United Nations

OHCHR Demands End to Australian Offshore Detention

August 25, 2016

Following the leak of thousands of documents relating to Australia's refugee processing centers on the island of Nauru, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has repeated its demands for the country to halt its practice of detaining asylum seekers offshore while processing their claims.
UN Concedes Involvement in Haiti Cholera Outbreak

August 24, 2016

George Russell reports that, under pressure from a class action lawsuit and a critical draft report from a human rights mandate holder, the UN Secretary-General's office has communicated its plans to "do much more" to remedy the UN's involvement in a cholera outbreak in Haiti caused by the organization's peacekeepers in 2010.
UNHCR Applauds Refugee Pledge in Americas

August 17, 2016

As the UN prepares for a September summit on the resettlement of refugees, the UN High Commissioner on Refugees has praised a San Jose Action Statement agreed by countries across the Americas pledging to bolster protections for refugees from Central America.
UN Agents Call for "Culturally Sensitive" Education

August 17, 2016

A group of UN human rights mandate holders have published a statement calling for governments to permit indigenous people to organize and control their own education systems to promote "culturally and linguistically appropriate" schooling.
UN Pact Drives Indian Climate Policy Review

August 10, 2016

The Business Standard reports that the Indian Government's environment ministry has set up five "inter-ministerial groups" that will propose a series of laws and policy changes required to meet the country's pledges to reduce and report on its greenhouse gas emissions under the UN climate deal agreed in Paris in 2015.
UN Agency Warns of Climate Effects on Flights

August 10, 2016

As it prepares for a September summit at which countries are set to agree on a scheme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation industry, the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation has called for airports around the world to complete "risk assessments of existing and new infrastructure" to prepare for the impact of global warming on flights.
Israel Charges UN Employee with Aiding Terrorism

August 10, 2016

AP reports that, days after charging the project manager of international development group World Vision's Gaza office of diverting millions in aid funding to Palestinian extremist group Hamas, Israel has indicted UN Development Programme engineer Waheed Borsh with purposely directing humanitarian assistance to Hamas members and causes.
White House Pushes for UNSC Resolution on Nuclear Testing

August 08, 2016

US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker has criticized the Obama Administration's plan to push for a UN Security Council resolution calling on countries not to test nuclear weapons and to support the objectives of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty as "a plan to cede the Senate’s constitutional role to the U.N."
Report Highlights UN Peacekeeping Failures

August 08, 2016

The Washington Post reports that, in the latest of a series of massacres and large-scale misconduct for which critics have blamed UN peacekeeping forces, an internal UN report has spotlighted a lack of awareness and inaction by peacekeepers that contributed to dozens of civilian deaths six months ago at a UN camp in South Sudan.
UNESCO Seeks Extension of "Heritage Sites" to Oceans

August 05, 2016

As UN agencies seek ways to extend the reach of the international organization's "sustainability" agenda to form policies for the high seas, a report from the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has called for an extension of UN authority to designate World Heritage Sites in areas of the ocean beyond national borders.