United Nations

World Bank Pushes Climate Measures in MENA Region

November 07, 2016

A "call for action" on going green in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region published by the World Bank Group signals the extent to which the multilateral development bank has enmeshed its agenda for funding infrastructure and other development projects with the UN's agenda on climate change.
UN Agent Identifies Right to Emissions Reduction

November 07, 2016

Linking current weather events in Madagascar with global warming, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, John Knox, has asserted that countries have a human rights obligation to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions under the UN's Paris climate agreement to limit the negative impacts of climate change on such developing countries.
Paper Seeks Global Governance of "Climate Engineering"

November 04, 2016

A paper from the Centre for International Governance Innovation argues that the UN climate deal agreed in Paris last year contains the "building blocks for an internationally integrated approach" to removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in order to achieve the goals of the agreement in combating climate change.
UN Chief Fires Commander in South Sudan

November 04, 2016

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has removed a Kenyan Lieutenant General in charge of peacekeeping forces in South Sudan following the appearance of an internal report detailing the inaction and disorder of peacekeepers during an attack on a UN base and private compound that killed 73 people, including civilians and aid workers.
Experts Spotlight Drawbacks of UN Nuclear Resolutions

November 04, 2016

Michaela Dodge and Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation explain the negative implications of a UN resolution calling for the outright ban of nuclear weapons and a UN Security Council resolution, supported by the Obama Administration, pushing to end the testing of such weapons.
Observers: UNHRC Candidacies Signal Credibility Gap

November 04, 2016

Javier El-Hage and Roberto González of the Human Rights Foundation write that the recent candidacies of authoritarian regimes such as Saudi Arabia and China for seats on the UN Human Rights Council signal the same fatal credibility flaws that plagued the UN Commission on Human Rights before it was disbanded in 2006.
UN Agent: Israel Blocks Palestinian Development

November 04, 2016

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Michael Lynk, has called on Israel to end its 50-year "occupation" of Palestinian land and has decried Israel's violation of the "inalienable right to equitable and just economic and social development" of the people in the region.
Rubin Calls on Governments to Disband UNESCO

November 01, 2016

Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute argues that the adoption by the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization of a resolution denying Jewish ties to religious landmarks in Jerusalem shows it is time to disband UNESCO and replace it with a new organization, outside the UN, that is "less beholden to politics."
UN Committee Supports Nuclear Weapons Ban

November 01, 2016

The New York Times reports that, over the objection of nuclear-armed powers, the UN General Assembly's disarmament and international security committee has adopted a resolution, which will now go to the full General Assembly, seeking negotiation of a "legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination."
UN Conference Results in "New Urban Agenda"

November 01, 2016

The UN "Habitat III" Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development produced a document called the New Urban Agenda under which participating governments committed to advancing the UN's social and environmental agenda in cities around the world, including through renewable energy, "greener" public transport, migrant rights, and "an end to discrimination."