United Nations News
Track how the United Nations influences global issues such as climate, human rights, and peacekeeping, with reporting and commentary.
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opinion
Trump Affirms Human Rights, Ends US Funding for UN Population Fund
According to the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, which has been regularly attached to foreign appropriations bills since 1985, the president has the authority to withhold federal funding from any organization that “supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.” On April 3, a State Department memo announced that the U.S…. -
opinion
UN Takes a Key Step to Address Humanitarian Crisis in Burma
The United Nations approved a resolution on March 24 authorizing a fact-finding mission into human rights violations in Burma. The resolution is the most serious intervention thus far in Rakhine State, where the majority of the 1.2 million Rohingya Muslim population resides. The resolution, adopted by consensus, addresses a wide range of human rights concerns…. -
news
Vandals Spray-Paint LGBT Slogans on Marriage Groups’ Tour Bus Near UN
Two men spray-painted and smashed the windshield of a tour bus used by the National Organization for Marriage in “broad daylight” Thursday in New York City, the pro-marriage group says. The two men “approached the bus with a can of spray paint and a hammer and they began spray-painting on the side of the bus,”… -
news
With Budget Plan, Trump Signals ‘Tough Love’ Approach to UN
The Trump administration is promising to reconsider America’s relationship with the United Nations, with the White House aiming to limit U.S. financial contributions to the global body, and to enact reforms. In his first action suggesting a new approach to the international organization, President Donald Trump released a budget proposal Wednesday night that would reduce… -
news
Former UN Ambassador John Bolton Shares ‘America First’ Vision
“Our worldview rests on the exceptionalism of America.” That was the message John Bolton, former ambassador to the United Nations, shared with the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, on Friday. Bolton highlighted three key areas that would be of particular importance during the next four years, and shared his thoughts on how the Trump… -
opinion
Congress Should Learn From Obama’s Last-Minute UN Spending Binge
During President Barack Obama’s final days in office, administration officials ran through over $700 million in a spending binge designed to fund U.N.-related priorities that lacked support in the Republican-controlled Congress and, likely, the incoming Trump administration. Members of Congress expressed legitimate outrage about this political gifting. But Congress should be more proactive in taking… -
news
Trump Presses UN to Reform. Here’s What Can Be Done to Curtail Its Power.
President-elect Donald Trump spoke by phone Wednesday with new United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres—as Trump and some members of Congress are raising longstanding concerns about the organization. “The president-elect has been clear about the U.N.,” presidential transition team spokesman Sean Spicer told The Daily Signal Wednesday during a conference call with reporters. “We will demand… -
news
US Has Participated in Other UN Resolutions Chiding Israel
The Israeli government, and Republicans in Congress, have expressed outrage over the Obama administration’s decision to allow adoption of a United Nations Security Council resolution that condemns Israel’s settlement construction. These critics are portraying the U.S. move to abstain from the vote on Israel’s settlement activity—rather than using its veto power—as a last symbolic blow from… -
news
Israel Green-Lights Settlements After UN Snub
Israeli authorities gave the go-ahead for the construction of hundreds of new settlement sites in East Jerusalem Monday after a United Nations resolution condemned Israel over the issue. The defiant move comes after the U.S. government did not veto the U.N. condemnation of Israeli settlements, a marked change in U.S. policy. The Obama administration affirmed the decision… -
news
Senators Slam Obama for Misleading Other Countries to Pass UN Climate Treaty
Republican lawmakers have asked the Obama administration to be more “forthright” with the international community about the limits of his authority to implement a United Nations climate treaty without Senate approval. “We are concerned the administration has not been forthright in acknowledging the legal limitations of the president’s domestic climate actions,” Republicans on the Senate… -
opinion
Rejection of UN Nuke Ban Not Enough, Administration Must Do More to Maintain Arsenal
Although last month the Obama administration led a misguided effort in the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution on nuclear weapons testing, it apparently understands the downside of supporting a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. In an Oct. 14 statement, the Obama administration rejected a U.N. effort to “declare a ban on nuclear… -
opinion
Here’s Why It’s Wrong That America Refused to Defend Its Embargo on Cuba at the UN
For the first time ever, the United States abstained from voting on a United Nations resolution condemning America’s embargo on Cuba. This breaks decades of bipartisan support for U.S. law on the international stage. It shows just how far the Obama administration is willing to take its misguided and ill-informed Cuba policy. For the past… -
opinion
Planned Parenthood’s 100th (Un)Birthday Is No Cause to Celebrate
As this month marks Planned Parenthood’s 100th anniversary, we should pause and consider its destructive legacy. Founded by eugenicist Margaret Sanger in 1916, what is now known as the Planned Parenthood Federation of America began as a small birth control clinic in New York City. Sanger was motivated by her belief that artificial birth control… -
opinion
Obama’s Use of UN to Advance Partisan Agenda Hurts the Organization Long Term
President Barack Obama gave his eighth and final address to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday morning. The tone was reminiscent of past speeches in a number of ways, both good and bad. The rhetoric was soaring in parts and it was well delivered. However, his characterization of the world and his successes tended toward… -
opinion
The US Should Halt UN Aid for Hamas
Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, has arrested two aid workers this summer and charged them with funneling funds to Hamas, the terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip, according to reports. A substantial amount of these funds were provided by the U.S. government for charitable, humanitarian, and development purposes. But, if these charges are… -
opinion
Obama Seeks to Circumvent Congressional Opposition by Advancing Nuclear Agenda at UN
President Barack Obama has supported a ban on nuclear testing since his earliest days in office, but has been unable to rally support for ratification of a nuclear test ban treaty in the U.S. Senate. Frustrated with this opposition and facing the end of his second term, The Washington Post reports, Obama will bypass Congress and seek a United… -
opinion
The UN Funds Repressive Regimes at the Expense of US Taxpayers
A new report shows how the U.S. contributes more money to the U.N. than it spends on shipbuilding for the Navy, yet there is a huge disparity in what it receives back compared to many repressive countries. The United Nations recently released a report detailing the countries of registration of the recipient vendors of $17.6… -
news
Administration Defends UN-Funded, Anti-Israel Textbooks for Palestinians
U.S. taxpayers provide nearly $400 million a year to a United Nations program that critics say sends anti-Semitic, anti-Israel textbooks to schools for Palestinian refugees. An elementary school textbook calls the 1948 establishment of Israel a “disaster,” and a high school text tells of the “End of Days” when “Muslims fight the Jews,” among other… -
opinion
LGBT Groups Seek to Entrench Agenda at the UN
The U.N. Human Rights Council, which was created in 2006 to replace the notoriously corrupt and ineffective Commission on Human Rights, has proven disappointing in fulfilling its twofold mandate of promoting the human rights enumerated in international law and holding governments accountable when they violate individuals’ fundamental freedoms. Its meetings in Geneva are often a… -
opinion
US Law Should Now Prohibit Funding to UN Climate Change Convention
On Dec. 18, 2015, the Palestinian Authority deposited its instrument of accession to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In accordance with Article 23(2) of the treaty, the Palestinians officially became the 197th party to the UNFCCC on March 17, 2016—ninety days after depositing their instrument of accession. As was the case when…