United Nations

UN Agent Outlines "Human Right" to Environmental Protection

August 05, 2015

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment John Knox writes that governments have "substantive obligations" to build legal frameworks to protect people against infringement of their "human right" to a healthy environment, and calls for countries to take human rights into account in negotiating a new UN climate accord later in 2015.
UN Members Agree to Broad Sustainability Agenda

August 03, 2015

As the UN Secretary-General's Chef de Cabinet Susana Malcorra punctuated negotiations over the UN Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs") by noting "the sheer size, the depth and the complexity of this agenda," UN member states agreed to a comprehensive agenda of SDGs that cover poverty, inequality, climate change, and other targets, to be formally adopted in September.
World Bank, ILO Push "Universal Social Protection" Agenda

July 29, 2015

The UN's World Bank Group and International Labour Organization ("ILO") have launched a joint action plan on achieving a broad range of goals, including reducing income inequality, by supporting "universal social protection" plans from governments around the world.
UN Women Seeks Shift in "Global Financial Architecture"

July 29, 2015

Following the recent UN development finance meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka praised the meeting's outcome document for heeding calls for "systemic changes in the financial and economic architecture" to support broad principles including "women's empowerment" and "gender mainstreaming."
Agenda at UN Development Conference Presses for "Sustainability"

July 23, 2015

The agreed action agenda at the recent UN development conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, pushes for measures from global actors on economic, social, and environmental issues in order, according to UN General Assembly President Sam Kutessa, to achieve "a more equal and sustainable world."
UN Pushes Climate Change Agenda in Education Systems

July 23, 2015

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") has released a publication setting out "national case studies" on how to include climate change in the curricula of schools around the world.
NGO Meeting Calls for "Teeth" in UN Climate Pact

July 23, 2015

A meeting hosted by the nongovernmental organization ("NGO") E3G included calls for a UN climate pact, to be negotiated in Paris later this year, that would penalize countries for failing to meet agreed benchmarks on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
UN Agents Push to Impose Input on US Prison Reform

July 22, 2015

Following US President Barack Obama's visit to an Oklahoma prison and remarks on criminal justice reform, two UN human rights agents have called on the President to permit them to visit US officials and facilities in order to provide expertise "to ensure that prison reforms are implemented in accordance with international human rights standards."
UN Rapporteur Praises Human Rights Impacts of Iran Deal

July 22, 2015

UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed has congratulated the parties to the recent Iran nuclear deal on the "beneficial multiplier effect" he says the deal will have on human rights in the country, especially "the enjoyment of economic, social, and cultural rights" that have been harmed by international sanctions.
Experts Call for Rejection of UN-approved Iran Deal

July 21, 2015

Michaela Dodge, James Phillips, and Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation have called upon the US Congress to ignore the UN Security Council's adoption of the recent Iran nuclear deal, in part in order to assert its authority to determine whether US sanctions against Iran remain in force.