Covid-19

• May 15, 2020

A year ago, Kelly Craft was serving as Washington’s frequently absent ambassador to Canada, soon to be en route to the United Nations. Her spouse, the coal baron Joseph Craft III, was knee-deep in a Trump administration assault on federal rules aimed at safeguarding the environment, slowing climate change and protecting miners and other …

Covid-19, Security Council, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

Picturing a Post-Pandemic World Where Latin American Women Are Safe

Maurizio Guerrero

• May 14, 2020

Long before Covid-19, Latin American women suffered from a pandemic of violence. Now, amid lockdowns, domestic abuse is rising. As the region battles both the virus and domestic abuse, women’s advocates see a glimmer of hope in innovative protective measures set up by governments and women’s groups that could endure well into the future. …

Covid-19, Gender Violence

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COVID-19

Living in Chile, in the South of the World, as the Coronavirus Doesn’t Stop

Jaime Sapag Muñoz de la Peña

• May 13, 2020

SANTIAGO, Chile — I live here in the capital, in the south of the world, with the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Andes due east. Chile is a country that is recognized for its wonderful, diverse nature but also for its intense sociopolitical processes. Since October 2019, the country has been facing …

Covid-19, Latin America

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COVID-19

The UN Is Hunting for a New Medical Director, Based in New York City

Stéphanie Fillion

• May 12, 2020

“Are you a senior medical executive with expertise in healthcare management with oversight of clinical services and occupational health at a facility, state, national or international level? The United Nations Secretariat is seeking a Medical Director at the D-2 level in the Department of Operational Support,” an ad posting on the UN’s job portal …

Covid-19, Secretary-General

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COVID-19

Quarantined and Stalked by Covid-19, UN Field Staff Live With Fear and Anxiety

Barbara Crossette

• May 11, 2020

Far from United Nations headquarters in New York and its offices in other cities around the world, many thousands of UN staff members are adjusting to new, more disturbing and dangerous realities in the era of Covid-19. Daily life is taking a psychological toll in both humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, prompting more focus on …

Africa, Covid-19

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COVID-19

‘Pathetic’: The US Pulls the Plug on a UN Global Cease-Fire Resolution

Dali ten Hove

• May 10, 2020

After six weeks of negotiations, the United States shot down hopes for a resolution to be approved in the United Nations Security Council on May 8, refusing to back worldwide cease-fires as the US continues to castigate China and the World Health Organization for the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, momentum behind tenuous cease-fires is vanishing, …

Covid-19, Security Council, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

In the Pandemic, Millions of People Could Lose Their Homes

Juliana Nnoko-Mewanu

• May 8, 2020

For households around the world, soon it will be the time of the month to start thinking about next month’s rent, mortgage or housing loan payments. Billions of people have been directly or indirectly affected by Covid-19. This unprecedented public health and economic crisis could easily turn into a devastating housing crisis. Economies are …

Covid-19

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COVID-19

In Geneva’s Lockdown, Getting to Know Your Neighbors

Peter McCarey

• May 7, 2020

GENEVA — If your idea of normal is Glasgow or New York City, you might think, Geneva is in lockdown? How can they tell? In our building, a row of nine townhouses, it’s been sweet. Here’s an odd stat: three of the families have three daughters, no sons. There’s just one little boy, suitably timid, …

Covid-19

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COVID-19

Trump Disses the UN’s 75th Birthday

Stephen Schlesinger

• May 6, 2020

This fall, the United Nations will celebrate its 75th anniversary. This is a notable occasion. Most global security bodies have had short shelf lives. But the UN has shown an extraordinary durability — a tribute to how this body was conceived and fashioned during World War II by one of America’s great presidents, Franklin …

Child Soldiers, Covid-19, Secretary-General, Security Council, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

E-Learning Is Nothing New for UN Peacekeepers, but Demand Is Up

Susan Manuel

• May 5, 2020

Covid-19 has forced educators from preschools to universities to create digital classrooms overnight. But at least one global community has been using e-learning for more than a decade. Tens of thousands of United Nations peacekeepers from Chile to Bangladesh to South Africa have long been using online courses to prepare for deployment to the …

Covid-19, UN Peacekeeping

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COVID-19

Canada, Ireland and Norway Wrap Up Their Campaigns for Security Council Seats as New Voting Methods Are Proposed

Stéphanie Fillion

• May 4, 2020

CHICOUTIMI, Canada — The Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, Marc-André Blanchard, told a Canadian newspaper in March “now is not the time to campaign for a Security Council seat,” as world diplomacy is being disrupted by the coronavirus and the United Nations headquarters remains physically closed for now. But the reality is there …

Covid-19, General Assembly, Security Council

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COVID-19

Dire Times in Beirut as Lebanon Faces Possible Collapse

Sam Mattar

• May 2, 2020

BEIRUT — In these dire times of the Covid-19 crisis, I am quarantined at home in the hills overlooking Beirut and the Mediterranean. I take comfort in the prospects of clear, clean skies, no longer tainted by the brown nitrogen-dioxide inversion on the horizon. I can finally breathe fresh air. The crowded protests of …

Covid-19, Health and Population

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COVID-19

Trump’s Break-Up With the WHO and the US Push for a Vaccine

Irwin Arieff

• May 1, 2020

Just how crazy is Donald Trump’s campaign to punish the World Health Organization over its apparent “China-centric” bias in the midst of a deadly pandemic? Let us count the ways. At the top of the list: It may contribute to a big setback for Trump himself. When the United States president announced on April …

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

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COVID-19

Why the Head of the UN Pension Fund Resigned

George G. Irving and Sugiyama Iutaka

• April 28, 2020

In the middle of the coronavirus epidemic, the United Nations spokesperson announced that Sudhir Rajkumar resigned from his job as representative of the secretary-general for investment of the assets of the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund, effective March 31, 2020. The abruptness and lack of explanation in the March 29th announcement came as a surprise …

Covid-19, UN pension fund

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COVID-19

In Spain, a Strong Sense of Solidarity Drives Endurance in the Pandemic

Susana Malcorra

• April 27, 2020

MADRID — The first two cases of Covid-19 infections here were identified on Feb. 26, 2020. That day, 23 people had become infected in Spain in less than 24 hours. Three days later, the number was 80. From then on, Madrid rapidly became the city with the most cases in the country, and by …