Cities

• March 13, 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic anniversary; digitally recruiting women to run for the United Nations’ top job; International Women’s Day, a bit of a downer. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from the UN spokesperson’s press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. We encourage you …

Cities, Gender Violence, Migration, Myanmar, Secretary-General, Security Council, Syria, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

Pandemic Relief: Beirut Test-Drives Mobile Medicine for Migrants

Maria Luisa Gambale

• March 10, 2021

Through the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Beirut was spared the catastrophic caseloads that brought many cities around the world to their knees throughout the spring and early summer of 2020, but the port blast on Aug. 4 changed all that. The explosion itself killed at least 200 people, left 300,000 people homeless …

Cities, Covid-19, Health and Population

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The Climate Is on the Loose, Especially in Rotterdam

Jeroen Spangenberg

• August 12, 2019

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands — Record heat waves have crippled a number of cities this summer, one most visibly the Netherlands’ second largest, Rotterdam. Experts point to climate change. According to new data widely reported from the World Meteorological Organization and Copernicus Climate Change Program, July equaled if not surpassed the hottest month in recorded …

Cities, Climate and Environment

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TOPIC: WOMEN

How Will Women Fare as Cities Grow Dramatically? The Data Are Missing

Laura E. Kirkpatrick

• January 13, 2019

Improving the lives of women is woven into each of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, markers that all 193 member states aim to reach by 2030. Goal 5 is quite specific: nothing short of gender equality. Attaining this lofty goal means being able to put one’s hands on data that have been …

Cities, Women

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BOOKS

America’s Pledge to the Paris Agreement Doesn’t Hinge on Washington

Barbara Crossette

• June 26, 2017

When Donald Trump, defying science and public opinion, reversed American policy and announced in June that the United States would leave the universally endorsed 2015 Paris agreement on climate change, his decision may have given more impetus to a growing trend away from reliance on shortsighted national politicians. In country after country, the focus …

BOOKS, Cities, Climate and Environment

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GEOPOLITICS

Take a Look: Global Refugee Law and US Areas Affected Most by Trump Ban

Barbara Crossette

• January 31, 2017

The public furor and enormous protests by many thousands of Americans nationwide have led experts to try to explain where the decisions made by Donald Trump fall short of legality in both national and international law. From Hollywood to the world of sports to the corridors of the United States Congress, people are saying …

Cities, Geopolitics, Human Rights, Middle East, Migration, Refugees, Syria, US Foreign Relations

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Harassed at the Rio Olympics or Elsewhere in Brazil? Call 180

PassBlue

• August 9, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO — Throughout Brazil, it’s not uncommon to come across posters, billboards and advertisements on buses and in subways showing women and men holding cellphones and this message: “Violência contra as mulheres? Eu logo 180: Violence against women? I’ll call 180.” These notices have been up since the country hosted the 2014 …

Cities, Gender Violence, Women

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Housing in South Africa: Making the Most Out of Very Little

Irwin Arieff

• August 18, 2015

CAPE TOWN — Declarations that people have a right to adequate housing are a dime a dozen. Among the many documents spelling out or elaborating on this right are the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and at least nine other international treaties, plus numerous …

Africa, Cities

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As the World’s Older Population Increases, Can Cities Handle the Influx?

Amy Wu

• July 27, 2015

A trio of megatrends that could radically change the makeup of cities around the world is about to converge. “You have two very powerful trends,” says John Wilmoth, director of the United Nations Population Division. “There’s aging of population and there’s an urbanization that’s taking place. It’s not only movement to cities, but it’s …