October 2023

New York, October 27 – The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly a resolution calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” after reports showed that at least 6,500 Palestinians have been killed in the 21 days of war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants and 1.4 million people have been displaced in Gaza.

The resolution was presented to the 193-nation assembly as it was holding a second day of debate on the war with the power to act under the Uniting for Peace mandate after the UN Security Council failed its responsibility over world peace and security. The resolution said the humanitarian truce should be followed by a cessation of hostilities.

A total of 120 countries voted in favor while 14 countries voted against and 45 abstained. The assembly took the decisive vote after rejecting, with vote of 88-55, a demand by Canada to insert an amendment into the resolution. 

The amendment demanded that the resolution “Unequivocally rejects and condemns the terrorist attacks by Hamas that took place in Israel starting on 7 October 2023 and the taking of hostages, demands the safety, well-being and humane treatment of the hostages in compliance with international law, and calls for their immediate and unconditional release;“

The assembly decided to hold the emergency session under its annual agenda item known as the Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The adopted resolution calls on “all parties immediately and fully comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, particularly in regard to the protection of civilians and civilian objects, as well as the protection of humanitarian personnel, persons hors de combat, and humanitarian facilities and assets, and to enable and facilitate humanitarian access for essential supplies and services to reach all civilians in need in the Gaza Strip.”

It also calls for rescinding the order by “Israel, the occupying Power, for Palestinian civilians and United Nations staff, as well as humanitarian and medical workers, to evacuate all areas in the Gaza Strip north of the Wadi Gaza and relocate to southern Gaza…”

It expresses “grave concern at the latest escalation of violence since the 7 October 2023 attack and the grave deterioration of the situation in the region, in particular in the Gaza Strip and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel;”

It condemns “all acts of violence aimed at Palestinian and Israeli civilians, including all acts of terrorism and indiscriminate attacks, as well as all acts of provocation, incitement and destruction;”

Lynn Hastings, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said in a briefing in Geneva that “all humanitarian assistance and humanitarian issues have to be unconditional. “

“We all know there are more than 200 hostages in captivity, and they need to be released immediately and unconditionally,” Hastings said. “The same goes for humanitarian assistance going into Gaza. It has to be able to reach civilians unconditionally.”

Hastings cited reports by the Ministry of Health in Gaza that at least 6,500 Palestinians have been killed in the past 21 days, 17,000 are injured, 68 per cent of those are children and women.

He said 53 staff of the UN relief agency in Gaza have been killed. “And these are the people who are out there trying to deliver services in these extremely difficult circumstances. It is they, that we really need to be paying tribute to,” he said.

UN Security Council fails to find unified solution 

The 15-nation UN Security Council, the highest authority in the UN system over world peace and security issues, has so far failed to adopt a unified response to the Israeli-Hamas conflict. Political differences and vetoes cast by the US on one side, and Russia and China on the other, have crippled the council since war erupted on October 7. Those three countries, France and the United Kingdom are permanent members of the council with the power to cancel a resolution with a veto.

China and Russia on October 25 vetoed a draft resolution sponsored by the United States. Russia submitted a second draft resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire, but both failed to get the necessary nine votes to pass.

Ten members of the council voted for the US draft resolution and three against (China, Russia and UAE), with two abstentions (Brazil and Mozambique).

On October 18, the United States vetoed a Brazil-backed resolution that called for the delivery of humanitarian assistance to people in Gaza because it failed to recognize Israel’s right to self-defense even though 12 of the council’s 15 members voted in favor. Russia and the United Kingdom abstained.

The council’s voting rules call for nine countries to vote in favor to pass a resolution, provided there is no veto from any of the five permanent members – the U.S., Russia, United Kingdom, France and China.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said she cast the no vote because the resolution failed to “mention Israel’s right of self-defense. Israel has the inherent sight of self-defense as reflected in Article 51 of the UN Charter.” 

But Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S., despite its veto, will continue to work closely with all council members on the crisis, “just as we will continue to reiterate the need to protect civilians, including members of the media, humanitarian workers, and UN officials.”

“Yes, resolutions are important, and yes, this Council must speak out. But the actions we take, must be informed by the facts on the ground and support direct diplomacy that can save lives,” she said. 

The U.S. veto, which voided the resolution submitted by Brazil, came after the council rejected on October 16 a Russia-backed resolution on Israel-Gaza war, which called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, release of all hostages, aid access and safe evacuation of civilians. Only five countries – China, Gabon, Mozambique, Russia and the United Arab Emirates – voted in favor. Four countries – France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – voted against and six abstained, they are Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana, Malta, and Switzerland. (By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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Invisible e-waste is the focus of the 6th annual International E-Waste Day on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023 (weee-forum.org/iewd-about). 7.3 billion e-toys – car racing sets, electric trains, music toys, talking dolls, drones, etc. – now discarded annually, an average of ~1 per person on Earth. Almost 1/6th of all electronic waste by mass – 9 billion kg per year – goes largely unrecognized by consumers as e-waste: cables, e-toys, e-cigarettes, e-bikes, power tools, smoke detectors, USB sticks, wearable health devices, smart home gadgets, etc. Discarded vapes alone annually equal 3 Brooklyn Bridges in weight.

Images:www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/y2u5ea3544tv4d054wvrm/h?rlkey=4lz1b4p0avn4wlvnl09gpogyx&dl=0

Can you identify e-waste? Vox pop videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GyDVIEFuFY

Invisible e-waste animation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pzAPi_gSkc

Industry voice on invisible e-waste: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU2L8aZwKdE&list=PL1HDAKbmZD5IIT4sSLiuax7ZB-U1o5avD&index=4

UNITAR datasets re. invisible e-waste: https://bit.ly/3PVFLnh

Every year, unused cables, electronic toys, LED-decorated novelty clothes, power tools, vaping devices, and countless other small consumer items often not recognized by consumers as e-waste amount to 9 billion kilograms of e-waste, one-sixth of all e-waste worldwide. 

This “invisible” category of e-waste in one place would equal the weight of almost half a million 40-tonne trucks, enough to form a 5,640 km bumper-to-bumper line of trucks from Rome to Nairobi.

Many of these devices, such as vapes, gaining in popularity in some societies, contain lithium, which makes their battery rechargeable but also causes serious fire risks when the device is discarded.

Moreover, the European Commission considers lithium a ‘strategic raw material’ crucial to Europe’s economy and green energy transition, but supplies are at risk. Most of these materials are thrown away in household bins and elsewhere.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum, which organises International E-Waste Day, commissioned the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to calculate the annual quantities of “invisible” e-waste items in millions of kilograms, in millions of pieces, and in kg and pieces per capita. 

Some 3.2 billion kg, 35%, of the roughly 9 billion kg of invisible e-waste are in the e-toy category: race car sets, electric trains, music toys, talking dolls and other robotic figures, biking computers, drones, etc. – in all, some 7.3 billion individual items discarded annually, an average of about 1 e-toy for every man, woman and child on Earth.

Meanwhile, the estimated 844 million vaping devices each year amount to a mountain of e-waste equal to three times the weight of New York’s Brooklyn Bridge or six Eiffel Towers.

The study also found that 950 million kg of cables containing precious, easily recyclable copper were discarded last year – enough cable to circle the Earth 107 times.

Many are stored in homes, perhaps put aside for potential future use.  And many people don’t realise they could be recycled – a huge sleeping resource at a time when demand for copper is forecast to rise 6 fold by 2030  in Europe alone to meet the needs of strategic sectors such as renewable energy, electric mobility, industry, communications, aerospace and defense.

The value of raw materials in the global e-waste generated in 2019 was estimated at US $57 billion, most of that attributed to iron, copper and gold components.  Of the overall total, 1/6th or $9.5 billion in material value each year, is in the invisible e-waste category.

Other examples of common, invisible e-waste items in households include toothbrushes, shavers, external drives and accessories, headphones and earbuds, remote controls, speakers, LED lights, power tools, household medical equipment, heat and smoke detectors and many others.

Says Pascal Leroy, Director-General of the WEEE Forum: “Invisible e-waste goes unnoticed due to its nature or appearance, leading consumers to overlook its recyclable potential.”

“People tend to recognise household electrical products as those they plug in and use regularly. But many people are confused about the waste category into which ancillary, peripheral, specialist, hobby, and leisure products fit and how to have them recycled.” (related videos:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Qevtw0F5EPln2bPNiOhlPCNy6fEr28Z/view)

Adds Mr. Leroy: “Many people don’t recognize some battery-powered or wired-in products like a smoke detector or smart thermostat as an electrical product because they don’t have a plug. They are also unaware of the hazardous components e-waste contains. If not properly treated, substances like lead, mercury or cadmium can leach into and contaminate the soil and water.”

The WEEE Forum asks everybody to get their e-waste to the appropriate municipal collection facility.

“A significant amount of electronic waste is hidden in plain sight,” says Magdalena Charytanowicz of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum. “Sadly, invisible e-waste often falls under the recycling radar of those disposing of them because they are not seen as e-waste.  We need to change that and raising awareness is a large part of the answer. Much effort and progress was made around plastic pollution and people are now more conscious about it, especially with a UN treaty on plastics in the works by 2024. We hope the same will occur in the e-waste field.”

In Europe, thanks to 20 years of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, 55% of e-waste generated is now officially collected and reported. Still, according to the United Nations global e-waste monitor,  other parts of the world show much slower growth rates in its collection, and globally, the reported average collection rate is just over 17%.

Says Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment: “This International E-Waste Day, the EU acknowledges the pressing e-waste challenge and is proactively setting a leadership example. The ongoing expansion in electronic device production and consumption has significant environmental and climate repercussions. Introducing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in e-waste legislation two decades

E-waste is the world’s fastest-growing waste stream.

Says Jan Vlak, the president of the WEEE Forum: “Not only producers but all relevant actors, including regulators, consumers, refurbishers, reuse outfits, scrap dealers, retailers and recyclers, must play a role in the EPR system to successfully increase the collection of e-waste. We need to update the EPR principle, make it congruent with circular economy principles and embed this new vision in EU legislation and in a global treaty to harmonise standards and define critical e-waste management obligations.

Background

According to the United Nations, 8 kg of e-waste per person will be produced worldwide in 2023. Only 17.4% of this waste, containing harmful substances and precious materials, will be recorded as properly collected, treated, and recycled globally.

The remaining tens of millions of tonnes will be placed in landfills, burned, illegally traded, improperly treated, or hoarded in households.

Even in Europe, which leads the world in e-waste recycling, only 55% of e-waste is officially reported as properly collected and recycled, and the lack of public awareness is among the factors preventing countries from developing circular economies for electronic equipment.

International E-waste Day – International E-waste Day (#ewasteday)is an annual awareness-raising campaign initiated by the WEEE Forum and its members. It takes place every year on the 14th of October. It aims to highlight the growing issue of electronic waste and promote responsible e-waste management.

According to a 2022 study developed by the UN Institute for Training & Resources (UNITAR) and WEEE Forum members in 6 countries (UK, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and The Netherlands), of the 74 e-products found in an average household, 13 are being hoarded (9 of them unused but working and 4 broken). Small consumer electronics and accessories (such as headphones or remote controls – often not recognised as electronic items) rank top of the list of hoarded products. If these gadgets remain in the drawers and cupboards, the valuable resources they contain do not re-enter the manufacturing cycle.

When electronic devices and components are disposed of improperly because they are not recognised as e-waste, they often end up in landfills or incinerators. Electronics contain various hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and flame retardants, which can leach into soil and water sources, pollute ecosystems and pose risks to human health.

These devices also contain valuable resources, including precious metals like gold, silver and copper, and Critical Raw Materials, which are crucial for the green transition and production of new electronic devices. When e-waste is not recycled correctly, these valuable materials go to waste.

The WEEE Forum – The WEEE Forum is a Brussels-based, impactful not-for-profit international association representing 52 producer responsibility organisations on all continents worldwide, all of them mandated by producers of electrical and electronic products to manage e-waste responsibly. Together with its members, they are at the forefront of turning the Extended Producer Responsibility principle into an effective electronic waste management policy approach through our combined knowledge of the technical, business and operational aspects of collection, logistics, de-pollution, processing, preparing for reuse and reporting of e-waste. It is the biggest organisation of its kind in the world.

Since their founding, the PROs in the WEEE Forum have collected, de-polluted and recycled or sent for preparation for re-use of more than 35 million tonnes of WEEE. In addition, our members operate over 114,000 WEEE collection points, and two-thirds of them are market leaders in their countries.

About: www.weee-forum.org

Contacts: Magdalena Charytanowicz, +32 494 23 28 83 (m), magdalena.charytanowicz@weee-forum.org 

Juliet Heller, +44-(0)7946-616-150; juliet@julietheller.co.uk

Terry Collins, +1-416-878-8712 (m), tc@tca.tc

Terry Collins & Assoc. inc | Twitter: @TerryCollinsTC, www.tca.tc, 295 Wright Ave.,

Toronto, M6R1L8 Canada

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U.N. calls for urgent action to enable opportunities, mitigate risks for information and digital technology. From Internet governance to digital governance, Forum pivots to UN Summit of the Future. Following is a press release from the U.N. Department of Global Communications.

Kyoto, Japan, 12 October 2023 – Recognizing both the opportunities and risks offered by rapid advancements in information and digital technology, the 18th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) wrapped up its series of high-level discussions and multistakeholder dialogues in Kyoto from 8 to 12 October.

In his closing message to the Forum, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Li Junhua reminded delegates of the 18-year contribution of the IGF, that is bottom-up, inclusive multistakeholder participation and engagement on information and digital technologies. He concluded with a call for collective action to “do more — empowering more countries and all stakeholders for an inclusive and equitable digital future for all — optimizing opportunities and managing risks.”

Key issues discussed during the week of rich exchanges, included the acceleration in artificial intelligence (AI) beyond generative AI. While AI offers opportunities to address the off-track SDGs, it also poses new risks, threatening to increase disinformation and exacerbate inequalities. Urgent action is needed to mitigate these risks, while maximizing its promise. The fact that a third of the world’s population is not yet online, and is losing out as a result, shows how digital divides can increase inequalities between developed and developing countries, men and women, young and elderly, rich and poor, urban and rural areas.

Other important themes covered during the week included data governance – how to ensure that the immense volume of data generated by digital technology can be used for the common good, while respecting individual privacy; cybersecurity – how to protect countries, communities and individuals from malicious use of the Internet and digital technology; and the environment – how to maximize the contribution that technology makes to environmental sustainability and the fight against climate change, while minimizing its own environmental footprint, for example, in e-consumption and e-waste.

This year’s IGF took place within the framework of wider discussions about the future role of information and communication technologies within the UN system including two UN processes to which the IGF brings its unique multistakeholder perspective. First, the Global Digital Compact  – a comprehensive new approach to digitalization’s impact on the world community which will form part of the UN’s Summit of the Future in 2024; and second, the 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) that led to the establishment of the IGF. The renewal of the IGF’s mandate will be discussed by the UN General Assembly as part of the WSIS+20 review in 2025.

Highlights – As a key outcome, the Kyoto IGF Messages are sourced directly from Forum sessions and provide a high-level overview for decision-makers of the most current thinking on key Internet governance and digital policy issues.

‘The Internet We Want’ vision paper was released at the IGF by the UN Secretary-General appointed IGF Leadership Panel Chair, Vint Cerf and Vice-Chair Maria Ressa. The paper reiterated that digital governance is critical for economic, social and environmental development, and is a crucial enabler of sustainable development. It further elaborated what it means for the Internet to be whole and open, universal and inclusive, free-flowing and trustworthy, safe and secure and rights-respecting.

The U.N. Global Digital Compact, which aims to set out principles, objectives and actions to secure a human-centred digital future received robust discussion and review. The outcomes of the IGF, including from its High-level, Parliamentary and Youth tracks, will also serve as a concrete framework for the Compact that will be agreed on at the UN Summit of the Future next year.

The Government of Japan also announced their plans at the Forum for an Artificial Intelligence accord that would see G7 nations agree on international guidelines and codes of conduct for the developers of generative AI.

About the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) – The Internet Governance Forum, convened by the United Nations Secretary-General and hosted this year by the Government of Japan, is the global multistakeholder forum concerned with the Internet and the rapid transformation of society that results from digital development. Each year, the IGF annual meeting brings together stakeholders from around the world to discuss the most pressing Internet governance trends and challenges. The IGF meetings facilitate the exchange of information and the sharing of good policies and practices related to key elements of Internet governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the Internet.

Held from 8 to 12 October, this year’s IGF brought together close to 9,000 registered participants, from 178 countries (92% of UN Member States), with 5,500 joining on-site with others participating online in a fully hybrid interactive mode, making it the largest and most geographically diverse Forum to date. Representatives from governments, the private sector, civil society, the technical community and international organizations, gathered under the umbrella theme of ‘The Internet We Want – Empowering All People’. Over 160 national, regional, and youth IGF initiatives, and 35 IGF remote hubs also allowed hundreds if not thousands more online participants to contribute to the Forum.

The programme featured over 300 sessions, with eight sub-themes: (1) AI & Emerging Technologies; (2) Avoiding Internet Fragmentation; (3) Cybersecurity, Cybercrime & Online Safety; (4) Data Governance & Trust; (5) Digital Divides & Inclusion; (6) Global Digital Governance & Cooperation; (7) Human Rights & Freedoms; and (8) Sustainability & Environment.

For additional information, please visit: https://www.intgovforum.org/en

Media contacts: – Francyne Harrigan, UN Department of Global Communications, harriganf@un.org

Eleonora Mazzucchi, IGF Secretariat, eleonora.mazzucchi@un.org

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