UUA International Blog

When I arrived at my hotel in Madrid the lobby was abuzz with a crowd of young people from Asia and Romania who had arrived to join Friday’s march of half a million people to demand climate action. The most visible public voice was Greta Thunberg, the Swedish student who had...

Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro chose to begin their book, The Internationalists, with the following description of the historic event on August 27, 1928: “On that day, crowds gathered outside the Quai d’Orsay to watch the world leaders arrive at the Clock Room in the immense...

The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over crimes against the Rohingya people in Myanmar, according to a November 14 decision by its PreTrial Chamber. It said that although the Court could not take up these crimes while the Rohingya remained in Myanmar because the...

If conflict is inevitable in human relations, so might be efforts to reconcile and reach a state of peace. ...

With human rights under threat around the world, this Human Rights Day we all must be engaged to make sure that every person's human rights are respected and protected. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 71 years old today, lists the human rights that we must come...

We know we are facing an existential crisis with the advance of climate change; and what about the other existential threat? Nuclear weapons. Unless we arrest climate change, it will fundamentally change our civilization in a matter of decades, maybe threaten life on this planet...

COP25 canceled in Chile amidst large scale protests. Ever increasing economic inequality sparked outcries of grievances that have been piling up for decades. The protests show no signs of stopping anytime soon.

In the centennial year, while the world was getting used to writing or typing the year beginning with a “2” instead of a “1,” countries of the world were introduced to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals encouraging the 193 member states to adopt a set of 8 goals...

The First UU Asia Pacific Regional Conference has just finished. It ran from October 23-27, 2019 in Dumaguete City, Negros Island, Philippines, hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines (UUCP) and attended by about 75 participants, with the theme “Ancient...

Women's rights groups at the United Nations are gearing up for the landmark year of 2020. 2020 marks a special year for the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). In May, the Generation Equality Forum will start in Mexico City, Mexico from May 7-8...

There are many aspects to helping our planet disarm meaningfully. 108 countries are now part of treaties that have established nuclear free zones around the world. They are making a concerted effort to create a nuclear free planet and that alone needs to be applauded and the...

On the 74th birthday of the United Nations, we celebrate the UN's accomplishments while also recognizing the urgency of taking action to keep it strong as it comes under threat from the rise of authoritarianism & isolationism around the world.

I’m a member of the Preventing Gun Violence Task Force at the Unitarian Society of New Haven (USNH). We recently bought shares in two companies that manufacture firearms. “What?!,” you may be asking. Usually activists shy away from investing in so-called “sin” stocks, looking...

Young Adult Gun Violence Prevention Activist on Radical Kinship and Universal Love

This summer I was the migration justice intern at the Unitarian Universalist UN Office. As I began my internship in June, the New York Times broke the story about migrant children being held in horrid, overcrowded, and unsanitary conditions at the U.S. border. Headline after...

Feel like the system is too big to change? Protest!

On August 28, 16 year old climate activist Greta Thunberg sailed into New York Harbor with the mission of bringing her message of climate justice to the United Nations. She was greeted by 17 sailboats, each representing a different Sustainable Development Goal.

Much of the following text is taken from a blog post from the International Committee of the Red Cross: Human Cost of Cyber Operations—Key ICRC Takeaways from Discussion with Tech Experts. ICRC has encouraged readers to share this blog, and they invite feedback from readers. The...

An appeal was recently distributed to navy personnel at Bangor Naval Base in Washington State, calling on navy personnel to "Refuse to engage in nuclear annihilation." This appeal is reprinted here with permission of the Ground Zero Center in Seattle, WA.

On April 14, 2019 the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, NJ hosted a conference on Steps To A Nuclear Weapons-Free World.