United Nations

UN Chief Expresses Concern over Decreased Biannual Budget

January 07, 2016

The US Government praised as a "great step forward" a marginally decreased 2016/2017 UN budget that reduces staff, some salaries, and funding for supplies, while the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon lamented in a speech to the General Assembly that "funding continues to shrink while demands on the United Nations grow."
UNESCO Hosts French Forum on "Citizenship Education"

January 07, 2016

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") recently hosted a seminar in Paris for teachers, students, and school administrators on how to incorporate into French classrooms UNESCO's model of "Global Citizenship Education," which seeks to "empower" students "to be responsible global citizens."
UN Introduces Climate-Change Course for French Teachers

January 07, 2016

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") has released the French version of its course for secondary-school teachers on how to insert lessons on climate change and the UN's "sustainable development" agenda into their curricula.
UN Agent: WTO Must Be Subordinated to Rights Agenda

January 06, 2016

Arguing that the World Trade Organization's ("WTO") current policies in support of global trade benefit rich countries at the expense of the "right to development" of poor countries, UN Independent Expert Alfred de Zayas has called on the UN system to subjugate the WTO and all international trade agreements to the human-rights provisions of the UN Charter.
Abrams Calls on US Congress Not to Fund UNESCO

January 06, 2016

Elliott Abrams writes in The Weekly Standard that the US Congress must show resolve in upholding US policy not to fund any UN organization that admits Palestine as a member by denying the Obama Administration's request for a waiver permitting the President to "re-fund" the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO").
UN Agents Seek Scale-up of EU Refugee Program

January 06, 2016

UN agents have increased pressure on EU authorities to increase drastically the number of refugees it is resettling in Europe, with the head of the UN refugee agency Antonio Guterres calling the current effort "not enough" and the UN's special envoy for migration Peter Sutherland labeling the EU's inability to deal with the "manageable number" of migrants "absurd."
Panel Cites UN Failures in Sex-Abuse Cases

January 06, 2016

An independent panel established to investigate the UN response to allegations of the sexual abuse of children by French peacekeepers in the Central African Republic has found that "gross institutional failure" at UN agencies prevented a meaningful response to the allegations and led to further abuse.
UN Resolution Supports "Sustainable Development" Education

January 06, 2016

A recent resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly seeks to solidify the role of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") in promoting "Education for Sustainable Development" to advance the UN's agenda on sustainable development in educational institutions around the world.
UN-NGO Deal Promotes "Citizenship Education" in Asia

January 06, 2016

An agreement between the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") and the nonprofit Asia Society will seek to further the integration of "Global Citizenship Education," which includes lessons on the UN's "sustainable development" and human-rights agendas, in Asian education systems.
UNESCO Lauds Education Provision in Climate Agreement

January 06, 2016

A press release from the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") spotlights a provision agreed in the draft Paris climate deal calling for countries to "enhance climate change education" and pushes policies that integrate the UN's "sustainable development" agenda in national education systems around the world.