United Nations

UNESCO Builds Latin American SDG Action Plan for Education

August 06, 2018

Government officials from Latin America and the Caribbean recently convened in Bolivia for a technical meeting hosted by the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to craft a roadmap toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to education, including by introducing them in school curricula.
UN Agency Warns of Early Arrival of “Earth Overshoot Day”

August 03, 2018

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has publicized the findings of a nongovernmental organization that the world has already reached “Earth Overshoot Day,” when humanity has “used up” its resource budget for the year 2018, leading to catastrophic biodiversity and other losses associated with resource depletion and global warming.
UN Rights Observer Weighs Against Restrictive Migration Policies

August 03, 2018

A statement from UN human rights mandate holder Maria Grazia Giammarinaro pushes governments to end the “misuse” of anti-trafficking considerations to justify restrictive migration policies and warns of the potential impacts of “the current poisonous anti-migration political atmosphere.”
UN, CoE Anti-Torture Bodies Enhance Collaboration

August 03, 2018

A UN Subcommittee and Council of Europe (CoE) Committee on torture prevention have agreed to strengthen cooperation and prevent duplication in their efforts to serve as international mechanisms for the enforcement of global standards on the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
US Class Action Illustrates Risks of Disputed UN Findings

August 03, 2018

An article by Frank Lucas, member of the US House of Representatives, warning of the potential economic impacts of a US class-action ruling against agricultural company Monsanto illustrates the risks related to deference in domestic legal systems to disputed findings of unaccountable UN bodies, in this case the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
India Disputes UN Findings on Anti-Trafficking Bill

August 03, 2018

Indian officials have rejected demands of UN human rights mandate holders for the revision of national legislation aiming to counter human trafficking, arguing that the legislation does not criminalize the actions of people who are unwillingly trafficked and only targets the trafficker with prosecution.
UN Rights Chief Condemns Israeli “Assaults” on Palestinian Rights

August 03, 2018

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has added his voice to the barrage of UN criticism of Israeli action in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory” in recent weeks, blaming Israel for Palestinian living conditions, “inherent discrimination” through its adoption of the Nation-State Basic Law, and other “assaults on fundamental rights.”
UN Official Seeks G20 Focus on Inequality, Global Taxation

August 03, 2018

In a speech to Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers in Buenos Aires, UN Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner called for national financial policies that aim to achieve key UN social and environmental objectives, including reducing economic inequality and introducing “a coherent set of international tax rules.”
UN Officials Promote Global Human Right to Abortion

August 02, 2018

Stefano Gennarini of the Center for Family & Human Rights reports that the chiefs of the World Health Organization and the UN Population Fund recently published an article arguing that internationally agreed standards on the protection of “sexual and reproductive health rights” include a right to abortion access.
UN Agent Warns of Israeli “War Crime” Against Bedouin Village

August 02, 2018

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Palestinian territories Michael Lynk has warned Israel that the planned demolition of a Palestinian Bedouin village near Jerusalem would amount to a “war crime” and called for Israeli leaders to be held “legally and diplomatically accountable” if it proceeds with these “clearly unjust” plans.