UN High Commissioner for Refugees Archives

Syrian Refugees Get Help to Run Their Own Business, but It’s Not Easy

September 13, 2017September 4, 2017 by Elizabeth Walsh

TAANAYEL, Lebanon — Taanayel is nestled in Lebanon’s picturesque Bekaa Valley, and on a hot summer day in a feebly air-conditioned room, 35 Syrian female refugees gathered at a center shared by numerous local nongovernmental organizations. They arrived that morning by bus from Salaam wa Makhaba, a refugee camp nearby. The women are here to learn … Read more

TAKE A LOOK

America’s Financial Support to the UN: What’s at Stake?

April 21, 2017April 4, 2017 by Barbara Crossette

With White House proposals to slash United States assessments and donations to international organizations now in play in the writing of a federal budget for 2018 — as an April 28 deadline approaches — the extent of potential losses to the United Nations is coming into sharp focus. The US, for example, has immediately begun … Read more

How’s He Doing? António Guterres’s First Month as UN Secretary-General

February 18, 2017February 5, 2017 by Dulcie Leimbach

António Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general

Thirty-two days in office as United Nations secretary-general, António Guterres spoke extensively to the media for the first time at UN headquarters, on Feb. 1. Indicative of the chaos gripping many parts of the world as a result of new White House actions, Guterres might be forgiven for waiting a month to address the media … Read more

Educators on the UN Denounce Trump’s Crackdown on Refugees

February 12, 2017January 28, 2017 by Irwin Arieff

More than 700 educators and students, meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York recently, called on the international community to protect refugees’ lives, encourage countries to take in “large numbers of refugees and migrants” and do more to ensure they get an education and are protected from sexual and gender-based violence. Acting as President … Read more

GOINGS-ON

Filippo Grandi of Italy to Lead the UN Refugee Agency Amid Continued Crisis

November 20, 2015November 11, 2015 by Dulcie Leimbach

Filippo Grandi of Italy has been selected by Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, to become the 11th UN High Commissioner for Refugees, a post based in Geneva. Grandi will be officially voted into office by the UN General Assembly next week. Grandi replaces António Guterres of Portugal, 66, who has been high commissioner of … Read more

The Syrian Refugee Crisis Poses Ethical Questions for the UN and Others

November 10, 2014July 28, 2014 by Alexander Brotman

Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, 2.9 million people have fled the country to refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and beyond. This has not only destabilized many Middle Eastern countries, but it has also caused continuous public debates inside nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations over what the proper … Read more

BOOKS

No Role for the UN in the Tragic Birth of Bangladesh

May 21, 2014April 8, 2014 by Barbara Crossette

There are few if any heroes among world leaders in the story of how the nation of Bangladesh emerged in 1971 bloodied, bruised and battered. Created by hurried British mapmakers in 1947 as the eastern wing of a bizarrely divided new nation of Muslim-majority Pakistan, Bangladesh was separated by 1,000 miles of largely Hindu India … Read more

GOINGS-ON

Jane Holl Lute, US Security Expert, Is Now UN Adviser on Iranian Exiles

January 14, 2014January 14, 2014 by Benjamin Foldy

With the appointment of Jane Holl Lute, an American, as his special adviser for relocating the residents of Camp Hurriya, located outside Baghdad in Iraq, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is showing a willingness to take major steps toward resolving a situation that has become an increasingly sore point for the Iraqi, Iranian and American … Read more

Western Sahara: A Chance for Change or to Stay Stuck in Time

August 24, 2018April 10, 2013 by Dulcie Leimbach

MINURSO Monitors Ceasefire in Western Sahara

The saga of Western Sahara, a disputed territory that has been stuck in limbo in North Africa for decades, will receive its annual nod this month by the United Nations Security Council, but this time actual changes may be afoot if the council acts more decisively, particularly on human-rights matters. Christopher Ross, the UN secretary-general’s … Read more