United Nations

UN Proposes Expanded Role in Protecting Environment in Areas Affected by Armed Conflict

August 21, 2019

On 8 July 2019, the UN International Law Commission adopted 28 draft legal principles on first reading to enhance protection of the environment before, during and after armed conflicts.
UN Agencies Seek to Globalize Human Right to a Healthy Environment

August 16, 2019

The UNEP and UN Human Rights Office have agreed to cooperate in pressuring national governments to accept the human right to a healthy environment, thereby promoting its global recognition.
Scientists Seek UN Regulation of Biodiversity in Ocean “Twilight Zone”

August 15, 2019

Oceanographer Mark Abbott and marine biologist Chris Scholin call on governments participating in a UN meeting next week on global ocean governance to provide for the international regulation of biodiversity in the “twilight zone” beneath the sunlit surface waters of the oceans.
UN Agent Pushes France to Repatriate IS Members

August 13, 2019

Citing “serious structural problems” in the Iraqi legal system, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Agnes Callamard is calling on the French government to repatriate seven French nationals to prevent their execution over their membership in the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
UN Rights Chief Criticizes US Sanctions on Maduro Regime

August 12, 2019

Highlighting her office’s focus on controversial economic and social rights, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has criticized the US government’s imposition of new sanctions on the Maduro regime in Venezuela, warning they will “exacerbate” the ongoing economic crisis for Venezuelans.
UN Panel Calls for Broad Agricultural Reform to Protect Climate

August 08, 2019

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report warning that humans must transform the global agricultural system, including by reducing the methane emitted by livestock, to limit the “irreversible” and catastrophic impacts of climate change.
UN Rights Office Targets “Hate Speech” over Mass Shootings

August 07, 2019

Reuters reports that a spokesman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has responded to the two mass shootings that occurred in El Paso and Dayton over the past weekend by voicing his office’s support for stricter gun laws and calling for the regulation of discriminatory “hate speech.”
UN Agency Seeks Protection of “Climate Migrants”

August 07, 2019

Dina Ionesco of the UN International Organization for Migration highlights her mandate to study how global migration patterns will change as a result of the catastrophic impacts of climate change and to advocate for government measures providing legal protections to “climate migrants.”
UN Expands Partnership for Promotion of Green Technology

August 07, 2019

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has signed an agreement with the International Renewable Energy Agency to expand their partnership in seeking to promote renewable-energy technology around the world to supplant fossil-fuel energy and help achieve the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord.
UN’s Palestinian Agency Faces Range of Employee Allegations

August 07, 2019

Fox News reports that the UN has launched an investigation into the leadership of the UN Relief and Works Agency, charged with supporting Palestinian refugees and from which the Trump Administration cut off funding last year, based on credible allegations of nepotism, retaliation, discrimination, and sexual misconduct.