-
UN Forum Pushes "Collective Rights" of Indigenous Peoples
May 31, 2018
At the annual meeting of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, speakers called for the employment of "collective rights" of indigenous peoples to protect their interests in the land, limit the impacts of climate change, and further the social and environmental goals of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
-
UN Launches Fund Aimed at Road-Safety Measures
May 31, 2018
The UN has launched a Road Safety Trust Fund to help achieve road-safety targets contained in the comprehensive UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on encouraging on a global basis a number of traffic-related policies including "improved behaviour of road users."
-
OSCE Official Criticizes Russian Clampdown on Encrypted Messaging
May 31, 2018
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir has called on Russian officials to reconsider legal action restricting access to the Telegram application, which permits encrypted online messaging, after the application's owners refused to provide authorities a decryption key to help them unlock messages sent using the service.
-
Colorado Lawsuit Targets Oil Companies over Climate Impacts
May 31, 2018
The nongovernmental organization EarthRights International recently announced it is supporting a lawsuit in the names of a group of Colorado communities against Suncor and ExxonMobil to force these energy companies to cover costs these communities expect to incur over the next three decades to deal with impacts of these companies' contributions to global warming.
-
US Eyes Funding Cuts for UN Bodies over PA Membership
May 30, 2018
AFP reports that the Palestinian Authority's (PA) accession to membership in two UN agencies and a chemical weapons watchdog has prompted US officials to consider eliminating funding for these organizations in line with US legal restrictions on funding for international bodies that accept Palestine as a member.