United Nations

UN Agents Warn of Rights Impacts of Kenyan Climate Project

January 17, 2018

A press release from a group of UN human rights mandate holders signals the complexity of the interplay between climate and human rights issues by warning EU institutions that their failure to conduct a "human rights impact assessment" in funding a "Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation" project in Kenya may have resulted in human rights abuses.
Schaefer: US Must Follow Through on UN Funding Threats

January 17, 2018

Brett Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation writes that, in the wake of the UN General Assembly vote criticizing US policy on Jerusalem, the US must follow through with its funding threats to discourage future UN votes against US support of Israel, including by cutting the funding of the UN Relief and Works Agency, charged with financing Palestinian institutions and development.
UN Programs Leverage "Big Data" for SDGs

January 16, 2018

An article from Priyankar Bhunia of OpenGov highlights a series of UN initiatives on the collection and use of "big data" in countries around the world to support the international organization's fulfillment of the comprehensive social and environmental objectives contained in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UN Office Attacks "Racist" Trump Migration Comments

January 16, 2018

CNN reports that a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has labeled denigrating comments about other countries attributed to US President Donald Trump in a meeting on US migration policy as "racist," "shocking," and "shameful."
UN Chief: Don't "Obsess" About Negative Migration Impacts

January 16, 2018

Identifying migration as a "positive global phenomenon" in a report serving as his input into negotiations regarding a UN Global Migration Compact, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for governments "to broaden the opportunities that migration offers to us all" and warned them not to "obsess about minimizing risks" of the phenomenon.
US Withholds Funds from UNRWA

January 10, 2018

The Los Angeles Times reports that, after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut off aid to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which distributes aid to Palestinian institutions, for objecting to the US's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the US government did not make its latest scheduled payment to UNRWA.
UN Refugee Office Objects to Israel's Migrant Relocation

January 10, 2018

Reuters reports that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has objected to an Israeli plan to pay for a group of African migrants, whom Israel treats as having illegally entered the country to pursue economic opportunities, to return back to their home countries in sub-Saharan Africa, calling for Israel to develop "legal alternatives" to the relocation.
UNSC Demands Climate Action from Peacekeepers

January 09, 2018

In the midst of myriad global security threats and a sex-abuse scandal engulfing the UN peacekeeping system, the UN Security Council (UNSC) has announced in a press statement that UN peacekeeping forces "will continue to consider ways" to reduce their carbon footprint to comply with the UN's Paris climate accord of 2015.
UNESCO Course Promotes "Gender-Sensitive" Teaching

January 09, 2018

The UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning has published highlights from its online course on implementing and measuring "gender equality" programs in national education systems around the world and promoting "gender-sensitive" teaching in schools.
World Bank Touts "Social Protection" Program in Philippines

January 09, 2018

In a recent press release, the World Bank holds up its work on the development of a comprehensive "social protection" reform scheme in the Philippines, including a "conditional cash transfer" initiative targeting poor households, as a model for national redistribution schemes in countries around the world.