United Nations

US State Department Seeks "Re-funding" of UNESCO

January 04, 2016

According to The Washington Free Beacon, the US State Department is seeking Senate support for a measure permitting the US once again to fund the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") after the Obama Administration was legally required to de-fund UNESCO in 2011 due to the organization's admission of Palestine as a member.
Slaughter: Climate Deal Signals New Approach to Global Governance

December 30, 2015

Author and former president of the American Society of International Law Anne-Marie Slaughter writes that the approach of the UN climate pact agreed in Paris, involving non-binding national commitments and a "conglomeration" of stakeholders, is part of a 21st-century strategy for implementing global governance.
UN Official Warns EU on Impending Tobacco Reforms

December 30, 2015

POLITICO reports that the head of the UN World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control secretariat Vera Da Costa e Silva has posted a letter to EU officials warning them that working too closely with representatives of tobacco companies in developing anti-cigarette smuggling rules would violate the bloc's international commitments.
US Member of Congress: Disband or Reform UNHRC

December 30, 2015

US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has called for President Barack Obama to call for either a fundamental reform or the disbandment of the UN Human Rights Council ("UNHRC"), which she asserts makes no meaningful contribution to the protection of fundamental human rights and instead merely singles out Israel for alleged rights abuses.
UN-Launched Group Calls for Climate Investment in Cities

December 30, 2015

A report emanating from the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, launched by the UN in 2014, seeks a large injection of funding from governments and businesses into cities for "climate-smart" infrastructure and transportation development to counter the effects of climate change.
UN Ramps up Pressure for Climate-Change Education

December 30, 2015

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") recently hosted a seminar for policy coordinators, teachers, and students from its Associated Schools Project Network to assist with the development of action plans to educate children about the effects of climate change in schools around the world.
UN, Norway Agree on Funding for Climate-Poverty Research

December 30, 2015

The UN Environment Programme ("UNEP") has announced a $10 million deal with Norway that will fund UNEP's work on environmental crimes and on "mainstreaming" policy initiatives at the national level on how development planning can alleviate the effects of global warming on poverty.
UN Official Insists Climate Deal Is "Legally Binding"

December 30, 2015

In an interview during the UN climate-change negotiations in Paris, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres argued that any deal that would come out of the Paris talks would have "several different natures of legal bindingness" on countries around the world.
World Bank Works with Space Agency on Sustainability

December 29, 2015

The UN's World Bank has launched a new project with the European Space Agency "to reduce poverty, monitor environmental changes, and stimulate economic growth" by pursuing the UN's sustainability agenda through observation of the Earth.
Development Banks Pledge Funding for Green Transport

December 29, 2015

As part of its activity at the recent UN climate talks in Paris, the World Bank convened seven other multilateral development banks to announce that they would ramp up financing of transportation projects that would counter and limit the effects of climate change.