Transnational Bodies

World Bank Touts Focus on Biodiversity

May 18, 2018

A press release from the World Bank highlights the development institution's embrace of the global environmental agenda by explaining its extensive role in funding "biodiversity conservation and sustainable use" and its application of a "safeguards policy" requiring its managers to consider biodiversity in all investment projects.
World Bank Prioritizes "Social Safety Nets" in Combating Inequality

May 16, 2018

A recent report from the World Bank lauds "social safety nets," including cash transfer programs and social pensions, as important tools in limiting poverty and economic inequality and pushes for more cooperation with international development organizations to reduce "gaps" in these programs.
Rieff: ICC and R2P Are "Unworkable" for Current World

May 15, 2018

Author David Rieff illustrates the sustained ebb in the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the "responsibility to protect" (R2P) doctrine as a microcosm of a broader global trend in which regimes such as China and Russia, and "populist" Western governments, disregard the human rights movement and move toward authoritarianism.
OSCE Official Demands Policing Reform in US

May 09, 2018

Responding to a police shooting in California in March, Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee Ignacio Sanchez Amor called on US officials to ensure greater accountability and to introduce "policing reform" to address "systemic problems within US law enforcement" involving the regularity of officers' use of lethal force.
World Bank Funds "Climate Resilience" of Jamaican Fishing

May 08, 2018

A new grant from the World Bank to Jamaica aimed at helping the country's fisheries sector become more "climate-resilient" shows how the development institution is increasingly embracing the UN's climate agenda in its financing decisions through its Strategic Climate Fund.
World Bank Sets up Audit of Business Regulation Rankings

May 08, 2018

The World Bank has announced that it has commissioned an independent external audit of the ranking of Chile in the organization's Doing Business report, following media reports that the country's fall in the annual report's ranking on ease of setting up and running a business was motivated by politics.
UN Chief Seeks "Sustainability" in African Trade Bloc

May 07, 2018

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has applauded the signing of a pan-African free trade agreement, comprising over 50 countries, and offered the UN's expertise in its implementation to ensure that it helps fulfill the international organization's comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals.
Rights Observers Call for "Equality Bodies" Across Europe

May 04, 2018

Representatives of the Council of Europe, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) issued a joint statement calling on European governments to strengthen the protection of individuals against racism through "effective and independent equality bodies" focused on preventing racism and "intolerance."
OECD Pushes Australia to Ramp up Development Aid

April 26, 2018

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published a report calling on the Government of Australia to increase its development aid budget to match its "active global engagement" for small island states and disaster-risk reduction.
OSCE Meeting Promotes "Sustainable" Energy Sources

April 24, 2018

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) recently hosted a conference in Vienna that included discussions on how energy efficiency and "sustainability" are key to economic growth in the OSCE region, thereby linking the development of "green" energy sources with energy security in Europe.