Seton Hall Graduate Degree in International Affairs
Seton Hall Graduate Degree in International Affairs

BLUE SMOKE: A new monthly newsletter, from PassBlue and UNA–UK, which shines a spotlight on senior appointments at the UN

Development

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This week, the UN boss told the world’s richest countries, meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, that the Security Council and the Bretton Woods financial system both need reforming. Were they listening? You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing…

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If there is an indisputable priority in Italy’s foreign policy, it is undoubtedly Africa. I have had the opportunity to reiterate our priority in many multilateral forums and bilateral meetings. Africa is central in our vision of future international…

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It is a cliché, but true, to say the United Nations is needed more — and under more duress — than ever. Overstretched and constrained, it has struggled to keep up with the scale and challenges facing humanity, from…

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The formal preparations for the September 2024 Summit of the Future, to be held at the United Nations, are underway. Responding to an update in February on the “Our Common Agenda” vision proposed by Secretary-General António Guterres, a large…

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On the first day of the “high-level” week of the United Nations General Assembly, attracting approximately 150 world leaders in person to the world body for the first time since 2019, Secretary-General António Guterres, facing criticism for acting too…

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Food prices may still be soaring in crisis-prone countries, but Germany is poised to slash its 2023 contribution to global humanitarian and crisis prevention by nearly $400 million. According to data compiled by the United Nations Food and Agriculture…

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Individual member states have always exerted a heavy influence on the United Nations. The dominance of individual powers is the nature of multilateralism, but in the UN system it is particularly marked. The Security Council can only do its…

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Russia’s war on Ukraine is not only increasing the cost of delivering aid to the world’s most vulnerable people, but European donors’ and American interests in the war are also reducing the ability of those countries to fund global…

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With the world facing an unprecedented food crisis, the smallest of the three Rome-based agencies of the United Nations — the International Fund for Agricultural Development — has a new president. Álvaro Lario, its chief financial officer and a…

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This week, we focus on two crises in Africa: never-ending deadly setbacks of peacekeeping and the humanitarian needs on the continent. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues before the organization. The information is gathered…

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In the waning days of 2021, roughly two months before its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russia agreed to contribute $14 million to the United Nations Development Program for climate-related projects in Europe and Central Asia to begin…

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Mukesh Kapila has been shining a spotlight on a low-profile United Nations agency that was recently exposed by several media for possible corruption, based on Kapila’s explosive blog posts that began in early March on the UN entity. Kapila,…

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The United Nations Development Program is still facing calls for accountability regarding the reported mismanagement of a project that aimed to mitigate climate change and was funded by a primary entity in the UN system. The project ran from…

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The reform of the United Nations development system has been a key project of Secretary-General António Guterres’s first term. Bold changes were planned to reposition the system to meet the needs of the 2030 Agenda — the Sustainable Development…

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The proposed selection of Rebeca Grynspan, a Costa Rican economist and former vice president of her country, to head the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was made without consulting the core of the agency — the Group…

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Seton Hall Graduate Degree in International Affairs

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