United Nations

UNICEF Joins Tech Companies' AI Initiative

August 07, 2017

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has announced its participation in the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (AI), a technology company initiative seeking to use AI and access to data to solve societal problems, such as the "spread of disease, responses to climate change and disasters, and the uncertain future of jobs and employment."
UN Report Seeks Expanded Spending on "Right to Health"

August 07, 2017

A UN report on "realizing human rights to and through health" calls on governments around the world to take steps toward fulfilling the "right to health" by allocating at least five percent of their GDP to public health spending and to recognize "sexual and reproductive health rights" for women in part by expanding access to abortion.
UN Agent Warns of "Systemic" Rights Violations by Israel

August 07, 2017

Following his visit to Jordan, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Palestinians Michael Lynk warned of "systemic human rights violations" by Israel and asserted that there is "no end in sight" for the "occupation" by Israel of Palestinian territories.
WIPO Fails to Report North Korean Patent Process

August 07, 2017

George Russell reports that experts on the situation in North Korea have grown increasingly troubled by the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) failure to report its facilitation of the rogue state's patent application for a chemical used in producing nerve gas to the UN Security Council's committee charged with coordinating sanctions against the country.
UN Forum Finds Need for Expanded SDG Finance

August 07, 2017

At the 2017 Forum on financing for development follow-up in May, UN and other officials evaluated the progress of countries in funding the fulfillment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the UN's Paris climate agreement, relying on a recent UN report finding the need for bolstering development finance to achieve the SDGs by the target year 2030.
Japan Objects to UN Agent's Warning on Terror Legislation

August 07, 2017

Reuters reports that the Japanese government has objected to a letter from UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy Joseph Cannataci warning that officials could use anti-terrorism legislation under consideration in the Japanese Parliament to restrict privacy and speech rights, asserting that the letter was "clearly inappropriate."
ITU Chief Calls for "Big Data" Monitoring to Achieve SDGs

August 07, 2017

The Secretary-General of the UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Houlin Zhao has pushed for the UN system to use "big data," ranging from satellite images to mobile phone data, to permit "evidence-based decision-making at national, regional and international levels" to support the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UN Agent Targets Israel over Detention Policies

August 07, 2017

The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Palestinians in "occupied" territories, Michael Lynk, has warned Israel that its use of "administrative detention" violates international humanitarian and human rights law and that the government's force-feeding of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike "could amount to torture."
UN Office Hosts Regional Meeting on SDG Efforts

August 07, 2017

A meeting in May hosted by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific worked toward developing a "Regional Road Map for Implementing the 2030 Agenda," including by pushing government participants to cooperate on "sustainable energy," and toward establishing a "regional resource facility" on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
World Bank Launches Climate Forum for Finance Officials

August 07, 2017

In April, the World Bank held the first meeting of its Climate Action Peer Exchange, a forum in which international organizations and academics seek to persuade national finance ministers to adopt "climate-smart macroeconomic policies," such as imposing taxes on carbon emissions and eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, and to channel funding into climate-friendly projects.