Monthly Archives: April 2010
UN Advisory Body Calls for Universal Access to Modern Energy
A UN advisory body today called for universal access to modern energy services. The Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change released an exhaustive report detailing the challenges facing energy access in the developing world—where more than 3 billion people still rely on traditional “biomass” for heating and cooking and 1.5 billion lack access to electricity.
AIDS Prevention Is More Than Condoms
When we talk about HIV, we don’t call it a sexually transmitted disease. That’s not an obscure technicality – it’s because HIV is spread through blood as often as it is through sex – specifically via shared needles.
Hillary Clinton to Lead U.S. Delegation to NPT Review Conference Next Week
The State Department just announced that the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will lead the United States delegation to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference at the UN next week. In UN terms, this means the United States will be represented at the “ministerial level,” which is a reflection of the importance to which a country places a particular meeting. (The only higher level is “head of state.”) In U.S.
Eight Former Secretaries of State Urge Congress to Pass Obama’s Foreign Affairs Budget
Eight former Secretaries of State serving both Democratic and Republican presidents signed a letter to members of congress today urging them to support President Obama’s international affairs budget request. Last week the Senate Budget Committee proposed stripping $4 billion from the budget. Every living former Secretary of State apparently believes that is a wrong-headed move.
How Iran Tested the U.S. Strategy of Engagement at the Human Rights Council
Last Friday, Laura Rozen reported that Iran had withdrawn its candidacy for the UN Human Right Council. This comes as very good news to the United States, which fought hard to keep Iran off the Council. It is also a boon for the Council itself and demonstrated that its process for electing member states–while flawed in some respects–can prevent known abusers from membership.
UN Evacuates Some Staff From Embattled Kandahar: What About Those Left Behind?
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced today that it has temporarily moved some of its international staff in Kandahar to Kabul and instructed its national staff in Kandahar to stay at home. The announcement came after a spate of suicide bombings, attacks on supply convoys, and the fatal shooting of a young employee of a US-based development firm.
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The SC; HRC; DPRK; South Sudan
The SC: The Security Council today held its last consultations under the Council Presidency of ROK. Tomorrow, Russia will take over the rotating Presidency of the Security Council for March under Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.
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The SG; Mali; Middle East; Palestine
The SG: At the Fifth Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Vienna, Austria today, the SG emphasized the role of youth in ensuring a “prosperous, equitable and peaceful future.”
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The SG; DRC; HRC; Palestinian Prisoner
The SG: In Ethiopia over the weekend, the SG is now in the United Arab Emirates. Today he met with Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, where the two discussed developments in the region, including Syria, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, and in the Middle East Peace Process.
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