• April 20, 2014

Fred Eckhard was beloved in the United Nations as the spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a position Eckhard left in 2005. An American, he absconded for the Brittany coast in France, where enjoys fruits de mer and his seaside home with his wife, Kathryn, a Scot, who is also a UN veteran. Though Eckhard …

GOINGS-ON

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Samantha Power Urges US Congress to Approve UN Funding for 2015

Dulcie Leimbach

• April 4, 2014

Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, testified on April 2 before the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Appropriations for State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs — on the financing of the UN. (The US remains the single-largest financial contributor to the UN.) Power, who became ambassador in 2013, spoke …

US-UN Relations

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Bloomberg, Ex-Mayor of New York, Becomes UN Climate Envoy

Dulcie Leimbach

• January 31, 2014

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Michael Bloomberg, who just ended his three-term, 12-year mayoralty of New York City in December, as his special envoy for cities and climate change. Bloomberg, who will be unpaid, will assist Ban in consultations with mayors and related parties to raise the “political will and mobilize action” …

GOINGS-ON

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The US Backs the UN on Women’s Rights and Family Planning

Dulcie Leimbach

• November 18, 2013

Speaking in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the third international conference on family planning, Anne C. Richard, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, urged strong support for United Nations efforts to promote the rights of women and girls, including universal access to family planning, as the organization frames new …

Health and Population, Women

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New Human Rights Council Members Include China and Saudi Arabia

Dulcie Leimbach

• November 12, 2013

The United Nations General Assembly has elected 14 new members to three-year terms on the 45-member Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. The new countries to serve on the council, starting on Jan. 1, 2014, are Algeria, Britain, China, Cuba, France, Macedonia, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and …

General Assembly, Human Rights

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GOINGS-ON

A Dutchwoman Leads Mission to Destroy Syria’s Chemical Weapons

Dulcie Leimbach

• October 23, 2013

Sigrid Kaag, a Dutch national, has been named special coordinator for the joint mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations, which began its work Oct. 16 to manage the destruction of Syria’s chemical stockpiles and production operations, operating under a mandate from a Security Council resolution …

GOINGS-ON

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At Long Last, the UN Security Council Unites on a Syrian Resolution

Dulcie Leimbach

• September 26, 2013

In rare action-packed diplomacy at the United Nations, a draft resolution was agreed on Sept. 26 by the five permanent members of the Security Council, reinforcing the plan made earlier in the month between Russia and the United States to dismantle Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, after Syria agreed to join the Chemical Weapons Convention. …

Disarmament, Peace and Security, Security Council

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Samantha Power, US Envoy to the UN, Shames Russia for Impasse

Dulcie Leimbach

• September 6, 2013

Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, pointed a finger straight at Russia for crippling the Security Council in doing its job to secure peace in Syria as the White House continues its intense political campaign to use force against the government of Syria. It is trying to rally support to …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council

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A Letter to Pope Francis, From a Jesuit Priest Who Has Vanished in Syria

Dulcie Leimbach

• August 15, 2013

The Rev. Paolo Dall’Oglio, a Jesuit priest from Italy who worked in Syria for decades but was exiled by the government in June 2012 for his activism with the opposition rebels, has recently been reported missing in the country. He had been trying to broker negotiations between warring factions in northern Syria, the Kurds …

Middle East, Peace and Security

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‘I Am the Same Malala,’ the 16-Year-Old Pakistani Proclaimed at the UN

Dulcie Leimbach

• July 12, 2013

Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head nine months ago by the Taliban for attending school, spoke to nearly 500 young people at the United Nations Malala Day Youth Assembly on July 12, her birthday. She told the audience that the attack changed nothing in her life, except that …

Asia, Human Rights, Peace and Security

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New UN Women Chief Is Named, a Surprise Choice

Dulcie Leimbach

• July 10, 2013

In a surprise move for many observers of United Nations top appointments, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of South Africa has been named the executive director of UN Women, the lead agency for promoting gender equality and women’s rights worldwide. She replaces Michelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile who returned to her country in March 2013 …

Africa, Women

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US to Increase Military Aid to Syrian Rebels, in Response to Chemical Weapons Use

Dulcie Leimbach

• June 13, 2013

The United States will be increasing the “scope and scale” of its help to the main opposition group fighting in Syria against the country’s regime, based on recent assessments that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on several occasions in the last two months against the rebels and others. After a “confident” assessment made …

Peace and Security, Secretary-General, Uncategorized

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Susan Rice Leaves the UN as Samantha Power Is to Be Nominated

Dulcie Leimbach

• June 5, 2013

Susan E. Rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations and a member of President Obama’s Cabinet, will become the country’s national security adviser, replacing Tom Donilon, 58, who has resigned, as expected. Rice’s new position will not require approval from the Senate. Obama will announce that Samantha Power, 42, is to be …

GOINGS-ON

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The Stanley Foundation’s New Venture in Digital Publishing

Dulcie Leimbach

• May 6, 2013

A new bimonthly newsletter, called The Latest, has made its debut from the Stanley Foundation, the nonprofit group based in Muscatine, Iowa, that works on peace and security issues through the promotion of good governance and justice worldwide. Keith Porter is also the new president of the organization, having been promoted from director of …

Governance, Peace and Security

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Michelle Bachelet, UN Women Chief, Resigns

Dulcie Leimbach

• March 16, 2013

Michelle Bachelet, the head of the United Nations agency promoting the rights of women and gender equality, has told Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that she is stepping down after two years in the job. Bachelet, a former Chilean president, is likely to run for president of her country again in elections this fall. She made the announcement …