UN Department of Political Affairs

The UN Secretary-General Pushes Ahead on Peacekeeping Reform

• March 16, 2018

Responding to a December request from the General Assembly for details on how he proposes to staff and pay for sweeping changes in political affairs and peacekeeping at the United Nations, Secretary-General António Guterres has drafted a 50-page explanation for member states to consider. The General Assembly had agreed in principle to his original …

Peace and Security, Secretary-General, UN Peacekeeping, US-UN Relations

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GOINGS-ON

The UN Formalizes Its Partnership With Sant’Egidio, the Rome-Based Mediator

Dulcie Leimbach

• June 9, 2017

The United Nations has formalized its relationship with the Community of Sant’Egidio, the highly regarded Catholic membership organization based in Rome that has been focusing on conflict prevention and resolution, primarily in Africa, for 30 years. A community of 60,000 laypeople founded in 1968, Sant’Egidio has been working with the UN on mediation prospects …

Africa, GOINGS-ON, Human Trafficking, International Justice, Libya, Migration, Peace and Security

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WORLDVIEWS

Ironing Out the Kinks in the UN’s New Human-Rights Initiative

Gerrit Kurtz

• August 12, 2015

BERLIN — In December 2013, Jan Eliasson, the United Nations deputy secretary-general, went on a selling spree. In a series of briefings, he presented a new initiative to UN member states and to the rest of the world. In his address to the General Assembly, Eliasson said, not mincing words: “In improving the way …

WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Special Envoys: Viceroys of the UN

Peter Nadin

• July 21, 2015

SYDNEY, Australia — As with most innovations at the United Nations, the genesis of the concept of the special representative, or special envoy, of the secretary-general can be traced back to Dag Hammarskjold, the UN secretary-general. Special envoys were dispatched earlier than the Hammarskjold era; they included Folke Bernadotte, a Swede, and his successor, …

WORLDVIEWS

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As UN Monitoring Mission Dies in Syria, a New Envoy Is Named

Dulcie Leimbach

• August 16, 2012

The United Nations Security Council will not renew the mandate for the monitoring mission it set up in Syria this spring to supervise a peace plan that never materialized. The mandate for the UN Supervision Mission, called Unsmis, expires Aug. 19. The unarmed mission, renewed in July for 30 days, is down to 100 …

Middle East, Security Council

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GOINGS-ON

Top US Official at the UN to Leave Post

Barbara Crossette

• December 4, 2011

B. Lynn Pascoe, an American diplomat who has served as under secretary-general for political affairs during Ban Ki-moon’s first term, is leaving that key position early in the new year, as the secretary-general reshapes his senior team for his second five-year term beginning on Jan.1. The first announcement of pending changes at the top …