UNCTAD

• March 8, 2022

Rebeca Grynspan, the first woman and first Latin American to lead the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, has a lot of work to do. The organization, founded in 1964 as a standing committee, now has 195 member nations. It meets quadrennially to tackle major economic concerns of developing countries while offering daily …

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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THIS WEEK @UN

Major UN Elections; Guterres Crosses One Finish Line; Long Working Hours Can Kill You

Ivana Ramirez

• June 11, 2021

The Ghana delegation posing outside the United Nations General Assembly Hall, June 11, 2021, after the Assembly voted on Security Council members for the 2022-23 term. Besides Ghana, the others are Albania, Brazil, Gabon and United Arab Emirates. They succeed Estonia, Niger, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam. JOHN PENNEY Major United …

General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN

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THIS WEEK @UN

A Peacemaker Revolts; Gaza in Ashes; the UN Security Council Moves Back Home

Ivana Ramirez

• May 28, 2021

Grass-roots activists know peace-building best; Gaza reconstruction goals begin; the UN Security Council returns home. 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 from Stéphanie Fillion: A new candidate, Patrick U. Petit, an international mediator living …

Africa, Climate Change, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Latin America, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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Nomination to Lead the UN’s Trade Agency Provokes a Power Play

Maurizio Guerrero

• May 27, 2021

The proposed selection of Rebeca Grynspan, a Costa Rican economist and former vice president of her country, to head the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development was made without consulting the core of the agency — the Group of 77 and China, comprised of 134 countries from the Global South. The nomination for …

Development, UN Agencies, US-UN Relations

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With Scandals Rife Across the UN, Are Managers at Fault?

Barbara Crossette

• April 24, 2019

A sea of new or lingering allegations of harassment and corruption in numerous agencies and programs in the United Nations system appears to be washing over a sprawling organization battered by scandal. Poor or careless management and oversight, from top to bottom, is partly to blame, but so is persistent, overt politicization of high-level …

Gender Violence, SDGs, Special Report, UN Agencies

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WORLDVIEWS

Least-Developed Countries, a Status That Many Nations Can’t Leave Behind

Bill Buchanan

• January 1, 2018

Since 1971, the United Nations has recognized least-developed countries as those deemed highly disadvantaged in their development strides because of structural, historical and geographical reasons. The aim has been, and still is, to support these countries to graduate to higher levels of self-sufficiency and economic independence, not in the sense for a privileged minority …

Africa, Asia, Development, Poverty, WORLDVIEWS

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Unido: What Does Its Future Hold?

Stephen Browne

• August 7, 2013

At the end of 2012, Britain withdrew its membership from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, or Unido, the most recent of several major donor countries (including the United States and Canada) to do so. Although it has had strong support from many developing countries, Unido has for many years been regarded with skepticism …