United Nations

Governments Agree to “Climate Education” Goal at UN Meeting

July 26, 2019

Governments participating in the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn agreed to a draft decision seeking to broaden “climate education, awareness and public engagement” as part of the UN’s Action for Climate Empowerment initiative urging citizens to adopt a “carbon neutral lifestyle.”
India Joins Climate & Clean Air Coalition

July 26, 2019

The UN Environment Programme has announced that India has joined its Climate & Clean Air Coalition, which now has 65 members and pushes countries to reduce the emission of short-term climate pollutants and contribute to the global sustainable development and climate agendas.
UN Agency Launches Labs to Solve Global Challenges

July 24, 2019

The UN Development Programme has announced the launch of 60 Accelerator Labs with the aim of finding “grassroots innovations” to solve a wide range of global challenges of the 21st Century, including climate change and “soaring inequality,” and to fulfill the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
UN Refugee Agency Criticizes US Asylum Policy

July 24, 2019

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has criticized the Trump Administration’s new asylum policy, which bars asylum for people crossing the southern US land border if they did not first seek asylum elsewhere, as “severe” and has called on the US to be part of a collective, regional approach to migration.
UN Body Develops Binding Convention on Marine Biodiversity

July 24, 2019

Stewart Patrick of the Council on Foreign Relations writes that the draft text of a legally binding UN convention on marine biodiversity is key in the effort to advance global governance of the oceans, including by requiring states to perform environmental impact assessments before engaging in activities that could affect ocean life.
ILO Warns of Climate Change Impacts on Productivity

July 24, 2019

Showing the system-wide promotion of action against climate change among UN entities, the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) has published a report warning that heat stress caused by global warming will have catastrophic economic impacts worldwide due to decreased productivity.
UN Body Calls on Legislators to Advance Gender Equality

July 24, 2019

The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has published a “call to action” pushing lawmakers around the world to “become key drivers of gender equality” by removing “the systematic barriers that hold women back from equal participation in all areas of life.”
Indigenous Working Group Charts Action Plan in UN Climate Talks

July 23, 2019

The Facilitative Working Group of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform recently held its first meeting in Bonn, Germany, to create a two-year work plan on advancing indigenous people’s interests in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change process.
US Diplomats Counter UN Promotion of Abortion Rights

July 23, 2019

Stefano Gennarini of the Center for Family & Human Rights describes how the Trump Administration has been working in UN fora to counter language in humanitarian-related resolutions promoting “sexual and reproductive health rights,” frequently interpreted to include the right to abortion access.
China Expands Influence at UN

July 17, 2019

Fox News reports that US diplomats and other observers are warning of China’s growing influence within the UN system to promote its “self-serving interests and authoritarian model,” as demonstrated most recently with the election of a Chinese official as the next head of the Food and Agriculture Organization.