Yemen war

• March 3, 2022

The last time the United Arab Emirates was elected to the Security Council, in 1986, the country was only 15 years old, and Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, the current UAE ambassador to the United Nations, was just 7. Since then she has seen her country, a Persian Gulf monarchy comprising seven emirates, evolve into a …

Human Rights, Middle East, Peace and Security, Security Council Presidency

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WORLDVIEWS

Her Personal Mission: Helping to Release Yemen’s Prisoners in Its Continuing War

Laila Lutf Al-Thawr

• June 1, 2021

CAIRO — “They dug a hole in the ground, threw us in and shot at us randomly. I only survived because a body laid on top of me. Al Qaeda has my friends — please help me save them.” With those words, 13-year-old Adel barged into my office in Sana, Yemen, in 2015, and …

Gender Violence, Middle East, WORLDVIEWS

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THIS WEEK @UN

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

Ivana Ramirez

• February 5, 2021

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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As Explosive Weapons Kill More Civilians Abroad, US Companies Just Sell More of Them

Allison Lecce

• July 15, 2020

For the ninth year in a row, 90 percent of people killed by explosive weapons in urban areas were civilians. The use of these devices is proliferating in conflicts because they are becoming easier to come by — sometimes they are even homemade. The United States is the world’s largest overall exporter of arms …

Disarmament, Middle East, Security Council

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COVID-19

Coronavirus Soars, Trump Golfs, Pence Falls: Who the Hell Is in Charge of the US?

Barbara Crossette

• June 30, 2020

Deep uncertainty and unease are descending across the United States just as Americans are preparing to celebrate their most important “political” holiday, Independence Day, on July 4. Contrary to what Trump administration officials are proclaiming, the US is not containing the Covid-19 pandemic infection rate, which has suddenly surpassed its April high point, marking …

Covid-19, Human Rights, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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COVID-19

The Pandemic’s Cruelty Visits the World’s Children

Barbara Crossette

• June 18, 2020

There are about two billion young children in the world today, ranging from infancy to 14 years old, and most of them live in developing nations in the global south. That is also where the Covid-19 pandemic is spreading the fastest. Three of the top 10 countries in numbers of rapidly rising cases, as of …

Covid-19, Development, Education, Secretary-General

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GEOPOLITICS

As His Country Wages War, President Hadi of Yemen Still Travels to US for Health Care

Dulcie Leimbach

• December 31, 2018

CLEVELAND, Ohio — On the main drag of Euclid Avenue in this Midwestern city sprawls the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic, the renowned hospital that attracts an estimated 2.5 million patients nationwide and abroad, including from the Middle East. That includes President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi of Yemen, who has heart troubles and …

Geopolitics, Middle East, US Foreign Relations

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GOINGS-ON

Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin May Be Trump’s Pick for UN Envoy

Dulcie Leimbach

• December 5, 2018

Marillyn Hewson, the head of Lockheed Martin Corporation, is the latest name to surface as a potential successor to Nikki Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, according to a diplomat there. Hewson has been the chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin since 2013. The company, based in Bethesda, Md., is the …

GOINGS-ON, US-UN Relations

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GEOPOLITICS

Is the New UN Envoy for Yemen Destined for Failure?

Chris Gelardi

• March 5, 2018

Martin Griffiths, the new United Nations special envoy for Yemen and a British international mediator, will begin work this month on a war that is called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Griffiths is highly praised in the arena of private conflict mediation, having founded his own firm in 1999 that has brokered resolutions to …

Geopolitics, Middle East, UN Special Envoys

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WORLDVIEWS

Iran Missiles to Yemen: Is There Room for Circumstantial Evidence in UN Sanctions?

Enrico Carisch

• January 16, 2018

Citing an unpublished report of the United Nations panel of experts on Yemen, The New York Times said recently that Iran violated the Yemen arms embargo, according to UN experts. The same day, The Washington Post used essentially the same set of reported facts under a more judicious headline that said, in part, “Iran weapons to …

Disarmament, Middle East, Security Council, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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GEOPOLITICS

Loose Missiles, Loose Talk: Nikki Haley’s Claims of Iran’s ‘Lawless Behavior’

Enrico Carisch

• December 16, 2017

Why are the United States Department of Defense and the US ambassador to the United Nations acting as spokespeople for Saudi Arabia’s atrocious war against the religious Yemeni-Houthi minority? And why is Ambassador Nikki Haley throwing herself in front of the international community with laughable evidence to claim, among other statements: “The Iranian regime …

Geopolitics, Middle East, Security Council, US Foreign Relations

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UNGA72

Canada’s Trudeau Uses the UN to Apologize to His Country’s Indigenous People

Dulcie Leimbach

• September 21, 2017

One of the biggest criticisms lodged against Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, has been his lack of commentary on the country’s history with its indigenous people of its First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations. In what could be considered a daring move, Trudeau used his time at the General Assembly podium to …

General Assembly, Nuclear Disarmament

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WORLDVIEWS

Smear Campaign Against UN Rights Expert in Yemen, Another Bad Move

Belkis Wille

• March 21, 2016

SANAA, Yemen — I carry out human-rights work in the age of social media, but the hashtag #AbuAlzulofLostHumanitarianEthics is one of the most disturbing I’ve seen in a long time. It’s one more wrong move that has turned the hope for a new day in Yemen into a humanitarian and human-rights disaster. Documents leaked …

WORLDVIEWS

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The UN’s Demands to Stop the Violence in Yemen Fall on Deaf Ears

Tom Woodcock

• October 26, 2015

While the regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia continues its aerial bombardment against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and as ground troops — from Bahrain, Sudan and United Arab Emirates — join the Saudis in the fray, the pain dealt to civilians, especially children, has been rising ever since the war began in March. …