United Nations

EU Officials Agree to Ramp up Climate Outreach

March 16, 2017

Reuters reports that foreign ministers of EU member states have agreed to respond to a potential US decision to withdraw from the UN's Paris climate deal agreed in 2015 by devoting their diplomatic institutions to "aggressive outreach" in helping to preserve the deal and ensuring funding for "climate adaptation" efforts in poor countries.
US State Department Demands Reform at UNHRC

March 15, 2017

Foreign Policy reports that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has written in a letter to a group of nongovernmental organizations that the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), due to its low bar for membership and disproportionate focus on Israel, "requires considerable reform in order for us to continue to participate."
Funding Gap Indicates Climate Agenda Obstacles

March 15, 2017

Findings from the International Institute for Environmental and Development that less than 10 percent of global "climate finance," aimed at combating global warming and reducing its impacts, reaches local projects shows the challenge involved in efforts of global governance institutions to redistribute funds to fulfill their agenda on climate change.
UN Ramps up Global SDG Communication Campaign

March 15, 2017

A Deutsche Welle interview with the Director of the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Action Campaign, Mitchell Toomey, indicates the sophisticated nature of the UN's effort to communicate the case for the comprehensive SDGs to a global audience, including by recruiting 700,000 "voluntary activists" to further the cause of "sustainability."
World Bank Funds Bhutan's "Climate Resilience"

March 15, 2017

An agreement between the World Bank and the Royal Government of Bhutan to provide $1.5 million to help the country develop a strategic plan to address its "climate resilience" demonstrates how the global financial institution redistributes money to developing countries as part of the UN's "climate finance" agenda.
UN Agent: "Moral Superiority" Claims Threaten Rights

March 15, 2017

The UN Special Rapporteur on "cultural rights," Karima Bennoune, has warned that a "global avalanche of hate" and "claims of cultural and moral superiority" from groups around the world threaten rights to culture and women's "sexual and reproductive rights," often used to include abortion rights.
UN Agent Links Biodiversity to Economic, Social Rights

March 15, 2017

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment John Knox has called on governments to permit people to "fully enjoy" their "rights to life, health, food and water" by respecting their duty to protect biodiversity.
US Criticizes UNHRC's "Obsession with Israel"

March 14, 2017

Deutsche Welle reports that a US State Department official, citing over 60 resolutions from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) condemning Israel for alleged rights violations since it was formed in 2006, has signaled a review of the US government's engagement with the body given its "obsession with Israel."
UN Hosts "Ideas Festival" on SDGs

March 14, 2017

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Action Campaign recently hosted a Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development in Bonn, Germany, to solicit wide-ranging ideas from policymakers, business representatives, and social and environmental activists on how to implement the comprehensive SDG agenda.
UN Group Calls out German "Afrophobia"

March 14, 2017

The UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent has warned of continuing "racial discrimination, Afrophobia and racial profiling" in Germany and has called for the establishment of an "independent complaint mechanism" at the state and federal levels to deal with German racism.