United Nations

NGO Calls for UN Apology for School Facebook Posts

August 27, 2015

UN Watch has published a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling for the removal of and an apology for two posts on Facebook from a UN Relief and Works Agency school near Damascus containing anti-Semitic images and celebrating attacks against Jewish civilians.
Schaefer Spotlights "Failings" of UNHRC

August 26, 2015

Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation writes that the UN Human Rights Commission ("UNHRC") has failed in its mandate to address "gross and systematic" human rights violations around the world in favor of focusing on Israeli actions and "niche" issues that have little real-world impact on human rights.
Israel Demands Investigation of UN Official over Remarks

August 26, 2015

Israel has called on the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services to investigate the head of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia Rima Khalaf for anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias for various incidents, including a speech in which she seemed to compare Israel's status as a "Jewish State" to the causes of the Holocaust.
Reports Indicate Lack of Consequences for UN Rape Allegations

August 26, 2015

The Associated Press reports that members of UN peacekeeping forces who face allegations of rape are often not subject to any legal consequences in their home countries even when the allegations are substantiated.
UN Encounters New Sex Abuse Allegations

August 14, 2015

An article from George Russell indicates the complications the UN faces after human rights activists questioned the promptness of the organization's reaction to a sex abuse allegation against members of a UN peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic, the most recent in a number of such allegations against UN peacekeepers and their affiliates.
UN Committee Blames Israeli Settlements for Violence

August 12, 2015

A UN Special Committee charged with investigating Israeli practices affecting Palestinians has found that Israeli settlement practices are the "primary driver" of rising levels of violence in the region.
British MP Calls for UN Registration of Calais Migrants

August 11, 2015

British Member of Parliament ("MP") Yvette Cooper has called on Prime Minister David Cameron to invite the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to register people describing themselves as refugees who are attempting to gain access to a tunnel near Calais, France, to the UK and to place them in the asylum-seeking process.
Russia Submits North Pole Claim to UN Body

August 11, 2015

Based on what it says is scientific evidence of conditions under which it can gain exclusive control of the territory under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea ("UNCLOS"), the Russian government has submitted a petition claiming control of new territory, including the North Pole, to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
SDGs Test US Role in Global Governance

August 06, 2015

Michael Igoe writes that once they garner more attention from the media and politicians, including US presidential candidates, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs"), which include targets in areas such as economic inequality and the climate, may produce a high-profile debate about the US role in supporting the SDGs and global governance.
UN Official Seeks Greater Integration of Rights in SDGs

August 05, 2015

A letter from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein calls for governments to do more in the UN Sustainable Development Goals ("SDGs"), which set out targets for development to be achieved by 2030, to promote "economic, social, and cultural human rights" and to monitor the treatment of these rights.