Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research
Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research

BLUE SMOKE: A monthly column, from PassBlue and UNA–UK, spotlighting senior appointments at the UN

UN Agencies

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Russia has been blacklisted by the United Nations for committing numerous atrocities against children in Ukraine. In Secretary-General António Guterres’s recent annual report on children and armed conflict, both Russia and Ukraine are listed as “situations of concern,” but only …

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A new review of the United Nations’ gender architecture appears ready to weaken the organization’s ability to achieve gender equality, particularly at the country level. Conversations with former UN staff, UN Women personnel and gender equality advocates have informed our …

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The United Nations is likely to reappoint the head of its Office of Counterterrorism, who has been leading the entity since its inception in 2017. In one of his first actions as the new secretary-general, António Guterres named Vladimir Voronkov …

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This week, the UN boss told the world’s richest countries, meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, that the Security Council and the Bretton Woods financial system both need reforming. Were they listening? You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues …

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A short video obtained by PassBlue reveals a United Nations staff member telling a meeting of a regional UN commission about successful efforts to hire two South Korean men for jobs in the entity by seeming to pressure Secretary-General António …

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LONDON — One of the most powerful positions in the United Nations is the head of its peacekeeping wing. The post of under secretary-general oversees 100,000 peacekeepers and administers an annual budget of $6.5 billion, nearly double what the UN …

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The formal preparations for the September 2024 Summit of the Future, to be held at the United Nations, are underway. Responding to an update in February on the “Our Common Agenda” vision proposed by Secretary-General António Guterres, a large number …

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For decades the United States, the primary architect of international drug control policy, led the global fight against illicit drugs, exercising its influence through the Vienna-based Commission on Narcotic Drugs, a governing body that provides guidance to the United Nations …

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My grandmother raised seven children as a housewife. After she died in 2011, my mother inherited a bag full of cassette tapes. That’s when I remembered what I had heard before: my grandmother volunteered as a radio host on a …

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Ask anyone if they will expose a crime if they know their careers might be hurt, and they will most likely give an emphatic no. Yet this happens for many whistleblowers around the world, including at the United Nations. At …

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First came the bid this year for the International Telecommunication Union director-general position. Now the United States has set its sights on clinching the top job at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) after its candidate, Amy Pope, officially launched …

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VIENNA — Poland and Canada have circulated a draft resolution among members of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, criticizing Russia’s “violent actions against nuclear facilities in Ukraine, including the ongoing presence of Russian forces and …

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Unesco daringly announced this summer the “urgent need of safeguarding” borscht. Or as Ukrainians spell it, borsch. When the Ukrainian government asked the UN cultural and education agency to save the soup’s historical place as a national dish amid Russia’s …

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Dozens of planes and helicopters leased from Russia by United Nations peacekeeping missions and humanitarian operations have been grounded as war-driven sanctions against Russia begin to bite, leaving UN officials scrambling to figure out how to keep critical air transport …

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With the world facing an unprecedented food crisis, the smallest of the three Rome-based agencies of the United Nations — the International Fund for Agricultural Development — has a new president. Álvaro Lario, its chief financial officer and a Spaniard, …

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UNGA78: A quiz from PassBlue
Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research

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