United Nations

Kontorovich Points out Dangers of UN Focus on Israel

September 21, 2016

Law professor Eugene Kontorovich explains how the disproportionate use by UN institutions of harsh terms to describe Israel's presence in Palestinian territories, as opposed to the terms it uses regarding other instances of "occupation and settlement" throughout the world, blinds the UN to the need to spotlight occupations and human rights abuses in a global context.
UN Agent: Representative Democracy Denies Public Participation

September 21, 2016

Asserting that "parliamentary despotism" and the influence of special interests on the political process deny the general public its right to participate in policy decisions, UN human rights mandate holder Alfred de Zayas has called for more public initiatives and referenda around the world to secure "a more just world order."
UNHCR Pushes European Countries on Refugees

September 19, 2016

The Office of the UN High Commissioner on Refugees has criticized European countries for not following through on commitments made in 2015 to resettle approximately 160,000 asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa and has called on the countries to "lower the threshold for relocation candidates" seeking to relocate within the EU.
UN Agent Pushes Human Rights Focus in Trade Deals

September 16, 2016

Denying that international trade deals negotiated in secret and not subjected to national referendums have "any democratic legitimacy," UN Independent Expert Alfred de Zayas has called for NGO participation in trade negotiations and for the "mainstreaming" of global human rights obligations in every trade deal.
Article Explores Impacts of UN Climate Deal Threshold

September 16, 2016

Bloomberg BNA reports that the expected early entry into force of the UN climate change agreement negotiated in Paris last year would make more complex the process of withdrawal by countries, such as the US, that hold national elections at the end of 2016.
UN Agent Calls for Global Redress System for Sanctions

September 15, 2016

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and international sanctions Idriss Jazairy has called for the UN to establish global "compensation commissions" that would grant remedies to those it found were wrongly subjected to targeted international sanctions.
UN Faces Calls for Reform on Peacekeeper Abuse

September 15, 2016

Human Rights Watch has published an article detailing a lack of accountability for UN peacekeepers accused of sexual abuse and calling on countries meeting at a UN summit in London on peacekeeping to pursue reforms requiring countries contributing peacekeepers to hold their personnel to account for their crimes.
UN Leader Eyes US Election in Climate Push

September 14, 2016

The New York Times reports that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is pressuring countries to rush their ratification of the UN deal on greenhouse gas emissions agreed in Paris at the end of last year with an eye to binding the US to the deal before the next US President takes office in January 2017.
Aid Groups Suspend Work with UN on Syria

September 14, 2016

George Russell reports that 73 nongovernmental organizations providing relief to areas in Syria outside the control of the Bashar Al-Assad regime have broken off coordination with UN relief efforts in light of concerns that these efforts are linked to the Assad government.
ILO Praises China's "Social Protection" Model

September 14, 2016

In a recent conference in Beijing, Director-General of the International Labour Organization Guy Ryder lauded China's policies of "universal social protection," including a health insurance and pension system, as a model for other developing countries in East Asia and elsewhere to follow.