Human Rights Watch

The US’ Humble Approach to Running for a Human Rights Council Seat, Albeit on a Clean Slate

• August 5, 2021

GENEVA — The United States is campaigning for election to the Human Rights Council in October for the 2022-24 term, starting a new chapter in its volatile relationship with the Geneva-based body. Its current re-engagement, including more acceptance of criticism about its own country, has been praised by Council members and experts, but its …

Human Rights, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

US Delegation to Haiti Cut Short; Risks for the UN Pension Fund?; an Ex-Guantánamo Detainee May Face Torture in Russia

Ivana Ramirez

• July 24, 2021

A US delegation to Haiti returns early; potential risks for the $87 billion UN pension fund; an ex-Guantánamo detainee may face torture in Russia. 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. We are inching closer …

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

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THIS WEEK @UN

Spiraling Mideast Violence; Guterres May Breeze to Another Term; Africans Want More Covid Vaccines

Ivana Ramirez

• May 14, 2021

Abed Al Fatah Skafi at his house in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, March 1, 2021. Skafi’s family is one of four that are being threatened with eviction in favor of Israeli settlers. Anger over Israeli treatment of Palestinians in Jerusalem have incited the worst violence between the two sides in years, plunging them this week into …

Africa, Health and Population, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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The UN’s Guterres, an Incumbent With Strong Backing by Europe, Is Bound to Win Another Term

Barbara Crossette

• May 9, 2021

It was all over in one crucial week. Barring an unforeseen hitch, António Guterres is the clear winner of a second, five-year term as secretary-general of the United Nations, beginning on Jan.1, 2022. This was not a surprise: he had no major competition and the process moved faster than expected. A three-hour question-and-answer session …

Latin America, Secretary-General, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

The US Envoy on Racism; ‘Apartheid’ in the Mideast; UK’s Cuts to UN Agencies

Ivana Ramirez

• April 30, 2021

Veronique Vandegans, the United Nations chief of the French Interpretation Section, working at home in Brooklyn, N.Y., with company. The photo is part of a story for the UN Department of Global Communications on remote interpretation. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO The United States ambassador goes honest on racism; an ex-Ecuadorean head of state aims to be …

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Latin America, Secretary-General, This Week @UN, UN Agencies, UN Special Envoys, US-UN Relations

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SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENCY

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

Stéphanie Fillion

• 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 Violence, Myanmar, Security Council Presidency

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A Wedding Party Hit By French Forces in Mali Killed Mostly Civilians, UN Report Says

Clair MacDougall

• March 31, 2021

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — From above, the photographs show a stretch of charred land in the middle of the desert and a mass grave covered in dried tree branches, where people living around Bounti, a village in central Mali, said those who had been killed by French airstrikes were buried. On the ground were …

Africa, Human Rights, Peace and Security, Secretary-General, Security Council

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COVID-19

Pandemic Relief: Beirut Test-Drives Mobile Medicine for Migrants

Maria Luisa Gambale

• March 10, 2021

Through the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Beirut was spared the catastrophic caseloads that brought many cities around the world to their knees throughout the spring and early summer of 2020, but the port blast on Aug. 4 changed all that. The explosion itself killed at least 200 people, left 300,000 people homeless …

Cities, Covid-19, Health and Population

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UN Probe Details Atrocities in Mali and Civilian Deaths From French Airstrikes

Clair MacDougall

• February 8, 2021

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — A recent United Nations investigation has documented years of grave human-rights violations, including war crimes and other atrocities, in Mali that have gone unpunished as the UN peacekeeping mission there struggles to stabilize the troubled West African nation. A highly detailed, 336-page report on the abuses, obtained in full by …

Africa, Gender Violence, Secretary-General, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, US Foreign Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

6 African Peacekeepers Killed; UN Chief Pursues a Second Term; US Sanctions Houthis in Yemen

Ivana Ramirez

• January 15, 2021

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres pursues a second term; a total of six peacekeepers were killed in Mali and the Central African Republic; Britain helps raise $1 billion for the UN’s Covax vaccine program. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered …

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

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THIS WEEK @UN

The Rough Road to Gender Equality; a Major Message on Hunger; No Saudis on the Human Rights Council

Dulcie Leimbach

• October 17, 2020

For once, two pieces of good news from the United Nations: The World Food Program receives the Nobel Peace Prize and the Security Council begins meeting physically again in its chamber. But some reality-checking: 25 years after the Beijing conference on women, the road to gender equality is still being dug. Greetings from This Week …

Africa, Health and Population, Human Rights, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, This Week @UN, US Foreign Relations

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China and Russia Win Human Rights Council Seats, but the Saudis Get Rejected

Dulcie Leimbach

• October 13, 2020

Nearly two and a half years after the United States withdrew from the Human Rights Council, China and Russia have just won elected seats in the body. Both countries suffer from human-rights abuses against their own populations. China and Russia join 13 others as Council members for three-year terms starting on Jan. 1, 2021, …

Human Rights, US-UN Relations

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As Explosive Weapons Kill More Civilians Abroad, US Companies Just Sell More of Them

Allison Lecce

• July 15, 2020

For the ninth year in a row, 90 percent of people killed by explosive weapons in urban areas were civilians. The use of these devices is proliferating in conflicts because they are becoming easier to come by — sometimes they are even homemade. The United States is the world’s largest overall exporter of arms …

Disarmament, Middle East, Security Council, Syria

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COVID-19

The Pandemic’s Cruelty Visits the World’s Children

Barbara Crossette

• June 18, 2020

There are about two billion young children in the world today, ranging from infancy to 14 years old, and most of them live in developing nations in the global south. That is also where the Covid-19 pandemic is spreading the fastest. Three of the top 10 countries in numbers of rapidly rising cases, as of …

Covid-19, Development, Education, Secretary-General

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Trump’s Dictator Buddies Across the World Are Not Friends of Women

Barbara Crossette

• February 4, 2020

In the gallery of authoritarian governments undercutting the rights of women and threatening democracy around the world, five nations stand out for a special reason. Donald Trump has made the leaders of Brazil, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey his friends and accomplices. In all of these countries, according to mounting evidence in numerous …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, US-UN Relations, Women

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What to Expect From This Year’s UN General Assembly, So Far

Stéphanie Fillion

TOPIC: WOMEN

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Human Rights Watch

The US’ Humble Approach to Running for a Human Rights Council Seat, Albeit on a Clean Slate

US Delegation to Haiti Cut Short; Risks for the UN Pension Fund?; an Ex-Guantánamo Detainee May Face Torture in Russia

Spiraling Mideast Violence; Guterres May Breeze to Another Term; Africans Want More Covid Vaccines

The UN’s Guterres, an Incumbent With Strong Backing by Europe, Is Bound to Win Another Term

The US Envoy on Racism; ‘Apartheid’ in the Mideast; UK’s Cuts to UN Agencies

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

A Wedding Party Hit By French Forces in Mali Killed Mostly Civilians, UN Report Says

Pandemic Relief: Beirut Test-Drives Mobile Medicine for Migrants

UN Probe Details Atrocities in Mali and Civilian Deaths From French Airstrikes

6 African Peacekeepers Killed; UN Chief Pursues a Second Term; US Sanctions Houthis in Yemen

The Rough Road to Gender Equality; a Major Message on Hunger; No Saudis on the Human Rights Council

China and Russia Win Human Rights Council Seats, but the Saudis Get Rejected

As Explosive Weapons Kill More Civilians Abroad, US Companies Just Sell More of Them

The Pandemic’s Cruelty Visits the World’s Children

Trump’s Dictator Buddies Across the World Are Not Friends of Women

This Week's Most Popular

A Jordanian Diplomat With Development Expertise Will Lead UN Women

UN’s Guterres Proposes a 2023 Summit of the Future in ‘Our Common Agenda’ Report

Myanmar’s Credentials at the UN

#UNGA76 Is Here; Women on Edge in Afghanistan; Biden’s Hit-and-Miss With Allies

UN-Scripted, Passblue's UN podcast series

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