women’s rights

The New US Envoy Begins Working; Iran’s Threatening Nuke Actions; Murders in the Congo

February 26, 2021

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States envoy to the UN, starts her job; Iran’s troubling nuclear developments; UN-convoy murders in the Congo. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from the UN spokesperson’s press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. As International Women’s …

Africa, Asia, Nuclear Disarmament, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

The UN Must Select a Woman Secretary-General Now, Not Later

February 23, 2021

by Simone Filippini

António Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, announced early last month that he would seek a second five-year term, starting in January 2022, as the organization’s highest official, “if it would be the will of the member states.” The respective presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council have since defined the “selection and appointment …

Secretary-General, WORLDVIEWS

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TOPIC: WOMEN

What the World Learned About Women’s Talents in a Hellish Year

February 22, 2021

by Barbara Crossette

It was a tough and discouraging year, 2020, for women around the world as they prepare for the 12-day annual session of the Commission on the Status of Women. It begins at the United Nations — mostly virtually — on March 15. Last year, it was canceled, though a large UN forum commemorating the …

Gender-Based Violence, Women

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THIS WEEK @UN

Military Takeover in Myanmar; a UN Feminist Dies; Aleksei Navalny’s Sentencing

February 5, 2021

by Ivana Ramirez

A coup staged in Myanmar; the UN’s first unofficial feminist dies; Aleksei Navalny’s sentencing. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from the UN spokesperson’s press briefings, original PassBlue reporting and other sources. Sunday, Jan. 31 • Margaret C. Snyder, the …

General Assembly, Humanitarian Aid, Myanmar, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

US Aid Returns to UNFPA Amid Efforts to End Global Gag Rule Permanently

January 31, 2021

by Barbara Crossette

Fulfilling promises that he made in his 2020 election campaign, President Joe Biden restored United States contributions to the United Nations Population Fund on Jan. 28. Through another executive order, he also overturned crippling US aid restrictions worldwide that had been demanded by anti-abortion lobbies. The Mexico City policy restrictions — also known as …

Gender-Based Violence, Health and Population, Human Rights, US-UN Relations, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

The UN’s First Feminist, ‘Peg’ Snyder, Is Dead at 91

January 30, 2021

by Barbara Crossette

Margaret C. Snyder, the founding director of Unifem, now folded into UN Women, died on Jan. 26, 2021, after a brief illness while staying in Syracuse, N.Y., near her relatives and the city where she was born. “Peg,” as she was known, was 91, days short of her birthday on Jan. 30. Her grandniece, …

Africa, Development, Women

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The New UN Tech Envoy Is Put on Leave, Pending an Investigation

January 27, 2021

by Laura E. Kirkpatrick

Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond has just been named as the United Nations first-ever technology envoy. Hochschild, a Chilean national who has been with the UN since 1988, has served the organization in numerous jobs in the field, starting in Sudan, and at headquarters in Geneva and New York City. Hochschild, 57, was most recently the …

Gender-Based Violence, General Assembly, Human Rights

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Biden’s UN Nominee Fends Off Questions About Being Soft on China

January 27, 2021

by Barbara Crossette

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, appearing before a Senate committee confirmation hearing on Jan. 27 for her nomination as United States envoy to the United Nations, handled a barrage of Republican accusations that the new Biden administration and she were not tough enough on China. The rhetoric from the Republican camp reached a crescendo when Senator Ted …

Africa, General Assembly, Human Rights, Nuclear Disarmament, Security Council, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Feminists Grade the UN’s Guterres With a ‘B’ for 2020

January 27, 2021

by Barbara Crossette

The widely shared hopes in 2016 that a woman could finally be elected secretary-general of the United Nations at the end of Ban Ki-moon’s two terms were crushed when the big powers chose a man from a large field of candidates from across the world — seven women and six men. The General Assembly …

Gender-Based Violence, Secretary-General, Women

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THIS WEEK @UN

6 African Peacekeepers Killed; UN Chief Pursues a Second Term; US Sanctions Houthis in Yemen

January 15, 2021

by Ivana Ramirez

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres pursues a second term; a total of six peacekeepers were killed in Mali and the Central African Republic; Britain helps raise $1 billion for the UN’s Covax vaccine program. You are reading This Week @UN, a summary of the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered …

Africa, General Assembly, Human Rights, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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Why the EU Is Hopeful About the UN in 2021: An Interview With Ambassador Olof Skoog

January 12, 2021

by Dulcie Leimbach

Olof Skoog knows the United Nations like the back of his hand. As the European Union ambassador to the world body since 2019, he speaks for the 27-member bloc at the UN headquarters in New York City; most recently, he was Sweden’s envoy to the UN. He is known for his optimism — even …

Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Secretary-General, UN Diplomats, US-UN Relations

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UN Secretary-General António Guterres Says He Will Seek a Second Term

January 11, 2021

by Barbara Crossette

António Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister who has been United Nations secretary-general since January 2017, is seeking a second five-year term in office, beginning Jan. 1, 2022. UN officials confirmed on Jan. 11 that on Friday, Jan. 8, Guterres told the five permanent members of the Security Council of his decision. He also …

Secretary-General, US-UN Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

For Women in Politics Globally, the Job Can Mean Abuse, Jail or Death

January 4, 2021

by Barbara Crossette

In the early afternoon of May 13, 2020, Joana Mamombe, a member of parliament in Zimbabwe, was seized by security officers after she participated in a pop-up protest, demanding aid for the poor during the Covid pandemic. She and two other rights advocates were accused of violating a lockdown, an act intended to demonstrate …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Women

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Woman of the Year? You and Me and Every One of Us

December 31, 2020

by Laura E. Kirkpatrick

How bad was 2020? So awful that Match.com made a commercial in which a woman named 2020 falls in love with the Devil and they live happily ever after. As annoying as it is that 2020 is portrayed as a woman, the ad sums up the year pretty well. The year began promisingly, at …

Gender-Based Violence, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

A New Year’s Hope: Restoring the Progressive Role of the US at the UN

December 28, 2020

by Jessica Neuwirth

A wave of relief and hope is sweeping across the United Nations, and the world, desperately awaiting the inauguration of Joe Biden and the beginning of the restoration of normalcy. Hopefully, we will quickly see the rebuilding of our country’s leadership and much-needed progress in the UN, as well as in other international forums …