Security Council

Turnabout in US Foreign Policy Puts UN in the Spotlight

• June 15, 2021

After four years of wandering lost in the desert, diplomacy is finding its way back to Washington. With Joe Biden in the Oval Office, “America First” is out and “multilateralism,” “cooperation” and “alliance” are no longer dirty words. Washington is once again embracing longtime allies, blowing kisses at the United Nations, touting NATO and …

Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Attacks on Burmese Military Intensify Nationwide, Signaling a Possible Revolt

Barbara Crossette

• June 13, 2021

From small villages to city offices, an open rebellion is steadily spreading in Burma, drawing together citizens outraged by the Feb. 1 coup that overturned a national election and crushed a popular democracy. Pro-democracy advocates inside Burma and abroad describe how defectors from the disgraced army — the hated Tatmadaw — as well as …

Myanmar, Security Council

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THIS WEEK @UN

Major UN Elections; Guterres Crosses One Finish Line; Long Working Hours Can Kill You

Ivana Ramirez

• June 11, 2021

The Ghana delegation posing outside the United Nations General Assembly Hall, June 11, 2021, after the Assembly voted on Security Council members for the 2022-23 term. Besides Ghana, the others are Albania, Brazil, Gabon and United Arab Emirates. They succeed Estonia, Niger, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam. JOHN PENNEY Major United …

General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN

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WORLDVIEWS

A Huge Missed Opportunity: Putting a Woman at the Top of the UN

Anna Samya Sri

• June 9, 2021

As the United Nations Security Council has just officially endorsed Secretary-General António Guterres for a second term, below, there is little regret being voiced publicly among the UN’s 193 member nations that in the organization’s 76-year history, there has never been a woman in charge. And once the General Assembly casts its vote behind …

General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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THIS WEEK @UN

The Threats of Corruption; a Country Run by Women; Iran Loses Its UN Voting Rights

Ivana Ramirez

• June 4, 2021

Fighting global corruption; Estonia, run by women; Iran loses its voting rights at the UN; a sex-video scandal, unresolved a year later. 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. You are two clicks away from …

General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

A Peacemaker Revolts; Gaza in Ashes; the UN Security Council Moves Back Home

Ivana Ramirez

• May 28, 2021

Grass-roots activists know peace-building best; Gaza reconstruction goals begin; the UN Security Council returns home. 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. Scoop from Stéphanie Fillion: A new candidate, Patrick U. Petit, an international mediator living …

Africa, Climate and Environment, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Latin America, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

‘Peace Inc.’ Has Failed. This Expert Proposes a New Way to Peacemaking

Clair MacDougall

• May 24, 2021

Séverine Autesserre, a former humanitarian-aid worker, award-winning researcher and professor of political science at Columbia University, has become one of the foremost thinkers on international peace-building in the last decade. Following “Peaceland,” a book critically exploring the parallel worlds of United Nations peacekeeping missions, and “The Trouble With the Congo,” which examines the failed peace efforts …

Peace and Security, Security Council, Women as Changemakers

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THIS WEEK @UN

A Mideast Cease-Fire; Myanmar Kills Its Own People; German Women Struggle in Politics

Ivana Ramirez

• May 21, 2021

Girls at a gated UN school in Gaza being used as a shelter amid the bombing by Israel in its fight against Hamas’s rocket fire. Thousands of families in Gaza have fled their homes since the conflict began on May 10, and dozens of children, mostly Palestinian, have been killed. A cease-fire between the …

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Who Is Behind the High Civilian Death Toll Since Myanmar’s Coup? Its Own Security Forces

Damian Lilly

• May 19, 2021

Since the military coup in Myanmar on Feb. 1, 802 civilians have been killed. The majority of the people who have been killed were peaceful protesters shot by state security forces — the very people that are meant to protect them. According to civilian casualty monitors, the number of recorded civilian fatalities in Myanmar, …

Asia, Humanitarian Aid, Myanmar, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS

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THIS WEEK @UN

Spiraling Mideast Violence; Guterres May Breeze to Another Term; Africans Want More Covid Vaccines

Ivana Ramirez

• May 14, 2021

Abed Al Fatah Skafi at his house in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, March 1, 2021. Skafi’s family is one of four that are being threatened with eviction in favor of Israeli settlers. Anger over Israeli treatment of Palestinians in Jerusalem have incited the worst violence between the two sides in years, plunging them this week into …

Africa, Health and Population, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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The UN’s Guterres, an Incumbent With Strong Backing by Europe, Is Bound to Win Another Term

Barbara Crossette

• May 9, 2021

It was all over in one crucial week. Barring an unforeseen hitch, António Guterres is the clear winner of a second, five-year term as secretary-general of the United Nations, beginning on Jan.1, 2022. This was not a surprise: he had no major competition and the process moved faster than expected. A three-hour question-and-answer session …

Latin America, Secretary-General, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

China in the Hot Seat; Goodbye Multilateralism?; Guterres’s Vision for 5 More Years

Ivana Ramirez

• May 7, 2021

China in the United Nations’ hot seat; Guterres’s vision for another five years; the future of global cooperation; who was Anne Dragon Nezeriotis? 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. Our latest UN-Scripted podcast episode …

General Assembly, Latin America, Myanmar, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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On the Campaign Trail for the World’s ‘Most Impossible’ Job

Dali ten Hove

• May 3, 2021

The job of United Nations secretary-general is the “most impossible on earth,” as the first postholder, Trygve Lie, famously told his successor, Dag Hammarskjold. Though Lie spoke partly in jest to amuse the assembled reporters, the remark has stuck with UN observers for its eerie insightfulness. After all, the UN chief is charged with …

General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Rosalía Arteaga, a Short-Lived President of Ecuador, Wants to Run Against the UN’s Guterres

Stéphanie Fillion

• April 29, 2021

Rosalía Arteaga, a former Ecuadorean president, is planning to enter the race to be the first woman to lead the United Nations and beat the incumbent, Secretary-General António Guterres, through a “people-backed” campaign. The announcement by the Forward campaign, a new movement based in London that is holding open, digital global primaries to find …

General Assembly, Latin America, Secretary-General, Security Council, Women

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A Now-Retired UN Force Commander From Norway Double-Billed for Expenses

Dulcie Leimbach

• April 27, 2021

Maj. Gen. Kristin Lund of Norway double-billed her government and the United Nations for moving expenses, according to a new report from The Norwegian Business Daily (Dagens Naeringsliv/DN). Lund was the first woman force commander for the UN, holding the post at its peacekeeping mission in Cyprus. That stint was followed by her heading …

Middle East, Security Council, UN Careers

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Security Council

Turnabout in US Foreign Policy Puts UN in the Spotlight

Attacks on Burmese Military Intensify Nationwide, Signaling a Possible Revolt

Major UN Elections; Guterres Crosses One Finish Line; Long Working Hours Can Kill You

A Huge Missed Opportunity: Putting a Woman at the Top of the UN

The Threats of Corruption; a Country Run by Women; Iran Loses Its UN Voting Rights

A Peacemaker Revolts; Gaza in Ashes; the UN Security Council Moves Back Home

‘Peace Inc.’ Has Failed. This Expert Proposes a New Way to Peacemaking

A Mideast Cease-Fire; Myanmar Kills Its Own People; German Women Struggle in Politics

Who Is Behind the High Civilian Death Toll Since Myanmar’s Coup? Its Own Security Forces

Spiraling Mideast Violence; Guterres May Breeze to Another Term; Africans Want More Covid Vaccines

The UN’s Guterres, an Incumbent With Strong Backing by Europe, Is Bound to Win Another Term

China in the Hot Seat; Goodbye Multilateralism?; Guterres’s Vision for 5 More Years

On the Campaign Trail for the World’s ‘Most Impossible’ Job

Rosalía Arteaga, a Short-Lived President of Ecuador, Wants to Run Against the UN’s Guterres

A Now-Retired UN Force Commander From Norway Double-Billed for Expenses

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