United Nations

UNESCO Project Seeks Development Based in "Humanitude"

October 16, 2017

Adama Samassékou, president of the UNESCO-organized World Humanities Conference, describes how his project is seeking to convince global society that, faced with the "bankruptcy" of a Western way of life based on a "culture of having," it must establish a new model of development grounded in "humanitude," or "a spontaneous impulse of welcoming the Other."
US Announces Withdrawal from UNESCO

October 12, 2017

Citing "mounting arrears," lack of reform, and anti-Israel bias at the organization, the US State Department has informed the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that it will withdraw from the agency at the end of 2018 and become a non-member observer state.
WHO Launches Body with Broad Health Mandate

October 11, 2017

As part of the agency's expanding focus in areas related to healthy lifestyles rather than contagious diseases, the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) has established a "high-level global commission on noncommunicable diseases" that will recommend worldwide policy approaches to long-term health and the reduction of injuries and violence.
UN Agents Criticize EU Mediterranean Migrant Policy

October 11, 2017

Two UN human rights mandate holders recently issued a statement criticizing EU and national officials for violating the human rights of migrants by adopting a policy seeking to prevent privately operated boats from transporting migrants off the coast of Libya to Europe, pushing Europe to open new avenues to migration rather than "move its borders" to Libya.
UNESCO Pushes for Data on Asian Learning Outcomes

October 06, 2017

As part of the UN agency's effort to monitor and analyze global data on education outcomes in pursuit of the international organization's "sustainable development" agenda, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Bangkok office has launched a program to guide Asian countries on developing and analyzing relevant education data.
UN Mandate Holders Call for Unfettered Abortion Access

September 27, 2017

Calling for the establishment of an International Safe Abortion Day, a group of UN human rights mandate holders has called on national governments to fulfill their “human rights obligations” to legalize, fund, and promote abortion services, and "to counter all stigma against abortion."
UN Agents Criticize London Development Project

September 22, 2017

A group of UN human rights mandate holders has warned that UK authorities are threatening the "economic, social, and cultural rights" of residents and shop owners in the area of an indoor market in London by proceeding with plans for a development project that requires their displacement.
Asia Meeting Adopts Recommendations on Education SDGs

September 22, 2017

Representatives of governments, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and international organizations concluded the 3rd Asia-Pacific Meeting on Education 2030 by adopting a set of "regional recommendations" on education reforms in the Asia-Pacific region to help fulfill wide-ranging education targets under the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
NGO Criticizes "Rogues' Gallery" Panel at UNHRC

September 21, 2017

The nongovernmental organization UN Watch has criticized the UN Human Rights Council for hosting a recent panel on which contributors criticized Western sanctions imposed on authoritarian regimes.
UN Pushes for Global Collection of Education Data

September 21, 2017

As part of UN efforts to ramp up the collection of data for use by global institutions to measure the progress of the "sustainable development" agenda, UNESCO's Institute for Statistics recently hosted a meeting of representatives from "regional and international learning assessments" who pledged to use cross-border tools for assessing education outcomes at the global level.