Security Council

Pompeo Finds Little Appetite at the UN for His Iran Strategy

August 20, 2019

In the middle of a muggy August afternoon in New York, the United Nations Security Council gathered once more to figure out how to “maintain peace and security” in the Middle East. But the recurring topic always leaves conversations wide open for interpretation by the Council’s 15 members. The concept by Poland as Council …

Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

One Comment

Kashmir May Be an Old Crisis at the UN, but the World Is Now Riveted

August 19, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

A familiar refrain often heard when the burgeoning crisis in Kashmir rises to the top of the news is that this is an old story from long ago; we have moved on. The United Nations is discovering, however, that there is less tolerance for indifference since India’s decrees on Aug. 5-6 to singlehandedly remake …

Asia, Secretary-General, Security Council

Leave a Comment

Kashmiri Muslims in Danger as Hindu Politicians Cancel Their Rights

August 9, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

It has always been relatively easy for Indian governments from both the political left and right to keep Kashmir from the eyes of the world. At no time has this been more obvious than now. Landlocked, under the guns of half a million Indian troops and paramilitaries, cut off sporadically from all modern communications …

Asia, Secretary-General, Security Council

4 Comments

WORLDVIEWS

The Future of UN Peacekeeping Will Resemble What It Is Now

July 16, 2019

by Dennis Jett

The United Nations was not even three years old when it launched its first peacekeeping mission in 1948. For the last 70 years, it has been continuously involved in such operations, often with mixed results. Over that time, peacekeeping and the wars to which it has been applied have changed. The challenges peacekeepers face …

Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

3 Comments

WORLDVIEWS

Women’s Rights Defenders Are Tired of Being Told to ‘Push Back’ Against the Opposition

July 8, 2019

by Hayley Willingale

As a human-rights defender and women’s rights campaigner, I continue to be struck not by the many challenges now facing women’s rights organizations but by the constant calls for women to “push back against the pushback.” This call for women to push back against the many forces oppressing women’s rights organizations was repeated in …

Africa, Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

Peru’s Security Council Presidency: Watching Over Latin America

July 2, 2019

by Stéphanie Fillion

Peru, the second country after Colombia to accept the most refugees from Venezuela, has so far taken in 800,000 Venezuelans escaping their nation’s crushing economic and political crisis. But the Peruvian government has recently changed its travel requirements, asking migrants and refugees to have a humanitarian visa and a passport to enter the country. Despite the change, …

Latin America, Security Council, Security Council Presidency

Leave a Comment

A Survey on Mali for Malians: What They Want for Their Country

June 24, 2019

by Dulcie Leimbach

Since 2012, a German political think tank has surveyed Malians regularly on their country’s current affairs across a legion of crises. These include the 2013 jihadist incursion in the nation, the French-led militarization to oust the jihadists, the post-conflict stabilization work done by the United Nations and a new cycle of intercommunal violence erupting …

Africa, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

One Comment

Trump’s UN Pick Softens on Climate Change, but Not on Paris Accord

June 19, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

Kelly Knight Craft, Donald Trump’s pick to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations, raised eyebrows in her June 19 Senate confirmation hearing by putting some space between her views on global climate change and those of the president. But Trump needn’t worry that she might end up threatening her boss’s …

Security Council, The Trump Years, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

Leave a Comment

TOPIC: WOMEN

Call Me Dame Karen: UK’s Ambassador Dashes Style With Diplomacy

June 12, 2019

by Laura E. Kirkpatrick

Reporting on activists who work with the United Nations and other global institutions on issues related to the women, peace and security agenda is crucial, but it can be, admittedly, dry. So we decided to look at the diplomats and others working at the UN who are advancing women’s rights in what is still …

Security Council, Women

Leave a Comment

How Uruguayan Peacekeepers Found the Two Dead UN Experts in Congo in 2017

May 29, 2019

by Dulcie Leimbach

Two years have passed since the shooting murders of Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalán, independent experts working for the United Nations Security Council in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in March 2017. Sharp, a 34-year-old American, and Catalán, a 36-year-old Swedish-Chilean, had gone on a mission, without UN escorts, to find information about …

Africa, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping

Leave a Comment

Pulling Back the Curtain on the US Mission to the UN

May 22, 2019

by Kacie Candela

The next United States ambassador to the United Nations, which could be Kelly Knight Craft, will arrive at a US mission to the UN that is far diminished in size and stature than the one her immediate predecessor, Nikki Haley, inherited. In the last month, numerous former staff members and high-level personnel from the …

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

One Comment

Serving the UN Where Violence Never Ends: One Person’s Story

May 21, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

Simon Handy, a specialist in African politics and conflict, is a veteran of a hazardous and tormented mission in the Central African Republic that left him with an enduring cause that still haunts him. He argues that when a United Nations mission changes or is abandoned, as was the case for him, staff members can …

Africa, Peace and Security, Security Council

Leave a Comment

A New OPCW Team Is Ready to Find the Culprits Behind Chemical Attacks in Syria

May 6, 2019

by Johannes Visser

THE HAGUE — The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is inching closer in trying to determine who instigated the various chemical attacks in Syria last year. In April 2018, gas cylinders filled with chlorine were dropped from a helicopter in the residential areas of Douma, outside the capital of Damascus. At least …

Asia, Disarmament, Security Council, Syria

One Comment

TOPIC: WOMEN

At the UN, the US Darkens Women’s Right to Abortion

April 23, 2019

by Dulcie Leimbach

After four weeks of tumultuous negotiations over a resolution that reinforced decades of international efforts to combat sexual violence in conflict and to introduce more legal reassurances and services for victims, the 15-member United Nations Security Council approved a text whose wording had been rigorously fought over between the United States and many of …

Gender-Based Violence, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

2 Comments

GEOPOLITICS

Trump Nominates the Current UN Envoy as Ambassador to Egypt

April 12, 2019

by Dulcie Leimbach

Just days after President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt met with President Trump in the White House, receiving an effusive reception, Trump nominated Jonathan R. Cohen, the acting permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations, as ambassador to Egypt. Cohen, who has been a Foreign Service officer since 1986, is from …

Geopolitics, Middle East, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

Leave a Comment

Support Independent Journalism - Support PassBlue - Find out how →

Security Council

Pompeo Finds Little Appetite at the UN for His Iran Strategy

Kashmir May Be an Old Crisis at the UN, but the World Is Now Riveted

Kashmiri Muslims in Danger as Hindu Politicians Cancel Their Rights

The Future of UN Peacekeeping Will Resemble What It Is Now

Women’s Rights Defenders Are Tired of Being Told to ‘Push Back’ Against the Opposition

Peru’s Security Council Presidency: Watching Over Latin America

A Survey on Mali for Malians: What They Want for Their Country

Trump’s UN Pick Softens on Climate Change, but Not on Paris Accord

Call Me Dame Karen: UK’s Ambassador Dashes Style With Diplomacy

How Uruguayan Peacekeepers Found the Two Dead UN Experts in Congo in 2017

Pulling Back the Curtain on the US Mission to the UN

Serving the UN Where Violence Never Ends: One Person’s Story

A New OPCW Team Is Ready to Find the Culprits Behind Chemical Attacks in Syria

At the UN, the US Darkens Women’s Right to Abortion

Trump Nominates the Current UN Envoy as Ambassador to Egypt

This Week's Most Popular

UN Secretary-General António Guterres Says He Will Seek a Second Term

Why the EU Is Hopeful About the UN in 2021: An Interview With Ambassador Olof Skoog

Healing America and Restoring Its Standing in the World: An A to Z Guide

‘He Is Who He Is’: 4 Experts Assess the Record of the UN’s António Guterres

If Africa Is So Rich, Why Is It So Poor?

UN-Scripted, the Passblue UN podcast series

PassBlue is a partner with the New School - Julien J. Studley Graduate Program in International Affairs