Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research
Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research

BLUE SMOKE: A monthly column, from PassBlue and UNA–UK, spotlighting senior appointments at the UN

Mona Ali Khalil

Mona Ali Khalil is an internationally recognized public international lawyer with 25 years of UN and other experience, including as a former senior legal officer in the UN and in the IAEA, with expertise in peacekeeping, peace enforcement, disarmament and counterterrorism. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. in international relations from Harvard University and a master's in foreign service and a J.D. from Georgetown University. She is an affiliate of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and a nonresident fellow at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research. She is the Founder and Director of MAK LAW INTERNATIONAL, a legal advisory and strategic consulting service, assisting governments and intergovernmental organizations in the service of "We the Peoples."

 

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China launched its 12-point position paper to end the war in Ukraine on the first anniversary of Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine. Some, including the United States, the European Union and NATO have dismissed what they call China’s peace…

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Former United States President George W. Bush’s unwitting truth is as tragic as it is hypocritical. The “absence of checks and balances in Russia,” he said recently, has resulted in “the decision of one man to launch a wholly…

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The world watched on Jan. 6, 2021, as thousands of the most extreme supporters of President Donald Trump marched on the United States Capitol after hearing his rallying cry to “fight” and “take back” the country. Inside the Capitol,…

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President Trump’s attacks on the rule of law in his four years in office have ranged from blatant disregard to outright breach of everything from well-established ethical values to universally accepted international norms, from United States laws and regulations…

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By all accounts, 2020 has been a terrible year so far — but is it worse than 1920? In 1920, World War I, which killed 16 million people, had just ended. The two-year influenza pandemic that followed killed 50…

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As the world knows, George Floyd, a black man suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a store in Minneapolis, Minn., was killed on May 25 by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer. Chauvin had pressed his knee…

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The United Nations is turning 75 this year. While the UN has so far successfully averted a third world war, the aggressions in Iraq, Ukraine and Syria remind us that interstate conflicts remain a real and present danger. The…

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VIENNA — Since moving to Austria in 2018, I have enjoyed the comparably high standard of living and relatively low cost of living that the city offers. As a foreigner, I feel at home in this beautiful city, which…

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Although much of the world is closing temporarily due to the rapid spread of Covid-19, the United Nations Security Council must stay open — meeting physically if possible and virtually if not — in order to fulfill its Charter…

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Niemat Ahmadi, the founder and director of the Darfur Women Action Group, has a plan for the new Sudan. The Strategic Framework for Sustainable Change was presented to the country’s prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, during his participation in the…

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The people of Sudan finally ousted President Omar al-Bashir from power, on April 11, 2019. The people of Sudan must now transfer al-Bashir to The Hague to stand trial in the International Criminal Court, which, more than 10 years…

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The recent attack by a militia on the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which seven peacekeepers were killed, highlighted a question that the Security Council has hesitated to confront for years. What are the consequences when UN peacekeeping…

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It is entirely the United States’ prerogative to cut off its voluntary contributions to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or Unrwa. In her statements about why the Trump administration has decided…

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Since 1999, the United Nations Security Council has consistently entrusted its peacekeeping operations with clear authority to use force beyond self-defense — primarily for the protection of civilians. To fulfill the mandate, the Council expects UN peacekeeping forces to take…

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Much ado — during 25 years of fruitless negotiations — has been made about the need for the United Nations General Assembly to achieve more equitable geographical representation in the UN Security Council. Article 23(1) of the UN Charter,…

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Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research

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