United Nations

OHCHR Criticizes Australian Youth Detention Conditions

August 01, 2016

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has raised concerns that the treatment of minors at an Australian youth detention center violated the country's obligations under international human rights law and has called for payment of compensation to the detainees and for the expansion of the scope of an investigation of the centers.
UN Observer Targets "Racism" in US Policies

July 29, 2016

Arguing that US policies including sentencing and drug laws reflect "old philosophies of exclusion and discrimination," the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, reported that the "justifiable and palpable anger" from the black community over such policies must be expressed through a robust right to protest.
UN Agent: US Should Reform Policies Toward Protests

July 28, 2016

Arguing that the US Supreme Court's allowance of "time, place, and manner restrictions" on public demonstrations does "not necessarily conform with international law," the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, has called for US authorities to open up their process of permitting protests.
UN Partners with IOM on Global Migration Governance

July 28, 2016

The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution making the International Organization for Migration a "related organization" within the UN system as the UN and IOM move toward a consolidated approach on the global governance of mass migration.
UNICEF Warns of Legalized "Family Work" in India

July 28, 2016

The UN Children's Fund has called on India to remove from its new child labor laws an exception that permits children to work "where the child helps his family or family enterprises" after school or during vacations, arguing that the provision will cause the exploitation of children and drive them to drop out of school.
G-20 Advances UN's "Green Finance" Agenda

July 28, 2016

At a recent meeting of the G-20 group of countries in Chengdu, China, finance ministers and central bank governors adopted a communication supporting initiatives from the G-20 Green Finance Study Group and backed by the UN Environment Programme to scale up the use of financial instruments to promote renewable energy and counter global warming.
Governments Plan New Hydrofluorocarbon Clampdown

July 27, 2016

National and UN representatives meeting in Vienna have prepared an amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, likely to be agreed at a conference in Rwanda in October, that will "phase down" global use of hydrofluorocarbons in an effort to limit climate change.
UN Agencies Call for End to Fishing Subsidies

July 27, 2016

UN Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim has issued a statement of support for calls from the UN Commission on Trade and Development and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization for governments to help realize the UN Sustainable Development Goals by halting fishing subsidies.
Schaefer Highlights UN Funding in Repressive Countries

July 27, 2016

Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation writes that, as an internal UN watchdog report warns of a "state of near denial" on fraud in UN activities, recently released figures show vendors from a number of human rights-violating countries - including Sudan, Syria, and Zimbabwe - are among the biggest beneficiaries of UN procurement practices.
ILO Official Points to Labor Policies for Growth

July 26, 2016

At a recent meeting in Beijing, Director-General of the International Labour Organization Guy Ryder called on countries to focus on government action in support of the labor market, including minimum wage increases, to support global economic growth.