UN Agencies

‘Cowboys’ May Be Running the World Food Program, but Donations Keep Coming

October 27, 2019

The World Food Program may be receiving millions of more donations from the Trump administration than under past presidencies, but its management is skidding around amid complaints of sexual harassment, retaliation, abuse of authority and, most startling, rape, according to a new external survey. Under the leadership of David Beasley, a former South Carolina …

UN Agencies, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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The UN Palestinian Refugee Agency Is in Hot Water, Again

August 5, 2019

by Thalif Deen

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which has been undermined by a sharp cut in United States contributions, has been embroiled in a scandal that threatens to jeopardize its very future. A report from the agency’s Ethics Office has found “credible and corroborated” evidence that the senior management of Unrwa engaged in “sexual …

Middle East, Secretary-General, UN Agencies, US-UN Relations

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China, Gaining Power in the UN, Could Win FAO Leadership

June 18, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has existed at the periphery of UN agencies and been a focus of critics almost since its founding in 1945, as the vehicle for ending hunger and achieving food security. Based in Rome, the FAO has 194 member nations and many projects designed to raise the standards …

UN Agencies, US-UN Relations

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Pressures Mount for Deeper Investigations Into the UN Trade Group

May 12, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, riven internally by disputes over its mission and future direction, may be in trouble. Faced with questions about its basic competence from board members and outside investigators, accusations have been gathering about unsatisfactory statistical work and laxity in meeting UN standards and regulations for spending reports …

UN Agencies

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With Scandals Rife Across the UN, Are Managers at Fault?

April 24, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

A sea of new or lingering allegations of harassment and corruption in numerous agencies and programs in the United Nations system appears to be washing over a sprawling organization battered by scandal. Poor or careless management and oversight, from top to bottom, is partly to blame, but so is persistent, overt politicization of high-level …

Gender-Based Violence, Special Report, UN Agencies

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WORLDVIEWS

The Strange Bedfellows of Unesco World Heritage Sites

February 11, 2019

by Jeffrey Laurenti

In the fall — before the caravan, before the firings, before the shutdown, before the wall — Melania Trump concluded her first solo goodwill tour with a photogenic visit to the Great Pyramid and Sphinx of Egypt, the only surviving complex of the seven wonders of the ancient world. “It was a nice opportunity …

UN Agencies, Unesco, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Is This a Case of Nepotism at the UN’s World Food Program?

October 19, 2018

by Dulcie Leimbach

A son of David Beasley, the World Food Program executive director, worked briefly this year for the UN agency, but it is not clear what his status was, given original discrepancies. Beasley is a former governor of South Carolina, and the agency’s largest donor is the United States. Among dozens of names, Beasley is …

UN Agencies, US-UN Relations

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BOOKS

The UN Is Complicated, So Here is a Dictionary to Help Figure It Out

June 2, 2018

by Helmut Volger

To provide readers who want information about the United Nations that is intelligent and concise yet comprehensive is a challenging task for every author: he or she must outline a puzzling system of principal organs, specialized agencies, programs, funds, commissions and committees that produces large piles of resolutions, declarations and conventions on topics such …

BOOKS, UN Agencies

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UN Agencies Moving Into Blockchain to Help People in Crisis Settings

February 27, 2018

by Kacie Candela

Blockchain technology emerged alongside Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency powering digital payments through a peer-to-peer system, currency trading and even, in some cases, black-market transactions. Now, some United Nations agencies are using blockchain to provide basic identification to refugees and others in developing countries as well as for specific actions like helping refugees obtain food …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Poverty, Refugees, UN Agencies

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

The UN World Food Program Boss, Mixing Work With Religion?

January 31, 2018

by Dulcie Leimbach

David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, based in Rome, posted a prayer at the top of his Twitter page in early January, reading: “My prayer for 2018: Peace. Our path to Zero Hunger begins with peace.” The page, @dbeasley1, is a hybrid of personal tweets and professional news about his …

Humanitarian Aid, Nikki Haley Watch, UN Agencies, US-UN Relations

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Financing the UN: Payers, Pipers and Tunes

December 7, 2017

by Stephen Browne and Thomas G. Weiss

GENEVA — Change is in the air again on First Avenue. Among numerous reform options being bandied about, none will be more consequential than those on financing the United Nations system. There are the sledgehammer arguments: drastic slashes in funding by Washington and other donors could precipitate dramatic change. As we have argued in …

UN Agencies, World Bank

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Slow but Steady Gains Achieved in Tobacco Control, Says New WHO Report

August 8, 2017

by Andrew Seger

More than half the world’s population — 63 percent — is covered by one or more comprehensive tobacco control measures. In the past 10 years alone, that number has more than doubled, says a new report from the World Health Organization on the “global tobacco epidemic.” An international push for policies, like strong graphic …

Health and Population, UN Agencies

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

‘I Don’t Go Rogue on the President’: Nikki Haley’s Contradictory Testimony to Congress About the UN

June 28, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

Five months into her stint as United States ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley faced two days of often-sharp questioning on June 27 and 28 by influential panels of the United States Congress. They demanded justification for the Trump administration’s decision to slash funding to the United Nations, particularly cuts to the UN …

Nikki Haley Watch, Security Council, Syria, UN Agencies, UN Peacekeeping, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Germany Gets What’s Fair: Some Top UN Jobs

June 8, 2017

by Helmut Volger

BERLIN — It is a widely held view in political circles here that Germany has not been adequately represented in the United Nations, apart from its relatively frequent elected membership to the Security Council, which Germany has held five times and which last year announced its candidacy for a sixth term for 2019-2020. To be …

UN Agencies, WORLDVIEWS

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GOINGS-ON

Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Head Since 2011, Dies Suddenly at 68

June 5, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

The death on June 4 of Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, and a Nigerian, was not only a personal tragedy and a shock to the staff of the fund but also another blow for an agency that had recently lost all its United States financial support. Osotimehin, a …

Africa, GOINGS-ON, Health and Population, UN Agencies

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UN Agencies

‘Cowboys’ May Be Running the World Food Program, but Donations Keep Coming

The UN Palestinian Refugee Agency Is in Hot Water, Again

China, Gaining Power in the UN, Could Win FAO Leadership

Pressures Mount for Deeper Investigations Into the UN Trade Group

With Scandals Rife Across the UN, Are Managers at Fault?

The Strange Bedfellows of Unesco World Heritage Sites

Is This a Case of Nepotism at the UN’s World Food Program?

The UN Is Complicated, So Here is a Dictionary to Help Figure It Out

UN Agencies Moving Into Blockchain to Help People in Crisis Settings

The UN World Food Program Boss, Mixing Work With Religion?

Financing the UN: Payers, Pipers and Tunes

Slow but Steady Gains Achieved in Tobacco Control, Says New WHO Report

‘I Don’t Go Rogue on the President’: Nikki Haley’s Contradictory Testimony to Congress About the UN

Germany Gets What’s Fair: Some Top UN Jobs

Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Head Since 2011, Dies Suddenly at 68

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