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

Security Council Presidency

Norway holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council in the country’s 2021-2022 term only once — in January — so it is aiming to make the best of this moment. “We have to make sure to put our…
 
When Niger, a landlocked country in West Africa, started its term on the Security Council almost two years ago, Covid-19 was not an international crisis yet, Operation Barkhane, a French antiterrorist operation launched in 2014, was full-fledged in the…
 
Mexico has only one chance in its two-year term to shine as president of the Security Council, and it’s this month. While all eyes are now focusing on Glasgow, Scotland, and the United Nations-led COP26 meeting on climate change,…
 
In October, the United Nations Security Council diplomats are packing up their suitcases and hopping on an overseas flight to the Sahel region of West Africa to assess the serious challenges that this semiarid strip is countering. It is…
 
The day after the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason of Ireland spoke directly to Afghan women through her remarks in the United Nations Security Council, telling them: “Women of Afghanistan: we hear you and…
 
The presidency of the Security Council is always a high time for a country’s diplomacy, but for India right now, it’s more than that. In August, the country is going to try to show the world why it deserves…
 
France is in the diplomatic spotlight at the United Nations as it’s not only leading the Security Council for the month of July, but it is also just finishing up hosting the long-awaited Generation Equality Forum, a UN-led gathering…
 
The small Baltic country of Estonia is ready to boost the prospects of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres winning a second term as the country holds its last Security Council presidency in June during its current elected term. “It…
 
When China last took the reins of the Security Council, in March 2020, the country was just starting to control the pandemic at home, while the virus was spreading rapidly abroad, all the way to United Nations headquarters in…
 
When Vietnam started its term as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council in January 2020, it also had to take on the role of the monthly rotating president. Back then, it sold itself as a bridge…
 
When she arrived in Turtle Bay the morning of Feb. 25, a day after being sworn in as United States ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield didn’t hide the tight timeline she had inherited in her new post,…
 
February marks the beginning of a yearlong period that could make or break Britain’s post-Brexit foreign policy, also known as “Global Britain.” This month, Britain presides over the United Nations Security Council, then the Group of 7 meeting, in…
 
It’s become the origin story of Tunisia’s revolution and the broader Arab Spring: In December 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire after years of being harassed by police officers and experiencing a series of…
 
In the last hurrah of its two-year term, South Africa happens to be president of the Security Council in December, so it is making the most of its final month by holding a debate on the all-important United Nations-African…
 
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines may be the smallest country to ever sit on the Security Council, but it doesn’t mean it is intimidated by the big powers. Instead, the island nation is already amplifying the voices of Africa…
 
The Women's History Month Quiz from PassBlue: A quiz about women and the UN
Seton Hall Graduate Degree in International Affairs

THIS WEEK'S MOST POPULAR

Global Connections Television - The only talk show of its kind in the world

Don't Miss a Story:

Subscribe to PassBlue

Sign up to get the smartest news on the UN by email, joining readers across the globe.​

We respect your privacy and take protecting it seriously​