On October 26, 1971, California Governor Ronald Reagan phoned President Nixon to offer some foreign policy advice: get the United States out of the United Nations. The day before, you see, the General Assembly had voted to give mainland China (The People’s Republic of China) the Chinese “seat” at the UN. This was held previously by United States’ anti-communist ally, Taiwan.
How can UN peacekeeping do a better job of protecting civlians in harm's way? Find out in this edition of UN Plaza, in which I speak with Erin Weir of Refugees International about her new report on civilian protection in UN Peacekeeping. Enjoy!
While war, poverty, health and a range of other pressing global issues affect women worldwide, climate wouldn't be one of the first you'd think of. Well, think again.
The Daily Beast's Women in the World conference featured a panel discussion about the challenges faced by girls and adolescents in the developing world. Katie Couric moderated the panel, which included Queen Rania of Jordan; UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin; Kakenya Ntaiya of the Kakenya Center for Excellence; Helen Amdemikael, Assistant Representative for the United Nations Population Fund, Ethiopia; and an amazing 16-year-old student from the Philippines, Donnady. The panel also kicked off the UN Foundtion's new
Like many people who work in international development, I am grateful for the way that Nicholas Kristof brings attention to global inequalities. His columns are an important tool to get people thinking about international development. But you can’t get it right every time, and his recent column on a “Teach for the World” program is a big loser. UN Dispatch is pleased to cover the Daily Beast's Women in the World Conference. This two day confab features an impressive list of speakers ranging from the high profile (Hillary Clinton, Meryl Streep, Queen Rania) to somewhat less known human rights activists and social entrepreneurs from around the world. The conference kicks off with an opening address by UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin. The Forward is the oldest American Jewish periodical. From about the turn of the 19th century to the mid 1980s it published exclusively in Yiddish. Today it has seperate Yiddish and English editions, though circulation of the English edition dwarfs the Yiddishkite. The point is, it's got major street-cred among American Jews. Natutally, I was very pleased to see this commentary about the United Nations from Jack Rosen, Chairman of the Council of World Jewry, found in the pages of The Forward: It is a good week to be thinking about gender equality and women’s rights. International Women's Day, which was on Monday, was celebrated around the world. At the United Nations this week over 700 government officials, thousands NGO leaders, and even a few celebrities have assembled for the 54th meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women. Recently, the issue of internal brain drain in the developing world has come up on both development and economics blogs. The GiveWell blog mentions concerns that NGOs are pulling well-qualified individuals out of the private sector.