United Nations

US, China Formally Join UN Climate Deal

September 14, 2016

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has applauded the leaders of the US and China for formally joining the UN deal on monitoring and reducing greenhouse gas emissions negotiated in Paris last year and called for more countries to join the agreement to meet the required threshold to bring it into force by the end of 2016.
UN Agency Blames Israel for Palestinian Economic Woes

September 14, 2016

A report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development identifies Israel's "occupation" of Palestinian territory as the main obstacle against economic progress in the area, predicting that, without the Israeli presence, the gross domestic product of Palestine would be at least twice what it currently generates.
UNESCO Report Calls for Climate Focus in Education

September 14, 2016

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has published a Global Education Monitoring report calling for schools around the world to increase attention among children regarding environmental concerns, including the UN's agendas on climate change and "sustainable development."
Israeli Official Seeks Reversal of Anti-Israel Trend at UN

September 13, 2016

Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, has published an op-ed calling for countries at a High-Level Forum on Global Anti-Semitism to reverse the trend at the UN in which he says anti-democratic regimes have manipulated the international organization's procedures to make Israel the special target of criticism on human rights and other issues.
UN Office Tweet Questions Value of Free Markets

September 13, 2016

The Telegraph reports that the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recently deleted a tweet asking whether "free market fundamentalism," which it defined as "the belief in the infallibility of free market economic policies," poses an "urgent threat."
UNESCO Plans Ethical Principles on Global Warming

September 13, 2016

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and the Kingdom of Morocco have signed an agreement to work toward the development of a global "Declaration on ethical principles in relation to climate change" through an "expert group" that will hold its first meeting in Rabat, Morocco, in September 2016.
UN Official Predicts 2016 Entry into Force of Climate Deal

September 09, 2016

EFE reports that the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa, has predicted that enough countries will ratify the UN deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions agreed in Paris last year that the pact will officially enter into force by the end of 2016.
World Bank Pushes African Countries on Climate

September 07, 2016

At a conference on "ocean economies and climate change" in Mauritius, the World Bank and governments from African coastal and island countries published a communiqué in which the countries pledged to consider the UN's climate agenda and perform impact assessments when developing ocean and coastal areas.
Report: UN Body Accredits Anti-Israel NGOs

September 01, 2016

A report from watchdog organizations Human Rights Voices and the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust finds numerous instances in which nongovernmental organizations accredited by the UN Economic and Social Council's NGO Committee have issued false and misleading material with the purpose of inciting hatred and violence against Israel.
Reports Find Unsanitary UN Peacekeeping Practices

August 31, 2016

George Russell writes that, as the latest wave of a cholera epidemic generally attributed to sanitation practices at a UN peacekeeper camp strikes Haiti, internal UN reports have spotlighted numerous examples of unsanitary practices in UN peacekeeping operations that may have contaminated water in conflict zones around the world.