Natalie Samarasinghe

Global Director of Advocacy at Open Society Foundations

Natalie Samarasinghe is the global director of advocacy for the Open Society Foundations. Previously, she was the executive director of the United Nations Association-UK, the first woman to have this role, and a co-founder of the 1 for 7 Billion campaign. She has degrees in human rights and modern history from Oxford University and the London School of Economics.

WORLDVIEWS

Serious UN Reform: Going Beyond Minor Fixes?

Natalie Samarasinghe

• October 27, 2022

“The United Nations is dead,” said the Catholic Herald in 1947, two years after the UN was founded. Reports of its demise are perennial, but they seem to have reached a crescendo this year, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine considered a litmus test for the 77-year-old organization. Russia’s wanton act of aggression is not …

Africa, General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

If America’s First, Europe Asks, ‘Who Should Be Second?’

Natalie Samarasinghe

• May 18, 2017

LONDON — Since Donald Trump took office as president of the United States, numerous satirical videos have emerged, apparently from European states vying to be “second” to America’s “first.” The German spoof cites the country’s experience of walls. Luxembourg’s boasts that it has a lot of money and “you know what, Mr President? You …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Why Feminists Shouldn’t Say the Next UN Secretary-General Must Be a Woman

Natalie Samarasinghe

• July 26, 2016

Twitter proved more effective than papal smoke signals in getting out the results of the first straw poll of candidates aspiring to be the ninth secretary-general of the United Nations. This is one reason that although some confidentiality is desirable in what is currently a recruitment process rather than an election, the 1 for …