United Nations

UN Report Reveals Massive Scope of Paris Deal Pledges

December 13, 2018

In its annual Emissions Gap Report, the UN Environment Programme determined that countries must increase their efforts between three- and five-fold to clamp down sufficiently on greenhouse gas emissions to reach the temperature targets agreed in the UN Paris climate deal.
UN Members Adopt Global Migration Accord

December 12, 2018

Politico reports that national leaders at a UN conference in Morocco have agreed to a Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, without the support of the US, Australia, and several European countries with reservations regarding language many leaders believed interferes with national migration policies.
UN Watchdog Reports on Millions in Misspent Funds

December 10, 2018

The Associated Press reports that the UN’s internal watchdog found millions of dollars in UN funds misspent on the South Sudanese refugee crisis, including hundreds of thousands spent on a parking lot in Uganda and over ten million spent to recount refugees.
UNESCO Pushes Countries on Inclusion of Migrant Children in Education

December 10, 2018

In a November report, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) warns countries, including Australia and some EU member states, that they must do more to include migrants and refugees in their national education systems, finding that “immigrant children” in many of these countries “are not given a fair chance to succeed.”
UN Report Redefines Wealth to Include “Environmental Assets”

December 10, 2018

The 2018 edition of the UN Environment Programme’s Inclusive Wealth Report claims that 44 of 140 ranked countries declined in “inclusive wealth per head” since 1998, as the UN agency seeks to redefine economic growth to include environmental and “sustainability” considerations to help advance the UN’s environmental agenda.
UN Committee Finds Abortion Protection in “Right to Life”

December 07, 2018

Rights advocate Marie Smith reports that the UN Human Rights Committee recently adopted a General Comment regarding the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights explaining that the “right to life” under the Covenant necessarily includes the right to receive an abortion.
UN Meeting Examines Satellites’ Potential Contributions to SDGs

December 07, 2018

In November, the UN hosted a World Geospatial Information Congress to explore opportunities to ensure geospatial information gathered by satellites helps the UN’s “social, economic, and environmental” objectives related to the international organization’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Pompeo: Current Model of Global Governance Is Failing

December 05, 2018

In remarks at a German Marshall Fund event in Brussels, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that, since the end of the Cold War, the international order has “failed” the people and said the US would work toward bolstering only international bodies that are effective, “create value,” and “respect national sovereignty.”
UNGA Expands Recognition of Palestinian Procedural Rights

December 05, 2018

Voice of America reports that, in October, the UN General Assembly voted to allow Palestine to operate more like a member state on procedural matters in the body beginning in 2019, raising pressure among US institutions to respond to the UN’s divergence from US policy opposing recognition of a Palestinian state.
Experts Call for US Aid Allocation on Basis of UN Voting Records

December 04, 2018

Brett Schaefer and Anthony Kim of the Heritage Foundation call on the US Congress to pass legislation requiring the US government to consider whether countries are voting with or against the US in the UN General Assembly as a key factor in allocating foreign aid.