Human Rights

• September 4, 2020

Twenty-five years ago, the United Nations hosted the largest gathering of women (and more than a few good men) in its 50-year history. Some 17,000 participants — among them, official government delegates, representatives of accredited nongovernmental organizations, international civil servants and members of the press — registered for the Fourth World Conference on Women …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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COVID-19

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

Maurizio Guerrero

• August 26, 2020

“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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Where Is Brazil as the UN Marks Its 75th Anniversary?

Adriana Erthal Abdenur and Maiara Folly

• August 12, 2020

RIO DE JANEIRO — This year marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. Amid the major economic and geopolitical effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is a time to reflect on the successes and failures of the UN system, Brazil’s role in its story and what needs to be done to improve the …

Climate Change, Governance, Human Rights, Latin America, SDGs

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COVID-19

Haiti Could Face a ‘Perfect Storm’ With the Pandemic

Fiona Shukri

• August 4, 2020

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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WORLDVIEWS

Will the Human Rights Council’s Rare Steps to Combat Racism Make a Difference?

Peter Splinter

• July 29, 2020

GENEVA — In early June, some family members of victims of police killings in the United States and more than 600 civil society organizations worldwide wrote to the United Nations Human Rights Council to request that it urgently hold a special session on the US. They did so in reaction to the grave human-rights crisis …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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Pompeo’s New Agenda Targets the UN Rights Declaration

Barbara Crossette

• July 20, 2020

In an extraordinary report that defies reality, the Trump administration is extolling United States’ global leadership in human rights and accusing its critics of threatening democracy. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who created the US Commission on Unalienable Rights last year and ordered the report, introduced it on July 16 in Philadelphia, where the …

Human Rights, US Foreign Relations

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COVID-19

Coronavirus Soars, Trump Golfs, Pence Falls: Who the Hell Is in Charge of the US?

Barbara Crossette

• June 30, 2020

Deep uncertainty and unease are descending across the United States just as Americans are preparing to celebrate their most important “political” holiday, Independence Day, on July 4. Contrary to what Trump administration officials are proclaiming, the US is not containing the Covid-19 pandemic infection rate, which has suddenly surpassed its April high point, marking …

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

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COVID-19

The Human Rights Council Confronts Racism in the USA

Stéphanie Fillion

• June 16, 2020

In the 1960s, the African-American activist Malcolm X launched a lobbying campaign to “internationalize” the civil rights movement in the United States by calling on the United Nations to focus on the lives of black Americans through a human-rights lens. “When you expand the civil-rights struggle to the level of human rights,” Malcolm X …

Covid-19, Human Rights

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COVID-19

The UN Must March for Justice and Racial Equality

Mona Ali Khalil

• June 9, 2020

As the world knows, George Floyd, a black man suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a store in Minneapolis, Minn., was killed on May 25 by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer. Chauvin had pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, despite Floyd being handcuffed and on …

Covid-19, Human Rights, Secretary-General

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COVID-19

As Protests Sweep the US, the UN Tweets Platitudes

Dulcie Leimbach

• June 3, 2020

In New York City, protesters swarm the roadway portion of the Brooklyn Bridge, heading from the City Hall area of lower Manhattan into Brooklyn. The crowd stopped incoming traffic, but there was no violence, May 30, 2020. JOHN PENNEY Amid curfews in New York City, constant marches and protests, sirens from the streets and …

Covid-19, General Assembly, Human Rights, Secretary-General, Security Council

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COVID-19

The Pandemic Forces UN Women to Shelve the Feminist Forums Until 2021

Barbara Crossette

• April 3, 2020

UN Women is postponing two long-planned international meetings designed to give civil society groups a leading role in advancing gender rights 25 years after a landmark 1995 Beijing conference on women. The two sessions of the Global Equality Forum that had been planned for Mexico City in May and Paris in July will be postponed …

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

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New Tensions Sparking Between Trump and UN Rights Leader, Michelle Bachelet

Barbara Crossette

• March 9, 2020

Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, who has been personally attacked by United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, is not planning to resign from her position, according to her office. Her term does not end until 2022, but rumors have been circulating that she could decide to leave amid …

Human Rights, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

How the US Enabled Aggressions by China and Russia at the UN

Geoffrey Roberts

• February 24, 2020

For the last decade, Western democracies and human-rights defenders have been locked in a tense struggle with authoritarian great powers at the United Nations. Since 2009, Russia and China have waged a highly successful campaign to dismantle the international human-rights system, particularly through the Human Rights Council. The two countries have made strides especially …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Trump’s Dictator Buddies Across the World Are Not Friends of Women

Barbara Crossette

• February 4, 2020

In the gallery of authoritarian governments undercutting the rights of women and threatening democracy around the world, five nations stand out for a special reason. Donald Trump has made the leaders of Brazil, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey his friends and accomplices. In all of these countries, according to mounting evidence in numerous …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, US-UN Relations, Women

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GEOPOLITICS

The Top 10 PassBlue Stories of 2019: From Strongmen to Sexual Harassment

Dulcie Leimbach

• December 31, 2019

Once again, 2019 marked incredible upheaval and change across the world, just as 2018 did so universally, signaled by the continued rise in nationalism and revolts by women against repression and violence in their daily lives. Reporting on how United Nations member states — all 193 of them — acted in 2019 was a …