United Nations

UN Rights Chief Seeks "Due Process" for Guantanamo Detainees

February 24, 2016

Applauding US President Barack Obama's proposal to close the terror detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and to transfer some occupants to US prisons, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called on the US to try detainees before civilian courts and to provide them "due process guarantees" in line with international standards.
NYT Highlights UN Lapses in Sex-Abuse Cases

February 23, 2016

An editorial in The New York Times documents the gap between the UN's "zero-tolerance" policy on sex abuse of minors by its peacekeepers since 2003 and its enforcement of this policy, as allegations of sex abuse relating to the organization's peacekeeping operations in the Central African Republic continue to surface.
UN Blames 2015 Natural Disasters on Climate Change

February 22, 2016

A report from the UN Office of Disaster Risk Reduction seeks to demonstrate that climate-related disasters, including droughts and floods, "dominated disaster trends" in 2015 and that countries must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit natural disaster risks "now and in the future."
UN, Italy Launch "Task Force" on Cultural Preservation

February 22, 2016

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") has announced that it has agreed with Italy to form an emergency task force of experts that UNESCO can call on Italy to deploy in case of crises threatening to destroy "cultural heritage" in various parts of the world.
UNESCO Pushes for "Sustainable" Ocean Governance

February 19, 2016

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission recently announced meetings on national and regional management of coastal areas with Flemish and EU officials to promote the UN's agenda on ocean "sustainability" and governance.
UN Deal Seeks Climate "Resilience" in Mediterranean

February 19, 2016

At a conference in Athens organized by the UN Environment Programme, countries agreed to a declaration pledging, in part, the protection of biodiversity in the Mediterranean and an increase in "the region's resilience to the impacts of climate change."
Despite Ruling, US Presses Forward with Climate Goals

February 19, 2016

Reuters reports that, despite the unusual order from the US Supreme Court to delay the implementation of President Obama's executive action seeking to lower US carbon emissions, the President remains committed to implementing the UN climate deal agreed in Paris in December.
UN Agent Seeks Compliance with Finding on Assange

February 17, 2016

Arguing that a "just and sustainable international order" depends on deference to human rights bodies, UN Independent Expert Alfred de Zayas called for the UK and Sweden to follow a UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention "ruling" that Wikileaks founder and alleged sex offender Julian Assange must be given freedom of movement.
UN Group Criticizes Australian Proposal on Protests

February 17, 2016

A group of UN human rights mandate holders has called on the State Parliament of Western Australia to reject a proposal to criminalize the tactic of environmental activists of binding themselves to "equipment, trees, and other objects" to prevent development activities, arguing that these tactics are protected as free expression.
UN Creates Citizenship Education Chair at UCLA

February 12, 2016

The University of California at Los Angeles ("UCLA") hosted the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") Irina Bokova to celebrate the establishment at UCLA of the first UNESCO Chair on Global Citizenship Education, which seeks to further the teaching of the UN's social and environmental agenda to students around the world.