United Nations

UN Panel Calls for “Gender Mainstreaming” in SDGs

July 26, 2018

A group of UN agencies recently convened a panel in Nairobi, Kenya, calling for a “gender-responsive implementation” of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to remedy the “unequal distribution of resources, power and wealth” between women and men around the world.
NGO Criticizes Unenforceable UN Refugee Compact

July 25, 2018

Amnesty International has criticized national leaders involved in the negotiation of the UN’s Global Compact on Refugees for failing to create a global, “human-rights based” system of responsibility sharing requiring the “compassionate” distribution of refugees around the world.
Asia Climate Week Focuses on Need for Climate Finance

July 25, 2018

Organized in Singapore under the framework of the UN’s Paris climate agreement, Asia Pacific Climate Week 2018 placed a large focus on the need for countries around the world to reach a $100-billion annual target for financing projects aimed at adapting to and mitigating the impacts of global warming.
UN Staffers Push for 30-Year National Climate Plans

July 25, 2018

An op-ed from two UN staffers calls for national governments to move “beyond incremental thinking and planning” in achieving their goals under the UN’s Paris climate accord and “envision an ideal future for their countries and citizens” in setting long-term plans to combat global warming.
UN-Supported Study: Climate Change Will Expand Global Debt

July 25, 2018

The UN recently commissioned a study finding that the impacts of global warming have increased the cost of capital and will balloon the debt payments from “climate change vulnerable countries” in the next 10 years if governments do not meet their commitments under the UN’s Paris climate deal.
Brussels Summit Aims for “Robust” Climate Action

July 24, 2018

The EU, Canada, and China recently convened a Ministerial on Climate Action in Brussels at which government participants rejected the renegotiation of the UN’s Paris climate deal and committed to creating “comprehensive” and “robust” implementation guidance for the agreement at an upcoming meeting in Katowice, Poland.
UN Lab Provides “Big Data” on Biodiversity

July 24, 2018

UN agencies and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity have launched the UN Biodiversity Lab as an “interactive mapping platform” providing geospatial data to policymakers, promote efforts to preserve biodiversity across the globe, and eventually to provide “access to big data” on the UN’s sustainable development agenda.
Article Reviews Reasons for US Opposition to Formula Resolution

July 18, 2018

Dr. Susan Yoshihara of the Center for Family and Human Rights examines why negotiators from the US government opposed a draft resolution at the World Health Assembly aimed at implementing a ban on the distribution of and information about infant formula across the globe.
Haley Picks Apart UN Poverty Report

July 16, 2018

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley writes that a recent report from UN human rights mandate holder Philip Alston blaming the US government for creating poverty in the country is a politically motivated and misleading manifesto that is a waste of American tax dollars.
UN Faces Renewed Criticism over Handling of Sexual Abuse

July 16, 2018

The New York Times reports that the UN system, and particularly its development apparatus, is facing a rash of criticism for maintaining a “byzantine” reporting mechanism lacking consistent and predictable procedures for dealing with sexual abuse allegations and often favoring men in power over their female accusers.