United Nations

Schaefer: US Must Push UN to Reform Budget Assessments

April 23, 2019

In a recent piece for the Heritage Foundation, Brett Schaefer calls on the US government to ramp up pressure on the UN to reform its scale of assessments to reduce the US’s disproportionate share of contributions to the UN budget and encourage fiscal responsibility and oversight by other UN members.
UN Pushes Corporations to Advance Women’s “Empowerment”

April 23, 2019

Highlighting the UN system’s promotion of broad global standards on women’s “empowerment,” a group of UN bodies recently hosted a Women’s Empowerment Principles Forum at which it encouraged businesses to develop strategies to better empower women in the global workforce.
Philippines Withdraws from ICC

April 04, 2019

The Philippines recently withdrew from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the midst of a preliminary ICC investigation regarding extrajudicial killings in the Southeast Asian country.
UN Presents Climate Action, SDGs as Comprehensive Agenda

April 03, 2019

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change recently hosted a conference in Copenhagen to brainstorm ways in which governments can combine policies advancing the UN’s Paris climate goals and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of a single, global, social and environmental agenda.
UK Opposes UNHRC Agenda Item Targeting Israel

March 27, 2019

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced that the UK government will vote against the targeting of Israel under the standing “item 7” of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) agenda, warning such anti-Israel bias “obstructs the quest for peace in the Middle East” and “undermines the credibility” of the UNHRC.
UN Rights Observers Target Blackstone over Housing “Rights”

March 27, 2019

The asset management firm Blackstone Group has criticized as inaccurate a report from UN human rights mandate holders accusing it and other companies with real estate holdings of violating the global human right to “adequate housing” by raising the price of property and evicting tenants who fail to pay rent.
US Official Outlines Visa Ban for ICC Investigators

March 18, 2019

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has announced that the US government will ban visas for personnel from the International Criminal Court (ICC) seeking to enter the country to investigate “war crimes” allegedly committed by members of the US armed forces in Afghanistan.
UN Guidelines Demand Rights-Focused Drug Control

March 18, 2019

The UN Development Programme, in partnership with governments and nongovernmental organizations, has launched a set of International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy, seeking to persuade states to place “human dignity and sustainable development at the heart of their drug control policy.”
Observer Criticizes Lack of UN Remedy for Refugee Poisoning

March 14, 2019

Highlighting a pattern of UN inertia preventing or delaying remedies for alleged harm caused by peacekeeping operations, the UN Special Rapporteur on hazardous substances and wastes Baskut Tuncak has criticized the international organization for failing to compensate ethnic Roma victims for illness caused by polluted water in UN-built refugee camps in Kosovo.
UN Report: Environmental Status Quo Will Kill Millions

March 14, 2019

The Washington Post reports that the UN Environment Programme’s Global Environment Outlook calls for “unprecedented action” to halt environmental degradation and save millions of lives from air and water pollution through such measures as “mainstreaming” environmental factors in a vast array of social and economic decisions.