United Nations

UN Seeks to Connect AIIB with Sustainability Agenda

January 20, 2016

In a message congratulating China on its launch of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ("AIIB"), the UN Development Programme highlighted its pressure on the AIIB to heed social and environmental factors, including the UN's agenda on "sustainable development," in its decision-making.
Article Links WHO Pollution "Emergency" with UK Airport

January 20, 2016

An article in The Guardian seeks to use a declaration from the UN's World Health Organization ("WHO") that the world's cities, mainly in developing countries such as China and India, face a "public health emergency" from air pollution to cast doubt on the development of a new runway at London's Heathrow Airport.
UN Supports "Climate Resilience" Project in Moldova

January 20, 2016

The UN Development Programme has announced that one of its many development projects around the world is financial support for Moldovan farmers to assist them in taking into account and adapting to the effects of climate change on their land and in their operations.
Businesswoman Pleads Guilty in UN Bribery Scheme

January 15, 2016

ABC News reports that a Chinese businesswoman has pleaded guilty in US courts to carrying out a bribery scheme in which then-President of the UN General Assembly John Ashe supported Chinese business interests in exchange for over a million dollars in cash.
UN Agents Express Concerns on UK Surveillance Bill

January 13, 2016

UN human rights mandate holders have called for a review of UK legislation providing unified standards for British agencies engaging in surveillance for potential violations of international human rights law, including by preventing those under monitoring "from ever knowing they are subject to surveillance."
UN Report Monitors National Education Policies

January 13, 2016

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") has announced that a re-tooled report, called the "Global Education Monitoring Report," will serve as a centralized monitor of national and international education and other policy commitments to which countries agreed as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
World Bank Uses Initiative to Push Climate Adaptation

January 13, 2016

The World Bank has published an article describing how its Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery is financing mitigation and adaptation projects to deal with what it sees as the rising risks of climate change-related weather disasters around the world.
UN Agent Investigates Development and Rights in Morocco

January 13, 2016

UN Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity Virginia Dandan has announced an upcoming visit to Morocco during which she will investigate whether national and international development efforts within the country are contributing to the fulfillment of nontraditional economic, social, and cultural human rights.
UN, OSCE Officials Reissue Call for Closure of Guantanamo Facility

January 12, 2016

UN human-rights mandate holders and an official from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe ("OSCE") have called for the US to close its terror-suspect detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, to permit detainees to seek redress, and to "end impunity" for officials "at the highest level" who ordered certain counterterrorism actions following the 9/11 attacks.
Professor Provides Initial Examination of UN Climate Pact

January 11, 2016

Professor Jorge Vinuales of the University of Cambridge has produced an initial analysis of the various implementation and compliance provisions of the UN climate deal recently agreed in Paris, calling the pact a "realistic instrument" that will work more effectively to counter climate change than the previous agreement signed in Kyoto.