UN Women

• November 18, 2022

It’s a sad one this week as two girls were beheaded in a camp in Syria. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues before the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. This week, we looked at the terrible news coming out of …

Africa, Climate Change, General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, UN Peacekeeping

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WORLDVIEWS

The Decline of Women’s Rights Is Inciting More Gender-Based Violence. Solutions Exist.

Susana Malcorra

• November 7, 2022

The deterioration of women’s rights across the world is enabling more gender-based violence. Even those who strive to defend and even expand their privileges at the exclusion of others recognize that half the global population suffers inequalities and injustice. This reality was recognized 27 years ago by the 189 countries that signed the Beijing …

Gender Violence, WORLDVIEWS

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Faulty DNA Testing and Politics Continue to Fail South Africa’s Rape Victims

Nyasha Bhobo

• October 17, 2022

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — When news that a mob of men raped eight young women last summer during a music-video production set in an abandoned mining site in Krugersdorp, Sipehle wasn’t optimistic that the culprits would be prosecuted. “My rapist walked free,” Sipehle said, explaining that it was because of a delay in DNA …

Africa, Gender Violence, Women

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame’s Blindness Does Not Stop Her From Helping Others

Laura E. Kirkpatrick

• August 15, 2022

When she was only 10 years old, Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame realized that she could no longer read her classroom’s blackboard at her school in eastern Ghana. She eventually learned that she had retinal dystrophy, an irreversible degenerative condition that would take most of her sight, excluding some sensitivity to sunlight. Being blind has not …

Disabilities, Women as Changemakers

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TOPIC: WOMEN

The Women, Peace and Security Agenda Is Not Yielding Results, Diplomats Say

Damilola Banjo

• June 15, 2022

Despite 100 countries enacting national plans to carry out the global women, peace and security agenda, women remain largely absent from conflict mediation and other peacemaking endeavors across the world. The agenda, cemented in a Security Council resolution approved in 2000, is supposed to ensure the equal participation of women in peace talks and …

Gender Violence, Secretary-General, Security Council, Women

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How’s Guterres Doing? B-, Says One Report Card From a Feminist Group

Emma Beilouny

• April 25, 2022

The Washington-based Feminist UN Campaign has been grading the performance of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres since 2017. And he’s not exactly excelling. The group’s 2021 report card gave him a big B-. In 2020, he at least earned a solid but boring B. Guterres’s performance declined in four areas, the campaign said: development …

Human Rights, LGBT, SDGs, Secretary-General

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THIS WEEK @UN

Trending UN News: Week Ending March 18

Damilola Banjo

• March 18, 2022

This week, we place the lens on the United Nations itself as the atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine surge into the fourth week of war. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues before the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting, and other sources. This …

Peace and Security, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Feminist Foreign Policies Increase in Number. Do They Matter?

Mikaela Conley

• February 14, 2022

BERLIN — The number of countries declaring they are carrying out a feminist foreign policy is quickly increasing throughout the world, with Spain, France, Canada, Mexico, Luxembourg, Libya and now Germany joining Sweden’s pioneering concept, declaring that the countries’ diplomacies will place girls and women at the center of their work. In a speech …

Geopolitics, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Gender Bonds Haven’t Been a Big Hit Globally, but a Japanese Bank May Change That

Catherine Morrison

• December 6, 2021

Gender financial bonds to support women have been sold since 2013, but they haven’t exactly taken off like wildfire. Now the Japan International Cooperation Agency is one of the first public development banks to issue a gender bond, supporting efforts for women to have equal access to such crucial areas as education, employment and …

Gender Violence, Women

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WOMEN AS CHANGEMAKERS

An American Feminist, Honored by France, Carries On a Tireless Global Fight for Women’s Rights

Barbara Crossette

• October 6, 2021

Jessica Neuwirth, a pivotal force in promoting and supporting the rights of women and girls worldwide, was appointed to the rank of chevalier in the French Legion of Honor by the French government in a ceremony in New York City on Oct. 5. The citation said: “This high distinction expresses the gratitude of the …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Women as Changemakers

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THIS WEEK @UN

Women a Blip Among UNGA Speakers; Feminists’ Tough Advice for UN Women; Is Undersea Mining Underway?

Anna Bianca Roach

• October 1, 2021

Where were the women at UNGA?; feminists want big action by UN Women; undersea mining may be underway. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. We covered the UN high-level week extensively, bringing readers reports …

Climate Change, Gender Violence, Secretary-General, This Week @UN

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TOPIC: WOMEN

What Should the New Head of UN Women Tackle First? Strong Advice From Feminists

Barbara Crossette

• September 28, 2021

More than 50 former staff members of UN Women sent a pointed open letter to the new executive director of the agency, Sima Sami Bahous, an ex-Jordanian diplomat, on Sept. 28. They suggest a comprehensive agenda for her, undertaking managerial reform and more actively and successfully promoting gender equality across the world. “UN Women …

Gender Violence, UN Agencies, Women

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THIS WEEK @UN

#UNGA76 Is Here; Women on Edge in Afghanistan; Biden’s Hit-and-Miss With Allies

Anna Bianca Roach

• September 10, 2021

Calling all world leaders to the General Assembly; the Taliban shun women; Biden’s confounding foreign policy. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. Scoop: Incoming members of the obscure but influential UN General Assembly Credentials …

General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, UN Agencies, US-UN Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

A Jordanian Diplomat With Development Expertise Will Lead UN Women

Barbara Crossette

• September 6, 2021

Sima Sami Bahous, until recently Jordan’s ambassador to the United Nations since 2016, has been chosen as the next executive director of UN Women. Her appointment may be announced as soon as Tuesday, Sept. 7, according to numerous people who have been closely following the search for a successor to Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of South …

Gender Violence, SDGs, Secretary-General, UN Agencies, Women

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BOOKS

Overcoming Childhood Poverty and UN Bureaucracy, Noeleen Heyzer Tells Her Story

Barbara Crossette

• August 7, 2021

Noeleen Heyzer not only saved Unifem, the precursor of UN Women, from financial collapse but also turned the small grant-making agency into a powerful policy tool for boldly addressing the crushing economic and social disadvantages that silence women worldwide. She understood women in distress; echoes of her own early life resonated in what she …