Category Archives: International Agreements

Major Plastic Polluters Win as UN Treaty Talks Conclude Without Agreement

“Every day that governments allow polluters to continue flooding the world with plastic, we all pay the price,” said one campaigner.

By Jon Queally. Published 12-1-2024 by Common Dreams

*A bale of crushed PET drink bottles at a recycling facility in San Jose, California Photo: Grendelkhan/Wikimedia Commons/CC*

Environmental groups on Sunday decried the conclusion of a United Nations summit designed to secure an international treaty to combat plastic pollution after powerful oil- and gas-producing nations refused to agree to production limits and other more aggressive measures to curb pollution.

Failure to reach an agreement means the talks—known as the INC-5 round that took place in Busan, South Korea—will be extended to another round, but campaigners said the sabotage of a far-reaching treaty by fossil fuel interests is wasting precious time that the world’s ecosystems, wildlife, and people can no longer afford.

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Native Americans Hold National Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving

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“‘Thanksgiving’ is a white-washed holiday designed to conceal its true origins of violence, genocide, land theft, and forced assimilation,” said the Indigenous Environmental Network.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 11-28-2024 by Common Dreams

*Photo: United American Indians of New England/Facebook*

In contrast with Thanksgiving celebrations across the United States on Thursday, Native Americans held a National Day of Mourning, promoted accurate history, and championed Indigenous voices and struggles.

Despite rainy conditions, the United American Indians of New England held its 55th annual National Day of Mourning at Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Kisha James, who is an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and also Oglala Lakota, shared how her grandfather founded the event in 1970 and pledged to continue to “tear down the Thanksgiving mythology.”

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Pakistani Authorities Accused of Trying to Cover Up Killings of Protesters

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“All records of dead and injured have been confiscated by authorities,” said one doctor. “We are not allowed to talk. Senior government officials are visiting the hospital to hide the records.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 11-27-2024 by Common Dreams

The Guardian reported Wednesday that at least 17 civilians in Pakistan were killed and hundreds more were wounded by army and paramilitary gunfire at protesters and one doctor in Islamabad claimed that authorities were attempting to cover up deaths.

“At least seven have died and four are in critical condition in the hospital,” according to the unnamed doctor, who said that on Tuesday night he treated over 40 patients, many injured by gunfire. “Eight more have been admitted to the hospital with bullet wounds.”

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Israel Agrees to Cease-Fire With Lebanon’s Hezbollah—But What About Gaza?

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“It has long been clear that a cease-fire in Gaza is crucial to sustain any lasting cessation of hostilities across the region,” said one group.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 11-26-2024 by Common Dreams

Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Photo: Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages/Wikimedia Commons/CC

Peace advocates on Tuesday cautiously celebrated Israel agreeing to a cease-fire with the Lebanese political and paramilitary group Hezbollah while also stressing the need for an immediate end to the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip.

Despite concerns about whether the truce will actually happen, the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a U.S.-based Quaker group, welcomed the plans for it and called on “all parties to ensure this agreement is swiftly enacted.”

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COP29 puts world on course for more extreme weather – and more deaths

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Summit proves change won’t come until floods and wildfires are killing tens of thousands in rich Global North cities

By Paul Rogers. Published 11-25-2024 by openDemocracy

While COP29 in Baku narrowly avoided collapsing, its results were bitterly disappointing for delegations from across the Global South, who ended up with barely a quarter of the annual $1.3trn of support they were seeking by 2035 to respond to climate breakdown.

Quite apart from other factors, more than 1,500 pro-carbon lobbyists worked hard to limit progress and ensure that burning oil, gas and coal at profit continues for as long as possible whatever the global consequences. After all, the world’s fossil fuel industries rake in around a trillion dollars in profits a year.

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Ahead of Plastics Treaty Talks, Millions Demand Production Cuts

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“This plastic crisis is rooted in the overproduction of single-use plastics, building for us and future generations a very toxic legacy,” said one Indonesian youth activist.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 11-24-2024 by Common Dreams

Ahead of the fifth and final round of negotiations for a global plastics treaty in Busan, South Korea, people took to the streets to demand meaningful action from world leaders. Photo: #BreakFreeFromPlastic/X

With the fifth and final round of global plastics treaty negotiations set to begin Monday in Busan, South Korea, an estimated 1,500 people took to the city’s streets and nearly 3 million more signed a petition calling for a legally binding pact “to drastically reduce production and use, and protect human health and the environment.”

The Saturday march at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center was led by the global Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) movement and local allies from the Uproot Plastics Coalition. They want the treaty to include targets to slash production.

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G20 Leaders Reach ‘Landmark Commitment’ for Global Tax on Ultrarich

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“Now is the time to turn words into action and launch an inclusive international negotiation, extending beyond G20 countries, on the reform of the taxation of the superrich,” said economist Gabriel Zucman.

By Julia Conley Published 11-19-2024 by Common Dreams

*The G20 official photo Photo: G20 Brasil/X*

Acknowledging that “the era of the billionaire” is still in full swing across the globe, economic justice advocates on Tuesday applauded a “landmark commitment” by G20 leaders at the group’s annual summit in Rio de Janeiro, where delegates agreed to cooperate on efforts to ensure the richest households in the world are taxed fairly.

The final communiqué out of the G20 Summit includes a commitment from 19 countries, the European Union, and the African Union, to “engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed.”

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Trump Taps Project 2025 Co-Author Who Cozied Up to Musk to Lead FCC

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“For more than a year now Carr has been auditioning for this job,” said one critic. “His groveling is now being rewarded with a promotion, and it’s the American public who will pay a heavy price.”

By Julia Conley Published 11-18-2024 by Common Dreams

*FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/CC*

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that his nomination of Brendan Carr to chair the Federal Communications Commission would elevate “a warrior for free speech,” but one veteran journalist warned the selection of Carr is a “key step in Trump’s assault on the free press,” while others expressed concerns about the future of net neutrality and censorship on social media platforms.

A portion of Project 2025—the far-right policy document that Trump repeatedly said he had nothing to do with—was authored by Carr, who has been an FCC commissioner since 2017.

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Thousands March in London to Demand End of Fossil Fuels and Gaza Genocide

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“We won’t stop until political leaders divest from war and destruction—and invest in a just, ecological, and equitable transition,” said one campaigner.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 11-16-2024 by Common Dreams

*Activists march in London to demand an end to fossil fuels and militarism on November 16, 2024. Photo: Denise Baker*

Thousands of climate justice advocates took to the streets of London on Saturday to demand the U.K. government “end its reliance on fossil fuels, commit to paying climate reparations, and end its complicity in the genocide in Gaza.”

Organizers said more than 60 groups—including Extinction Rebellion, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Amnesty International U.K., Palestine Solidarity Campaign, War on Want, and Just Stop Oil—took part in the March for Global Climate Justice. The demonstration took place amid yet another shambolic United Nations Climate Change Conference and as Israeli forces continue a war on Gaza that U.N. experts this week called “consistent with the characteristics of genocide.”

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’Big Day… for Justice’: US Jury Finds Contractor CACI Liable for Abu Ghraib Torture

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“This victory is a shining light for everyone who has been oppressed and a strong warning to any company or contractor practicing different forms of torture and abuse,” said one of the Iraqi plaintiffs.

By Brett Wilkins Published 11-12-2024 by Common Dreams

U.S. Army Sgt. Michael Smith uses a dog to torture a terrified Iraqi detainee at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
(Photo: U.S. Army)

In a landmark verdict cheered by human rights defenders around the world, a federal jury in Virginia found a U.S. military contractor liable for the torture of three prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison during the invasion and occupation of Iraq in the early 2000s.

The jury ordered CACI Premier Technology to pay each of the three Iraqi plaintiffs $3 million in compensatory damages and $11 million in punitive damages, for a total of $42 million. It is the first time that a civilian contractor has been found legally responsible for abusing Abu Ghraib detainees.

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Occupy World Writes

The Movement Continues – Globally

Category Archives: International Agreements