Latest news with #internationalinstitutions
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
US to withdraw from UN scientific and cultural agency UNESCO again, White House says
(CNN) — President Donald Trump is pulling the United States out of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO, a White House official told CNN. The move comes as the US president continues to pull the country out of international institutions and makes ending Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs a key focus of his administration. 'President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO — which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November,' White House deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. In a statement, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce added the US' continued participation in UNESCO is not in its 'national interest.' The withdrawal will take effect on December 31, 2026. UNESCO 'promotes cooperation in education, science, culture and communication to foster peace worldwide,' its website states. The United States was a founding member of UNESCO in 1945 but withdrew in 1984, citing concerns over financial mismanagement and a perceived bias against US interests. Nearly two decades later, in 2003, the US rejoined the organization during President George W. Bush's administration, with Bush stating that UNESCO had implemented important reforms. The US again withdrew from UNESCO during the first Trump administration but rejoined under Biden. After he took office for the second time, President Donald Trump ordered a review of US participation, including 'an analysis of any anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment within the organization.' Bruce alleged that 'UNESCO works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy.' 'UNESCO's decision to admit the 'State of Palestine' as a Member State is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization,' she said. UNESCO is widely recognized for its designation of World Heritage Sites, including the Grand Canyon National Park in the US.
Russia Today
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Lavrov's Q&A with media at BRICS summit: As it happened
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has held a press conference at the 17th annual BRICS summit. The two-day event kicked off on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which currently holds the group's rotating presidency. This year, the summit focuses on multilateral cooperation, as well as global development and governance issues. Speaking during the second session of the summit earlier on Monday, Lavrov said the group has been striving for 'a more stable global economic architecture that is built on the principles of universality, transparency, and non-discrimination.' The top Russian diplomat also called for a fundamental reform of international institutions, arguing that many have long since degraded into neo-colonial tools of control. The emerging multipolar world is 'not a choice but rather an objective reality,' he stated, adding that the new model is set to succeed 'the outdated neo-liberal model that actually builds on neo-colonial practices' dominated by 'the so-called developed states of the West.' BRICS was founded primarily as a trade and development group in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2010. Over the past year, the group has extended full membership to Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia, as well as welcoming ten partner states. This year's summit brings together around 4,000 participants from 37 nations, including senior dignitaries from member states, partner countries, and international institutions. This live feed has ended.
Russia Today
07-07-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Lavrov speaks to media at BRICS summit: Live Updates
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is holding a press conference at the 17th annual BRICS summit. The two-day event kicked off on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which currently holds the group's rotating presidency. This year, the summit focuses on multilateral cooperation, as well as global development and governance issues. Speaking during the second session of the summit earlier on Monday, Lavrov said the group has been striving for 'a more stable global economic architecture that is built on the principles of universality, transparency, and non-discrimination.' The top Russian diplomat also called for a fundamental reform of international institutions, arguing that many have long since degraded into neo-colonial tools of control. The emerging multipolar world is 'not a choice but rather an objective reality,' he stated, adding that the new model is set to succeed 'the outdated neo-liberal model that actually builds on neo-colonial practices' dominated by 'the so-called developed states of the West.' BRICS was founded primarily as a trade and development group in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2010. Over the past year, the group has extended full membership to Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia, as well as welcoming ten partner states. This year's summit brings together around 4,000 participants from 37 nations, including senior dignitaries from member states, partner countries, and international institutions.
E&E News
07-07-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
‘Pretty much alone': EU's greenest leader fights the tide
BRUSSELS — The pope was dead. And Teresa Ribera was mourning — not only for the man. Pope Francis had embodied an era in which Ribera's dream of a greener world, shaped by powerful international institutions and scientific advice, had seemed, at last, to be laid down in concrete. Ten years had passed since Ribera's highest moment: a year that saw the drafting of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the pope's landmark environmental proclamation that made the moral case for action. Advertisement By the time Francis died in April, Ribera was trying to stop it all from being torn down.
Al Jazeera
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israel's Gaza actions may breach EU-Israel human rights agreement: Report
There are indications Israel may have breached its human rights obligations under the terms of a pact governing its ties with the European Union, a review of the agreement shows. According to an EU document seen by the Reuters and AFP news agencies on Friday, the European External Action Service said that Israel's actions in Gaza were likely not in line with rules laid out in the EU-Israel Association. 'On the basis of the assessments made by the independent international institutions … there are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations,' the audit drafted by the EU's diplomatic service read. The report comes after months of deepening concern in European capitals about Israel's operations in Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the enclave. 'Israel's continued restrictions to the provision of food, medicines, medical equipment, and other vital supplies affect the entire population of Gaza present on the affected territory,' it said. The document includes a section dedicated to the situation in Gaza – covering issues related to denial of humanitarian aid, attacks with a significant number of casualties, attacks on medical facilities, displacement and lack of accountability – as well as the situation in the occupied West Bank, including settler violence, Reuters reported. The document said it relies on 'facts verified by and assessments made by independent international institutions, and with a focus on most recent events in Gaza and the West Bank'. The audit was launched last month in response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, in a push backed by 17 states and spearheaded by the Netherlands. The EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, is expected to present the findings of the report to the bloc's foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. EU-Israel agreement Under the EU-Israel agreement, which came into effect in 2000, the two parties agreed that their relationship would be based on 'respect for human rights and democratic principles'. Suspending the agreement would require a unanimous decision from the bloc's 27 members, something diplomats have said from the beginning was virtually impossible. According to AFP, diplomats have said that they expect Kallas to propose options on a response to the report during the next foreign ministers' meeting in July. 'The question is … how many member states would still be willing not to do anything and still keep on saying that it's business as usual,' an unnamed diplomat told the news agency ahead of the review's findings. 'It's really important to not fall into the trap of Israel to look somewhere else,' they said. The EU is Israel's largest commercial partner, with 42.6 billion euros ($48.2bn) in goods traded in 2024. Trade in services reached 25.6 billion euros ($29.5bn) in 2023. Israel's mission to the EU did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment about the contents of the document.
