United Nations

UN Rights Chief Criticizes Israeli Detention Practices

August 09, 2017

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has warned Israel that its "administrative detention" practices for some Palestinian prisoners do not comply with international law and called for the Israeli government to offer detainees access to lawyers and family members.
NGO: UN Indigenous Declaration Requires Broad Social Action

August 09, 2017

A press release from Amnesty International argues that Canada is obligated under the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to provide shelters for women, ensure the survival of indigenous languages, and cure the "massive inequalities" that face indigenous communities.
Schaefer: US Budget Plans Can Hasten UN Reform

August 09, 2017

Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation writes that the Trump Administration can use its proposals for cuts to US funding for the UN system to push for "reform and budgetary restraint" in the international organization.
Paper Calls on US to Withdraw from UNFCCC

August 09, 2017

In the lead-up to US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the UN's 2015 Paris climate agreement, Nicolas Loris and Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation called on the US Administration to not only withdraw from the "costly, unworkable, and ineffective" climate deal, but also from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
New WHO Chief Prioritizes "Health as a Rights Issue"

August 09, 2017

In May, the newly elected Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made clear that his priorities as head of the UN agency would be, in addition to managing "global health emergencies," to press for "universal health coverage" and "health as a rights issue."
UN Laments Proposed US Funding Cuts

August 09, 2017

Reuters reports that a spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General has demonstrated the disproportionate reliance of the UN system on US taxpayer funding by lamenting that US President Donald Trump's proposed cuts in funding to the body, and especially to its peacekeeping arm, would "make it impossible" for the UN to perform "its essential work."
UN Body Pushes Latin America on SDG Progress

August 09, 2017

The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean held a workshop in Trinidad in May to press national officials to create "national institutional frameworks" toward fulfilling the UN's comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the region through a broad array of social and environmental policies.
UN "Scorecard" Pushes Cities to Manage Climate Risks

August 09, 2017

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction recently launched a revised "Disaster Resilience Scorecard" to pressure cities to improve their management of disaster-related risks, including catastrophic weather events fueled by global warming.
WHO Raises Alarm on European Obesity

August 09, 2017

Demonstrating its continued expenditure of resources on noncommunicable diseases, as opposed to epidemics that can be transmitted across borders, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently published a report pushing for targeted efforts by European governments to combat the "alarming rise" in adolescent obesity on the continent.
UNESCO Seeks "Gender-Responsive" Schooling in Africa

August 09, 2017

In May, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) hosted an Inter-Agency Task Team on Education and School Health in Zambia pushing for government authorities to implement "gender-responsive education" and "comprehensive sexuality education" in school curricula to further the UN's "sustainable development" health and education targets.