Ban Ki-moon

Feminists Grade the UN’s Guterres With a ‘B’ for 2020

January 27, 2021

The widely shared hopes in 2016 that a woman could finally be elected secretary-general of the United Nations at the end of Ban Ki-moon’s two terms were crushed when the big powers chose a man from a large field of candidates from across the world — seven women and six men. The General Assembly …

Gender-Based Violence, Secretary-General, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

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

October 30, 2020

by Beatrice Lindstrom and Joey Bui

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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COVID-19

Haiti Could Face a ‘Perfect Storm’ With the Pandemic

August 4, 2020

by Fiona Shukri

As Covid-19 continues to ravage many parts of the world, the effect of the virus in Latin America and the Caribbean region has been particularly devastating. The situation in Haiti, for example, has alarmed international humanitarian groups, as the country lacks sufficient virus-testing ability and has limited health-care infrastructure, among other serious problems. On …

Caribbean, Covid-19, Human Rights

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The UN Moves Toward ‘Climate Neutrality,’ but Is It Fast Enough?

February 18, 2020

by Fiona Shukri

The United Nations system has instituted some important changes toward becoming what it calls climate neutral. Some employees and former employees, however, think the UN could be doing much more to reduce the organization’s carbon footprint globally and to be a stronger role model in mitigating climate change. After all, Secretary-General António Guterres recently …

Climate and Environment, Secretary-General

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WORLDVIEWS

Dear UN Security Council: Remember to Protect the Children

July 30, 2019

by Dragica Mikavica

Every time the budget committee of the United Nations meets, as it did in June, child-protection advocates enter a familiar existential crisis: will the United States and China cut UN budgets specifically allocated to specialists on child protection in peacekeeping missions? I am often asked by people in the UN why a child-rights advocate …

Child Soldiers, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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As the SDGs Falter, the UN Turns to the Rich and Famous

July 23, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

The Sustainable Development Goals are in trouble. United Nations officials are concerned and say so publicly. Secretary-General António Guterres joined in raising an alarm in mid-July when he introduced the most recent official UN report. “It is abundantly clear that a much deeper, faster and more ambitious response is needed to unleash the social …

Climate and Environment, Development, Poverty, Sustainable Development Goals

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SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

Kuwait’s Priority for the UN Security Council Presidency: Iraq and the Mideast

June 3, 2019

by Stéphanie Fillion

Still, this small oil-rich Arab country has an agenda of its own that it wants to fulfill as it ends its last presidency on the Council — in probably decades — on a strong note. For June, Kuwait plans to work on the topic of missing persons in armed conflict, an issue that touches its …

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Middle East, Security Council Presidency

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Serving the UN Where Violence Never Ends: One Person’s Story

May 21, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

Simon Handy, a specialist in African politics and conflict, is a veteran of a hazardous and tormented mission in the Central African Republic that left him with an enduring cause that still haunts him. He argues that when a United Nations mission changes or is abandoned, as was the case for him, staff members can …

Africa, Peace and Security, Security Council

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Celebrating Women’s History Month, Trump-Pompeo Style

April 2, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

Here’s how the United States government marked the 2019 monthlong celebration of the world’s women in March: Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo got off to an early start on March 13 by releasing the State Department’s annual global human-rights report, scrubbed of all references to reproductive health and rights. Hewing to the …

Human Rights, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Three Ex-UN Leaders Form a Women’s Group to Save the World

February 21, 2019

by Dulcie Leimbach

As multilateralism takes a beating from President Trump amid the “new world disorder,” as one European diplomat put it, three women who know the United Nations inside and out through previous top leadership jobs have originated a Group of Women Leaders for Change and Inclusion. The goal is to bring together former UN female …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

The Elusive Truth About the Death of Dag Hammarskjold and My Father

February 5, 2019

by Hynrich W. Wieschhoff

My clock radio clicked on. The morning news bulletin announced that United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane was missing. It was Sept. 18, 1961. I was 16. Over the next hours, my mother and sisters and I learned that Mr. Hammarskjöld, accompanied by Dad and 14 others, had flown from Leopoldville, in the Congo, …

Africa, Secretary-General, WORLDVIEWS

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Reform Clouds Darken the Future of the UN Development Program

January 28, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

As the first effects of Secretary-General António Guterres’s ambitious organizational reform plans become apparent, former and current officials of the United Nations Development Program see the future of the internationally influential agency as uncertain if not in peril. Fears center on aspects of the reform plan for development that would allow more political interference …

Development, Health and Population, Sustainable Development Goals

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WORLDVIEWS

The UN Is Under Siege, So Where Is the Secretary-General?

September 18, 2018

by Thomas G. Weiss

Was it only two years ago that so many people were elated by the appointment of António Guterres as secretary-general of the United Nations? After public debates organized by the president of the General Assembly and informal ones by the 1-for-7-Billion “Find the Best UN Leader” coalition, he emerged as the top candidate in …

Secretary-General, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Kofi Annan, 80, a Popular UN Secretary-General From Africa, Is Dead

August 18, 2018

by Barbara Crossette

Kofi Annan, the seventh and probably the most popular and widely respected secretary-general the United Nations has ever known, died unexpectedly in Bern, Switzerland, early on Saturday morning, Aug. 18. His death, reportedly from leukemia, followed what initial reports described only as a short illness. He led the UN for two terms, from 1997 …

Africa, Secretary-General

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WORLDVIEWS

Who Says the UN Is Boring? Intrigue Always Abounds in Its Inner Core

March 20, 2018

by Herman T. Salton

Bureaucracies do not have a great reputation, and the United Nations bureaucracy is no exception. They are seen as inefficient, cumbersome and rigid, adjectives that are also routinely associated with the UN Secretariat. At best considered a “necessary evil,” bureaucracies tend to attract scorn rather than analysis. The UN Secretariat, however, is different. Although …