Asia

• November 15, 2018

We live in an age of uncertainty caused by the shifting structure and dynamics of international politics, economics and social change. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his address to the General Assembly in September that this uncertainty was “a bad case of trust deficit disorder” at three levels. First, within countries, he …

Asia, Disarmament, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS

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TOPIC: WOMEN

In Cambodia’s Single-Party Politics, Women Are Barely Seen

Johanna Higgs

• October 23, 2018

KAMPOT, Cambodia — Chan Kanha is the deputy mayor for the Cambodian People’s Party in this small port town, which sits along Cambodia’s southern coast and still retains much of its French colonial architecture. The Cambodian People’s Party, or CCP, is led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has run the country for the …

Asia, Gender Violence, Women

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GEOPOLITICS

Kashmir’s Long Tragedy Rears Its Head in the News and at the UN

Barbara Crossette

• September 5, 2018

In his final months in office as United Nations high commissioner for human rights, the outspoken Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein did what no former holder of that office would or could do: he issued a blistering report on Indian abuses in the disputed territory of Kashmir. It is a story that Indian governments have long …

Asia, General Assembly, Geopolitics, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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GEOPOLITICS

Rohingya Refugees Look to Washington and Find a Vacuum

Tino Calabia

• July 30, 2018

This August marks a year since a military crackdown forced at least 700,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh, joining hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who had already taken refuge there, totaling 1.1 million people encamped in Cox’s Bazar, according to a Bangladesh count done this July. But you would never know from the …

Asia, Geopolitics, Refugees, US Foreign Relations

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UN to Rohingya: You Can’t Go Home Safely Any Time Soon

Barbara Crossette

• July 15, 2018

Among refugee advocates there has been a growing concern that recent agreements among regional governments and the United Nations on a framework for mitigating the Rohingya crisis could prompt at least some of the million-plus people who have fled the deadly military pogrom in Myanmar to consider risking a return to try to rebuild …

Asia, Gender Violence, Human Rights, Refugees

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Lost in the War on Malaria, a Chance to Create Local Jobs

Stéphanie Fillion

• May 29, 2018

It is playoff season for the NBA, and each time the basketball star Stephen Curry hits a three-point shot, he donates three mosquito nets to Nothing But Nets, a United Nations Foundation campaign that fights malaria one bed at a time. Last season, Curry sank 402 three-pointers and helped deliver 1,206 nets. With the …

Africa, Asia, Health and Population

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Thank You, UN, for Protecting Victims of Slavery and Other Cruel Practices

Bertrand Ramcharan

• April 19, 2018

While slavery and inhumane practices have still not been eradicated, the United Nations has done much to expose them and to help stamp them out. Its efforts continue. Early after its establishment, the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights carried out a study on slavery. Its findings were riveting, and it made several policy recommendations …

Africa, Asia, Gender Violence, Human Rights, Human Trafficking, International Justice

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A Hindu-Muslim Friendship That Helped Shape How the World Measured Poverty

Barbara Crossette

• March 6, 2018

They were two young men studying at Cambridge University when they met in the wake of the bloody Partition of British India. One was a Kashmiri-born Muslim and the other a Hindu-born Bengali. But the two, Mahbub ul Haq of Pakistan and Amartya Sen from India, soon formed an intellectual bond and deep friendship. …

Asia, Development

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TOPIC: WOMEN

The ‘Incredible Courage’ of Asma Jahangir, Pakistan’s Human-Rights Advocate

Barbara Crossette

• February 17, 2018

Only a few days before Pakistan’s most famous human-rights advocate, Asma Jahangir, was felled by a heart attack on Feb. 11, she was speaking out in support of a group of ethnic Pashtuns who had marched across the country from their homes along the Afghanistan border to protest military brutality. A Pashtun boy had …

Asia, Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

US Visa Rules Can Create Heartbreak for Women

Barbara Crossette

• February 4, 2018

Imagine an accomplished young woman — we can call her Amrita — who has a caring husband and maybe a child or two. He is a highly skilled professional in his field with a doctorate or even postdoctorate qualifications. She has the same level of achievement or possibly higher. He has been offered a …

Asia, Gender Violence, Women

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TAKE A LOOK

Zimbabwe Stuck With a Health Crisis Left by Mugabe Era

Barbara Crossette

• January 10, 2018

Robert Mugabe, the only head of state that Zimbabwe had known since independence in 1980, was forced out of office by an unexpected coup in November 2017, and citizens of the economically battered country are now forced to tally the costs of his dictatorship. One of them is a health system in collapse. A …

Africa, Asia, Climate Change, Take a Look

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WORLDVIEWS

Unprepared and Unprotected: UN Peacekeepers’ Lives Must Be Saved

James Cunliffe

• January 9, 2018

The 15 deaths and 43 injuries to United Nations troop personnel in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December would not, sadly, have surprised those of us who have served in peace enforcement missions with the UN. These are difficult and dangerous places, where rebels have many advantages …

Africa, Asia, Peace and Security, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

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GEOPOLITICS

China’s Notions of UN Reform: Filling the Growing Vacuum Left by the US

Kacie Candela

• January 3, 2018

China has presented its position on United Nations reform, and it aligns with Secretary-General António Guterres’s own agenda. It pushes for practicalities, such as a transparent process, a stronger peace and security pillar, streamlined internal management and more geographic diversity in hiring practices in peacekeeping and the UN Secretariat. “The world is undergoing major …

Asia, Development, Geopolitics, Peace and Security, SDGs

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WORLDVIEWS

Least-Developed Countries, a Status That Many Nations Can’t Leave Behind

Bill Buchanan

• January 1, 2018

Since 1971, the United Nations has recognized least-developed countries as those deemed highly disadvantaged in their development strides because of structural, historical and geographical reasons. The aim has been, and still is, to support these countries to graduate to higher levels of self-sufficiency and economic independence, not in the sense for a privileged minority …

Africa, Asia, Development, Poverty, WORLDVIEWS

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GEOPOLITICS

Words Ring Hollow From the UN After Attacks on Peacekeepers

Susan Manuel

• December 27, 2017

The horrific attack on United Nations peacekeepers from Tanzania in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in early December and the ensuing hours-long battle was a severe blow to one of the UN’s more prized forces, leaving 15 soldiers dead. But the UN was already so concerned with a rise in peacekeeper fatalities — …