Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: United Nations

New War in Eastern DRC: A Snapshot at U.N. Ineffectiveness in Settling Conflict

New War in Eastern DRC: A Snapshot at U.N. Ineffectiveness in Settling Conflict

On November 20th, the M23 rebels entered Goma, the capital of the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — positioned on the border of Rwanda and the shores of Lake Kivu. By seizing the city with a population of one million people, the rebels struck their biggest blow since they mutinied […]

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Government in Kinshasa Also to Blame for Ongoing Violence in the DRC

Government in Kinshasa Also to Blame for Ongoing Violence in the DRC

  Fighting resumed today between the M23 rebels — now calling themselves the Congolese Revolutionary Army — and government troops just outside of Goma in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), ending a two-month ceasefire for the conflict that began in April of this year. While much of the attention […]

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The Sandy Ground of Rights Culture

The Sandy Ground of Rights Culture

The U.N. headquarters in New York City shut down for an unprecedented three days after Hurricane Sandy tore through the eastern seaboard of the United States. Though global operations continued uninterrupted, the problems presented by the storm prompted Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, like many others, to reflect on the lessons learned from the storm. Obvious […]

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Every Human Has Rights

Every Human Has Rights

“Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must –at that moment– become the center of the universe.” –Elie Wiesel Human rights abuses including, but not limited to, slavery, genocide, political persecution, and religious discrimination, are imperfect and irreparable stitches in a nation’s narrative tapestry. While these […]

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Do Women Leaders Matter?

Do Women Leaders Matter?

Do women leaders matter for women? Not at the national level suggests Nicholas Kristof in a recent New York Times article focused on a specific woman leader he doesn’t care for very much. According to him, she’s bad for everyone in her country, but especially for the women. Kristof points out that, “metrics like girls’ education […]

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The Dragon Next Door

The Dragon Next Door

Chinese construction companies are behind many of the new buildings going up in Yangon While in Yangon, Myanmar last month, I had a chance to talk with several Myanmarese who naturally asked me where I lived. When I told them I lived in China, what struck me most with their response was their anxiety over […]

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Regifting Rights

Regifting Rights

In the difficult and often futile attempts by the human rights community to hierarchize rights for academic reasons or for the purpose of prioritizing implementation, free speech rights have always been given the highest priority. The content of expressive rights has been classified as “first-generation,” signaling a larger sense of fundamental importance than other rights […]

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U.N. Forces in the Congo Are Having Little Impact

U.N. Forces in the Congo Are Having Little Impact

As a new rebellion remains active in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, talk of a neutral force, comprised entirely of neighboring African nation troops from the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), is heating up. This rebellion, which began in April, has already displaced over 250,000 residents in […]

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International Day of the Girl Child

International Day of the Girl Child

Over half of the worlds population is female, yet they unjustly receive an unfair balance in life from conception. No society is spared from it’s second class treatment of the female population. No matter how long and hard the fight has been — and while some countries are clearly better than others — girls are […]

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The United Nations and the “Paranoid Style”

The United Nations and the “Paranoid Style”

As historian Richard Hofstadter pointed out in his classic 1964 essay “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” U.S. history has featured recurring waves of conspiracy theories. Sometimes they have become prominent; sometimes they abide below the surface. Nineteenth-century versions saw threats that were vague and ill-defined (Illuminati, Masons, Papists, Monarchists); more recent ones have depicted […]

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U.N. General Assembly Looks at the Rights of Women and Children

U.N. General Assembly Looks at the Rights of Women and Children

Last week hundreds of world leaders converged in New York City for the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly; on the agenda were hot topics such as Syria, Israel and Iran. However, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the rights of women and children have also been on the agenda.  Governments and aid organizations alike made […]

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Is the World Doing Enough for the Congo?

Is the World Doing Enough for the Congo?

While the civil war in Syria continues to grab headlines, prompting some in the international community to call for immediate intervention, another major conflict, displacing thousands of civilians, rages in Central Africa. Despite the rising number of refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as the reports of massive human rights violations being committed against the local […]

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Global Health at the UN General Assembly

Global Health at the UN General Assembly

In a time of political, social, and economic turmoil, the focus on global health has blurred slightly. We’ve made great gains against polio, malaria, HIV, and a number of other diseases in the past decade, but there is, as always, much to be done. With tensions high across the Middle East and Europe, an election […]

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The Paradox of Development in Iran

The Paradox of Development in Iran

Looking at the Human Development Index (HDI), the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) seems to have done relatively well in three key areas of health, education and income. While Iran’s score is far from perfect, it is indicative of a rather constant improvement in development areas. In HDI (2011) Iran scored 88 out of 187 […]

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Flooding furthers North Korea’s need for food aid

Flooding furthers North Korea’s need for food aid

Although recent media attention on North Korea has focused on its new first lady, the emergence of a significant humanitarian crisis has quickly replaced the sensational headlines.  Compounding recent reports of malnutrition among North Korean children and the “…[estimation] that two-thirds of North Korea’s 24m population suffer from a chronic shortage of food…” , the […]

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