initially focused on the violence surrounding the “Maidan” protests that occurred that year, but the prosecutor subsequently expanded its scope to include violence in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. In its most recent update on the status of its preliminary examination, the prosecutor’s office signaled that a decision on whether to open a full investigation should be forthcoming this year. A decision to pursue a full investigation would likely produce a new low point in relations between Russia and the court.
Very briefly noted:
The board of the International Monetary Fund has approved a new (voluntary) transparency code for central banks.
UN human rights experts criticized Dutch deportation plans.
Hackers reportedly planted fake stories to discredit NATO in eastern Europe media outlets.