United Nations

UN Panel Emphasizes "Sexual and Reproductive" Rights

March 18, 2015

At a UN panel during the annual Commission on the Status of Women, participants called for countries to recognize and attain "the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health" rights, often interpreted to include abortion rights.
UN Launches Climate Negotiation Training Initiative

March 18, 2015

The UN Environment Programme has announced that, in order to assist representatives from developing countries in negotiating a climate agreement at an international conference in December 2015, it has launched an initiative to teach these representatives "key negotiation skills."
UN Supports Efficiency Alliance Among G7

March 18, 2015

Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme Achim Steiner has praised Germany's plan to create an alliance for resource efficiency among G7 countries - the countries with the seven largest economies - and pressure other governments around the world to adopt the UN's environmental agenda.
UN Climate Conference Leader Calls for Warning System

March 18, 2015

Arguing that 70 percent of natural disasters are now linked to global warming, French Foreign Minister and president of the 2015 round of UN climate change negotiations Laurent Fabius has called for the development of a global early warning system for climate-related disasters.
UN Seeks to Strengthen Its Evaluation Role

March 18, 2015

The UN has released a report calling for greater evaluation of initiatives, at the international and national levels, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the UN and governments in dealing with issues such as peacekeeping and climate change.
UN Seeks Global Response Framework for Disasters

March 18, 2015

Participants at a UN conference in Sendai, Japan are calling for an increase in the commitment of countries around the world to provide financing for a framework for a global response to natural disasters.
NGOs Seek UN Monitor on Privacy

March 18, 2015

A group of nongovernmental organizations ("NGOs") have called on the UN Human Rights Council to create a new "special rapporteur" position charged with monitoring the right to privacy around the world.
Schaefer and Groves Warn Against UN Strategy for Iran Deal

March 13, 2015

Brett Schaefer and Steven Groves of the Heritage Foundation write that a reported strategy of the U.S. President to bypass Congress on an Iran nuclear deal by going through the UN Security Council would be "spectacularly naïve."
UNHRC Pushes Discussion on Human Rights and Climate Change

March 11, 2015

The UN Human Rights Council ("UNHRC") recently hosted a full-day event featuring UN officials, national government representatives, and activists seeking recognition that global warming violates human rights, particularly economic, social, and cultural rights, around the world.
Wirth Argues for Circumventing U.S. Congress on Climate Deal

March 11, 2015

Professor David Wirth of Boston College Law School has released a draft paper detailing how he asserts the U.S. President could implement a binding international climate agreement, to be negotiated at a UN conference in December 2015, without the approval of Congress.