United Nations

Abrams Criticizes Selection of UN Observer on Palestine

April 05, 2016

Senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations Elliott Abrams writes that the UN's selection of Michael Lynk as Special Rapporteur on Palestinian issues in spite of a long train of Lynk's expressions of bias against Israel is a "despicable" development but also "par for the course" in a UN system that has disproportionately targeted Israel on human rights issues.
Woman Prepares UN Complaint in Child Custody Dispute

April 05, 2016

A mother locked in a custody battle and who has been ordered by a New Zealand court not to leave the country with her children to return to Ireland is preparing to file a complaint before the UN Human Rights Committee seeking a declaration that the court has violated her right to a fair trial.
UN Calls for "Decoupling" Water from Economic Expansion

April 05, 2016

Opening an additional front in the UN's fight for governments to implement its "sustainable development" agenda, the UN Environment Programme's International Resource Panel has predicted that half the world will face a water crisis by 2030 and has called for large government investments in water efficiency and sustainability to "decouple" water from economic growth.
Countries Petition UN Security Council on Climate Change

April 04, 2016

AFP reports that the UN's "Small Island Developing States" group has petitioned the organization's Security Council for "financial and technical assistance" to confront the threats they face from global warming.
UN Rapporteur: Denmark Must Prevent Religious "Exclusion"

April 04, 2016

UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Heiner Beilefeldt has called for the Government of Denmark to "prevent feelings of stigmatization and exclusion among religious minorities," including "secular people" and Muslims, by promoting a "more inclusive" version of "Danishness."
UN Agent Criticizes Liberia for Privatizing Education

April 04, 2016

UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education Kishore Singh has criticized the Government of Liberia's decision to contract with a private company to provide primary and pre-primary education to its citizens, labeling the move a "blatant violation" of the country's international obligations on education and calling instead for more funding of the public education system.
UN Agent: EU Is "Abandoning" Obligations on Rights of Migrants

April 01, 2016

After the negotiation of an agreement on the return of migrants from the EU to Turkey, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants François Crépeau called for EU countries, instead of returning migrants, to create "regular, safe and cheap mobility solutions" through which migrants could enter the bloc and called on the EU to impose a mandatory relocation system.
EU Committee Head Calls for Binding Targets on UN Urban Agenda

April 01, 2016

Praising the upcoming release of the EU's own Urban Agenda, President of the European Committee on the Regions Markku Markkula has called for the UN New Urban Agenda, which pushes the international organization's "sustainable development" objectives in urban areas, to be "transparent, participatory and based on binding objectives."
US Charges Nonprofit Employee in UN Corruption Scheme

April 01, 2016

AP reports that US prosecutors have charged an officer at a humanitarian organization for laundering money through the organization's accounts from China through the US to pay for a diplomatic post for her husband in a scheme hatched by former UN General Assembly President John Ashe and UN ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda Francis Lorenzo.
Former UN Official Seeks Comprehensive Reforms

March 31, 2016

Arguing that in spite of its positive aspirations the UN is mired in bureaucracy and incompetence, former UN Assistant Secretary General Anthony Banbury has called for substantial reforms in the international organization's infrastructure, including shielding budget allocation decisions from politics and appointing an external panel to review the UN's personnel system.