Policy

In the UN Human Rights Council this week, Norway criticised the human rights situation in Iran on behalf of more than 50 countries, including both Australia and New Zealand. The joint statement was timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the controversial presidential election in Iran.

Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will lead the UN High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing in developing countries. He succeeds former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the group shall mobilise the resources promised at the Copenhagen Climate Summit last December.

8-12 June Oslo is hosting the largest polar science meeting ever – to celebrate and publish early results from the International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY). The IPY Oslo Science Conference will demonstrate, strengthen, and extend IPY’s remarkable accomplishments in science and outreach.

Norway and Indonesia have agreed to enter into a partnership to support Indonesia’s efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests and peat lands. Indonesia will take immediate and decisive action to reduce its forest and peat related greenhouse gas emissions. Norway will support those efforts with one billion USD over the next few years.

More than 60 countries agreed to concrete measures to address armed violence in Geneva on 12 May. Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea were among the countries that endorsed the Oslo Commitments.

Although there are those who have warned that increased activity and unresolved boundaries in the Arctic would raise tensions, developments in the region are bearing witness to just the opposite.

Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg have called on NATO to support efforts to achieve a world without nuclear weapons. “Our aim is to reduce the importance of nuclear weapons in NATO’s security policy,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Norwegian aid to the earthquake victims in Haiti is to be increased to NOK 100 million (USD 17.5 millon).

The initiative was launched during the climate change negotiations at Bali in December 2007. A project group has been appointed in the Ministry of the Environment, and this works closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant ministries. The initiative seeks to achieve cost-effective and verifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD), and applies to all types of tropical forests.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will initiate a climate group consisting of the most important forest countries.