Asia

Indonesia’s Legacy in the Security Council: Daring to Save Lives

August 3, 2020

A big power in Southeast Asia and a middle power globally, Indonesia plays a “bridge builder” role in the United Nations Security Council, it says. It’s a strategy that is getting harder and harder to embody, however, with rising tensions among the five big powers in the Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the …

Asia, Security Council, Security Council Presidency

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COVID-19

Suddenly, Singapore’s Coronavirus Cases Skyrocketed: Here’s Why

April 23, 2020

by Noeleen Heyzer

SINGAPORE — Singapore now has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia, at 11,178, as of April 23. The daily coronavirus infection rate reached a new high of 1,426 as I write. Just over a month ago, Singapore, with 5.7 million people living in the limited space of 720 square kilometers (278 square …

Asia, Covid-19, Health and Population

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COVID-19

North Korea Claims No Coronavirus Cases. Experts Detect Another Reality.

April 16, 2020

by Barbara Crossette

Something is missing from the statistical charts and maps of Covid-19 in East Asia: credible data on the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea. The country, North Korea as it is commonly known, has always been a singularly secretive state controlled since its founding in 1948 by a savagely brutal dynasty. It is also next …

Asia, Covid-19, Health and Population

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SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

Vietnam’s Pivotal Month as Leader of the Security Council and of Asean for 2020

January 8, 2020

by Stéphanie Fillion

With tensions becoming more and more serious in the Middle East and with two crucial leadership roles to play internationally, diplomats in Hanoi are probably working hard to make sure Vietnam’s big diplomatic month of January is a success. Vietnam’s diplomacy has arrived at a critical moment, as it presides over the United Nations …

Asia, Security Council Presidency

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BOOKS

The All-Female Korean Hockey Team That Won the World’s Heart

December 28, 2019

by Sonah Lee

“A Team of Their Own: How an International Sisterhood Made Olympic History,” unfolds like the cinematic story of Disney’s 1992 hit “The Mighty Ducks,” except in Seth Berkman’s debut book this team of hockey players —South Korean, North Korean, American and Canadian, all female and of Korean descent — don’t win a single game. …

Asia, BOOKS

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GEOPOLITICS

China’s UN Playground & Talking Gender With the UN’s Rosemary DiCarlo: Our Latest Episode

December 23, 2019

by Stéphanie Fillion and Kacie Candela

This year was a big one for China, and 2020 is likely to be much the same — if not more intense, given the range of issues involving the United States and far beyond. For our last episode of the year, UN-Scripted looks at how China’s rise internationally is reflected at the United Nations. …

Africa, Asia, Geopolitics, Security Council, UN Special Envoys

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WORLDVIEWS

Myanmar’s Neighbors Must Build Trust Among Rohingya Refugees

November 10, 2019

by Noeleen Heyzer

At the 33d summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore last year, the issue of Myanmar’s Rakhine/Rohingya crisis was high on the agenda. The chairman’s closing statement expressed the group’s readiness to support Myanmar in repatriating refugees by conducting a needs-assessment overview in Rakhine State. The Muslim Rohingya had fled ethnic …

Asia, Refugees, WORLDVIEWS

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Hillary Clinton on Trump’s Foreign Policy: It’s All About Waiting for His Next Tweet

October 16, 2019

by Dulcie Leimbach

Hillary Clinton glided onto a stage in Manhattan with the luxury of now being a cool-eyed outsider who can sharply question foreign policy decisions being made by the Trump administration on such controversial places as China, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. Clinton was the keynote speaker at the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s daylong …

Asia, Human Rights, Syria, US Foreign Relations

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Kashmir May Be an Old Crisis at the UN, but the World Is Now Riveted

August 19, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

A familiar refrain often heard when the burgeoning crisis in Kashmir rises to the top of the news is that this is an old story from long ago; we have moved on. The United Nations is discovering, however, that there is less tolerance for indifference since India’s decrees on Aug. 5-6 to singlehandedly remake …

Asia, Secretary-General, Security Council

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Kashmiri Muslims in Danger as Hindu Politicians Cancel Their Rights

August 9, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

It has always been relatively easy for Indian governments from both the political left and right to keep Kashmir from the eyes of the world. At no time has this been more obvious than now. Landlocked, under the guns of half a million Indian troops and paramilitaries, cut off sporadically from all modern communications …

Asia, Secretary-General, Security Council

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Pompeo Retreats on Universal Human Rights as US Looks More Inward

June 4, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

In an audacious move that could be the capstone of the Trump administration’s campaign to reverse decades of American support for human rights globally, the State Department is creating a separate new commission to advise Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on redefining United States policies, aligned with “natural law and natural rights.” For many …

Africa, Asia, Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, US Foreign Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Wazhma Frogh Wants Women in the Afghan Peace Talks Now

May 13, 2019

by Maria Luisa Gambale

Wazhma Frogh is a lifetime campaigner for Afghan women and girls. She co-founded the Women and Peace Studies Organization in Afghanistan in 2011 and is a member of the Afghan Women’s Network. In 2009, the United States State Department granted her the International Women of Courage Award. Frogh recently spoke with PassBlue through a …

Asia, Gender-Based Violence, US Foreign Relations, Women

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A New OPCW Team Is Ready to Find the Culprits Behind Chemical Attacks in Syria

May 6, 2019

by Johannes Visser

THE HAGUE — The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is inching closer in trying to determine who instigated the various chemical attacks in Syria last year. In April 2018, gas cylinders filled with chlorine were dropped from a helicopter in the residential areas of Douma, outside the capital of Damascus. At least …

Asia, Disarmament, Security Council, Syria

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SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

The UN Security Council’s New President: An Indonesian Economist and ‘Peace Broker’

May 2, 2019

by Stéphanie Fillion

Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, just held what its top United Nations ambassador, Dian Triansyah Djani, calls the “world’s largest election ever held” for a presidency in such a short period of time. While ballots are still being counted and the next government prepares to take shape in May, Indonesia’s work at the …

Asia, Security Council Presidency

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TAKE A LOOK

Indians Ask Why 21 Million Women Are Not on Voter Rolls

March 20, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

Every national election in India is numerically mind-boggling, and this year is no exception. More than 800 million registered voters are expected to participate in an election spanning 39 days from April 11 to May 19. In this huge exercise in democracy, simultaneously organized at national and state levels, the government’s election commission has …

Asia, Gender-Based Violence, Take a Look

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Asia

Indonesia’s Legacy in the Security Council: Daring to Save Lives

Suddenly, Singapore’s Coronavirus Cases Skyrocketed: Here’s Why

North Korea Claims No Coronavirus Cases. Experts Detect Another Reality.

Vietnam’s Pivotal Month as Leader of the Security Council and of Asean for 2020

The All-Female Korean Hockey Team That Won the World’s Heart

China’s UN Playground & Talking Gender With the UN’s Rosemary DiCarlo: Our Latest Episode

Myanmar’s Neighbors Must Build Trust Among Rohingya Refugees

Hillary Clinton on Trump’s Foreign Policy: It’s All About Waiting for His Next Tweet

Kashmir May Be an Old Crisis at the UN, but the World Is Now Riveted

Kashmiri Muslims in Danger as Hindu Politicians Cancel Their Rights

Pompeo Retreats on Universal Human Rights as US Looks More Inward

Wazhma Frogh Wants Women in the Afghan Peace Talks Now

A New OPCW Team Is Ready to Find the Culprits Behind Chemical Attacks in Syria

The UN Security Council’s New President: An Indonesian Economist and ‘Peace Broker’

Indians Ask Why 21 Million Women Are Not on Voter Rolls

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