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Jan 5, 2024 | 
passblue.com | Arthur Bassas |Banjo Damilola |Hanan Morsy |Foteini Papagioti
Happy New Year!! Welcome back to This Week @UN: Five newbies in the Security Council (good luck); France on Gaza; a woman global influencer; a debt-relief plan for burdened countries. Plus: Cyprus and Sudan. Follow us on Twitter (X), Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn* Thank you to every reader who contributed to our annual News Match fund-raising campaign, which ended Dec.
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Jan 1, 2024 | 
passblue.com | Hanan Morsy |Banjo Damilola |Jo Kelcey |Foteini Papagioti |Anastasiia Carrier |Jacqueline de Chollet
Many African countries face a high debt burden that is hindering their work on achieving sustainable development. As of August 2023, eight African nations were in debt distress and an additional 14 were at high risk of joining them. Several factors have contributed to this problem. In the 2010s, many African countries, compelled by the declining availability of concessional financing and encouraged by favorable low interest rates, turned to Eurobond issuances.
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Dec 31, 2023 | 
passblue.com | Banjo Damilola |Jo Kelcey |Fiona Shukri |Jacqueline de Chollet |Foteini Papagioti |Anastasiia Carrier
Tjada D'Oyen McKenna is the first woman - and Black - to head the international charity Mercy Corps, an organization based in the United States that she has led since 2020. She has moved in and out of the public and private sectors over her career only to discover that "I'm living my purpose," she said, in working for the former, even if it means "doing more with less" as the number of people with staggering needs keep growing worldwide.
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Nov 28, 2023 | 
passblue.com | Hasmik Egian |Mouin Rabbani |Banjo Damilola |Jo Kelcey |Foteini Papagioti |Anastasiia Carrier | +1 more
Karim Khan's unprecedented politicization of the International Criminal Court since assuming the role of Prosecutor in June 2021 has significantly eroded the credibility of the Court just as he should be taking serious steps to address its declining legitimacy. Khan delivered his inaugural briefing to the United Nations Security Council in his new role as ICC prosecutor in November 2021. The focus that day was on the "Situation in Libya," one of only two current Council referrals to the court.
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Aug 30, 2023 | 
passblue.com | Jamal Benomar |Joe Penney |Dawn Clancy |Richard Ponzio |Joris Larik |Foteini Papagioti
It is no secret that United Nations mediation is in a state of decline. The UN is no longer in the lead role in conflict countries where the secretary-general and his representatives or special envoys are mandated to provide mediation and good offices. In most of these conflicts, powerful members of the Security Council, regional and subregional organizations are taking the lead, pushing the UN to the sidelines.
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Aug 23, 2023 | 
passblue.com | Arthur Bassas |Jamal Benomar |Foteini Papagioti |Joe Penney |Evelyn Leopold |Richard Ponzio | +1 more
Hundreds of cluster munitions have been used on Ukrainian territory since the full-scale war began in February 2022 as countries across the world have continuously condemned their deployment. Now it appears that the munitions the United States is sending to Ukraine since July to slow Russian military advances on Ukrainian territory is raising more than the usual concern expressed by the United Nations about the weapons' use and their possible escalation of the war.
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Jul 21, 2023 | 
passblue.com | Dawn Clancy |Joe Penney |Richard Ponzio |Joris Larik |Foteini Papagioti
Russia, Türkiye and Qatar may be ready to discuss a draft agreement to export Russian agricultural products to countries most vulnerable to the threat of famine, according to a tripartite document allegedly being considered by the governments. The deal, which could be an alternative to the now-defunct Black Sea grain deal that collapsed on July 17, would bypass the United Nations and Ukraine to enable Russian grains to reach those in need of urgent humanitarian support, the document says.
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Jun 26, 2023 | 
passblue.com | Stephen Schlesinger |Marzia Babakarkhail |Richard Ponzio |Nudhara Yusuf |Banjo Damilola |Foteini Papagioti
It was all over in a day. The Wagner chieftain Yevgeny Prigozhin's rebellion against Vladmir Putin, over his dissatisfaction with the regular Russian army's failures in Ukraine, collapsed so quickly that the United Nations Security Council, the UN General Assembly and the UN secretary-general never even had time to issue statements on the crisis - although the latter did so on Sunday afternoon.
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Jun 13, 2023 | 
shorturl.at | Marzia Babakarkhail |Joe Penney |Dawn Clancy |Foteini Papagioti
Afghan women resisting the Taliban’s repression, above. The essayist writes that although many women judges, like her, have escaped Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of August 2021, 68 women judges still desperately need to get out. Yet disappointingly, she notes, a UN Women “safety net” fund for human-rights defenders was denied the judges because of a seeming technicality.
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May 16, 2023 | 
passblue.com | Kourosh Ziabari |Marzia Babakarkhail |Richard Ponzio |Nudhara Yusuf |Banjo Damilola |Foteini Papagioti
Nationwide protests convulsing Iran triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody last September have tapered off, but as the women-led uprising recedes from the streets, a new spectacle is dominating slowly. It is unnerving the authorities once again. In the post-Woman, Life, Freedom movement, women are scrapping their headscarves in growing numbers and appearing in public without the compulsory hijab.
