Asean

Can Vietnam Rally the Big UN Powers to Stop More Bloodshed in Myanmar?

April 5, 2021

When Vietnam started its term as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council in January 2020, it also had to take on the role of the monthly rotating president. Back then, it sold itself as a bridge builder among the Council’s major powers. Vietnam’s second presidency, which started on April 1, is …

Asia, Gender-Based Violence, Myanmar, Security Council Presidency

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WORLDVIEWS

Regional Nations Should Mediate the Crisis in Myanmar, a Leading Analyst Says

March 9, 2021

by Noeleen Heyzer

SINGAPORE — The situation in Myanmar is growing more violent and polarized. If the situation continues without urgent intervention, the safety and security of civilians will deteriorate rapidly and a window for dialogue between the military and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and its supporters will close further. If this …

Myanmar, Responsibility to Protect, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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THIS WEEK @UN

Still No Aid Into Tigray; Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Africa; Western Sahara Left Hanging by US

December 11, 2020

by Ivana Ramirez

A United Nations convoy was shot at in Ethiopia’s Tigray region; Southeast Asia’s progress on the women, peace and security agenda; the United States brokers a deal with Morocco in exchange for loss of Western Sahara’s sovereignty. You’re reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most-pressing issues facing the international organization. The information …

Africa, Asia, Climate and Environment, Governance, Health and Population, This Week @UN

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WORLDVIEWS

Southeast Asia, Forging Ahead on Women, Peace and Security

December 8, 2020

by Noeleen Heyzer

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-Based Violence, Security Council, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Myanmar’s Neighbors Must Build Trust Among Rohingya Refugees

November 10, 2019

by Noeleen Heyzer

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

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Vijay Nambiar, UN Envoy, Untangles the Problems Plaguing Myanmar

May 19, 2014

by Barbara Crossette

The surprising move in 2010 by a repressive Burmese military regime to begin ceding power to the nation’s people was just the beginning of a tangled story. The new democracy held its first credible election less than two years later — an election that catapulted Aung San Suu Kyi, barely 18 months free of …

Asia, Development, Myanmar

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WORLDVIEWS

The Quest for Peace and Calm in the Pacific

January 17, 2013

by Jayantha Dhanapala

KANDY, Sri Lanka — As the focus of global political and economic power shifts to the Asia-Pacific region and the United States feels compelled to pivot its strategic forces from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the relationship among major East Asian countries acquires critical importance. Residual cold war disputes across the Atlantic are likely …

Asia, International Justice, Peace and Security, WORLDVIEWS

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Philippines Defies Church, Giving Contraception to the Poor

January 2, 2013

by Barbara Crossette

It took a committed president of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III, and a Filipino Congress concerned about rising maternal mortality and continuing population growth amid widespread poverty, to overcome strong opposition from the Roman Catholic church and make contraception freely accessible to millions of poor women beginning in 2013. The adoption in mid-December of …

Asia, Health and Population, Women

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Regional Partners Lighten the UN’s Burdens

November 26, 2011

by Barbara Crossette

Since the founding of the United Nations more than 65 years ago, groups of regional nations – in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas – have become the organization’s political, peacekeeping and development partners. While some of these groups have kept a low profile, several now find themselves in the international spotlight as crucial …