UN Women

• January 19, 2018

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has agreed to chair the board of the World Health Organization’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health after she finishes her government role on March 11. The announcement came after a Jan. 10 meeting at the presidential palace in Santiago, during which the WHO leadership offered Bachelet the position. …

Health and Population, Women

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Financing the UN: Payers, Pipers and Tunes

Stephen Browne and Thomas G. Weiss

• December 7, 2017

GENEVA — Change is in the air again on First Avenue. Among numerous reform options being bandied about, none will be more consequential than those on financing the United Nations system. There are the sledgehammer arguments: drastic slashes in funding by Washington and other donors could precipitate dramatic change. As we have argued in …

UN Agencies, World Bank

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TOPIC: WOMEN

#MeToo Must Include All Women: A Chat With UN Women’s Director

Kacie Candela

• November 24, 2017

November 25 marks the annual International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which encompasses 16 days of activism through Dec. 10, with this year’s theme being “leave no one behind.” The annual commemoration couldn’t be better timed this year, coinciding with the #MeToo movement reverberating across the United States — and far …

Gender Violence, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Where Are the Female Leaders at the UN? Gender Bias Persists

Ingvild Bode

• August 28, 2017

The exhibition “HERStory: A Celebration of Leading Women in the United Nations” was held at the Unesco headquarters in Paris this summer, after it made its debut in New York last year. Designed to showcase the contributions of female leaders throughout the UN’s history, it featured such high-profile personalities as Margaret Anstee, the first …

Secretary-General, Women

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GEOPOLITICS

US Congress Starts Slicing Away at 2018 National Budget, Sure to Hurt UN

Barbara Crossette

• July 24, 2017

The first round in the battle to write a federal budget, working off the Trump administration’s ruthless proposals announced in May, has ended in the House of Representatives appropriations committee. As feared by advocates for women, the poor, refugees, global health programs and even foreign language study, the Republican-led appropriations committee, which sets budget …

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

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WORLDVIEWS

Three Ways to Help Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls

Stephanie Asher

• May 3, 2017

Everyone has a fundamental right to live free of violence. Yet violence against women and girls is a health epidemic and a leading cause of injury and disability for women across the globe. In many regions, it kills as many women and girls from ages 15 to 44 as cancer and surpasses injury from …

Gender Violence, Health and Population, Human Rights, WORLDVIEWS

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TAKE A LOOK

Broken Progress for Women in Politics; More Trafficking of Men; Diverse New York

Barbara Crossette

• March 28, 2017

New numbers from the Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women show that progress of women in politics has stalled in parliaments and at executive levels of government or advanced marginally. The data form the basis of an elaborate Women in Politics 2017 map launched during the recent session at UN headquarters of the Commission on …

Africa, Asia, Gender Violence, Human Trafficking, Take a Look

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WORLDVIEWS

Advice to António Guterres: A Leaner UN Could Be a Better UN

Stephen Browne and Thomas G. Weiss

• March 27, 2017

GENEVA — Whether or not he is a fan of Chinese characters, António Guterres will have to discover the double meaning of a crisis as opportunity. United Nations corridors on First Avenue in New York are buzzing with anxiety about the possibility of impending cuts in funding from the United States, with hints from …

Secretary-General, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Was the US a Bad Host at the UN Women’s Conference?

Laura E. Kirkpatrick

• March 25, 2017

The annual women’s conference at the United Nations may have encountered severe weather on its second day, when a blizzard swept through the region and events had to be canceled at the UN, but the real storm originated with the actions of the host country, the United States. Indeed, the role that the US …

US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Women’s Rights Must Be Backed by Legal Rights, a New Coalition Insists

Barbara Crossette

• February 28, 2017

More than two decades have passed since a series of dynamic international conferences in the 1990s — on human rights, reproductive choices and broad empowerment for women — inspired and encouraged women around the world to raise their hopes in many ways. Subsequently, there have been gains in female education at all levels, a …

Development, Gender Violence, Women, World Bank

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Citing Trump Immigration Ban, a Major Group Drops Out of UN’s Annual Women’s Conference

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 11, 2017

The annual meeting of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York every March, may be in trouble because of uncertainty and fear about the Trump administration’s attempt to ban immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. One major group has announced it is pulling out, and calls are being heard …

UN Agencies, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations, Women

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A New Campaign, #EveryHourMatters, Urges Instant Post-Rape Care

Lori Silberman Brauner

• March 28, 2016

Maureen Phiri, a young girl from a poor family in Malawi, was only 11 years old when she was raped by the man who had hired her to do housework for him and his wife. Not only did Maureen continue to experience sexual abuse from the man she worked for, he left her with another …

Gender Violence, Health and Population, UN Agencies, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Women

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As Syrian Peace Talks Take Shape, How Will Women Take Part?

Dulcie Leimbach

• December 26, 2015

When the United Nations Security Council recently approved timelines to begin peace talks and institute a national cease-fire in Syria, the language in the resolution gave no hint of the magnitude of such undertakings, nor did the congratulatory speeches afterward by diplomats delve into the details. That means the nitty-gritty work is left to …

Gender Violence, Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council, Syria, Women

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In South Africa, the Importance of Telling Our Own Stories

Kamayani Bali Mahabal

• December 2, 2015

CAPE TOWN — As the curtains go up and bright lights dramatically illuminate the room, the only thing the audience can see is a bare stage with three chairs. A stark setting indeed, and yet it’s the perfect backdrop for a performance that combines music, dance, laughter and heart-rending stories of feminine courage and …

Africa, Gender Violence, Women

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Women’s Rights and the UN: A Long History of Ups and Downs

Saraswathi Menon

• August 10, 2015

The 2010 creation of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (or UN Women) represented an unusual organizational consolidation instead of the typical proliferation. It had a promising start under strong leadership but faces serious challenges with growing resistance to gender equality. Support for women’s rights has a long and checkered …