United Nations

UN Agent Takes Broad View on Data Privacy Rights

October 31, 2016

In a report to the UN General Assembly, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, Joseph Cannataci, warned of expanded attempts by governments to resort to "permanent mass surveillance" and indicated his opposition to the access by law enforcement to the data on one's personal smartphone data, even with a judicial warrant.
Contact Group Discusses Citizenship Education Efforts

October 31, 2016

At the annual meeting of the International Contact Group on Citizenship and Human Rights Education, held in Budapest, the participants - including the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization - described their recent progress in advancing the "Global Citizenship Education" agenda and called for a broader membership to promote their goals.
UN Observers Seek Bolstered Migration Rights

October 31, 2016

Two UN human rights mandate holders have characterized upcoming negotiations on an international compact for the global governance of migration as an opportunity to establish an "Agenda 2033 for Facilitating Human Mobility," which would provide for expanded access of migrants around the world to safe "mobility channels."
UN Agent Pushes "Right to Adequate Housing"

October 31, 2016

Following the UN "Habitat III" Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha, describes her efforts to integrate the global human rights agenda into urban planning and to persuade officials to recognize as "rights claimants" those in cities who do not have access to adequate housing.
WHO Works on Standards Supporting "Right to Reproduce"

October 28, 2016

According to The Telegraph, critics argue that new global standards to which the UN's World Health Organization has contributed, expanding the definition of "infertility" to include anyone who wishes to have children but cannot, threaten the WHO's credibility and merely seek to support an international human right to reproduce.
UN Agent Seeks Global Interrogation Standards

October 28, 2016

UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Méndez, has released a statement calling for the development of universal standards promoting "non-coercive interview methods," going beyond torture prevention to limit "risks of intimidation, coercion, and mistreatment" when questioning both suspects and witnesses.
UN Seeks Funds to Remedy Cholera Disaster in Haiti

October 27, 2016

Reuters reports that UN officials are seeking to raise the international organization's budget, which is paid by its member states, by $200 million to support relief efforts and compensate the families of victims of a cholera outbreak caused by UN peacekeepers in Haiti in 2010.
UN Group: US Must End Mandatory Migrant Detention

October 27, 2016

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called on the US to implement global human rights standards by abolishing the mandatory detention of migrants who have illegally entered the country.
Schaefer: African Withdrawals Could Shake ICC

October 27, 2016

Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation writes that a broad "exit movement" of African countries from the International Criminal Court, a few of which have occurred in response to perceived ICC bias in favor of prosecuting people from African countries, could significantly hamper the functioning of the international judicial body.
African Countries Withdraw from ICC

October 26, 2016

AP reports that Burundi, South Africa, and Gambia have announced their intention to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, asserting that they oppose the ICC's acceptance of regime change as a consequence of its prosecutions and alleging that the body has been discriminatory in only pursuing prosecutions in African countries.