U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) introduced a bill on Thursday that would designate the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Ogles’ bill, H.R.7206, comes after nine employees from the United Nations Relief Works Agency were fired last week after being accused of involvement in the terrorist group Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel.
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On Dec. 10, the United Nations will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document drafted in the aftermath of World War II under the leadership of American first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Much has changed since then, including the world body’s understanding of children and of parental rights.
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by Roger Kimball “The climate crisis,” said Al Gore at the U.N. a couple of days ago, “is a fossil fuel crisis.” “What climate crisis?” you might be asking, and you would be right to do so. Yes, it is impossible to turn anywhere in our enlightened, environmentally conscious world without being beset by lectures about one’s “carbon footprint” and horror tales about “global warming,” “rising seas” and imminent ecological catastrophe. But deep down you know that it is all hooey. Mark Twain was right when he observed that it is not so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble. Rather, the mischief is caused by things that we “do know that ain’t so.” For example, we all “know” that carbon dioxide is “bad for the environment.” (In fact, it is a prerequisite for life). We “know” that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is reaching historically unprecedented and dangerous levels. (In fact, we have, these past centuries, been living through a CO2 famine). We “know” that “global warming”— or, since there has been no warming in more than two decades, that “climate change”— has caused a sudden rise in the seas. (In fact, the seas have…
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Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg will not be attending the United Nations’ COP27 climate conference in Egypt because she believes that the conference fails to effectively push the environmental agenda.
Thunberg on Sunday declared COP27 to be a “scam” where world leaders feign concern for the “climate crisis” to get attention during a question and answer session at the launch of her new book in London. The 19-year-old environmentalist said that world leaders are endangering the planet by “lying and cheating” instead of implementing “major changes” to reduce carbon emissions.
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Around 27,000 children, many with parents who are affiliated with ISIS, remain in a refugee camp in northeastern Syria, the United Nations counterterrorism chief said, the Associated Press reported Saturday.
The thousands of children “remain stranded, abandoned to their fate” where they are exposed to ISIS and are “at risk of radicalization within the camp,” said Vladimir Voronkov, the undersecretary general for counter terrorism at the U.N., during an informal meeting on Friday, the AP reported. He added that there are children from 60 countries at the camps who need to be repatriated.
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Iran has agreed to allow inspectors in to two sites where the country is suspected of having stored or used undeclared nuclear material, the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Wednesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran was “voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the IAEA and facilitating the IAEA verification activities to resolve the issues.”
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Members of the Islamic State have reportedly attempted to use the coronavirus pandemic to their advantage, increasing propaganda and attacks, a United Nations counter-terrorism official announced Monday.
Since ISIS reportedly began to rally in Syria and Iraq this year, there has been an increase in threats made to conflict zones and a decrease in threats to peaceful zones experiencing coronavirus related lock-downs and restrictions, Head of the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov said.
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Iran has continued to increase its stockpiles of enriched uranium and remains in violation of its deal with world powers, the United Nations’ atomic watchdog said Friday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported the finding in a confidential document distributed to member countries and seen by The Associated Press.
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A United Nations official said Tuesday that dozens of nations are facing “a hunger pandemic” amid international coronavirus lockdowns, warning that it’s possible more people could die of starvation than from the virus itself.
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President Donald Trump, speaking Monday at the United Nations in New York, announced an initiative to protect religious liberty, saying the administration would spend $25 million in related efforts internationally.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has dismissed any talk about impeachment by some Democrats over reports that he tried to pressure Ukraine’s president to investigate leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
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More than 2,000 Central American migrants have returned to their homelands using a program that offers free transportation for the trip, according to a United Nations official.
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Wednesday marks the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. Coinciding with the day, the United Nations is calling for action to eliminate the procedure by 2030. The U.N. estimates at least 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to female genital mutilation, a procedure that partially or totally removes female genital organs. In addition, more than 3 million girls between infancy and age 15 are at risk of being subjected to the harmful practice every year. While FGM mainly occurs in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, it is a global problem, with some migrant communities carrying on the traditional practice in Western countries. The World Health Organization says FGM has no medical justification and leads to long-term physical, psychological and social consequences. WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic says awareness of the harmful effects of FGM is growing and progress is being made toward banning it in some communities. He tells VOA that given the rate of population growth in countries where FGM is prevalent, action must be accelerated to reduce the number of girls at risk of undergoing the procedure. “There was an analysis that was done by our colleagues in…
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by Joe Simonson The massive exodus of Venezuelans to neighboring countries could soon eclipse the number of refugees flowing from Syria at the height of the country’s civil war. More than three million Venezuelans have fled the country and now live in countries like Argentina or even the U.S., according to a review of figures provided by the International Migration Organization and the United Nations Agency for Refugees. More than 330,000 Venezuelans have declared asylum in countries throughout the Americas. Colombia has absorbed the largest amount of migrants, with 1,200,000 Venezuelans currently living there. At the beginning of January 2018, there was an increase of 20,500 percent in asylum seeking applications from Venezuelans compared to one year prior. The United Nations says that from 2012 to November 2018, asylum applications from Venezuelans increased 74,191 percent. For comparison, U.N. figures put the total amount of Syrian asylum seekers during 2015 refugee crisis in Europe at over 450,000. By December 2017, one million Syrians applied for asylum throughout the continent. Globally, roughly five million Syrians are displaced outside of their home country. Nearly three million Syrians currently reside in Turkey. The Caracas Chronicles, a news organization dedicated to covering Venezuela’s economic…
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by Fred Lucas The Trump administration is trying to secure more jobs for American citizens in the United Nations bureaucracy, as a recent State Department report finds woeful underrepresentation even though the United States contributes more to the world body than any other government. The U.S. funds almost one-quarter of key U.N. agencies, and their staffs play a key role in implementing international policy on health, aviation, labor, and security. However, the U.N. hasn’t made a good faith effort to hire Americans under existing rules, according to a State Department report obtained by The Daily Signal. The report, sent July 3 to members of Congress, asserts that five U.N. agencies aren’t abiding by their own rules on providing geographic representation among employees, which would require more Americans. As of last year, 739 American citizens worked in these five agencies among a total of 7,126 employees, according to the State Department. With the advent of the Trump administration, the State Department began moving to reverse the long-running trend, which Congress first tried to deal with through legislation in 1991. That legislation required the State Department to report to Congress on whether international organizations are making “good faith steps to increase…
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New U.N. sanctions on North Korea has won rare praise for President Donald Trump from a leading Democrat not known for his kind words for the president. Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, called the U.S. sponsored resolution toughening sanctions “a good move” and a “major accomplishment.” “I give our…
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday declared the time for dialogue with North Korea is over and rallied behind a US warning that “all options” are on the table Addressing the UN General Assembly, Abe said “there is not much time left” to take action on North Korea which in recent weeks has detonated another…
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President Donald Trump took the United Nations to task in recent remarks at the global body’s New York headquarters, telling those attending a special forum on “management, security and development” that the entity was in dire need of reform. It’s about time America snipped the U.N.’s wings. Among Trump’s scolding was a quip that the United…
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