United Nations

UN Pushes Energy Inclusion in Development Goals

April 22, 2015

Demonstrating why some are concerned the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to be adopted later this year, are too ubiquitous to succeed, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson has identified the inclusion of goals seeking large increases in energy efficiency and renewable energy as "clear and critical."
Panel Calls for UN Treaty on Security Contractors

April 22, 2015

In the wake of the trial of Blackwater security personnel for the killing of Iraqi civilians in 2007, the UN working group on the use of mercenaries welcomed the conviction of the personnel and called for an international treaty body in the UN system to examine the use of private security contractors.
UN Calls for Comprehensive EU Migration Measures

April 22, 2015

Following the fatal capsizing of a boat filled with migrants on the Mediterranean Sea, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called proposed EU measures insufficient and seeks greater search-and-rescue efforts and more legal migration alternatives, such as through work and study visas.
UN Pushes Human Rights Approach to Sexual Health

April 22, 2015

A recent program by the UN Population Fund called for governments to integrate the international human rights agenda into policies on sexual and reproductive health care, often interpreted as including abortion.
UN Rights Chief Condemns EU Migration Policies

April 21, 2015

Following the recent capsizing of a boat carrying migrants across the Mediterranean Sea, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein criticized the EU's limited search-and-rescue efforts, justified as not encouraging unsafe crossings, as "a monumental failure of compassion."
UN Criticizes U.K., EU over Handling of Migration

April 20, 2015

The Guardian reports that UN High Commissioner for Refugees Laurens Jolles blames election rhetoric and politics in the U.K. and other EU countries for what he views as an insufficient rescue operation for migrants in the Mediterranean, and calls for broader legal avenues for migration to Europe.
UN Officials Criticize Military-Based Counterterrorism Approach

April 17, 2015

Two UN Special Rapporteurs have issued a press release calling on countries to "re-think" approaches to counterterrorism based on law enforcement and military responses in favor of a human rights-based approach that confronts non-religious causes of terrorism.
UNOHCHR Pressures Israel over "Administrative Detentions"

April 15, 2015

The UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights ("UNOHCHR") has called for a halt to Israel's detention of Palestinian prisoners under administrative orders by either releasing the prisoners or prosecuting them "with all the judicial guarantees required by international human rights law."
UNGA President Highlights NGO Role in Development Goals

April 15, 2015

In a recent statement, President of the UN General Assembly Sam Kutesa emphasized the participation of nongovernmental organizations ("NGOs") in the formation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goal agenda, which observers have warned has become an unrealistic wish list for activists.
UN Seeks to Investigate Mobile User Data to Support Projects

April 15, 2015

The UN World Food Programme and UN Global Pulse have announced that they are seeking to use "big data," namely anonymous mobile phone user data, to support their humanitarian assistance efforts throughout the world.