WORLDVIEWS

A Global Forest Treaty Is Needed Now

• December 10, 2020

RIO DE JANEIRO — Illegal deforestation has become a defining problem of our time, but its place in global governance remains piecemeal. Just a few months ago, the idea of an international agreement on forests would have been unthinkable because of the spread of climate denialism and nationalist populism. But the winds of geopolitical …

Climate Change, Latin America, SDGs, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Southeast Asia, Forging Ahead on Women, Peace and Security

Noeleen Heyzer

• December 8, 2020

SINGAPORE — With two Asean members, Vietnam and Indonesia, currently sitting in the United Nations Security Council, the region has advanced Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. This is the first global framework that addresses the changing nature of conflicts, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, the issues of …

Asia, Gender Violence, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

The Vanishing Democracy in Hong Kong

Alan Doss

• December 1, 2020

Recent events in Hong Kong should alert those people who hope that economic development can lead to democratic change. A few weeks ago, the territory’s fragile democratic order took another hit when opposition members of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council resigned to protest the disqualification of four of their members, labeled by the Chinese authorities …

Asia, Governance, Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

The Process to Choose the Next UN Leader Should Start Now

Ben Donaldson

• November 29, 2020

LONDON — This time five years ago, Mogens Lykketoft, the president of the United Nations General Assembly, was working with members of the Security Council to create the first open process to appoint the next secretary-general, after the adoption of General Assembly Resolution 69/321. In 2021, the process will begin again to select the …

General Assembly, Secretary-General, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

A Tale of Two Elections: The US and Côte d’Ivoire

Alan Doss

• November 11, 2020

GENEVA — Three days before the recent, highly contentious United States presidential election occurred, another one was held in the West African country of Côte d’Ivoire. The two elections provide interesting comparisons and contrasts. The US and Côte d’Ivoire are obviously vastly different countries, but there are similarities. Both countries are the issue of …

Africa, Governance, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

On the 10th Anniversary of Haiti’s Cholera Outbreak, What Has the UN Learned?

Beatrice Lindstrom and Joey Bui

• October 30, 2020

Ten years ago this month, Haiti confirmed the arrival of a deadly cholera epidemic that killed more than 10,000 people. The disease — and the United Nations’ response to it — has caused immeasurable harm in Haiti and undermined the UN’s moral standing when it is sorely needed. As victims in Haiti pause to …

Caribbean, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

A Letter to the USA: Why Your Vote on Nov. 3 Matters for the World

Alan Doss

• October 27, 2020

GENEVA — The first time I set foot in the United States was just before the 1968 presidential election, when I joined the United Nations in New York City as a young staffer in the development aid program. I arrived in a country painfully scarred by the assassinations of the Rev. Martin Luther King …

Governance, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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COVID-19

The Path to Ending Our Global Chaos Is Through the UN

Mona Ali Khalil

• October 22, 2020

By all accounts, 2020 has been a terrible year so far — but is it worse than 1920? In 1920, World War I, which killed 16 million people, had just ended. The two-year influenza pandemic that followed killed 50 million more. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has already killed more than one million people …

General Assembly, Health and Population, Secretary-General, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS

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COVID-19

Can the “Third UN” Reimagine Post-Covid Global Cooperation?

Tatiana Carayannis and Thomas G. Weiss

• October 19, 2020

This week we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, as the Covid-19 pandemic highlights our interdependence and the need for global cooperation. Enthusiasm for it, however, is in short supply amid deteriorating Washington-Beijing relations, Brexit and rising populisms. Throughout its history, the UN has confronted bureaucratic challenges and radical changes in world …

Climate Change, Covid-19, Governance, Health and Population, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

What the Post-Pandemic World Could Look Like: A View From the Global South

Celso Amorim and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

• October 5, 2020

The world order is no more. Since the beginning of this year, and with greater intensity since March, when the World Health Organization declared the spread of Covid-19 a pandemic, governments and civil societies have been grappling with a crisis of almost unseen proportions. Lives are being lost by the thousands in a single …

Development, Governance, Health and Population, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

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

Harris Gleckman and Khalil Hamdani

• 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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WORLDVIEWS

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 …