Reflecting long-standing calls from nongovernmental organizations to jumpstart the corporate “climate action” agenda by linking it to human rights and sustainable development, UN Global Compact Executive Director Lise Kingo identifies global warming as a “new man-made threat” to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In a recent interview with Politico, US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland characterized the EU as “out of touch” with the practical concerns of citizens and businesses in the bloc and warned of US retaliation against EU “protectionist” policy that hinders trade between America and the bloc’s member states.
Politico reports that national leaders at a UN conference in Morocco have agreed to a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, without the support of the US, Australia, and several European countries with reservations regarding language many leaders believed interferes with national migration policies.
The Foreign Ministry of Turkey's Islamist government issued an official condemnation of Austria's amendment to its 2014 Symbols Act adding Turkish signs indicating support for fascism and of the Muslim Brotherhood to the list of prohibited symbols.
Hans von Spakovsky and Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation assert that the Trump Administration is justified in refusing to support the recently signed UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration because it would purport to limit the government’s constitutional authority to control immigration policy.
Politico reports that a conflict over the UN’s recently agreed migration compact has broken apart Belgium’s governing coalition and forced the Prime Minister to set up a minority government, as part of broader controversy in Europe and elsewhere regarding whether the pact recognizes a general right to migrate.
The Jerusalem Post reports that Hamas has characterized a UN General Assembly vote failing to condemn the Islamist extremist group for committing and inciting violence against Israel as a “slap in the face of America” and a “victory for the Palestinian resistance.”
A press release from Greenpeace illustrates the expanding use by the so-called “Climate Justice Movement” to file lawsuits against corporations and governments around the world demanding policy changes to combat global warming and the redistribution of funds to redress alleged rights violations caused by a changing climate.
Environmental activist organization ENvironnement JEUnesse has announced a class-action lawsuit on behalf of everyone in Quebec under age 35 alleging that the Canadian government’s failure to clamp down on corporate greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming violates their fundamental rights.
A group of nongovernmental organizations recently published a letter to the EU Council calling for the body of EU member states to help clarify and expand the duties of investors in Europe to engage in due diligence and reporting of impacts of their funds on the global “sustainability” and climate change agenda.
The European Commission (EC) has published a recommendation pushing for EU institutions to do more to bolster the global role of the euro, particularly in the energy sector, including by providing for further EU financial integration to raise trust in the currency.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Hungarian courts failed to respect the free expression rights of a media company they found liable for defamation over a hyperlink the company posted directing readers to a video containing defamatory content, finding that liability for the use of hyperlinks could have a chilling effect on online free speech.
Politico reports that Italian officials indicate they will respond to pressure from the European Commission over their planned 2019 budget by dialing back spending to avoid up to EUR 9 billion in sanctions under the EU’s excessive deficit procedure.
Iran hanged two financial traders for stockpiling gold coins and convicted of "spreading corruption on Earth," a high crime under the Shiite theocratic regime’s Islamic laws, in a move reflecting the ruling Islamic clerics’ efforts to stop Iran’s citizens from holding gold as security in the country’s worsening currency crisis.
Hardline Islamists in Pakistan continue to demand the death penalty for judges and politicians involved in the acquittal of a Christian woman imprisoned for years on blasphemy charges and have threatened violence against personnel at the Dutch Embassy in Islamabad, forcing the Netherlands to recall a sizable number of staff for security reasons.
Afghanistan’s President has shared data indicating that, since 2015, more than 28,000 Afghan police officers and soldiers have been casualties of the Islamist extremist Taliban forces warring to make the Southwest Asian country a sharia state.
Copyright 2018 Global Governance Watch. All Rights Reserved.
A project of The Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies