View this email in your browser FES GENEVA NEWSLETTER The Geneva Office of the Friedrich ‐ Ebert ‐ Stiftung(FES Geneva) presents its newsletter, designed to inform you about our activities and publications as well as of upcoming events and developments within the Geneva-based international organisations. Das Genfer Büro der Friedrich ‐ Ebert ‐ Stiftung(FES Genf) freut sich, Ihnen unseren jüngsten Newsletter vorzustellen. Dieser enthält Informationen über unsere Veranstaltungen und Neuerscheinungen sowie anstehende Veranstaltungen und Ereignisse innerhalb der Genfer Internationalen Organisationen. Upcoming Events| Recent Events| International Agenda UPCOMING EVENTS Framework Forum Roundtable: From the NTP to the UN General Assembly – Filling the Legal Gap to Prohibit and Eliminate Nuclear Weapons 01 September 2015, Geneva Co-sponsored by the Middle Powers Initiative, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, Basel Peace Office and FES, this forum shall discuss the outcomes of the NPT 2015 Final Document including the

recommendation that the UN General Assembly establish an Open Ended Working Group to identify effective measures for the full implementation of Article VI of the NPT, including legal provisions required to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world. Participation is by invitation only. Step it Up: Dignity – Rights – Development 08 September 2015, Geneva, Switzerland To mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, FES is supporting the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in holding a half-day panel discussion focusing on the multiple human rights abuses faced by migrant workers as well as challenges for States on how to best address these issues. The discussions will focus on migrant workers in the Gulf, unaccompanied children in the Americas, and irregular migration flows in the Mediterranean. Global Labour Tax Summit 17- 18 September, Geneva, Switzerland Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung is organizing in close cooperation with Public Services International(PSI) the Global Labour Tax Summit. Inequality soars while multinational companies with unprecedented profits manipulate their accounts and corporate structures to exploit legal loopholes and facilitate massive theft from the communities that have generated the wealth. The summit will examine global tax issues from the perspective of workers and organised labour. It will feature expert presentations and strategic discussions about the role that multinational corporations play, examine national and international government actors who set the current inadequate rules, look for alternatives and commit to action.

WTO Public Forum: “Trade works…IF” – What Does It Take to Make Trade Work for Development? 01 October 2015, 9:00-10:30, WTO room S1, Geneva, Switzerland Trade can be a vehicle for growth, development and poverty reduction. Harvesting the potential gains trade, however, is not neither automatic nor easy. The mere increase of integration into the global economy does not by itself produce a greater developmental impact. Trade works IF developing countries can fully harness the opportunities that come with trade and minimize its potential disadvantages. Decision makers have to work in a variety of policy fields simultaneously and complementary to provide the solid ground for economic and social development. The working session explores the recommendations of policy initiatives aiming at a fair distribution of gains from trade. WTO Registration WTO Public Forum: CFTA: Boosting Trade For People in Africa? 01 October 2015, 15:30-17:00, WTO room S2, Geneva, Switzerland In June 2015, the African Union summit launched negotiations to achieve a free trade area throughout the continent. This panel will discuss the context, scope, and sequence of the negotiations. It will review analytical work and approaches to understand the potential impact of the CFTA on intra-African trade expansion, structural change, poverty reduction, incomes, employment, agriculture livelihoods and food security. In particular, it will focus on the contribution trade can make to industrialization efforts on the continent, drawing upon the insights from the UNECA’s 2015 Economic Report on Africa which focused on industrialization through trade. It will further delineate the potentials of a Human Rights Impact Assessment on the design and process of a regional trade agreement. The session is jointly organized by UNECA, OHCHR and FES Geneva office. WTO Registration

Blind spots of the Human Rights Council Agenda – Ways to Move Forward 05- 06 October 2015, Geneva, Switzerland Organized jointly by FES, the German Institute for Human Rights and the NGO Forum for Human Rights, this annual conference will this year focus on the three main themes climate change, non-state armed actors in conflict situations and their respective impact on the enjoyment of human rights as well the rights of the child. Ways how to integrate these issues more comprehensively in the HRC agenda will be analyzed and discussed. Participation is by invitation only. RECENT EVENTS TISA Training Workshop 06- 08 July 2015, Château de Bossey, Switzerland This workshop organized by Public Services International(PSI) with support of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung brought together trade unionists and NGO representatives from around the world to understand trade in services agreements and their rules as a system that is constantly evolving to meet the changing global dynamics. The aim was to develop a sufficient level of skill to analyse texts and their implications for sectors, countries, and communities with reasonable authority. In addition, participants were trained to identify how TISA is bypassing blockages in the GATS, the main tensions in the positions of key countries and issues for countries that have resisted expansion of the GATS. Workshop on WTO Negotiations 03- 04 July 2015, South Centre, Geneva, Switzerland

A clearly defined work program on the remaining Doha Development Agenda issues’ shall be agreed to by July which is supposed to be the basis for the 10th WTO Ministerial in December this year in Nairobi. At this point, the situation in Geneva remains rather fluid. Nevertheless, developing countries must stand ready and there is a high likelihood that negotiations will be fairly intense by early July. This workshop was an opportunity for Geneva-based delegates and capital-based delegates to come together to discuss the key issues that are likely to be on the table by that time. The development perspective was at the heart of this discussion. This workshop was jointly organised by the South Centre, the Centre for WTO Studies, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES) Geneva office. Accountability Mechanisms for Implementing the SDGs 18 June 2015, Geneva, Switzerland In the context of the UN Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda in September 2015, this high-level roundtable on the occasion of the 29th session of the HRC discussed the importance of human rights principles in informing the debates on accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) and addressed claims and standards for accountability, as per existing human rights law. Read More

Expert Workshop: Corporate Action for Climate Justice and Human Rights 17 June 2015, Geneva, Switzerland In the run-up to the COP 21 climate conference in Paris at the end of this year, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and FES Geneva organized an expert workshop to discuss human rights risks and challenges for business created by climate change. While the main obligations are on governments, companies are in a powerful position to mitigate the disproportionate impact of climate change on the most vulnerable and help them adapt. The framework for this event was existing and future business efforts necessary to address climate change; and called from labor and civil society for business and governments to put human rights at the heart of their climate strategies. Read Report PDF Contribution of Intellectual Property to Facilitating the Transfer of Environmentally Rational Technology 12 May 2015, France Technology has changed the world of business tremendously during the past at least two decades. E-commerce does not stand for something exotic. E-commerce is an important part of business nowadays. However, this is not the world of many businesses in developing countries; especially not for their SMEs. The technological infrastructure has not yet been sufficiently developed in many countries but other obstacles such as legal requirements, IT knowhow, models on how to ensure that rural and remote areas can actively participate, and how domestic economies can benefit, continue to exist. This conference focused on the obstacles and provided clear examples on how

developing countries can promote e-commerce to benefit their domestic economic development. Read Report PDF More Events: NGO Breakfast Discussion: On the road to Paris – Where are the TNCs? 07 July 2015, Geneva, Switzerland Dinner Debate on“Global Futures – Geneva Perspective” 23 June 2015, Geneva, Switzerland Public Side Event to 29 th HRC session: Corporate Action on Climate Justice and Human Rights 17 June 2015, Geneva, Switzerland Informal Trade Union Meeting on CESCR General Comment on“Rights at Work” 12 June 2015, Geneva, Switzerland "Geneva Debates" – a Tailor-Made Briefing for FES-Partners on Social, Trade and Investment Policy 08- 12 June 2015, Geneva, Switzerland Social and Solidarity Finance: Tensions, Opportunities and Transformative Potential 11- 12 May 2015, Geneva, Switzerland INTERNATIONAL AGENDA

30 th Session of the UN Human Rights Council 14 September- 02 October 2015, Geneva, Switzerland Read more 10 th WTO Ministerial Conference 15- 18 December 2015, Nairobi, Kenya The Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body of the WTO which is supposed to meet at least every two years. The concrete agenda of this year’s conference is not yet finalized. Read More NGO Accreditation Info Geneva Office Hubert René Schillinger 6 bis, Chemin du Point-du-Jour CH- 1202 Geneva Tel:+41(0)22 733 34 50 Email: info@fes-geneva.org Web: www.fes-geneva.org Forward to Friend Share Tweet Share FES NEWSLETTER You are receiving this email because you're a friend of FES Geneva. Unsubscribe from this list

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