WORLDVIEWS

UN-Watchers Expect the Worst From Trump at General Assembly Next Week

• September 16, 2020

The General Assembly is surely going to be a very interesting place this month — even if world leaders are staying home for the annual opening debate because of the pandemic. On Monday, Sept. 21, the General Assembly is hosting a special session to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. For this …

General Assembly, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Trump’s Mysterious Relationship With Putin

Stephen Schlesinger

• September 14, 2020

After President Trump’s nearly four years in office, we still do not have a good answer as to why the president has repeatedly deferred to Vladimir Putin on major issues. This is a central question that we face as a country, especially its consequences for American policies on Ukrainian sanctions, on the issue of …

US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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There’s Another Important Election Coming Soon, and It Concerns Universal Human Rights

John Packer

• September 11, 2020

States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights will elect new experts on Sept. 17 to the Human Rights Committee, which supervises the covenant’s implementation. It is one of the two solemn, widely ratified covenants that codify in treaty form the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and detail …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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Beijing, 25 Years Later: Are Women Better Off?

Ellen Chesler

• September 4, 2020

Twenty-five years ago, the United Nations hosted the largest gathering of women (and more than a few good men) in its 50-year history. Some 17,000 participants — among them, official government delegates, representatives of accredited nongovernmental organizations, international civil servants and members of the press — registered for the Fourth World Conference on Women …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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The Unifil Peacekeeping Mandate: Kicking the Southern Lebanon Can Down the Road

Karim Makdisi

• September 3, 2020

On Aug. 28, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to renew its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, called Unifil, for another year. This unanimity, however, masked what had been a series of heated informal discussions on the nature of Unifil and the interpretation of its mandate. The United States, essentially representing Israel, threatened …

Middle East, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

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All Fuss and No Substance on the Middle East ‘Breakthrough’

Irwin Arieff

• August 18, 2020

Talking heads are showering Donald Trump with praise over his surprise unveiling of an agreement that he said would alter the Middle East landscape by building a diplomatic bridge between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. If completed as advertised, the deal would indeed, as Trump tweeted, be a “huge breakthrough,” as it would …

Middle East, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Will the Human Rights Council’s Rare Steps to Combat Racism Make a Difference?

Peter Splinter

• July 29, 2020

GENEVA — In early June, some family members of victims of police killings in the United States and more than 600 civil society organizations worldwide wrote to the United Nations Human Rights Council to request that it urgently hold a special session on the US. They did so in reaction to the grave human-rights crisis …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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The Future of Nuclear Arms Control: Time to Change Course

Angela Kane and Noah Mayhew

• July 14, 2020

VIENNA — As Russian and American leaders have gathered once more here to discuss bilateral arms control, some experts wonder if arms control is outdated. Earlier this year, Chris Ford, a United States official for international security and nonproliferation, said that discussions on arms control amounted to mere “nuclear identity politics,” and Russia’s Vladimir …

Disarmament, WORLDVIEWS

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Peacekeeping Bosses Should Be Chosen by the UN and Not the Paymasters

Kseniya Oksamytna and Vincenzo Bove and Magnus Lundgren

• July 7, 2020

Leaders of United Nations peacekeeping operations comprise an important and unique category of high-level officials in the world body. They have a difficult and often thankless job of trying to manage “Christmas tree” mandates handed down by the Security Council while keeping great powers and national authorities happy. Along the way, these leaders enjoy …

Peace and Security, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Another Eastern European Nation Gets Tangled in US Politics

Vlad Lupan

• March 1, 2020

Days after Richard Grenell was recently named by President Trump as the United States’ acting national director of intelligence — America’s chief spy — a media site reported that Grenell had worked for an Eastern European politician whom the US has accused of corruption and barred from the country. Grenell, who is in the …

US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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How the US Enabled Aggressions by China and Russia at the UN

Geoffrey Roberts

• February 24, 2020

For the last decade, Western democracies and human-rights defenders have been locked in a tense struggle with authoritarian great powers at the United Nations. Since 2009, Russia and China have waged a highly successful campaign to dismantle the international human-rights system, particularly through the Human Rights Council. The two countries have made strides especially …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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Will the UN-75 Declaration Signify More Than a Birthday Party?

Richard Ponzio

• February 17, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres used his annual State of the World speech to the General Assembly last month to outline his 2020 priorities. He stressed four threats to progress in the 21st century: growing geostrategic tensions and mass violence in fragile states, creating an unprecedented refugee crisis; the climate catastrophe; rising mistrust …

Secretary-General, UN75, WORLDVIEWS

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Myanmar’s Silence on Rape Against Rohingya Is Cruel and Dangerous

Akila Radhakrishnan

• January 21, 2020

Last month, the world was struck by an unusual image — that of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi — standing in court to defend and deny genocide. What was striking was not only what she and Myanmar’s legal team said but also what wasn’t said: the total failure of Myanmar …

Gender Violence, International Justice, Myanmar, WORLDVIEWS

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Can UN Development Be Reformed? Not at This Rate

Stephen Browne

• January 6, 2020

GENEVA — Like his predecessors, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has been pushing a reform program to help the organization adjust to the demands of contemporary global governance. Over nearly 75 years, the UN has innovated and adapted. At first, humanitarian assistance was not envisaged to go beyond the needs of people displaced by …

Development, WORLDVIEWS

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My Beautiful Christmas in Kabul

Fiona Shukri

• December 24, 2019

The Christmas spirit finally found me drinking whisky on a rooftop in Kabul. Given my multinational background — I’m from Boston but my father came from Iraq and my mother from London — it’s not surprising that I chose a career in foreign affairs. When people learn I spent nearly a decade in Afghanistan, …