United Nations

UNESCO Forms Partnership on Global Education Data

August 23, 2017

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has agreed with the Global Partnership for Education to pressure national governments to develop Education Management and Information Systems to produce data through which UNESCO can monitor their fulfillment of education targets set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UN Agent Promotes Global Minimum Income

August 23, 2017

In a report to the UN Human Rights Council, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston called for a "Universal Basic Income," guaranteeing a minimum level of income regardless of work, as a path toward fulfilling the UN’s economic, social, and cultural rights agenda.
US Criticizes UN Report on Murdered Investigators

August 23, 2017

The New York Times reports that US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has criticized a UN report that absolves the organization of culpability in the death of two UN investigators in the Democratic Republic of Congo, amidst concerns that the report is incomplete and inaccurate.
UN Agency Pushes Global "Rule of Law" Principles

August 22, 2017

The UN Development Programme's Annual Rule of Law Meeting in June highlighted UN efforts to support its comprehensive "sustainable development" agenda by advancing "rule of law" and global human rights principles in countries around the world, particularly through the work of its Global Focal Point on providing "rule of law assistance" in crisis situations.
US Cuts Global Climate Consulting Office

August 22, 2017

The New York Times reports that the Trump Administration recently eliminated the US Department of Energy's Office of International Climate and Technology, whose role was to prepare global meetings on clean energy and to provide advice to other countries on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with global climate change efforts.
Experts Critique UN Partnerships in Syria

August 21, 2017

George Russell reports that development experts and civil society groups are expressing concern that programs developed by UN agencies, including the International Organization for Migration, providing support for the rebuilding of Syria by President Bashar al-Assad's regime and his allies could act as a vehicle for further atrocities to be committed by the Syrian strongman.
Observer: US Must Push Reform at WHO

August 21, 2017

Jeff Stier of the National Center for Public Policy Research writes that the US must defund the World Health Organization (WHO) if the UN agency's new Director-General fails to introduce policies addressing the body's "persistent wasteful spending, utter disregard for transparency, pervasive incompetence, and failure to adhere to even basic democratic standards."
EU Council Calls for SDG Implementation Strategy

August 18, 2017

The Council of the EU adopted conclusions in June calling on the European Commission to develop a strategy by the year 2018 containing "timelines, objectives and concrete measures to implement" the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an activist wishlist containing global economic, social, and environmental targets, "in all EU policies."
UN Agents Merge Environmental, Health Agendas

August 18, 2017

Highlighting the continued focus of UN health agents on noncommunicable diseases and on fusing the global agenda on the "right to health" with climate action, UN representatives at an "environment and health" conference in the Czech Republic called for joint governmental action across Europe to reduce pollution- and climate-induced illnesses and death.
UN Agency Prioritizes Global "Gender Mainstreaming"

August 18, 2017

Speaking in June at the UN Economic and Social Council's Coordination and Management Session in New York, Lakshmi Puri of UN Women highlights her agency's focus on "the effective implementation of the gender mainstreaming strategy in all policies and programmes to ensure concrete gender equality outcomes" across the UN system and in UN members.