United Nations

UNESCO: Focus Scientific Efforts on Achieving SDGs

August 31, 2017

Celebrating the 2017 World Science Day for Peace and Development, Flavia Schlegel of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has called for the redirection of science and technology efforts toward the achievement of the UN's comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UN Agency: Climate Funding Needed for Asian Agriculture

August 31, 2017

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that climate change puts agriculture in the Asia-Pacific region particularly at risk due to its tropical climate and has called for increased funding to support “climate-smart agricultural development.”
World Bank Project Pushes Transportation "Sustainability"

August 31, 2017

The World Bank has published an article highlighting its Sustainable Mobility for All platform, which is gathering stakeholders in the global transportation sector to determine how they can contribute to and monitor their progress toward the fulfillment of the social and environmental objectives under the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Academic: US Funding Goes to UN Peacekeeper Sex Abuse

August 31, 2017

Andrew Macleod of King's College in London writes that the US must use threats of removing its disproportionate funding of the UN to require the international organization to take effective steps toward ending child rape by its peacekeepers in developing countries.
UNESCO Labels Contested Region a Palestinian Site

August 31, 2017

The New York Times reports that, in a vote leading Israel to announce the withdrawal of $1 million in annual funding to the agency, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the contested, Israeli-controlled center of the Hebron region in the West Bank a "Palestinian World Heritage site."
Paper Seeks US Break with UN Climate Efforts

August 30, 2017

Nicolas Loris of the Heritage Foundation writes that, in addition to departing the Paris climate accord in 2019, the Trump Administration should withdraw from the "ineffective" and "unworkable" UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and stop financing the UN's Green Climate Fund, which "distorts energy markets and encourages corruption."
UN Body: US Must Address "Proliferation" of Racism

August 30, 2017

Following violence at a recent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has called on the US government to "unequivocally and unconditionally reject and condemn racist hate speech and crimes" and take action "to address the root causes of the proliferation" of racist protests in the US.
UN Official Criticizes Israel Legislation on Jerusalem

August 30, 2017

UN Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenèa has warned that Israeli legislation seeking to expand control over East Jerusalem is "undermining" efforts to negotiate an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "in line with UN resolutions and prior agreements."
Gulf Body Partners with UN on Environmental Issues

August 30, 2017

The Gulf Cooperation Council, a body representing the interests of six Gulf countries, and UN Environment have signed a partnership agreement to develop a “unified system” for addressing environmental challenges in the region and placing such issues “at the core of regional and transnational cooperation.”
Nigeria Reports to UN on SDG Progress

August 30, 2017

The Nigerian government submitted a status report at the UN High-level Political Forum seeking to show the country has made significant “policy, institutional and regulatory” changes with the goal of “mainstreaming” the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into “national policies, plans and programmes.”