United Nations

Academic: US Funding Goes to UN Peacekeeper Sex Abuse

August 31, 2017

Andrew Macleod of King's College in London writes that the US must use threats of removing its disproportionate funding of the UN to require the international organization to take effective steps toward ending child rape by its peacekeepers in developing countries.
UNESCO Labels Contested Region a Palestinian Site

August 31, 2017

The New York Times reports that, in a vote leading Israel to announce the withdrawal of $1 million in annual funding to the agency, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the contested, Israeli-controlled center of the Hebron region in the West Bank a "Palestinian World Heritage site."
Paper Seeks US Break with UN Climate Efforts

August 30, 2017

Nicolas Loris of the Heritage Foundation writes that, in addition to departing the Paris climate accord in 2019, the Trump Administration should withdraw from the "ineffective" and "unworkable" UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and stop financing the UN's Green Climate Fund, which "distorts energy markets and encourages corruption."
UN Body: US Must Address "Proliferation" of Racism

August 30, 2017

Following violence at a recent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has called on the US government to "unequivocally and unconditionally reject and condemn racist hate speech and crimes" and take action "to address the root causes of the proliferation" of racist protests in the US.
UN Official Criticizes Israel Legislation on Jerusalem

August 30, 2017

UN Assistant-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenèa has warned that Israeli legislation seeking to expand control over East Jerusalem is "undermining" efforts to negotiate an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "in line with UN resolutions and prior agreements."
Gulf Body Partners with UN on Environmental Issues

August 30, 2017

The Gulf Cooperation Council, a body representing the interests of six Gulf countries, and UN Environment have signed a partnership agreement to develop a “unified system” for addressing environmental challenges in the region and placing such issues “at the core of regional and transnational cooperation.”
Nigeria Reports to UN on SDG Progress

August 30, 2017

The Nigerian government submitted a status report at the UN High-level Political Forum seeking to show the country has made significant “policy, institutional and regulatory” changes with the goal of “mainstreaming” the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into “national policies, plans and programmes.”
World Bank Funds Indian Climate Efforts

August 30, 2017

The World Bank Group’s Global Environment Facility has awarded a grant to the government of India to improve the country's "sustainable" forest management and help it meet its "Nationally Determined Contribution" agreed as part of the UN's 2015 Paris climate accord.
UN Officials Link "Human Security" Agenda with SDGs

August 30, 2017

Addressing a high-profile event at UN headquarters, officials of the international organization called for governments and other actors to forge connections between the global "human security" agenda, a broad concept based in protecting individuals' economic and social freedoms through development, and achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
UN Officials: End Israeli "Occupation" to Achieve Rights

August 30, 2017

Marking 50 years since the start of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war in June, a set of top UN officials issued messages asserting that ending Israel's "occupation" of Palestinian territories and establishing an independent Palestinian state is the "only way to achieve the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people."