NGO Watch®

Report: UN Lacks Tools Needed for Global Governance

June 26, 2015

A recent report by former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other diplomats argues that the UN does not have the necessary tools to deal with existing world challenges and calls for reform of the UN Security Council and various UN agencies to facilitate global governance.
NGOs Push for "Global Citizenship" Concept in Development

June 16, 2015

The Inter Press Service reports that nongovernmental organizations ("NGOs") and national leaders are pushing for the inclusion of the broad concept of "global citizenship" - including an expanded concept of social and economic human rights - in the UN's post-2015 development agenda.
AI: Ireland's Pro-Life Constitution Violates International Law

June 15, 2015

Amnesty International ("AI") has published a report arguing that the Irish Constitution, whose Eighth Amendment seeks to protect "the right to life of the unborn," violates international law, "which does not recognise a foetal right to life" and which proscribes torture and discrimination.
Paper Pushes NHRIs to Advance Rights Through Development

June 10, 2015

A paper from the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Center for Economic and Social Rights calls for national human rights institutions ("NHRIs") to use the UN's Sustainable Development Goals to advance the international agenda on nontraditional social and economic human rights.
NGO: Climate Negotiations Must Respect Indigenous Rights

June 10, 2015

The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact Foundation recently held a working group at a climate change negotiation conference in Bonn, Germany, calling for these negotiations to include a focus on the effect of global warming on the human rights of indigenous peoples.
HRW: Canadian Anti-Terrorism Bill Violates International Law

June 04, 2015

Human Rights Watch ("HRW") has called on the Canadian Senate to reject a counter-terrorism bill that would enable more information-sharing among government agencies and broaden prohibitions on the advocacy of terrorism, arguing that the legislation would violate international human rights standards.
NGO Justice Study Informs UN Development Goals

June 03, 2015

The nongovernmental organization the World Justice Project has completed a study on the status of the rule of law in 102 countries in order to inform the inclusion of goals on law and justice in the UN's post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.
NGO Seeks to Measure UN Education Goals

May 29, 2015

Conceding the difficulty of quantifying progress on the proposed, wide-ranging UN Sustainable Development Goals, the nongovernmental organization Open Society Foundations is seeking to measure such goals as achieving “knowledge, values, skills, and attitudes to establish sustainable and peaceful societies.”
CIGI Calls for U.S. to Agree to IMF Overhaul

May 28, 2015

The Centre for International Governance Innovation ("CIGI") has called on the U.S. to commit to wide-ranging reforms of the International Monetary Fund ("IMF") that would double the permanent contributions of IMF members and increase the voting power of "emerging markets" in the institution.
NGOs Push for Rights-Based Development Agenda

May 27, 2015

An article in the Asian Tribune illustrates the push by nongovernmental organizations (“NGOs”) that see capitalism as the enemy of the global environmental and social agendas to focus on human rights and “sustainability” in the UN’s upcoming development goals.