UNA-UK

On the Campaign Trail for the World’s ‘Most Impossible’ Job

Dali ten Hove
• May 3, 2021

The job of United Nations secretary-general is the “most impossible on earth,” as the first postholder, Trygve Lie, famously told his successor, Dag Hammarskjold. Though Lie spoke partly in jest to amuse the assembled reporters, the remark has stuck…

Categories: General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

The UN’s Humanitarian Aid Agency, Ready for a New Boss and Possibly a New Management Style

Laura E. Kirkpatrick
• March 22, 2021

The United Nations’ top agency for humanitarian aid is poised for a new boss to arrive, one who could instill a management style far removed from what some of its staffers call a “neocolonial mind-set” under the outgoing head,…

Categories: Humanitarian Aid, Secretary-General, UN Agencies

THIS WEEK @UN

The Covid-19 Anniversary; Seeking a Woman Secretary-General; a Sad Women’s Day

Ivana Ramirez
• March 13, 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic anniversary; digitally recruiting women to run for the United Nations’ top job; International Women’s Day, a bit of a downer. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is…

Categories: Cities, Gender Violence, Migration, Myanmar, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

Getting Young Americans to Think Globally in the ‘America First’ Era

Barbara Crossette
• June 25, 2018

In the wake of a spate of school shootings in the United States this year, students of high school and college age are forming political campaigns for change as the country moves toward critical legislative elections in November. These…

Categories: Education, US Foreign Relations

NIKKI HALEY WATCH

Nikki Haley Is Better Known in the UK Than Her British Counterpart. How Come?

Rhona Scullion
• October 9, 2017

DUNDEE, Scotland — While most British people have a generally positive view of the United Nations, public awareness of who their diplomats are and how they carry out their work in New York is minimal to nonexistent. Yet the…

Categories: Nikki Haley Watch, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, US Foreign Relations

OPINIONS

UN Peacekeeping: Big Budget Cuts but at What Cost?

Opinion by Fred Carver
• August 17, 2017

LONDON — With little fanfare at the end of June, the United Nations General Assembly agreed to a peacekeeping budget for the financial year from July 2017 to July 2018. The budget contained significant cuts as well as a…

Categories: Africa, OPINIONS, UN Peacekeeping

OPINIONS

Why Feminists Shouldn’t Say the Next UN Secretary-General Must Be a Woman

Opinion by Natalie Samarasinghe
• July 26, 2016

Twitter proved more effective than papal smoke signals in getting out the results of the first straw poll of candidates aspiring to be the ninth secretary-general of the United Nations. This is one reason that although some confidentiality is…

Categories: OPINIONS

Getting to Know the UN Secretary-General Candidates Better: A Wrap-Up of Two New York Forums

Laura E. Kirkpatrick
• July 14, 2016

When it comes to the United Nations, the word “debate” takes on a civilized bearing, with no relation to heated contests among many sides. Over two nights this week at different settings in New York, UN secretary-general candidates campaigning…