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WORLDVIEWS

Why Developing Nations Send So Many Troops to UN Peace Ops

Africa, Asia and Latin America provide more than 90 percent of military and police personnel to United Nations peace operations and contribute about 15 percent of the budget. China, hardly a legitimate representative of the Global South as the world’s second-largest economy and a permanent member of the Security Council, inflates the budget number because its financial … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

The Strange Bedfellows of Unesco World Heritage Sites

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 to … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

The Elusive Truth About the Death of Dag Hammarskjöld

My clock radio clicked on. The morning news bulletin announced that United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane was missing. It was Sept. 18, 1961. I was 16. Over the next hours, my mother and sisters and I learned that Mr. Hammarskjöld, accompanied by Dad and 14 others, had flown from Leopoldville, in the Congo, to … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

The UN’s Gender Parity Goals: The Backlash Begins

One year into the United Nations’ new strategy for gender parity among staff members at all levels, a gendered backlash has emerged, even as parity has been achieved at the highest echelons of the world body. Political will from UN leaders beyond the secretary-general and member states is needed to ensure that where the UN … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

Can Germany Mediate the Big-Power Divide in the UN Security Council?

BERLIN — At the start of Germany’s sixth two-year term in the United Nations Security Council, the media attention in Germany is unusually high: numerous journalists on TV and radio are asking diplomats, politicians and foreign policy experts about their views on Germany’s role in the Council, as well as its goals and prospects for … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

The G5 Sahel Force, Failing the Region and Failing Itself

BAMAKO, Mali — The G5 Sahel Force was conceived to enable greater coordination among five countries in the Sahel region of West Africa in fighting jihadist groups and to strengthen regional administration and development while relieving the United Nations mission in Mali of those burdens. Yet ever since the group — Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

The Role of the Private Sector in Building Peace: It’s Essential

Another year of Secretary-General António Guterres’s reform of the peace and security pillar of the United Nations is ending without fully addressing a main obstacle to peacebuilding in conflict-torn countries under UN intervention: sustainable economic recovery. The key question facing the UN is how to support economic reconstruction amid the political, security and social reforms that … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

When Is an Attack on UN Peacekeepers a War Crime and When Is It Not?

The recent attack by a militia on the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which seven peacekeepers were killed, highlighted a question that the Security Council has hesitated to confront for years. What are the consequences when UN peacekeeping missions become parties to the conflict? The Security Council responded to the latest attacks on Monusco, as the … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

The Paris Peace Forum: A Davos for the People?

PARIS  — Picking the right time, taking tips from social media, spotlighting both global bigwigs and civic groups and doing his best to rein Donald Trump back into the “community of nations”: these were just some of the ways that French President Emmanuel Macron tried to set the world straight on Nov. 11, Armistice Day, … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

With US Leadership Gone, Japan and Europe Can Seize the Day

We live in an age of uncertainty caused by the shifting structure and dynamics of international politics, economics and social change. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his address to the General Assembly in September that this uncertainty was “a bad case of trust deficit disorder” at three levels. First, within countries, he said, … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

In the Central African Republic, Verging on Peace or Back to War

This is a make-or-break moment for the Central African Republic. After years of conflict, a small window of opportunity is open to make real progress toward peace. The United Nations peacekeeping mission’s mandate is being renewed by the Security Council by Nov. 15. Soon after, the final round of the African Union-led peace negotiations is … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

Where Does the UN Security Council Stand on Yemen?

BEIRUT — A Yemeni father’s voice, proudly telling us about his son, was nevertheless infused with sorrow: Ahmed was about 12 and smart. He lived with his father, his mother and his eight siblings until “the war came.” The Saudi-led coalition bombed their home about a year ago. The Houthi armed group that had terrorized … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

Will the UN’s Grand Strategy for the World’s 1.8 Billion Youths Work?

The status of young people around the world is gaining traction at the United Nations. In September, it introduced a strategy called Youth 2030, its end date coinciding with the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN’s main plan for global development. And on Nov. 1, Africa Youth Day, the African Union will appoint an envoy modeled on … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

Reviving Multilateralism on the Road to 2020

As humanity struggles with mass violence, mass migrations and the widening effect of climate change, the international system inaugurated nearly 75 years ago to manage such global problems seems to be crumbling. Over the last year, the United States has turned its back on the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Paris climate accord. Last … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

Six Steps to End Sexual Violence in War

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to Nadia Murad, a human-rights activist from Iraq’s Yazidi minority, and to Denis Mukwege, a Congolese physician, for their fight against sexual violence as a weapon of war. On the one-year anniversary of the reporting that sparked the #MeToo movement, the committee’s recognition of … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

It’s All Clean Slates for the Next Human Rights Council Vote

GENEVA — The annual ritual of holding elections for vacant seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council for a three-year term is set for Oct. 12. All five regional groups have clean slates: the number of candidates is equal to the number of open seats. Notwithstanding talk about the need to improve the Council’s … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

To Save the Earth, Deepen Incentives for a Carbon-Free World

When United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres spoke passionately about the frightening prospect of a climate catastrophe recently, he called it “the defining issue of our time.” Everything in his powerful speech was backed by science. Yet, because secretaries-general cannot say everything, it was incomplete. What Guterres did not say is that global warming is the flip side of … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

New US Policies on Visas Can Hurt Same-Sex Couples at the UN

The recent decision by the United States State Department requiring all foreign nationals working in America for international organizations, including the United Nations, to be married in order for their same-sex spouses to receive a derivative visa, called the G-4, increases the challenges faced by LGBTIQ+ couples in same-sex relationships. This much is clear. Under … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

The UN Is Under Siege, So Where Is the Secretary-General?

Was it only two years ago that so many people were elated by the appointment of António Guterres as secretary-general of the United Nations? After public debates organized by the president of the General Assembly and informal ones by the 1-for-7-Billion “Find the Best UN Leader” coalition, he emerged as the top candidate in the … Read more

WORLDVIEWS

The UN Mission in Lebanon, Saved From the US Ax for Another Year

BEIRUT — In late August, the United Nations Security Council unanimously renewed its peacekeeping operation in southern Lebanon, called Unifil. The less confrontational tone around the negotiation of Resolution 2433, contrasting with the heated debate on the renewal a year ago, can be read as a positive sign for Lebanon and the UN. It represents … Read more

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