Ban Ki-moon

On the Campaign Trail for the World’s ‘Most Impossible’ Job

• May 3, 2021

The job of United Nations secretary-general is the “most impossible on earth,” as the first postholder, Trygve Lie, famously told his successor, Dag Hammarskjold. Though Lie spoke partly in jest to amuse the assembled reporters, the remark has stuck with UN observers for its eerie insightfulness. After all, the UN chief is charged with …

General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

Leave a Comment

THIS WEEK @UN

Mass Rapes in Tigray; Burma Sinks Further; Climate, Climate, Climate

Ivana Ramirez

• April 23, 2021

The Joe Biden climate-fest; rape as a weapon of war in Tigray; Burma slides further downhill. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. Laura Kirkpatrick, who manages our Facebook page, created an informal poll based …

Climate and Environment, General Assembly, Middle East, Myanmar, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

Leave a Comment

THIS WEEK @UN

Growing Crises in Myanmar and Tigray; Getting to Know the US Envoy; Will the UN’s Top Humanitarian Job Go to the UK Again?

Ivana Ramirez

• March 6, 2021

Continuing crises in Myanmar and Ethiopia; the US envoy to the UN’s first week; why Britain has held the top humanitarian job for so long; and women’s gains in the African Union. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from the UN …

Africa, Asia, Human Rights, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

The Job of the World’s Top Humanitarian Official Is Open. Will a Briton Get the Post Again?

Ian Martin

• March 3, 2021

LONDON — Should the world’s top humanitarian official be chosen through a meritocratic selection process open to candidates from any country, or should the choice be restricted to a single nationality and nomination by that government? The answer is obvious — but may be the opposite of what is about to happen again during …

Humanitarian Aid, WORLDVIEWS

One Comment

BOOKS

Ban Ki-moon Tells All: He Was Miserable Watching Trump Run Wild

Irwin Arieff

• March 2, 2021

Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a memoir due out in June, is done concealing his anger over Donald Trump’s bad behavior on the international stage. The UN has always tried hard to maintain strong ties with the United States, its biggest dues-payer and the world’s leading superpower. And Ban, it seems, was …

BOOKS, Nuclear Disarmament, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

Leave a Comment

TOPIC: WOMEN

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

Barbara Crossette

• 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 Violence, Secretary-General, Women

Leave a Comment

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

Leave a Comment

COVID-19

Haiti Could Face a ‘Perfect Storm’ With the Pandemic

Fiona Shukri

• August 4, 2020

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

Leave a Comment

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

Fiona Shukri

• February 18, 2020

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

Leave a Comment

WORLDVIEWS

Dear UN Security Council: Remember to Protect the Children

Dragica Mikavica

• July 30, 2019

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

Leave a Comment

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

Barbara Crossette

• July 23, 2019

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

3 Comments

SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

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

Stéphanie Fillion

• June 3, 2019

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

Leave a Comment

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

Barbara Crossette

• May 21, 2019

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

Leave a Comment

TOPIC: WOMEN

Celebrating Women’s History Month, Trump-Pompeo Style

Barbara Crossette

• April 2, 2019

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

Leave a Comment

TOPIC: WOMEN

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

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 21, 2019

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 …