Mike Pompeo

US Aid Returns to UNFPA Amid Efforts to End Global Gag Rule Permanently

January 31, 2021

Fulfilling promises that he made in his 2020 election campaign, President Joe Biden restored United States contributions to the United Nations Population Fund on Jan. 28. Through another executive order, he also overturned crippling US aid restrictions worldwide that had been demanded by anti-abortion lobbies. The Mexico City policy restrictions — also known as …

Gender-Based Violence, Health and Population, Human Rights, US-UN Relations, Women

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THIS WEEK @UN

Worsening Strife in the Sahel; Biden Sworn In; Nuclear Ban Treaty Takes Effect

January 23, 2021

by Ivana Ramirez

The Sahel humanitarian crisis grows; Biden is sworn in as the 46th United States president; the nuclear ban treaty enters into force. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the international organization. The information is gathered from the United Nations spokesperson’s press briefings, original PassBlue reporting and other sources. …

Africa, Nuclear Disarmament, Secretary-General, This Week @UN, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Trump’s UN Team: Gone Today, Sadly Still Here Tomorrow

January 21, 2021

by Irwin Arieff

Donald Trump may be out, along with his disastrously incompetent foreign policy advisers, but don’t expect them to sit quietly on the sidelines while a new team struggles to clean up the mess they left behind. Just days before Joe Biden’s inauguration, Nikki Haley, Trump’s first United Nations ambassador, declared that she was forming …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Healing America and Restoring Its Standing in the World: An A to Z Guide

January 14, 2021

by Mona Ali Khalil

The world watched on Jan. 6, 2021, as thousands of the most extreme supporters of President Donald Trump marched on the United States Capitol after hearing his rallying cry to “fight” and “take back” the country. Inside the Capitol, Vice President Mike Pence was presiding over a joint session of Congress to certify the …

Governance, Health and Population, Human Rights, International Justice, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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The Lingering Side-Effects of Trump’s Assault on Global Health

November 24, 2020

by Irwin Arieff

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to move quickly once he is in office to reverse Donald Trump’s ill-founded pledge to cut ties to the World Health Organization during a deadly worldwide plague. But it will not be easy for Biden to erase the damage, which will weigh on Washington’s standing in the international health …

Health and Population, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

Fed-Up Africans; Has Biden Forgotten the UN?; Don’t Sanction the Houthis

November 20, 2020

by Dulcie Leimbach

Africans are fed up with being sidelined in the Security Council; hey, Joe Biden, don’t overlook the UN; a mother of five competes against 12 men in the Burkina Faso presidential election. You are reading This Week @UN, highlighting the most important news on the world body. The information is drawn from the UN spokesperson’s …

Africa, Human Rights, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Secretary-General, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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

October 13, 2020

by Dulcie Leimbach

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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UN75

Trump’s Foreign Policy Brilliance? Let Me Count the Disasters

September 25, 2020

by Irwin Arieff

Fake news alert: President Donald Trump said something vaguely positive about the United Nations during his speech marking the opening of this year’s General Assembly session. “God bless you all. God bless America. And God bless the United Nations,” Trump intoned on Sept. 22. Comically, the world body may justifiably be relieved, having braced …

General Assembly, UN75, US-UN Relations

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UN75

Among World Leaders at UN’s 75th Commemoration, Trump Is a No-Show

September 21, 2020

by Evelyn Leopold

President Trump failed to deliver an expected video speech for the United Nations’ 75th anniversary commemoration. Instead, the acting deputy United States ambassador addressed the ceremony live from UN headquarters. From Washington, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced new sanctions against Iran during the UN anniversary remembrance, flanked by the US ambassador to the UN, …

General Assembly, Nuclear Disarmament, UN75, US Foreign Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Beijing, 25 Years Later: Are Women Better Off?

September 4, 2020

by Ellen Chesler

Twenty-five years ago, the United Nations hosted the largest gathering of women (and more than a few good men) in its 50-year history. Some 17,000 participants — among them, official government delegates, representatives of accredited nongovernmental organizations, international civil servants and members of the press — registered for the Fourth World Conference on Women …

Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

The Unifil Peacekeeping Mandate: Kicking the Southern Lebanon Can Down the Road

September 3, 2020

by Karim Makdisi

On Aug. 28, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to renew its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, called Unifil, for another year. This unanimity, however, masked what had been a series of heated informal discussions on the nature of Unifil and the interpretation of its mandate. The United States, essentially representing Israel, threatened …

Middle East, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, WORLDVIEWS

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THIS WEEK @UN

Mali’s Coup, Belarus’s Protests, Pompeo’s Brief Appearance at the UN

August 22, 2020

by Allison Lecce

A military coup in Mali; massive protests in Belarus over the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko; more than a million people displaced in Burkina Faso; and the United States takes its next step to extend the Iran arms embargo through the United Nations Security Council, as most of its members still push back. Greetings from This …

Africa, Middle East, This Week @UN, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

The Struggling SDGs, Money for Beirut, Resuming Vaccinations in Pakistan and Afghanistan

August 15, 2020

by Allison Lecce

The tremendous fallout from the explosion in Beirut on Aug. 4 continues as the United Nations offers direct aid, including providing a mobile health clinic and vaccines for children, while a new $565 million appeal to help the Lebanese recover has begun. And in a stunning rejection, a United States draft resolution submitted to …

This Week @UN

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The US Gamble to Extend the Iran Arms Ban Fails. What’s Next?

August 14, 2020

by Evelyn Leopold

Doomed from the start, the United States asked the 14 other United Nations Security Council members to approve a resolution to extend an arms embargo on Iran that expires on Oct. 18. The embargo is part of the Security Council resolution adopted in 2015 that endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to …

Middle East, Nuclear Disarmament, US-UN Relations

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The US Envoy for Iran Leaves Just as the US Pushes for a UN Vote on Its Weapons Ban

August 6, 2020

by Dulcie Leimbach

Only days before the United States said it would submit a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council to extend an Iran arms embargo, the American envoy for Iran has resigned. Brian Hook, who also held the post as senior policy adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, was described by his boss as …