The World of International Organizations Explained
July 24, 2018
Deep-seated anger among Muslims at continued efforts to satirize Prophet Muhammad in Danish cartoons has stirred the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations to propose an international legal ban against incitement of religious hatred.
July 23, 2018
Three times a year, a little-known expert panel gathers in Geneva and New York with a monumental task: upholding people’s civil and political rights around the world. The job of the U.N. Human Rights Committee is to ensure 171 nations live up to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
July 19, 2018
A U.N. expert panel returned from Bangladesh where they and other human rights investigators have been gathering evidence of what they describe as a military-planned campaign of genocide against Myanmar’s Rohingya people.
July 19, 2018
Modern slavery overtook the lives of at least 40.3 million people worldwide in 2016, according to estimates by an international organization working to end the prevalence of one person taking away another person’s freedom to control their body or refuse work. The victims were 71 percent women, 29 percent men.
July 19, 2018
International organizations welcomed the end of Turkey’s two-year state of emergency rule and called on its government to uphold basic human rights and legal standards.
July 18, 2018
A new global pact for promoting safe migration is advancing through the United Nations without participation from the United States and Hungary, both headed by populist right-wing leaders espousing hard-lines policies trying to keep immigrants out. The pact affects some 250 million people.
July 17, 2018
A panel of independent experts warned the World Trade Organization could become irrelevant if trade wars sparked by US President Donald Trump’s administration causes wider “backsliding” towards trade protectionism among major economies. It said a shakeup is needed to prevent WTO’s “gradual demise.”
July 17, 2018
Global investment in renewables and energy efficiency declined 3 percent to $318 billion in 2017 and “there is a risk that it will slow further this year,” posing a threat to the fight against climate change and air pollution, the International Energy Agency reported. Investment in renewable power dropped 7 percent last year.
July 16, 2018
The world’s foremost international organization for financing environmental change sent up smoke signals warning far faster action is needed on many fronts. The Global Environment Facility, or GEF, said current incremental rates of change are insufficient, but it and Green Climate Fund have funding challenges.
July 13, 2018
Iceland won election to the world’s top international organization for addressing human rights, filling a vacancy left by the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration announced its withdrawal last month. Iceland will promote women’s and LGBTI rights, monitor countries and seek justice for victims.
