United Nations

UN Agent Criticizes World Bank Approach to Human Rights

October 02, 2015

UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston has criticized the World Bank for failing to integrate the UN human rights agenda into its project funding, calling the institution's approach to human rights outdated and politically motivated.
UNESCO Seeks Climate Response to Terrorism

October 02, 2015

Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") Irina Bokova has called for governments to take into account the influence of global warming in the rise of such terrorist groups as Boko Haram as they prepare for climate negotiations in Paris in December.
UN Pushes Integration of SDGs in National Systems

September 30, 2015

The UN Development Group has announced that it is pushing for the implementation of the recently adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs"), which call for ending poverty and limiting inequality and climate change by 2030, by seeking their integration into "national and local strategies, plans, and budgets."
UN Agent Warns Against "Privatizing" Education

September 30, 2015

Arguing that reliance on private education could increase inequality and benefit only the wealthy, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education Kishore Singh has called for countries to respond to the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs") by offering "good quality public education" to all.
Relief Group Calls for "Downsizing" UN Humanitarian Role

September 30, 2015

The nonprofit relief organization Mercy has published a report arguing that because UN humanitarian efforts have been "too centralized, top down and U.N. focused," they have not been as effective as private relief agencies in humanitarian disaster areas such as Syria.
UN Official Pushes Financial Tax to Aid Migrants

September 28, 2015

UN Under-Secretary-General Philippe Douste-Blazy has co-authored an article in which he calls for the European Union to impose a tax on transactions between financial institutions in order to fund European countries accepting migrants from North Africa and the Middle East and to provide "Global Public Goods" to developing countries.
UNGA Adopts Sustainable Development Goals

September 28, 2015

The UN General Assembly ("UNGA") has voted to adopt the international organization's Sustainable Development Goals, a comprehensive and wide-ranging set of targets for countries "to wipe out poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change" by the year 2030.
CFR Explains Sustainable Development Goals, Critiques

September 25, 2015

The Council on Foreign Relations ("CFR") has released a backgrounder describing the comprehensive and ambitious agenda of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs"), to be adopted by countries in late September, and explaining the arguments of critics who say the unrealistic and voluminous nature of the goals will hamper their fulfillment.
Article Warns of UN Body's "Dangerous" Vision for Internet

September 25, 2015

Caitlin Dewey of The Washington Post writes that a report from the UN's Broadband Commission for Digital Development seeks a "dangerous" and "radical" new direction for the internet in which governments reduce online harassment by only agreeing to "license" social networks that pledge to proactively police posts from users.
Murray: UN Should Adopt "Proven" Development Strategies

September 23, 2015

Highlighting the "ambitious" and counterproductive agenda of the current UN Sustainable Development Goals, Iain Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute argues for the adoption of "realistic" goals that offer a "proven path to prosperity," such as protecting property rights and advancing the rule of law.