United Nations

World Bank Pushes African Countries on Climate

September 07, 2016

At a conference on "ocean economies and climate change" in Mauritius, the World Bank and governments from African coastal and island countries published a communiqué in which the countries pledged to consider the UN's climate agenda and perform impact assessments when developing ocean and coastal areas.
Report: UN Body Accredits Anti-Israel NGOs

September 01, 2016

A report from watchdog organizations Human Rights Voices and the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust finds numerous instances in which nongovernmental organizations accredited by the UN Economic and Social Council's NGO Committee have issued false and misleading material with the purpose of inciting hatred and violence against Israel.
Reports Find Unsanitary UN Peacekeeping Practices

August 31, 2016

George Russell writes that, as the latest wave of a cholera epidemic generally attributed to sanitation practices at a UN peacekeeper camp strikes Haiti, internal UN reports have spotlighted numerous examples of unsanitary practices in UN peacekeeping operations that may have contaminated water in conflict zones around the world.
UN Seeks Massive Infusion of Sustainability Funding

August 31, 2016

President-elect of the UN General Assembly, Peter Thomson, called on governments to "be creative in mobilizing finance," in the amount of $5 to $7 trillion per year, toward fulfilling the UN's comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals and transforming the global financial system to promote the organization's social and environmental agenda.
Key Details Remain Unresolved in UN Climate Deal

August 31, 2016

As the UN climate deal agreed in Paris last year nears the threshold of signatures required to enter into force, an article on the website Climate Home makes clear that several key details of the agreement, including how the review mechanism of national climate plans will work and how much support poor countries will receive to counter global warming, must still be negotiated.
UN Peacekeepers Refuse to Intervene in South Sudan Attack

August 31, 2016

The Guardian reports that UN peacekeeping forces refused to intervene in an attack by South Sudanese forces on a hotel complex less than a mile from their operations center that included assaults and rapes of foreigners and aid workers and the execution of a local journalist.
UN Agents Seek Rights-Based Conservation

August 30, 2016

Arguing that "a healthy ecosystem is important for the full enjoyment of a wide range of human rights," two UN human rights mandate holders have issued a statement calling for countries to base their policies on biodiversity and environmental conservation on the global human rights agenda.
UNICEF Group Criticizes Australian Asylum Policy

August 30, 2016

Citing reports of ill treatment of asylum seekers by Australian authorities on the island of Nauru, the UN Children's Fund ("UNICEF") Australia has called on the Australian Government to reform its immigration laws to provide for a "legitimate resettlement plan" that will permanently settle an increased number of asylum seekers in the country.
UNEP, Norway Sign Cooperation Agreement

August 30, 2016

The UN Environment Programme has announced that it has signed a new agreement with the Government of Norway to cooperate on issues related to the UN's sustainable development and environmental agendas.
Countries Target Climate Deal Ratification in 2016

August 29, 2016

Karl Mathiesen writes that a sufficient number of countries have agreed to ratify the UN climate deal, agreed in Paris late last year, to ensure that the deal enters into force by the end of 2016.