Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research
Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research

BLUE SMOKE: A monthly column, from PassBlue and UNA–UK, spotlighting senior appointments at the UN

Amina Mohammed

LEAVE A COMMENT
António Guterres entered his second term as United Nations secretary-general on the first day in January 2022. With about four and a half years to go in one of the world’s most demanding jobs, Guterres keeps a close group…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
In the waning days of 2021, roughly two months before its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russia agreed to contribute $14 million to the United Nations Development Program for climate-related projects in Europe and Central Asia to begin…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
More than 50 former staff members of UN Women sent a pointed open letter to the new executive director of the agency, Sima Sami Bahous, an ex-Jordanian diplomat, on Sept. 28. They suggest a comprehensive agenda for her, undertaking…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
For more than two decades, sexual violence against women in Somalia has become more pervasive as the country has been torn by civil conflict and state collapse. However, after an alarming 80 percent increase in the number of confirmed…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
The United Nations’ top agency for humanitarian aid is poised for a new boss to arrive, one who could instill a management style far removed from what some of its staffers call a “neocolonial mind-set” under the outgoing head,…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
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…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
Could the Kim-Trump meeting in Singapore on Tuesday displace the United Nations Security Council’s mandate to regulate the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as the United States succeeded in doing when it withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal?…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
An important meeting on global education with a dozen education ministers from across the world was held at the United Nations headquarters last week. As the meeting unfolded, we were sitting in our office a few miles away, across…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
When António Guterres was chosen by the United Nations Security Council in October to become the next leader of the UN, neither he nor anyone else could have predicted precisely who would be commanding the Oval Office of the…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
He is no longer the “next SG,” as Twitter posts have been referring in the last few months to António Guterres, the man who was selected by the United Nations Security Council in October to lead the world body…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
Only weeks before John Ashe, the former president of the United Nations General Assembly, was arrested for tax fraud amid a bribery scandal uncovered by the United States government, Ashe was tapped to potentially take an important job in…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
Before this year ends, the United Nations will have committed itself and its 193 member governments to a new 15-year development strategy to be hailed as a blueprint for ending poverty, expanding social justice and strengthening equality. Equality for…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
Preparing for next year, when United Nations member governments will meet to grade the Millennium Development Goals and agree on a new set of benchmarks for 2015-2030, an important part of the discussion is focusing on Africa, the continent…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
LEAVE A COMMENT
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.”…

LEAVE A COMMENT

 
UNGA78: A quiz from PassBlue
Online Program Enrolling Now - Seton Hall - United Nations Institute for Training and Research

THIS WEEK'S MOST POPULAR

Don't Miss a Story:

Subscribe to PassBlue

Sign up to get the smartest news on the UN by email, joining readers across the globe.​

We respect your privacy and take protecting it seriously​