Tag: United Nations

Reform of the United Nations is “around the corner” and will force Europe to accept less influence on the Security Council there – senior diplomats within the institution have told EurActiv.

More than one billion people don’t have safe drinking water and more than two billion lack toilets, according to the UN. Access to reliable water and sanitation are now human rights, and the UN’s special rapporteur says the European Union could be doing more – at home and abroad – to uphold these rights.

European leaders on Friday (2 March) could throw their weight behind a plan to convert the relatively powerless UN Environment Programme (UNEP) into a world body with the muscle to oversee treaties and protect the ecology.

The European Union has still not decided on a united position on a Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations which the United States has said it will veto, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said yesterday (12 September).

If the United Nations is to retain its credibility, countries must stop talking and start hard negotiations on reforming the Security Council to reflect new political realities, said Joseph Deiss, president of the UN General Assembly, in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

A spike in measles cases across Europe led by France – caused by the difficulty of innoculating migrant, religious and complacent communities – has triggered moves to co-ordinate vaccination across the continent.

Humanitarian aid coming from EU member states is becoming increasingly driven by politics, making multilateral donors such as the EU more apt at addressing recipients' needs, according to a report presented by a UN official on Tuesday (7 December).

As world leaders gather in Brussels for the 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), The European Union has signalled that it is ready to shift its role in key global fora such as the IMF and the UN climate conference.

The EU's new commissioner for climate action wants Europe to continue leading global negotiations and pursue deeper emission cuts, even if its current pledge of 20% reductions by 2020 is not matched by other developed countries. 

While it is still uncertain whether US President Barack Obama will attend the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, France and Germany rallied behind the Danish prime minister yesterday (19 November) "to make Copenhagen a success".

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has backtracked over a controversial bill that would make illegal immigration a criminal offence following heavy criticism from the United Nations, the Vatican and within the European Parliament.

A small number of European states have joined up with US and Canadian regional cap-and-trade initiatives to share information about emissions trading systems. The new group hopes to act as a driver for the creation of a wider, international carbon market in advance of key UN climate negotiations in Bali. 

More than 150 heads of state and national representatives met at UN headquarters in New York yesterday (24 September) for a discussion on climate change. US President George W. Bush, who is hosting a separate meeting on the issue later this week, attended dinner but not the talks.

The EU "deeply regrets" the failure of the United Nations (UN) Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) to agree on its latest strategy text for delivering on sustainable- development commitments made at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.  

Foreign Affairs Ministers meet on 1-2 September to discuss how to deal with Iran's defiance of the United Nations deadline of midnight, 31 August 2006 to halt nuclear enrichment.

The Parliament is scheduled to discuss a report calling for the EU to strengthen its co-operation with the United Nations.

The EU can and should strengthen its position in the United Nations as a "central pillar of the multilateral system", the Commission said on 10 September.