Fiona Shukri

fiona-shukri.com

Fiona Shukri is an American living in Brooklyn, N.Y. She lived in Kabul, Afghanistan, from 2008 to 2018, where she worked as an adviser to the Afghan government. Previously, she was a Middle East senior program manager for the National Democratic Institute in Washington, D.C.; and a communications strategist at Unesco in Paris and at UNA-USA in New York City. http://www.fiona-shukri.com

COVID-19

Haiti Could Face a ‘Perfect Storm’ With the Pandemic

August 4, 2020

by Fiona Shukri

As Covid-19 continues to ravage many parts of the world, the effect of the virus in Latin America and the Caribbean region has been particularly devastating. The situation in Haiti, for example, has alarmed international humanitarian groups, as the country lacks sufficient virus-testing ability and has limited health-care infrastructure, among other serious problems. On …

Caribbean, Covid-19, Human Rights

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Does the New US Envoy for Women’s Rights Have Anything to Do?

July 13, 2020

by Fiona Shukri

Six months into her job as the United States ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, Kelley Currie has done little to demonstrate that she can restore American leadership on women’s rights while reporting to an ideologically driven administration known for its regressive stance on gender equality. While the ambassador’s office is charged with promoting women’s …

Covid-19, Gender-Based Violence, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

The Collateral Damage in Trump’s War on the WHO: Ending Polio for Good

June 15, 2020

by Fiona Shukri

Already struggling with a surging Covid-19 pandemic, United Nations health agencies must now face the possible abdication of the United States’ leading role in fighting polio — just as the world gets tantalizingly close to eradicating it for good. Polio-free since 1979, the US has historically made combating the infectious disease its top funding …

Covid-19, US-UN Relations

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The UN Moves Toward ‘Climate Neutrality,’ but Is It Fast Enough?

February 18, 2020

by Fiona Shukri

The United Nations system has instituted some important changes toward becoming what it calls climate neutral. Some employees and former employees, however, think the UN could be doing much more to reduce the organization’s carbon footprint globally and to be a stronger role model in mitigating climate change. After all, Secretary-General António Guterres recently …

Climate and Environment, Secretary-General

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WORLDVIEWS

My Beautiful Christmas in Kabul

December 24, 2019

by Fiona Shukri

The Christmas spirit finally found me drinking whisky on a rooftop in Kabul. Given my multinational background — I’m from Boston but my father came from Iraq and my mother from London — it’s not surprising that I chose a career in foreign affairs. When people learn I spent nearly a decade in Afghanistan, …