United Nations

UN Agents Criticize EU Mediterranean Migrant Policy

October 11, 2017

Two UN human rights mandate holders recently issued a statement criticizing EU and national officials for violating the human rights of migrants by adopting a policy seeking to prevent privately operated boats from transporting migrants off the coast of Libya to Europe, pushing Europe to open new avenues to migration rather than "move its borders" to Libya.
UNESCO Pushes for Data on Asian Learning Outcomes

October 06, 2017

As part of the UN agency's effort to monitor and analyze global data on education outcomes in pursuit of the international organization's "sustainable development" agenda, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Bangkok office has launched a program to guide Asian countries on developing and analyzing relevant education data.
UN Mandate Holders Call for Unfettered Abortion Access

September 27, 2017

Calling for the establishment of an International Safe Abortion Day, a group of UN human rights mandate holders has called on national governments to fulfill their “human rights obligations” to legalize, fund, and promote abortion services, and "to counter all stigma against abortion."
UN Agents Criticize London Development Project

September 22, 2017

A group of UN human rights mandate holders has warned that UK authorities are threatening the "economic, social, and cultural rights" of residents and shop owners in the area of an indoor market in London by proceeding with plans for a development project that requires their displacement.
Asia Meeting Adopts Recommendations on Education SDGs

September 22, 2017

Representatives of governments, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and international organizations concluded the 3rd Asia-Pacific Meeting on Education 2030 by adopting a set of "regional recommendations" on education reforms in the Asia-Pacific region to help fulfill wide-ranging education targets under the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
NGO Criticizes "Rogues' Gallery" Panel at UNHRC

September 21, 2017

The nongovernmental organization UN Watch has criticized the UN Human Rights Council for hosting a recent panel on which contributors criticized Western sanctions imposed on authoritarian regimes.
UN Pushes for Global Collection of Education Data

September 21, 2017

As part of UN efforts to ramp up the collection of data for use by global institutions to measure the progress of the "sustainable development" agenda, UNESCO's Institute for Statistics recently hosted a meeting of representatives from "regional and international learning assessments" who pledged to use cross-border tools for assessing education outcomes at the global level.
Trump Promotes National Sovereignty at UN

September 20, 2017

The Los Angeles Times reports that, in his first address to the UN General Assembly, US President Donald Trump hammered home a nationalist doctrine of "principled realism" based in "a coalition of strong and independent nations that embrace their sovereignty, to promote security, prosperity and peace for themselves and for the world.”
UN Seeks Shift in Perception of Migrants

September 20, 2017

As they prepare for a 2018 summit at which they expect countries to agree to a wide-ranging Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, UN officials at a recent consultation in New York discussed the need to improve the public perception of migrants by emphasizing their contributions to "human development."
UN Official Blasts Australian Refugee Processing

September 20, 2017

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi recently condemned Australia's system of offshore processing centers on the islands of Nauru and Papua New Guinea for asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat, arguing that they cause "extensive, avoidable suffering" and run contrary to "common decency."