United Nations

NGO: UN Chief Ignores Chinese Rights Violations

May 23, 2018

Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch criticizes UN Secretary-General António Guterres for ignoring his mandate to advance human rights as he praised Chinese President Xi Jinping for his engagement with the UN system without mentioning the Chinese government's regular practices of arbitrary detention and torture or the absence of political rights in the country.
Schaefer: UN Disarmament Forum Must Exclude Syria

May 21, 2018

Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation calls on the US government to shine a spotlight on how the UN Conference on Disarmament permits countries including Syria and North Korea to hold its rotating presidency in light of the commitment of these countries to the proliferation and, in some cases, the use of nuclear and chemical weapons.
UN Chief Praises China for Commitment to SDGs

May 18, 2018

During a recent visit to China, UN Secretary-General António Guterres praised Chinese President Xi Jinping for his commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and for his work toward a diplomatic solution to tensions on the Korean peninsula.
UN Official Criticizes Australian Refugee Processing

May 18, 2018

Indrika Ratwatte of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees recently criticized Australian officials for the "extremely detrimental impact," particularly involving mental health issues, their detention program for migrants bound for Australia and placed in external processing centers on various Pacific Islands had on asylum seekers in the region.
UN Agent Opposes Prosecution of Catalan Leaders

May 16, 2018

UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression David Kaye has called on the Spanish government not to pursue charges of rebellion against leaders of the Catalonia separation movement, warning of his concern that criminal charges for speech that does not include incitement to violence could violate the global right to freedom of expression.
WHO Seeks "Political Choice" of Universal Health Coverage

May 11, 2018

Declaring that "health is a human right," Director-General of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus marked World Health Day with a call for national governments around the world to establish systems of universal health coverage as part of the UN's comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals.
Article: West Seeks to Impose Sexual Norms at UN

May 11, 2018

Elyssa Koren of ADF International writes that a recent annual meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and negotiations over the inclusion in the body's final text of language relating to the need for "comprehensive sexuality education," reflects a growing "cultural imperialism" in UN fora through which Western countries dictate their preferred norms.
UN Agents: France Is Violating Migrant Rights

May 11, 2018

A group of UN human rights mandate holders has warned that the French government is failing to uphold its international human rights obligations by permitting migrants temporarily settled along the northern French coast to live in "inhumane and substandard conditions," deprived of housing, education, health care, and sanitation.
UN Strikes Deal with Israel on Refugee Resettlement

May 11, 2018

The Times of Israel reports that, under pressure from the UN human rights apparatus and activists over its planned deportation of African asylum seekers, the Israeli government recently entered into a deal with the UN High Commission for Refugees through which half the asylum seekers will be settled elsewhere and half will be granted temporary residence status in Israel.
Mexican Official Explains Use of Geospatial Data for Development

May 10, 2018

Paloma Merodio of the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography examines how UN bodies and national governments can use "geospatial data" gathered by satellites and other technologies to help fulfill targets related to issues ranging from deforestation to gender equality contained in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.