ECOSOC

The US Rejoins the Paris Agreement; Climate-Related Conflicts; Intrigue With a UN Envoy

February 19, 2021

The United States jumps back into the Paris Agreement; the Security Council tackles climate-security risks (for now); a new UN envoy’s letter from the past returns to haunt him. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from the UN spokesperson’s press briefings, …

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

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COVID-19

India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway to Join the UN Security Council

June 17, 2020

by Stéphanie Fillion

An almost empty General Assembly Hall, masks of all types and colors and diplomats rejoicing to see their colleagues that they probably have seen only on their computer screens for months marked this year’s General Assembly elections at the United Nations. On June 17, Norway and Ireland won the two open seats on the …

Covid-19, General Assembly, Security Council, US-UN Relations

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Guatemala’s Role on the Security Council, as Viewed by Its Ambassador

March 5, 2013

by Dulcie Leimbach

Gert Rosenthal does not sound like a Spanish name, but the mother of Rosenthal, the Guatemalan ambassador to the United Nations, was born there and his father was German. To complicate matters, “a little accident happened,” he said, as his parents, Florence and Ludwig, left Germany in the 1930s, and Rosenthal was born in …

ICC, Security Council, UN Diplomats

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Canadian Native Groups Vow to Fight on for Land Rights

February 7, 2013

by Lorraine Boissoneault

The sounds of drums and chanting outside the United Nations in New York battled to be heard over traffic recently. In a continuation of rallies and demonstrations held in front of the UN earlier in January, seven Native American protestors gathered behind a large purple banner to show their solidarity with the Idle No …

General Assembly, Human Rights

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SPECIAL REPORT

How Bad Is It? The UN Development System Needs an Overhaul

July 17, 2012

by Dulcie Leimbach

The clamor for United Nations reform has not stopped since its first days in 1945. Although ideas for changing the UN rise and fall each year, the newest calls for an overhaul involve development, one of the largest sectors of the world body’s system. With a Kafkaesque bureaucracy consisting of at least 30 agencies …

Development, Special Report

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GOINGS-ON

A Slovakian in the Economic and Social Council Presidency

January 22, 2012

by PassBlue

Milos Koterec, permanent representative of Slovakia to the United Nations, was elected president of the Economic and Social Council earlier this month in its first organizational meeting this year. Koterec, 39, succeeds Lazarous Kampambwe of Zambia, after serving as the senior vice president of the council last year. The council is the main forum …