Kofi Annan

The Public-Relations Industry Grabs a Foothold in the UN

• July 14, 2021

As the final round of the Generation Equality Forum was about to open in Paris in late June, some reporters, including from PassBlue, were directed by a few United Nations agencies most involved in the event, to ask their questions to public-relations companies. Knowledgeable communications specialists in the UN system were “too busy,” reporters …

Journalists, Secretary-General, Security Council, UN Careers

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The Death of an Excellent Friend, William vanden Heuvel

Stephen Schlesinger

• June 24, 2021

One of America’s greatest supporters of the United Nations, Ambassador William vanden Heuvel, died on June 15 in New York City at age 91. A son of European immigrants, vanden Heuvel grew up in the upstate city of Rochester, N.Y. He was a young man of enormous energy and idealism. He greatly admired Franklin …

UN Diplomats, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

What Now, António?

Thomas G. Weiss

• June 16, 2021

António Guterres soon will be recrowned Secretary-General after Manhattan’s five-member Electoral College, the permanent members of the Security Council, send its recommendation to the General Assembly for a ceremonial vote. In 2016, his election was an unusually transparent process — at least by United Nations standards — with contenders vetted by the General Assembly; …

SDGs, Secretary-General, WORLDVIEWS

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Nomination to Lead the UN’s Trade Agency Provokes a Power Play

Maurizio Guerrero

• May 27, 2021

The proposed selection of Rebeca Grynspan, a Costa Rican economist and former vice president of her country, to head the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was made without consulting the core of the agency — the Group of 77 and China, comprised of 134 countries from the Global South. The nomination for …

Development, UN Agencies, 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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Is Burma’s Army in Trouble? Yes, Says a Top Former UN Adviser on the Country

Barbara Crossette

• April 19, 2021

For more than a decade, from 2004 to 2017, Vijay Nambiar was a special adviser to United Nations secretaries-general Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon, charged with following events in Burma, which the military generals renamed Myanmar in 1989. A former deputy national security adviser to the government of India and Indian ambassador to the …

Human Rights, Myanmar

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TOPIC: WOMEN

The Chances for a Woman Leading the UN Soon Are Fading Fast

Sonah Lee-Lassiter

• March 24, 2021

Unless a strong candidate backed by an influential member state comes forward soon, it looks unlikely that Secretary-General António Guterres will be denied a second term and that a woman could be elected to succeed him, starting in 2022. Any challengers for the United Nations’ top leadership post will need to step up in …

Secretary-General, Security Council, US-UN Relations, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

The Audacity of Change: A Specific Example of How the UN Can Still Make a Difference

Alan Doss

• March 23, 2021

GENEVA — One of the quiet pleasures of life is an early-morning cappuccino in the company of a good newspaper. That was before Covid-19 came along. The pandemic and resulting disruption of newspaper deliveries and shuttering of cafes has obliged me to suspend my habits of a lifetime. Pending the resumption of normal service, …

Development, SDGs, WORLDVIEWS

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THIS WEEK @UN

US Recommits to the Human Rights Council; Atrocities in Mali; a New Candidate for the UN’s Top Job

Ivana Ramirez

• February 12, 2021

The US returns to the Human Rights Council; atrocities documented in the Mali conflict; a woman declares her candidacy for UN secretary-general. 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, PassBlue reporting and other sources. In …

Gender Violence, General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, UN Peacekeeping

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A Millennial UN Staffer Who Is Daring to Run Against Secretary-General António Guterres

Stéphanie Fillion

• February 11, 2021

Arora Akanksha, a 34-year-old staff member who works as an audit coordinator for the United Nations Development Program, has announced her candidacy for the job of UN secretary-general, so far the only person to challenge António Guterres, the incumbent. Guterres announced in January that he would run for another five-year term, which begins in January …

General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council

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WORLDVIEWS

Myanmar, Still Escaping the Shackles of the Past

Alan Doss

• February 9, 2021

GENEVA — In May 2016, Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary-general, received an unexpected request from a fellow Nobel peace laureate, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s civilian leader and state counselor. She asked him to lead a commission to advise the government on the stability and development of Rakhine State, a region …

Myanmar, WORLDVIEWS

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Brian Urquhart, a Revered UN Diplomat Across Decades, Dies at 101

Stephen Schlesinger

• January 3, 2021

Brian Urquhart, who spent most of his adult life in service to the United Nations, died on Saturday, Jan. 2, at his home in Tyringham, Mass., in the Berkshires, where he retired after serving as one of the most notable figures in the history of the UN. In his tenure, he embodied the very narrative …

UN Diplomats

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‘He Is Who He Is’: 4 Experts Assess the Record of the UN’s António Guterres

Barbara Crossette

• December 14, 2020

Ever since the day in 1946 when the first secretary-general of the United Nations, Trygve Lie of Norway, took office, big powers have meddled in how the job is done. Most often, the United States has been the most intrusive. Lie resigned in 1953, before the end of his second, shortened term, with his …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Secretary-General, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

Sergio, Legendary UN Troubleshooter, Gets His Own Hollywood Biopic

Dali ten Hove

• April 16, 2020

The much-anticipated biopic among United Nations watchers, “Sergio,” a drama relating the tale of Sergio Vieira de Mello, opened today on Netflix. It features the actors Wagner Moura as Sergio and Ana de Armas as his partner, Carolina Larriera. Who was Sergio Vieira de Mello? And why is he the subject of a Hollywood …

Covid-19, UN Diplomats

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BOOKS

Why This American Still Cherishes the UN

Stephen Schlesinger

• November 2, 2019

Americans should know more about the life of William vanden Heuvel, a former United States envoy to the United Nations office in Geneva in the late 1970s. His career of social and political activism has touched on the people of his country on issues ranging from prison reform to school desegregation — but especially …