United Nations

UNESCO Releases Global Encryption Guidelines

December 19, 2016

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has commissioned a report containing recommendations for governments and other stakeholders on "best practices" in their implementation of the global human rights agenda in online encryption policies.
UN Agent Warns Croatia on Health, Abortion Rights

December 16, 2016

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dainius Pūras, has warned the Croatian government not to "slide back" on its protection of the universal "right to health" in the country and criticized "retrogressive measures preventing access to safe abortion."
UN Agents: Fulfill Human Rights Through SDGs

December 16, 2016

A group of UN human rights mandate holders has issued a statement calling for governments to fulfill their "political and financial commitments" to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure that development benefits are "fairly distributed" around the world and to halt the deprivation of "economic, social, political, civil and cultural rights."
UN Cholera Apology Meets Mixed Response

December 16, 2016

George Russell writes that UN mandate holder Philip Alston and other human rights advocates are asserting that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's apology for not taking sufficient steps to contain the recent cholera outbreak in Haiti, without taking responsibility for causing the outbreak, is not sufficient to remedy the suffering of the Haitian people during the disease's spread.
UN Agency Pushes Asian Officials on "Decent" Work

December 16, 2016

The UN's International Labour Organization recently convened its 16th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting to place pressure on government officials from Asia, the Pacific, and the Middle East to implement the UN's "sustainable development" agenda by agreeing to promote "equity and decent work."
UNHRC Delegates Pay Respects to Castro

December 15, 2016

Patrick Goodenough writes that delegates to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), including the representative from UNHRC-member Cuba, stood for a minute of silence to honor former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro at a recent meeting.
Academic Pursues UN Due Process Framework

December 15, 2016

Devika Hovell of the London School of Economics has published an article pursuing a "value-based" route through which the UN should develop principles of due process permitting those who argue they are harmed by the international organization's actions to seek a remedy.
Article Seeks Global Governance for Health Issues

December 15, 2016

An article from human rights lawyers Gorik Ooms and Rachel Hammonds calls for a Framework Convention on Global Health that would provide for global constitutional structures, separated into legislative, executive, and judicial powers, aimed at advancing the "right to health."
UN Agency Pushes for Broad "Refugee" Definition

December 14, 2016

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has issued guidelines calling on governments to recognize that anyone fleeing armed conflict in their home country deserves asylum, criticizing laws that restrict refugee status to people who are individually targeted with persecution as based on a "myth."
Countries Adopt UN "Sustainable Transport" Policy

December 13, 2016

Government officials meeting at a UN summit in Turkmenistan adopted an "Ashgabat Statement" pledging to build more "sustainable" and climate-friendly transportation systems, as UN representatives pushed for the mobilization of trillions of dollars in investments for such sustainable transport.