United Nations

Bolton: US Should Move to "Voluntary" UN Funding

October 28, 2015

Former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton has called on the US to treat all funding to the UN as voluntary, rather than "assessed," to ensure that the US only funds UN operations that correspond with US interests and to make it more likely that the operations it funds are effective.
UN Event Pushes Countries to Tackle "Bullying"

October 28, 2015

At a recent side event of the UN General Assembly, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children Marta Santos Pais and other officials urged countries to address the phenomenon of bullying, particularly "cyberbullying," through measures such as guidance to schools on how to prevent and respond to bullying incidents.
UN Agency Adopts Global Food Framework

October 28, 2015

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has launched a Framework for Action on Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises to coordinate "comprehensive and effective policies and action" on food aid around the world.
Article Seeks Strengthened UN Governance Institutions

October 27, 2015

An editorial in The National Catholic Review supports calls from the Catholic Church and others to strengthen UN institutions of global governance in order to facilitate international action on climate change, security, and other issues relating to the promotion of a "just world."
Indian Official Pushes for Representative Global Governance

October 27, 2015

Referring to the UN Security Council as a "grotesque example of global power oligopoly," Counsellor in India's Permanent Mission to the UN Amit Narang has called for more representative global-governance structures that permit developing countries to take advantage of globalization.
UN Official Seeks Global Compact on Refugee Sharing

October 21, 2015

In recent remarks, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Volker Türk called for countries to develop a "global compact" in which they agree to share the responsibility of taking in refugees.
UN Issues Revised Guidelines on Prisoner Treatment

October 21, 2015

The UN has released its Revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which seeks to place pressure on countries over prisoner treatment issues such as solitary confinement, access to health care, and "intrusive searches."
UN Guidelines Counsel Countries on Environmental Justice

October 21, 2015

The UN Environmental Programme has released guidelines that call for countries to close "gaps in legislation and legal norms" that may limit citizens' access to justice on environmental issues.
World Bank Boosts Climate Funding Levels

October 16, 2015

The World Bank Group has announced that it is seeking to boost its funding for climate change-related projects to $29 billion annually by 2020, raising its contributions to such efforts from 21 percent to 28 percent of its total funding.
UN Official Warns UK on Bill of Rights Move

October 16, 2015

Prior to the UK's releasing its plan for replacing its Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has warned such a move would be "damaging for victims and human rights protection."