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UNGA Recognizes New "Right to Sanitation"
January 08, 2016
As the UN system continues to identify new "human rights" that veer from traditional and universal civil and political rights, and whose achievement typically requires the redistribution of funds, the UN General Assembly ("UNGA") has adopted a resolution recognizing a "right to sanitation" that is distinct from the right it previously recognized to safe drinking water.
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UN Uses "Unusual" Weather to Push Climate-Change Measures
January 08, 2016
The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has blamed climate change and "increased urbanization" for recent "weather-related disasters," including tornadoes in the US, snowfall in Mexico, and flooding in South America, and has called for countries to take into account the predictions of UN agencies in establishing "preventive measures" for such phenomena.
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UNESCO Seeks Empowered Role in Global Education Policy
January 07, 2016
A recent publication from the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") entitled "Rethinking Education" calls for UNESCO to bring stakeholders together to determine the future of global education on "citizenship" and "sustainability" and calls for the establishment of a "permanent observatory mechanism" to monitor trends in education around the world.
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Former Abbott Adviser Condemns UN Climate Deal
January 07, 2016
Former business advisory council chairman to ousted Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has criticized world leaders at the recent UN climate summit in Paris for abandoning science and common sense in favor of "collectivist visions," including by transferring hundreds of billions of dollars to developing countries to help them meet their "intended national contributions."
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OSCE Official Criticizes Media Trespassing Case
January 07, 2016
Following an Austrian court ruling punishing reporters for violating trespassing laws at an asylum center, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's ("OSCE") Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic argued that the court could not justify the use of property rights to punish journalists for covering stories of "high public interest."