Asia

What to Expect From This Year’s UN General Assembly, So Far

• September 7, 2021

This year’s United Nations General Assembly could make or break the future of in-person meetings at the gathering in New York City. After a year of carefully negotiating, adapting and crafting health guidelines, UNGA organizers are hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s first, almost entirely virtual, gathering. But the threat of the …

Africa, Asia, General Assembly, Latin America, Middle East, Secretary-General, Security Council, UNGA76, US-UN Relations

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American University in Kyrgyzstan Is Offering Afghan Women a Haven. Will the Taliban Let Them Go?

Barbara Crossette

• August 27, 2021

Fears are running high among the vulnerable women of Afghanistan — scholars, writers and other intellectuals — that they may be prime targets for retribution and abuse by the Taliban’s ideologically driven tribal misogyny. In remote Kyrgyzstan, a Muslim nation landlocked and mountainous like Afghanistan but different in many ways, the democratically elected government …

Asia, Gender Violence, Uncategorized

2 Comments

Afghans Who Work for the UN in Their Country Say They Fear for Their Lives [Updated]

Fiona Shukri

• August 20, 2021

United Nations staff members in Afghanistan who work for the UN political mission there say it has been failing to protect its national personnel since the Taliban’s sudden takeover of the country on Aug. 15 and as the United States evacuates tens of thousands of Americans and others from the Kabul airport amid deadly …

Asia, Gender Violence, Humanitarian Aid, Secretary-General, UN Agencies, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

9 Comments

Despite the Intensifying Dangers in Afghanistan, the UN Says It Is Staying Put [Updated]

Dulcie Leimbach

• August 14, 2021

As the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, on Sunday — and the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country — the United Nations continues to decline to say whether it is planning to evacuate its thousands of personnel there. Rather, the UN is emphasizing its efforts on providing food, water and other …

Asia, Gender Violence, Humanitarian Aid, Secretary-General, Security Council, UN Agencies

One Comment

BOOKS

Overcoming Childhood Poverty and UN Bureaucracy, Noeleen Heyzer Tells Her Story

Barbara Crossette

• August 7, 2021

Noeleen Heyzer not only saved Unifem, the precursor of UN Women, from financial collapse but also turned the small grant-making agency into a powerful policy tool for boldly addressing the crushing economic and social disadvantages that silence women worldwide. She understood women in distress; echoes of her own early life resonated in what she …

Asia, BOOKS, Gender Violence

5 Comments

THIS WEEK @UN

US Delegation to Haiti Cut Short; Risks for the UN Pension Fund?; an Ex-Guantánamo Detainee May Face Torture in Russia

Ivana Ramirez

• July 24, 2021

A US delegation to Haiti returns early; potential risks for the $87 billion UN pension fund; an ex-Guantánamo detainee may face torture in Russia. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. We are inching closer …

Africa, Asia, Human Rights, Secretary-General, This Week @UN, Unesco, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

Crucial Aid Into Syria; Will a Feminist Lead UN Women?; Haiti’s Downfall

Ivana Ramirez

• July 9, 2021

Crucial aid into Syria continues; will a feminist head UN Women?; the good and bad of Security Council Arria meetings; Haiti on the edge. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. We are closer …

Africa, Asia, Human Rights, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Who Is Behind the High Civilian Death Toll Since Myanmar’s Coup? Its Own Security Forces

Damian Lilly

• May 19, 2021

Since the military coup in Myanmar on Feb. 1, 802 civilians have been killed. The majority of the people who have been killed were peaceful protesters shot by state security forces — the very people that are meant to protect them. According to civilian casualty monitors, the number of recorded civilian fatalities in Myanmar, …

Asia, Humanitarian Aid, Myanmar, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS

One Comment

WORLDVIEWS

For Myanmar, Why Not Send an Asean/UN Civilian Monitoring Mission?

Ian Martin and Charles Petrie

• April 24, 2021

This weekend, Asean will be deliberating on possible courses of action regarding Myanmar. Across the country, brave people, many of them children, are being murdered daily; health services are ceasing to function in the middle of a pandemic; the economy is collapsing; and every well-informed analyst predicts only a future of deepening civil war, …

Asia, Myanmar, WORLDVIEWS

2 Comments

SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

Can Vietnam Rally the Big UN Powers to Stop More Bloodshed in Myanmar?

Stéphanie Fillion

• April 5, 2021

When Vietnam started its term as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council in January 2020, it also had to take on the role of the monthly rotating president. Back then, it sold itself as a bridge builder among the Council’s major powers. Vietnam’s second presidency, which started on April 1, is …

Asia, Gender Violence, Myanmar, Security Council Presidency

2 Comments

THIS WEEK @UN

Growing Crises in Myanmar and Tigray; Getting to Know the US Envoy; Will the UN’s Top Humanitarian Job Go to the UK Again?

Ivana Ramirez

• March 6, 2021

Continuing crises in Myanmar and Ethiopia; the US envoy to the UN’s first week; why Britain has held the top humanitarian job for so long; and women’s gains in the African Union. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from the UN …

Africa, Asia, Human Rights, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

The New US Envoy Begins Working; Iran’s Threatening Nuke Actions; Murders in the Congo

Ivana Ramirez

• February 26, 2021

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States envoy to the UN, starts her job; Iran’s troubling nuclear developments; UN-convoy murders in the Congo. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from the UN spokesperson’s press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. As International Women’s …

Africa, Asia, Nuclear Disarmament, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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Can the Issue of Climate-Induced Wars Stick to the UN Security Council Agenda? The UK Tries It Out

Stéphanie Fillion

• February 18, 2021

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to preside over a Security Council meeting virtually on climate and security risks on Feb. 23. The British introduced the topic to the Council in 2007, but with Washington’s 180-degree turn toward climate change action and certain new Security Council members that are climate-friendly, 2021 could be …

Africa, Asia, Climate and Environment, Security Council

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WORLDVIEWS

Danger Still Lurks in Jammu and Kashmir

Munir Akram

• February 2, 2021

The Jammu and Kashmir dispute is one of the oldest unresolved issues on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. At the heart of the dispute is India’s illegal occupation and persistent refusal to allow the people of Kashmir to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination. Several resolutions of the Security Council have …

Asia, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

2 Comments

WORLDVIEWS

The Congo, Afghanistan and the Limits of Outside Intervention

Alan Doss

• January 18, 2021

This year, two expansive — and expensive — international peace and security entities will pass a significant milestone. The United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the NATO operation in Afghanistan have been deployed for two decades. Although these missions differ in many respects, notably in the scale and …

Africa, Asia, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

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What to Expect From This Year’s UN General Assembly, So Far

Stéphanie Fillion

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Asia

What to Expect From This Year’s UN General Assembly, So Far

American University in Kyrgyzstan Is Offering Afghan Women a Haven. Will the Taliban Let Them Go?

Afghans Who Work for the UN in Their Country Say They Fear for Their Lives [Updated]

Despite the Intensifying Dangers in Afghanistan, the UN Says It Is Staying Put [Updated]

Overcoming Childhood Poverty and UN Bureaucracy, Noeleen Heyzer Tells Her Story

US Delegation to Haiti Cut Short; Risks for the UN Pension Fund?; an Ex-Guantánamo Detainee May Face Torture in Russia

Crucial Aid Into Syria; Will a Feminist Lead UN Women?; Haiti’s Downfall

Who Is Behind the High Civilian Death Toll Since Myanmar’s Coup? Its Own Security Forces

For Myanmar, Why Not Send an Asean/UN Civilian Monitoring Mission?

Can Vietnam Rally the Big UN Powers to Stop More Bloodshed in Myanmar?

Growing Crises in Myanmar and Tigray; Getting to Know the US Envoy; Will the UN’s Top Humanitarian Job Go to the UK Again?

The New US Envoy Begins Working; Iran’s Threatening Nuke Actions; Murders in the Congo

Can the Issue of Climate-Induced Wars Stick to the UN Security Council Agenda? The UK Tries It Out

Danger Still Lurks in Jammu and Kashmir

The Congo, Afghanistan and the Limits of Outside Intervention

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A Jordanian Diplomat With Development Expertise Will Lead UN Women

UN’s Guterres Proposes a 2023 Summit of the Future in ‘Our Common Agenda’ Report

Myanmar’s Credentials at the UN

UNGA76: Who’s Coming and Going at New York City’s Annual Jubilee: Our Latest Podcast Episode

UN-Scripted, Passblue's UN podcast series

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