United Nations

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.
UN Faces Sex-Abuse Allegations Against Peacekeepers

January 08, 2016

In the wake of an independent report charging the UN with "institutional failure" in its response to sex-abuse allegations against French troops operating under UN Security Council authorization in the Central African Republic, the UN has announced that it is investigating new, similar allegations against its peacekeepers in the country.
UN's Comprehensive SDGs Take Effect

January 08, 2016

Noting the mixed success of its previous, more-limited development agenda, the UN has issued a press release celebrating the official launch of its Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs"), which it describes as "an ambitious set of goals to banish a whole host of social ills" in the coming 15 years.
UN Hosts Events on Climate-Focused Redesign of Finance

January 08, 2016

The UN Environment Programme has announced that it will hold events in London and Washington, DC, focused on the agency's policy proposals for countries to reform the design of their financial systems in order to provide for funding of climate-related projects.
Saudi Arabia Wields Influence on UNHRC Panel

January 08, 2016

Highlighting the fact that a recent mass execution in Saudi Arabia occurred as the country sits on a panel of the UN Human Rights Council ("UNHRC") that selects human-rights observers, journalist Charlotte Alfred writes that Saudi Arabia has already wielded influence on the panel by suppressing a proposal for an inquiry into alleged rights violations in the country's war in Yemen.
UNGA Recognizes New "Right to Sanitation"

January 08, 2016

As the UN system continues to identify new "human rights" that veer from traditional and universal civil and political rights, and whose achievement typically requires the redistribution of funds, the UN General Assembly ("UNGA") has adopted a resolution recognizing a "right to sanitation" that is distinct from the right it previously recognized to safe drinking water.
UN Uses "Unusual" Weather to Push Climate-Change Measures

January 08, 2016

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has blamed climate change and "increased urbanization" for recent "weather-related disasters," including tornadoes in the US, snowfall in Mexico, and flooding in South America, and has called for countries to take into account the predictions of UN agencies in establishing "preventive measures" for such phenomena.
UNESCO Seeks Empowered Role in Global Education Policy

January 07, 2016

A recent publication from the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") entitled "Rethinking Education" calls for UNESCO to bring stakeholders together to determine the future of global education on "citizenship" and "sustainability" and calls for the establishment of a "permanent observatory mechanism" to monitor trends in education around the world.