United Nations

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.
UNESCO Launches "Global Monitoring Report" on Education

April 15, 2015

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") has published its 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, evaluating steps each country has taken to provide for universal primary education.
World Bank Pushes for End to Fossil Fuel Subsidies

April 15, 2015

Blaming recent "extreme weather-related events" on man-made global warming, President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim has called for countries around the world to eliminate subsidies for fossil fuel use and to impose a carbon tax to counter climate change.