United Nations

EU, UN Sign Agreement on Ocean Governance

January 05, 2017

The UN Environment Programme and the European Commission have signed an agreement to bolster their cooperation on global governance of the oceans with the aim of fulfilling the UN Sustainable Development Goals by reducing ocean pollution, overfishing, and the impacts of climate change.
UN Advances SDGs Through Regional Agreement

January 05, 2017

The UN Environment Programme has signed an updated memorandum of understanding with the Secretariat of the Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States on advancing the implementation of the UN's comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change agenda in these world regions.
Lowry: US Must Withdraw Funding from UN

January 04, 2017

Asserting that the resolution on Israeli settlements is merely the latest "disappointment" in the dysfunctional 70-year history of the international organization, Rich Lowry writes in National Review that the US should withhold a significant portion of the UN's funding to force it to accept accountability and halt its "institutional hostility" toward Israel.
Governments Commit to Global Biodiversity Targets

January 04, 2017

Governments participating in a recent UN summit in Cancun, Mexico, agreed to ramp up action to achieve the global Aichi Biodiversity Targets by the year 2020 and comprehensively integrate biodiversity considerations into their forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and tourism industries.
Panels Agree to Ocean Monitoring for Global Governance

January 04, 2017

UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission has agreed with other international bodies to create a "global ocean observing system" aimed at "building the knowledge base for improved global governance and for a healthy ocean" and gathering data for a future binding instrument on oceans under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
UNESCO Hosts Training on Climate Change Education

January 04, 2017

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently hosted an event in Senegal training teachers from around the world to develop a "school action plan on climate change" and advance the inclusion of curricula on the UN's agenda on global warming throughout their education systems.
UN Management System Signals Efficiency Flaws

January 04, 2017

George Russell reports that UN officials are touting their progress on the long-planned development of an automated management system intended to improve accountability and cost-effectiveness at the UN that will be at least six years late and is coming in nearly 25 percent over budget.
ILO Signs Governments to "Social Justice" Pledge

January 04, 2017

At a recent meeting hosted by the UN's International Labour Organization (ILO) in Bali, Indonesia, governments officials, workers, and employer organizations from Asia and the Pacific pledged to implement global labor standards to advance the ILO's agenda of "inclusive growth, social justice and decent work."
UN Agents: Detaining Child Migrants Violates Rights

January 03, 2017

A group of UN human rights mandate holders has asserted that any detention of migrant children and families is a "clear child rights violation" and has called on governments to commit resources to ensuring the placement of migrant children in a "national alternative care system" with access to an attorney and an education system.
UNGA Seeks Funding for Haiti Cholera Response

January 03, 2017

The UN General Assembly has called on UN member states to cover the $400 million cost of the international organization's plan to provide relief to the victims of a cholera epidemic in Haiti that began in 2010 as a result of the contamination of the country's water supply by UN peacekeeping forces.