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Covid-19

The Pandemic Reveals the Disturbing Depths of Ageism, Especially for Women

April 6, 2021

by Barbara Crossette

During more than a year of tracking the parameters of Covid-19, medical science has made one thing clear: the virus hits the elderly hardest. Yet their vulnerability is often taken as fate. A new international study disagrees. Prejudice, institutional bias and societal discrimination against older people in both rich and poor countries, it says, …

Covid-19, Gender-Based Violence, Health and Population, Human Rights

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Pandemic Relief: Beirut Test-Drives Mobile Medicine for Migrants

March 10, 2021

by Maria Luisa Gambale

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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Globetrotters Alert: You May Soon Need a Vaccine Passport

February 15, 2021

by Ivana Ramirez

Even with vaccines steadily rolling out in many countries, the end of the Covid-19 pandemic is hardly on the horizon. As countries continue to weave in and out of shutdowns, curfews, virus variants and new deadly waves, the travel and tourism industries are being devastated. In the first 10 months of global shutdowns, tourism worldwide fell more …

Covid-19, Health and Population, UN Agencies

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Covid Forces the UN to Pause Physical Meetings Just as It Slowly Returns to Normal

October 28, 2020

by Dulcie Leimbach

After finally reopening the United Nations Security Council chamber to physical meetings in October, the UN just announced that five members of one national delegation have tested positive for Covid-19. That means ending all in-person meetings in the Council chamber and General Assembly sessions in New York City headquarters for the rest of the …

Covid-19, General Assembly, Health and Population

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Can the “Third UN” Reimagine Post-Covid Global Cooperation?

October 19, 2020

by Tatiana Carayannis and Thomas G. Weiss

This week we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, as the Covid-19 pandemic highlights our interdependence and the need for global cooperation. Enthusiasm for it, however, is in short supply amid deteriorating Washington-Beijing relations, Brexit and rising populisms. Throughout its history, the UN has confronted bureaucratic challenges and radical changes in world …

Climate and Environment, Covid-19, Governance, Health and Population, WORLDVIEWS

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Wanted: Small Investors to Boost Development Money Beyond Banks

August 31, 2020

by Barbara Crossette

For nearly two years, an international group of 17 specialists on the finance frontier have been connecting digital technologies to new sources of money for the faltering Sustainable Development Goals. On Aug. 26, they unveiled an ambitious report on what can be done when traditional pools of capital are broadened and deepened by including …

Covid-19, Development

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Sweden Is Not a Model in Managing Covid-19 but a Special Case

August 28, 2020

by Kjell Engelbrekt

STOCKHOLM — For those of us who have tried to keep up with the international commentary on Sweden’s response to Covid-19 during the last months, it has been bewildering. As Sweden failed to contain the coronavirus at its borders and shifted to a mitigation strategy in March, most Western democracies moved in the opposite …

Covid-19, Health and Population

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In Mexico, the UN Refugee Agency Alleviates a Crisis Created by the Trump Administration

August 26, 2020

by Maurizio Guerrero

“Yes, there’s always the fear of being kidnapped,” said Óscar, a 30-year old asylum seeker who fled political persecution in Cuba in May 2019 and landed in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez, where violent crime and gang activity are common. Óscar, who used a pseudonym to protect his privacy, knew of asylum …

Covid-19, Human Rights, Refugees, US Foreign Relations

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Nikki Haley Didn’t Get on Trump’s Re-Election Ticket, but 2024 Is Around the Bend

August 25, 2020

by Laura E. Kirkpatrick

If pundits were to be believed earlier in August, there was a chance for a historic vice-presidential debate in 2020: two women of color facing off for the second-highest position in the United States. The speculation was that Nikki Haley, a former US envoy to the United Nations and a South Carolina governor, would …

Covid-19, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Lebanon’s Crisis on Top of a Crisis: Our Latest Podcast Episode

August 17, 2020

by Stéphanie Fillion and Kacie Candela

The devastating series of explosions that rocked Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, on Aug. 4, killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands of others, destroyed most of the city’s port, flattened surrounding neighborhoods, damaged six hospitals and more than 20 health clinics and wiped out 120 schools. Five days later, on Aug. 9, the international …

Covid-19, Middle East, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping

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Sudan May Have Banned FGM, but the Harsh Practice Continues

August 11, 2020

by Rhona Scullion

Just four months ago, Sudan took the monumental step to ban female genital mutilation, a painful, unnecessary and dangerous procedure that leaves lasting scars. Generally carried out on girls before they reach puberty, genital mutilation is now punishable in Sudan by up to three years in prison and subject to a fine. In a …

Africa, Covid-19, Gender-Based Violence

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The UN Development Goals Are ‘Seriously Off Track,’ an Expert Says

August 10, 2020

by Barbara Crossette

The shock of the unexpected coronavirus pandemic will make it harder to achieve success on the Sustainable Development Goals, now a third of their way to the finish line, in 2030. However, the problems that have stymied or reversed progress go back long before Covid-19 hit, leading development experts say. In conjunction with a …

Covid-19, Sustainable Development Goals

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En‌ ‌Malí,‌ ‌la‌ ‌Primera‌ ‌Muerte‌ ‌de‌ ‌un ‌Pacificador‌ ‌de‌ ‌la‌ ‌ONU‌ ‌por‌ ‌Covid-19‌ ‌Mantiene‌ ‌a‌ ‌Su‌ ‌Familia‌ ‌Adivinando‌ ‌

August 5, 2020

by Clair MacDougall

OUAGADOUGOU,‌ ‌Burkina‌ ‌Faso‌ ‌–‌ ‌Fernando‌ ‌Guillén,‌ ‌un‌ ‌jugador‌ ‌de‌ ‌22‌ ‌años‌ ‌y‌ ‌YouTuber,‌ ‌encendió‌ ‌su‌ ‌computadora,‌ ‌tomó‌ ‌un‌ ‌sorbo‌ ‌de‌ ‌agua, y ‌respiró‌ ‌hondo‌ ‌y‌ ‌agradeció‌ ‌a‌ ‌Dios‌ ‌por‌ ‌estar‌ ‌vivo ‌antes‌ ‌de‌ ‌comenzar‌ ‌su‌ ‌transmisión‌ ‌en‌ ‌vivo‌ ‌a través de‌ ‌videojuegos‌ ‌desde‌ ‌su‌ ‌habitación‌ ‌en‌ ‌San‌ ‌Antonio,‌ ‌Texas. ‌Sentado‌ ‌en‌ ‌una‌ ‌silla‌ ‌de‌ ‌juego‌ ‌de‌ ‌respaldo‌ …

Africa, Covid-19, UN Peacekeeping

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Haiti Could Face a ‘Perfect Storm’ With the Pandemic

August 4, 2020

by Fiona Shukri

As Covid-19 continues to ravage many parts of the world, the effect of the virus in Latin America and the Caribbean region has been particularly devastating. The situation in Haiti, for example, has alarmed international humanitarian groups, as the country lacks sufficient virus-testing ability and has limited health-care infrastructure, among other serious problems. On …

Caribbean, Covid-19, Human Rights

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In Mali, the First Death of a UN Peacekeeper From Covid-19 Keeps His Family Guessing

July 27, 2020

by Clair MacDougall

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Fernando Guillén, a 22-year-old gamer and YouTuber, switched on his computer, took a sip of water and a deep breath and thanked God for being alive, before beginning his live stream on video games from his bedroom in San Antonio, Tex. Sitting in a high-backed gaming chair and dressed in …

Covid-19, UN Peacekeeping

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