United Nations

UN Agent Cautions US Court on Implications of Privacy Case

January 09, 2018

UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy Joseph Cannataci recently submitted a brief to the US Supreme Court in a case involving the validity of a search warrant demanding information stored in an Irish data center, advising it that the Court should issue a narrow ruling to avoid "unintended but adverse implications for the protection of the right to privacy worldwide."
UN Agent Critiques Peruvian Road-Building Bill

January 08, 2018

UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz has warned that Peru may be threatening the "fundamental human rights of isolated indigenous peoples" through legislation promoting road-building in remote jungle areas of the country.
US Negotiates UN Budget Decrease

January 08, 2018

AP reports that the US government has taken credit for the negotiation of a decrease of more than $285 million in the UN's 2018-2019 budget.
UNESCO Reports on Promotion of "Diversity" in Culture

January 08, 2018

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently launched a report on its monitoring of global compliance with the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, calling for greater diversion of development funding into programs that promote "cultural expression."
UNESCO Seeks Advice on Measuring "Culture" in SDGs

January 08, 2018

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) convened a meeting of academics and other "high-level experts" in December to determine how to measure "culture" as a component of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UN Agencies Use Satellites to Monitor SDG Progress

January 08, 2018

The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs and the UN Development Programme have committed to a closer partnership on using space technology, including "satellite imagery and analysis," to advance the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UN Agent Criticizes US on Economic Inequality

January 08, 2018

After an official visit to several US states, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston warned that the US has failed people in poverty and asserted that new policies under the Trump Administration reforming the tax and welfare systems will "shred crucial dimensions of a safety net that is already full of holes."
OHCHR Calls for End to Abortion Ban in El Salvador

January 08, 2018

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on El Salvador to end its ban on abortion, calling the country's abortion laws "draconian" and arguing that their application to the decisions of expecting mothers to seek an abortion violates international human rights law.
Politician Seeks UN Deployment of Peacekeepers in Chicago

January 05, 2018

ABC7 reports that Richard Boykin, who serves as Commissioner of Illinois's Cook County, recently visited the UN Assistant Secretary General to request UN intervention through peacekeeping efforts in Chicago to help reduce gun violence.
World Bank Agrees to Billions in Funding for City Climate Action

January 05, 2018

The World Bank Group has signed an agreement with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, an organization of mayors around the world committed to combating global warming, to invest $4.5 billion in cities' "aggressive" measures to implement the UN's "sustainable development" and "climate resilience" agenda.