United Nations

UN Agent: "Moral Superiority" Claims Threaten Rights

March 15, 2017

The UN Special Rapporteur on "cultural rights," Karima Bennoune, has warned that a "global avalanche of hate" and "claims of cultural and moral superiority" from groups around the world threaten rights to culture and women's "sexual and reproductive rights," often used to include abortion rights.
UN Agent Links Biodiversity to Economic, Social Rights

March 15, 2017

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment John Knox has called on governments to permit people to "fully enjoy" their "rights to life, health, food and water" by respecting their duty to protect biodiversity.
US Criticizes UNHRC's "Obsession with Israel"

March 14, 2017

Deutsche Welle reports that a US State Department official, citing over 60 resolutions from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) condemning Israel for alleged rights violations since it was formed in 2006, has signaled a review of the US government's engagement with the body given its "obsession with Israel."
UN Hosts "Ideas Festival" on SDGs

March 14, 2017

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Action Campaign recently hosted a Global Festival of Ideas for Sustainable Development in Bonn, Germany, to solicit wide-ranging ideas from policymakers, business representatives, and social and environmental activists on how to implement the comprehensive SDG agenda.
UN Group Calls out German "Afrophobia"

March 14, 2017

The UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent has warned of continuing "racial discrimination, Afrophobia and racial profiling" in Germany and has called for the establishment of an "independent complaint mechanism" at the state and federal levels to deal with German racism.
UN Agencies Develop Gender-Based Macroeconomics

March 14, 2017

The UN Conference on Trade and Development and UN Women have announced a joint program to develop guidelines for governments to "place gender perspectives in the heart of effective macroeconomic policy," including by analyzing the regulation and monitoring of the so-called "care economy."
UN Official: Climate Action Is "Unstoppable"

March 13, 2017

The BBC reports that, despite contrary evidence from the Trump Administration's regulatory overhaul of the energy industry, the new head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa has called actions to counter climate change "unstoppable" and has expressed hope that the US will not withdraw from the recent UN climate deal.
UN Mechanism Updates "Clean Development" Rules

March 13, 2017

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's Clean Development Mechanism has announced an update to its regulations streamlining the use of the Mechanism by developing countries seeking to receive financial credits for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions as part of the UN's climate change agenda.
Experts: Fold UNRWA into Broader UN Refugee Efforts

March 13, 2017

Two representatives of nongovernmental organizations on Jewish policy and international relations, Richard Schifter and Eric Rozenman, are calling on the Trump Administration to insist that the UN integrate its Palestinian refugee office into its general refugee office, rather than continuing to fund an office accused of deepening the sectarian conflict.
UN Agent Criticizes US Relations with Indian Tribes

March 08, 2017

UN Special Rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz has criticized the US federal government for a "lack of good faith involvement" in consulting Native American tribes on energy and development projects such as the Dakota Access pipeline project in North Dakota.