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United Nations Tag

The European Union is in the midst of a political turmoil over the ratification of the United Nations pact on migration. The resistance to the pact is galvanizing in Europe ahead of the December 10 deadline when the representatives from some 180 UN member states will meet in Morocco, a Muslim-majority country in North Africa, to formally adopt the "Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration," as the pact is officially called.

Belgium became the latest EU country to get sucked into the crisis, with its ruling coalition teetering on the brink of collapse over the migration dispute. The country's right-wing New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) broke away from the ruling alliance amid sharp disagreements over the UN pact. The N-VA regards the agreement as an infringement of Belgian sovereignty. "In our democracy, we decide. The sovereignty is with the people," the party said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has successfully lobbied the United Nations to classify Climate Change as legitimate grounds for migration, a communique issued by the German parliament disclosed. "In order to shape migration in the context of Climate Change in sustainable manner, Germany advocated to recognize Climate Change as basis for migration in international negotiations for the global migration pact," a parliamentary bulletin surfaced on Monday said.  The document was made public on Twitter by Ralf Schuler, the parliamentary correspondent for the German newspaper Bild.

*UPDATE 2:42PM: Ukraine's parliament has approved "martial law for 30 days in the regions bordering" Russia. The undeclared war between Ukraine and Russia took a horrific turn on Sunday after Ukraine claimed that Russia opened fire on its navy in the Kerch Strait, which separates the Black and Azoz Seas. The attack wounded six sailors and Russia seized at least three Ukrainian vessels.

Erik Solheim, the head of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), has been forced to resign after an internal audit report questioning his huge travel expense surfaced in the media. Solheim, a green politician and former Norwegian Environment Minister, had spent almost half a million dollars jet-setting around the world. Solheim stepped down after cerain UN member states threatened to withhold funding over the latest revelations. According to a UK media report: "Countries unhappy with Solheim’s conduct were holding back tens of millions of dollars, threatening a financial crisis at the body."

A Myanmar court sentenced two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, for seven years after they exposed the human rights abuses by the Myanmar military on the Rohingya minority in the Rakhine state. The judge claimed the two men "collected and obtained confidential documents." Prosecutors insisted that the men had "intended to harm the state by obtaining secret documents for Reuters’ commercial benefit, which clashed with Myanmar’s national interest."

As the United States ends funding for the UN's Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Germany is boosting the aid for the organization. Germany plans to pay a 'substantial' amount to offset the shortfall of estimated $217 million created by cutting of the aid by the U.S., German weekly Der Spiegel reports.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is never one to mince words and she didn't hold back as America withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council. From CNN:
"Human rights abusers continue to serve on, and be elected to, the council," said Haley, listing US grievances with the body. "The world's most inhumane regimes continue to escape its scrutiny, and the council continues politicizing scapegoating of countries with positive human rights records in an attempt to distract from the abusers in its ranks."

As much as I dislike the United Nations, it's wonderful to hear Ambassador Nikki Haley shove the truth in Russia's face for everyone to hear. Last weekend, a chemical attack in Douma, Syria, killed dozens of people and injured many more. Syria blames Israel while Russia insists that the chemical attack was staged. Haley had no time for that crap and reminded Russia that no one believes them. She also told Russia if it had done its job then Assad wouldn't have these weapons.

ISIS, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Boko Haram justifiably appear on the UN’s list of grave violators of children’s rights in conflict zones. But UNICEF is also spearheading a campaign to have Israel’s military included on this blacklist, which could lead to Security Council sanctions if successful. It’s preposterous that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) could be grouped among terror groups and militias from failed states, together with the planet’s worst offenders in terms of protecting children.