United Nations

UN Highlighted Climate Catastrophes Prior to Summit

December 21, 2015

Attempting to show a link between climate change and weather-related disasters prior to the recent UN conference among world leaders on climate change in Paris, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction released a report estimating that 90 percent of global disasters in the last twenty years have been climate-related.
UN: Nationality-Based Migrant Restrictions Violate Rights

December 21, 2015

Calling for Balkan States to increase their capacity for migrants from the Middle East, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that policies in the region of "profiling" migrants and asylum seekers based on their nationality violates international human-rights law.
Coalition Pushes US to Recognize Rights in Climate Deal

December 18, 2015

A coalition of nongovernmental organizations recently published a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, in the lead-up to the recent UN climate conference in Paris, calling for the US to support recognition in the deal that countries must respect the global human-rights agenda when responding to threats from climate change.
WHO Predicts Lives Saved Through Climate Action

December 17, 2015

In the lead-up to the recent UN climate summit in Paris, the UN's World Health Organization ("WHO") placed pressure on delegates by estimating that climate change currently causes tens of thousands of deaths per year and that a deal to reduce global warming could save 2.4 million lives per year by the year 2050.
UN's Ban Calls for Global Acceptance of Refugees

December 17, 2015

Arguing that "sealing borders, criminalization and detention will not solve any problems," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for countries to "open their hearts" to refugees and to coordinate a global response to provide legal avenues through which refugees can immigrate.
UN Climate Deal Includes Review Mechanism

December 16, 2015

The Washington Post reports that national leaders from across the globe have adopted an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to subject their governments every five years to a review mechanism that will be press for further actions limiting contributions to global warming.
UN Officials Laud Climate Deal as "Renaissance for Humankind"

December 16, 2015

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other UN officials heaped praise on a wide-ranging climate deal reached by national leaders in Paris as "a renaissance for humankind" and as progress toward "ending poverty, strengthening peace and ensuring a life of dignity and opportunity for all."
UN Agent Warns of Climate-Change Impact on "Right to Food"

December 16, 2015

As the UN conference on global warming in Paris approached, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food Hilal Elver joined a chorus of UN and activist voices calling for protection of "human rights" in any global climate pact by warning of the "severe and distinct" threat of global warming to the human right to food and to nutrition around the world.
UN Conference Adopts Global Museum Guidelines

December 16, 2015

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") General Conference has adopted a "standard-setting" recommendation on the protection and promotion of museums, which UNESCO says will help promote the UN's goals of "sustainable development and intercultural dialogue."
UN Promotes "Global Citizenship Education" in Sudan

December 16, 2015

A regional office of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") has organized a Conference on Global Citizenship Education in Khartoum, Sudan, as part of its push for curricula on the UN agendas of sustainable development and tolerance among national education systems around the world.