FAO

Myanmar’s Coup Crisis Persists; Global Bias Against Older People; Vietnam Is in Charge

April 9, 2021

The Myanmar crisis isn’t going away; global bias against older people; Vietnam leads the Security Council; Chadian peacekeepers killed and wounded in Mali. 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. A huge thank you to …

General Assembly, Health and Population, Human Rights, Myanmar, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

In Latin America, Panama Battles the Coronavirus Between Two Oceans

June 11, 2020

by Isabel Saint Malo

PANAMA CITY, Panama — March 2 marked the beginning of the school year in Panama, when about a million students, a quarter of the population, headed for school. One week had passed when the first Covid-19 case was reported, a national emergency was declared and full lockdown began. My husband and I live with …

Covid-19, Latin America

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China, Gaining Power in the UN, Could Win FAO Leadership

June 18, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has existed at the periphery of UN agencies and been a focus of critics almost since its founding in 1945, as the vehicle for ending hunger and achieving food security. Based in Rome, the FAO has 194 member nations and many projects designed to raise the standards …

UN Agencies, US-UN Relations

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Where Refugee Scholars, Artists and Activists Find Safety and Thrive

November 25, 2018

by Barbara Crossette

Ahmad Sadiddin was an agronomist in a region that history books call the Fertile Crescent, an arc around the eastern Mediterranean where settled farming began in ancient times. Iraq and Syria were once part of that productive land before it was torn apart by the horrors of dictatorship, civil wars and the reductionism and …

Refugees

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WORLDVIEWS

Advice to António Guterres: A Leaner UN Could Be a Better UN

March 27, 2017

by Stephen Browne and Thomas G. Weiss

GENEVA — Whether or not he is a fan of Chinese characters, António Guterres will have to discover the double meaning of a crisis as opportunity. United Nations corridors on First Avenue in New York are buzzing with anxiety about the possibility of impending cuts in funding from the United States, with hints from …

Secretary-General, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

The UN Environment Program, Influential but Lacking Power

February 5, 2015

by Helmut Volger

BERLIN — The history of the United Nations Environment Program is illustrative in two respects: it reflects the changing importance of environmental issues within the UN system and it demonstrates that dedicated people in a UN organization can master the difficult task of implementing an ambitious mandate without sufficient political status, funds and personnel …

WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

A UN Agency Keeps Its Promise to Provide On-Site Child Care

October 20, 2014

by Theresa Panuccio

ROME — A much-anticipated child-care center opened at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s headquarters here on Sept. 1, taking up to 60 children from 3 months to 3 years old. In doing so, the agency is making good on a long-overdue promise to its staff members as well as carrying out recommendations from an independent evaluation …

WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Eight Ways to End Poverty Now

May 1, 2013

by Thomas Pogge

NEW HAVEN — As the Millennium Development Goals reach their deadline of 2015, the United Nations, international policy partners and governments are already tasked with creating a set of new goals to continue to work toward ending poverty worldwide. They ought to learn four crucial lessons from the MDG experience: 1. The targets and …

Climate and Environment, Development, World Bank, WORLDVIEWS

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At the UN Nuclear Watchdog, It’s Not Just About Iran

February 25, 2012

by Dulcie Leimbach

United Nations international atomic inspectors confirmed that Iran is moving apace on producing nuclear fuel at an underground site, but that is not what Kwaku Aning, an official from the International Atomic Energy Agency, wanted to talk about on a visit to New York. Nor did his colleague, Geoffrey Shaw, an Australian who represents …

Climate and Environment, Development

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GOINGS-ON

Graziano da Silva, New in Post, to Focus on Hunger and Rural Poor

February 20, 2012

by Dulcie Leimbach

José Graziano da Silva took up his three-year post as the new director-general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, based in Rome, in January. The agency, which was founded in 1945, is tasked with eradicating hunger worldwide, particularly in rural areas. Graziano da Silva was the agency’s assistant director-general and regional representative …

Development, GOINGS-ON

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GOINGS-ON

Changes at the UN’s Upper Levels

January 27, 2012

by PassBlue

The United Nations World Food Program has named Ertharin Cousin of the United States to replace Josette Sheeran, also American, when Sheeran’s five-year term as executive director ends in April. And Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, based in Geneva, has been nominated for a second five-year term by the …