AIDS-Free World

The UN Palestinian Refugee Agency Is in Hot Water, Again

August 5, 2019

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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In Nunavut, Poor Health Care Shortens Indigenous People’s Lives

May 14, 2018

by Barbara Crossette

Canada’s national health system, the envy of many people in other countries, including in the United States, is being more scrutinized from Canadians as reports reveal serious health-service gaps in the territory of Nunavut, a self-governing province populated by mostly Inuit people. Critical reports of deprivation and neglect emerging from Nunavut paint a picture …

Gender-Based Violence, Health and Population

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A Sexual Assault Claim at Unaids Suggests a Cover-Up by Its Management

February 14, 2018

by Dulcie Leimbach

As allegations of sexual abuse and harassment in the offices, field operations and peacekeeping missions continue to plague the United Nations, a case that has recently come to light reveals that in 2016 a woman who worked for Unaids accused a high-level official of the entity of sexual assault. The woman’s claim has been …

Gender-Based Violence, Secretary-General

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TOPIC: INDIA

TB in India: Drug-Resistant Strains Are ‘Out of Control,’ New Report Says

October 27, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

Stephen Lewis is an outspoken and often impassioned Canadian diplomat and former United Nations official with a lot of experience in tracking health crises in Africa. Now he has turned his attention to tuberculosis in India, where he made a fact-finding trip in early October. He was shocked and disheartened by what he saw …

Asia, Health and Population, India

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A Task for the Next UN Secretary-General: Review the Special Envoy System

February 23, 2016

by Barbara Crossette

When a tough independent report sharply criticized the United Nations in December for its bungled attempts to cover up, or at least ignore, the sexual abuse of children by peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic in recent years, it named among the people responsible for letting the children down Leila Zerrougui, Secretary-General Ban …

Secretary-General, UN Diplomats, UN Special Envoys

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French Military Covered Up Sex Abuses by Its Soldiers in Central Africa, a French Journal Says

July 14, 2015

by Dulcie Leimbach

Alleged rapes by French soldiers of boys in the Central African Republic from December 2013 to June 2014 were actually known by French officers in Bangui, the capital, as the sexual abuses occurred, says a new investigative report published by Mediapart, a well-respected independent French journal in Paris. The article, written in French and …

Africa, Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights

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France and the UN Pressured to Act on Troops’ Sex Abuse in Central Africa

June 6, 2015

by Dulcie Leimbach

The uproar over accusations that French soldiers assigned to peacekeeping had sexually abused about a dozen boys in the Central African Republic from late 2013 through mid-2014 has shifted focus from the apparent behavior of the soldiers to the role the United Nations played in dealing with the allegations. The French soldiers were not …

Africa, Gender-Based Violence, UN Agencies

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An Independent Report on Sexual Abuse Cases by UN Peacekeepers Surfaces

March 16, 2015

by Dulcie Leimbach

A report commissioned by the United Nations but never made public — which studied sexual exploitation and abuse committed by UN peacekeepers — has been released online by AIDS-Free World, a nonprofit organization founded by two former UN officials, Stephen Lewis and Paula Donovan. The report, written by an independent three-person team, was based …

Peace and Security, UN Peacekeeping, Women

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Calling the UN to Account to Stop the HIV/AIDS Scourge

April 23, 2014

by Danielle M. Bennett

It has been 33 years since the first reports of HIV/AIDS surfaced, and the pandemic, which has never been found to be racial, ethnic or gender specific among the population, is now affecting women the most. They account for more than half of the people living with HIV/AIDS — approximately 16.1 million women out …

Caribbean, Health and Population, Women

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Nigeria Attracts Latest Criticism for Anti-Gay Laws

January 15, 2014

by Barbara Crossette

In an open letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Michel Sidibé, the executive director of UNAIDS, the organization called AIDS-Free World wants answers to questions about how the UN will deal with Nigeria after the adoption of a sweeping law broadening the criminalization of homosexuality. Nigeria has the second-largest number of people …

Africa, Human Rights

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Where’s the Money? Funds for Millennium Development Goals Lag

September 25, 2013

by Alice Speri

With 827 days to go until the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals — the United Nations’ flagship agenda for global development — the buzzword at the General Assembly’s annual opening debate in New York this week was “acceleration.” A clear sense of urgency dominated many talks, particularly as the world body prepares to …