Transnational Bodies

OSCE Trains Montenegro Lawmakers on "Gender Mainstreaming"

June 08, 2018

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) recently supported a training course in the Parliament of Montenegro focusing on how the body should use "gender mainstreaming" policies to enhance equality between men and women in the country.
IMF Seeks Updated Standards on "Governance" Issues

June 08, 2018

The Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have called for new internal guidance for the development institution on how "to promote more systematic, effective, candid, and evenhanded engagement" related to governance issues in countries in which the IMF operates, including on corruption and "rule of law" issues.
World Bank Fund Pushes Climate Action Across Economy

June 07, 2018

The World Bank has published a press release about how its BioCarbon Fund's Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes is seeking to drive climate action by rewarding countries with financing for measuring and reducing a broad range of greenhouse gas emissions in the forestry, agricultural, energy, and other sectors.
World Bank Prioritizes "Climate-Smart" Development Funding

June 07, 2018

In an article pushing "middle income countries" to do more to meet their commitments under the 2015 Paris climate accords, the World Bank Group touts the $12.8 billion it used to finance "climate-related" projects in fiscal year 2017 and illustrates how the development institution is broadly and increasingly prioritizing the threat of global warming in its funding decisions.
World Bank Panel Seeks Climate Adaptation in South Asia

June 07, 2018

Predicting that 800 million South Asians are at economic risk due to the future catastrophic impacts of global warming, the World Bank recently hosted a panel exploring "concrete climate actions and adaptation strategies" Asian countries must adopt to limit their exposure to such threats.
OSCE Official Criticizes Russian Clampdown on Encrypted Messaging

May 31, 2018

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir has called on Russian officials to reconsider legal action restricting access to the Telegram application, which permits encrypted online messaging, after the application's owners refused to provide authorities a decryption key to help them unlock messages sent using the service.
World Bank Approves "Sustainability" Loan to Turkey

May 24, 2018

The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors recently approved a loan of just over $90 million to Turkey as part of a new "Sustainable Cities Project," through which the development institution will support the Turkish cities Antalya and Muğla in achieving "economic, financial, environmental, and social sustainability" in infrastructure, water, sanitation, and other areas.
World Bank Calls for "Nature Based" Responses to Climate Risks

May 24, 2018

The World Bank explains its partnership in the development of a guidance document considering how development institutions should integrate "nature based solutions" to disaster risks in their financing strategies to respond to increased risks of global warming and extreme weather events.
World Bank Funds "Climate-Smart" Agriculture in Bangladesh

May 24, 2018

Illustrating the World Bank's embrace of the global climate agenda as a viable path toward achieving development, the institution recently announced the launch of a Climate-Smart Agriculture Country Profile and the Climate Smart Investment Plan for Bangladesh, pushing the country to take into account threats from global warming in its agricultural policies.
OECD: Tax Savings to Reduce Inequality

May 22, 2018

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has issued two reports calling on governments to improve their taxation of household savings and wealth with the aim of reducing economic inequality, identifying taxation as "among the most effective tools governments have for reducing inequalities and bringing about more inclusive growth."