Human Rights

• May 13, 2022

This week, we focus on how the UN is further rallying support to combat the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and the widespread condemnation against the killing of Al Jazeera’s reporter in Palestine. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues before the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, …

General Assembly, Human Rights, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN

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Russia Has Used Its UN Seat to Hide Atrocities Committed in the Central African Republic, Experts Say

Anastasiia Carrier

• May 9, 2022

The presence of the Russian state-linked Wagner Group mercenaries in the diamond-rich Central African Republic has been bloody. Now it seems that Russia has used its power in the United Nations Security Council to protect its exploits and geostrategic interests in the African country, a nation hanging on by a thread. Given international outcry …

Africa, Human Rights, Security Council

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How’s Guterres Doing? B-, Says One Report Card From a Feminist Group

Emma Beilouny

• April 25, 2022

The Washington-based Feminist UN Campaign has been grading the performance of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres since 2017. And he’s not exactly excelling. The group’s 2021 report card gave him a big B-. In 2020, he at least earned a solid but boring B. Guterres’s performance declined in four areas, the campaign said: development …

Human Rights, LGBT, SDGs, Secretary-General

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The UN Human-Rights Team in Ukraine, Recording the ‘Hardship That People Are Going Through’

Catherine Morrison

• April 21, 2022

Two months since Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country has recorded at least 2,224 civilian deaths and 2,897 injuries, as of April 19. The numbers, however, are likely to be much higher. In an email interview conducted on April 15, Matilda Bogner, the head of …

Human Rights, Peace and Security

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Trending UN News: Week Ending April 8

Damilola Banjo

• April 8, 2022

This week, we see how all the crises around the world have huge consequences on civilians, but we are also reminded of the resilient power of people who choose peace after a long, brutal war. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues before the organization. The information is gathered from …

Africa, Human Rights, Peace and Security, Secretary-General, Security Council

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The UN General Assembly Suspends Russia From the Human Rights Council, Effective Immediately

Michelle Langrand

• April 7, 2022

United Nations members voted on Thursday to strip Russia from its seat at the Human Rights Council, over alleged civilian killings in the region around Kyiv, Ukraine. The proposal, presented at a General Assembly emergency special session in New York City, was backed by 93 countries. Russia, China, Belarus, Syria and Iran were among …

Human Rights, Peace and Security

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WORLDVIEWS

Follow-Up to UN Probe on Myanmar Isn’t Making a Big Difference for the People There

Damian Lilly

• March 17, 2022

In 2019, the independent inquiry into the United Nations’ response to the Rohingya crisis, which drove 750,000 refugees from Myanmar’s Rakhine state into Bangladesh in 2017, found “systemic and structural failures.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres accepted all the findings of the inquiry and will present a report on the progress that has been made …

Human Rights, Myanmar, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

The 2020 Beirut Blast Killed My Son. The UN Must Investigate Who Is Responsible for the Deadly Explosion

Sarah Copland

• March 14, 2022

The flying glass was the first thing I saw when the Port of Beirut exploded on Aug. 4, 2020. I was thrown to the ground, and my body, heavily pregnant, was riddled with shards from our shattered window. A sonic boom sounded a split-second later. Isaac, my two-year-old son, had been sitting in his …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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In War-Torn Burkina Faso, a Pharmacist Looks for a Cure

Clair MacDougall

• March 10, 2022

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Two-thousand civilian deaths. Countless “forced disappearances.” More than 1.7 million people displaced. The citizens of Burkina Faso have paid a price for the violent jihadist campaign leading up to Jan. 23, when the military seized power, suspended the Constitution and ousted the democratically elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. During …

Africa, Human Rights

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SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

After Abstaining on a Vote Condemning Russia’s Invasion, the UAE Leads the Security Council

Stéphanie Fillion

• March 3, 2022

The last time the United Arab Emirates was elected to the Security Council, in 1986, the country was only 15 years old, and Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, the current UAE ambassador to the United Nations, was just 7. Since then she has seen her country, a Persian Gulf monarchy comprising seven emirates, evolve into a …

Human Rights, Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council Presidency

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THIS WEEK @UN

Trending UN News: Week Ending Feb. 18

Anna Bianca Roach

• February 18, 2022

Artillery shelling blasts eastern Ukraine; what’s the Collective Security Treaty Organization?; the UN boss jets to Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues before the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. This week, learn about the impact …

Human Rights, Peace and Security, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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Weeks After a Cease-Fire Agreement, the Central African Republic Hangs By a Thread

Yujie Zhou

• December 9, 2021

The Central African Republic has long suffered from internal strife and human-rights abuses, but the situation now is perhaps the worst it has ever been and could grow more dire. The central government controls only a small portion of this landlocked country, which is just under the size of Texas. Much of the rest …

Africa, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, US Foreign Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

Further Souring of Ethiopian-UN Relations; Deep-Sea Mining Dangers; Polish-Belarusian Standoff

Anna Bianca Roach

• November 12, 2021

PassBlue probes the global body granting licenses to mine the deep seas; UN staff detained in Ethiopia; global famine rises. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. This week, Mexico’s president proposes a plan …

Africa, Asia, Climate Change, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Middle East, Migration, Myanmar, Refugees, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Afghan Women Must Be Central to Decision-Making on Global Aid to the Country

Margot Wallström and Susana Malcorra

• November 4, 2021

The Taliban are back in power in Afghanistan, and the hard-won gains women have made in the country are at risk. The situation is dire for all Afghans. The country is on the brink of starvation, and in recognition of this urgent need, more than $1 billion has been pledged to provide humanitarian assistance …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Terrorism, WORLDVIEWS

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Representing an African Revolutionary: French Lawyer Defends Thomas Sankara in Assassination Trial

Clair MacDougall

• October 25, 2021

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Anta Guissé has spent a large part of her 20-year career defending people accused of war crimes in countries like Rwanda, Cambodia and the Central African Republic before United Nations-backed international tribunals and the International Criminal Court. Now Guissé, a lawyer based in Paris, has switched to the prosecution in …

Africa, Human Rights, Women

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Ukraine and the UN - A quiz dedicated to the people of Ukraine

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A Blogger Exposed a UN Agency’s Wrongdoings. Its Boss Has Resigned

Susanne Courtney

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Human Rights

Trending UN News: Week Ending May 13

Russia Has Used Its UN Seat to Hide Atrocities Committed in the Central African Republic, Experts Say

How’s Guterres Doing? B-, Says One Report Card From a Feminist Group

The UN Human-Rights Team in Ukraine, Recording the ‘Hardship That People Are Going Through’

Trending UN News: Week Ending April 8

The UN General Assembly Suspends Russia From the Human Rights Council, Effective Immediately

Follow-Up to UN Probe on Myanmar Isn’t Making a Big Difference for the People There

The 2020 Beirut Blast Killed My Son. The UN Must Investigate Who Is Responsible for the Deadly Explosion

In War-Torn Burkina Faso, a Pharmacist Looks for a Cure

After Abstaining on a Vote Condemning Russia’s Invasion, the UAE Leads the Security Council

Trending UN News: Week Ending Feb. 18

Weeks After a Cease-Fire Agreement, the Central African Republic Hangs By a Thread

Further Souring of Ethiopian-UN Relations; Deep-Sea Mining Dangers; Polish-Belarusian Standoff

Afghan Women Must Be Central to Decision-Making on Global Aid to the Country

Representing an African Revolutionary: French Lawyer Defends Thomas Sankara in Assassination Trial

This Week's Most Popular

Russia’s Powerful Perch at the UN Is Crumbling

Russia Has Used Its UN Seat to Hide Atrocities Committed in the Central African Republic, Experts Say

To Stalin, Ukraine Was an Independent Country

Liechtenstein’s ‘Veto Initiative’ Wins Wide Approval at the UN. Will It Deter the Big Powers?

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