WORLDVIEWS

Another Eastern European Nation Gets Tangled in US Politics

• 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

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

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

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

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

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

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

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

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

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

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, …

WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

For South Sudan, the Promise of Full Dialogue Lies Ahead

Andrea Bartoli

• December 17, 2019

ROME, Italy — The clock is ticking for South Sudan. Many powerful players in the international community have expressed openly their disappointment at the reluctance of South Sudan power-brokers to resolve their violence-prone country. Meanwhile, the people of South Sudan are clearly signaling their readiness for peace and their support for new approaches that …

Africa, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

‘Sextortion’: The Worst Form of Corruption Across the Globe

Frank Vogl

• December 13, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For more than a year, a BBC television team went undercover at the University of Lagos and the University of Ghana, where young female students are routinely extorted by professors. They are vulnerable because they either seek to gain admission to the universities or to secure good grades to allow them …

Gender Violence, Human Trafficking, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

It’s Time to Increase Parliaments’ Engagement With Human Rights

Brian Chang and Murray Hunt

• December 5, 2019

As protection of human rights seems to be sliding everywhere, the international human-rights system has responded by focusing on national implementation, to ensure that states’ international commitments are translated into meaningful changes felt by people on the ground. While often overlooked, parliaments can provide a critical link between global agreements and domestic progress on …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

The New Boss at the UN’s Nuclear-Power Watchdog Is Inheriting Many Problems

Tariq Rauf

• December 1, 2019

VIENNA, Austria — Ensconced near the Danube River in this European city is the headquarters of the world’s single-most important means of ensuring safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear energy. Created in 1957, four years after United States President Dwight Eisenhower delivered his famous “Atoms for Peace” speech at the United Nations, the International …

Disarmament, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

Rape Prosecution Must Drive the New Rohingya Genocide Court Case

Susan Hutchinson

• November 25, 2019

The recent case lodged by The Gambia with the International Court of Justice against Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingya is the first time that rape will be prosecuted as genocide at the court, which is based in The Hague. The case has the potential to enhance feminist international law, while reinforcing the need to …

International Justice, Myanmar, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

Myanmar’s Neighbors Must Build Trust Among Rohingya Refugees

Noeleen Heyzer

• November 10, 2019

At the 33d summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore last year, the issue of Myanmar’s Rakhine/Rohingya crisis was high on the agenda. The chairman’s closing statement expressed the group’s readiness to support Myanmar in repatriating refugees by conducting a needs-assessment overview in Rakhine State. The Muslim Rohingya had fled ethnic …

Asia, Refugees, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

Big Powers at the UN Are Hanging Western Sahara Out to Dry

Fatma Medhi

• November 5, 2019

A stunning policy reversal by the United States regarding Western Sahara occurred last week, but it didn’t make many headlines. What happened? When the United Nations Security Council adopted a new resolution on Western Sahara, renewing the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission —Minurso — there for another 12 months, the action meant America’s …

Africa, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

One Comment

WORLDVIEWS

A Plan From Darfuri Women to Make Sudan’s New Democracy Work

Mona Ali Khalil

• October 15, 2019

Niemat Ahmadi, the founder and director of the Darfur Women Action Group, has a plan for the new Sudan. The Strategic Framework for Sustainable Change was presented to the country’s prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, during his participation in the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly in September — only three weeks after …

Africa, Peace and Security, WORLDVIEWS

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

Why Wait Until Trump Starts Talking to the Paintings?

Irwin Arieff

• October 14, 2019

In early 1974, fresh out of journalism school, I walked into the offices of the newly created Federal Energy Office in Washington and asked for a job. Within days I was back — a freshly minted writer-editor in the public affairs office of an agency launched in response to an oil embargo imposed on …