United Nations

ILO Chief Praises BRICS Countries’ Embrace of “Social Dialogue”

August 08, 2018

At a summit of officials from the five BRICS countries, Director-General of the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) Guy Ryder praised the commitments the countries, which include authoritarian China and Russia, made to work toward “social dialogue, social protection, gender equality and youth employment.”
UN Agency Seeks to Use AI Initiative to Fulfill SDGs

August 08, 2018

The UN Development Programme has announced that it will join the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (AI), a business and NGO-based initiative that is developing standards for the “safe, ethical, and transparent” development of AI, as the UN agency seeks to “test and scale” the use of AI to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
US Seeks to Trigger Broad Reforms at UNRWA

August 07, 2018

CNN reports on efforts by Trump Administration officials to put pressure on UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) to reform its fundraising practices and make broad changes in its provision of services to Palestinian refugees, with one official asserting that UNRWA "has perpetuated and exacerbated the refugee crisis" in the region.
Palestinian Authority Warns of US “Conspiracies” to End UNRWA

August 06, 2018

The Times of Israel reports that the Palestinian Authority is labeling emails from the US Administration published by Foreign Affairs including proposals to “disrupt” the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), aimed at funding Palestinian refugees, and combine it with the larger UN refugee system as part of “conspiracies to end the Palestinian cause.”
UN, IACHR Agents: Trump’s Anti-Media Criticism Violates Rights

August 06, 2018

UN and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Special Rapporteurs on free expression, David Kaye and Edison Lanza, have warned that US President Donald Trump’s “attacks” on the media “run counter to the country’s obligations to respect press freedom and international human rights law.”
UN Agent Pushes Canada to Recognize Environmental Rights

August 06, 2018

The Star Vancouver reports that the new UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment David Boyd has expressed his embarrassment that his home country of Canada has not signed up to a UN treaty that would force it to recognize the “human right to a healthy environment.”
UN Economist: SDGs Must Reduce Inequality, Prevent Conflict

August 06, 2018

Elliot Harris, the Chief Economist in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, has stated that the comprehensive social and economic targets contained in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can address “the root causes of conflict” around the world by reducing economic inequality and environmental degradation.
UNESCO Promotes Citizenship Education for Sustainability

August 06, 2018

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently hosted an event highlighting how its Global Citizenship Education program helps advance “sustainable development” by indoctrinating students in the UN-defined values of “human rights, social justice, diversity, gender equality and environmental sustainability.”
UNESCO Builds Latin American SDG Action Plan for Education

August 06, 2018

Government officials from Latin America and the Caribbean recently convened in Bolivia for a technical meeting hosted by the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to craft a roadmap toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to education, including by introducing them in school curricula.
UN Agency Warns of Early Arrival of “Earth Overshoot Day”

August 03, 2018

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has publicized the findings of a nongovernmental organization that the world has already reached “Earth Overshoot Day,” when humanity has “used up” its resource budget for the year 2018, leading to catastrophic biodiversity and other losses associated with resource depletion and global warming.