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New York: Blaming speculation for the high price of food and oil, and arrogance and greed for the global economic crisis, the Dominican Republic called at the United Nations today for new market rules and proposed a 5 per cent tax on financial transactions to spur growth and prosperity.

New York: The Security Council today voiced its determination to enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations in defusing potential and ongoing conflicts, and encouraged the world body to use all the preventive diplomacy tools at its disposal.

New York: Sexual violence in conflict represents a threat to peace and security and is not just a health or human rights issue, top United Nations officials told Member States today at a mini-summit on preventing and responding to sexual violence in conflict.

New York: The conflict in Libya and the broader Arab Spring pro-democracy movement demonstrates that the United Nations must act with vigour to ensure people everywhere are able to enjoy important freedoms and opportunities, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said today.

New York: Ten years after a global conference in Durban, South Africa, sought to uproot all forms of racism, much progress has been made, yet intolerance has actually increased in many parts of the world, top United Nations officials warned today.

James Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International, started a session in WTO public forum by noting that global public goods are generally undersupplied because of sovereignty and free-rider issues, and that this is especially so in the case of knowledge. Although the private sector has been active in supplying knowledge in some cases, such as Wikipedia and Creative Commons, this effort is insufficient. He suggested that such an agreement under the WTO could operate with standardized and sui generis offers, depending on the area concerned.

The focus of a session in WTO public forum was the question of whether trade can contribute to food security at a global, regional and country level.

A session in WTO public forum considered the economic and trade prospects, challenges, and opportunities presented by the 2012 Rio Conference, and what role the international trade community could play in the Conference. All panellists concurred that the ‘Green Economy’ is an elusive concept that implies vast potential benefits as well as “detriments”. It thus presents a compelling agenda for the international trade community to address. In this regard, the WTO and other institutions should work together to bring coherence and legitimacy to the debate.

Maximizing the benefits from trade liberalization requires proactive policy because trade can not only create high-paying jobs for workers in productive industries, but can also destroy jobs in uncompetitive industries.

Moderated by Jayashree Watal (WTO), a session in WTO public forum discussed the role of intellectual property rights/Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs/TRIPS) in global efforts to encourage the development and diffusion of new, climate-friendly technologies. Most speakers agreed that relevant technologies are largely in the public domain and patents cover only incremental innovations.