Mark Malloch Brown

• 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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WORLDVIEWS

The Job of the World’s Top Humanitarian Official Is Open. Will a Briton Get the Post Again?

Ian Martin

• March 3, 2021

LONDON — Should the world’s top humanitarian official be chosen through a meritocratic selection process open to candidates from any country, or should the choice be restricted to a single nationality and nomination by that government? The answer is obvious — but may be the opposite of what is about to happen again during …

Humanitarian Aid, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

The UN Is Under Siege, So Where Is the Secretary-General?

Thomas G. Weiss

• September 18, 2018

Was it only two years ago that so many people were elated by the appointment of António Guterres as secretary-general of the United Nations? After public debates organized by the president of the General Assembly and informal ones by the 1-for-7-Billion “Find the Best UN Leader” coalition, he emerged as the top candidate in …

Secretary-General, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Now Is the Time for a Female Secretary-General, Says a New Campaign [Video]

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 23, 2015

Convinced that after 70 years it is time to choose a woman for the United Nations’ top job of secretary-general, a new movement led by an academic spcialist on the organization has been assembled to formally support the election of a woman for the job. The current secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, a Korean, finishes his …

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

6 Comments

WORLDVIEWS

The UN Development Program: A New Crisis or a New Opportunity?

Stephen Browne and Thomas G. Weiss

• June 10, 2014

GENEVA — For those with longer memories, the latest dip in resources for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the staff cutbacks and restructuring announced by its administrator, Helen Clark, in May are merely the onset of another cycle, just in time for the agency’s 50th anniversary but part of its history since …

WORLDVIEWS

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Jan Eliasson Explains His Role as No. 2 at the UN

A. Edward Elmendorf

• January 19, 2014

Jan Eliasson has been the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations since July 2012, the second in command after Ban Ki-moon. Eliasson, 73, is a former Swedish foreign minister and was ambassador to the United States twice, among other foreign postings. He was also president of the UN General Assembly and a key UN …