United Nations

The BBNJ Agreement gives its Clearing-House Mechanism an open-access role and a duty to connect information across repositories. Its design challenge is not simply how to make ocean data easier to find; it is how to make the connections without treating every source record as public property.

The UN’s new mandate registry can make a crowded body of resolutions easier to inspect. That is a governance gain, but not a licence to let a search result decide which commitments survive. Under the General Assembly’s new framework, evidence can surface a question; Member States still own the answer.

The United Nations renewed its global counter-terrorism strategy in 2026, but this time the General Assembly did not speak with one voice. The recorded vote matters. What it means for the framework—and for cooperation beyond the chamber—requires a more careful reading.

The United Nations is drafting a tax convention while a separate expert committee continues its practical work. Their overlap could make implementation more useful—or blur who is entitled to make the decisions.