Kofi Annan

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

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When Is an Attack on UN Peacekeepers a War Crime and When Is It Not?

November 30, 2018

by Mona Ali Khalil

The recent attack by a militia on the United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which seven peacekeepers were killed, highlighted a question that the Security Council has hesitated to confront for years. What are the consequences when UN peacekeeping missions become parties to the conflict? The Security Council responded to the latest attacks on Monusco, as …

Africa, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

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GEOPOLITICS

Kofi Annan’s Path to Humanitarian Intervention

August 22, 2018

by David L. Phillips

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who died on Aug. 18, in Switzerland, was deeply committed to peace and the UN Charter, as well as human rights and humanitarian action. He led a debate about harmonizing these principles and rebalancing the sovereignty of countries with the rights of people within them. During his 10 years as secretary-general, …

Africa, Geopolitics, Secretary-General

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Kofi Annan, 80, a Popular UN Secretary-General From Africa, Is Dead

August 18, 2018

Kofi Annan, the seventh and probably the most popular and widely respected secretary-general the United Nations has ever known, died unexpectedly in Bern, Switzerland, early on Saturday morning, Aug. 18. His death, reportedly from leukemia, followed what initial reports described only as a short illness. He led the UN for two terms, from 1997 …

Africa, Secretary-General

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A Taste of Running for Political Office Has Left This UN Retiree Ready for More

April 10, 2018

by Kacie Candela

ORANGE, Conn. — Margaret Novicki is a 22-year veteran of the United Nations, having served in various regions in Africa and as the director of strategic communications at UN headquarters in New York. Upon her retirement in 2017 at age 62 from an eventful, complicated career at the UN, Novicki, an American, ran as …

Africa, UN Careers, Women

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

Will Trump’s Musical Chairs Leave Nikki Haley Without a Seat?

March 23, 2018

by Irwin Arieff

Nikki Haley insisted all along that she had no desire to become Donald Trump’s secretary of state. But with Mike Pompeo, the CIA director, in line to succeed Rex Tillerson as the State Department’s top dog, Haley may soon find that her thinking was a big mistake. Haley asked Trump right from the start …

Nikki Haley Watch, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Who Says the UN Is Boring? Intrigue Always Abounds in Its Inner Core

March 20, 2018

by Herman T. Salton

Bureaucracies do not have a great reputation, and the United Nations bureaucracy is no exception. They are seen as inefficient, cumbersome and rigid, adjectives that are also routinely associated with the UN Secretariat. At best considered a “necessary evil,” bureaucracies tend to attract scorn rather than analysis. The UN Secretariat, however, is different. Although …

Secretary-General, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Four Easy Steps to Reform the UN Human Rights Council

October 15, 2017

by Bertrand G. Ramcharan

Problems encircling the United Nations Human Rights Council are verging toward a major crisis. The same crisis had engulfed its predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, leading the secretary-general at the time, Kofi Annan, to call to replace it with the Council. But the same problems affecting the former Commission now affect its successor, …

Human Rights, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Where Are the Female Leaders at the UN? Gender Bias Persists

August 28, 2017

by Ingvild Bode

The exhibition “HERStory: A Celebration of Leading Women in the United Nations” was held at the Unesco headquarters in Paris this summer, after it made its debut in New York last year. Designed to showcase the contributions of female leaders throughout the UN’s history, it featured such high-profile personalities as Margaret Anstee, the first …

Secretary-General, Women

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Alice Hecht, Longtime UN Career Officer and Chief of Protocol, Dies at 67

January 13, 2017

by Susan Manuel

Alice Hecht, who died in New York City on Dec. 28, 2016, at age 67, after a 35-year career at the United Nations, was most well known there for her role as chief of protocol. Appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006, Hecht’s job was to guide presidents and popes to UN daises and …

UN Careers, Women

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The Syrian War and the Refugee Crisis: Spawning the Rise of the Far Right

December 21, 2016

by Irwin Arieff

The butterfly effect teaches us that seemingly insignificant actions can have enormous future consequences. A tiny pair of fluttering wings can disturb the air in a way that helps trigger a hurricane halfway around the world. Witness Syria, where the Arab Spring made its debut in 2011 in the form of a tame wave …

Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council, Syria, US Foreign Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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The $64,000 Question: Can the UN Survive the Trump Era?

December 4, 2016

The United Nations will swear in António Guterres as its ninth secretary-general on Dec. 12, when the organization will be only weeks away from the inauguration of Donald Trump and the potentially most threatening, hostile political opposition to the UN ever assembled in Washington, D.C. The UN will have to be prepared to respond …

Special Report, UN Agencies, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Being UN Deputy Secretary-General: Louise Fréchette Recounts Her Experience

November 12, 2016