ONU

Anthony Kalulu is a farmer in eastern Uganda, and founder of non-profit Uganda Community Farm (UCF) Photograph: Handout

MundoÁfricaInternacionalONU, ,

Where I live, people are organised in clans. I belong to a clan where even 100 people, gathered together, can’t raise $100 (£75) to organise a funeral.

I come from a family that couldn’t afford to pay tuition of $10 a term when I was a student two decades ago. Many of my young relatives are out of school now, because their parents can’t afford a full academic term of $15.

Others are even worse off. There are families I have spoken with who say they are unable to earn $2 a month as a family.

There is no question that the UN global goals have stalled.…  Seguir leyendo »

Muy pocas madres se pueden permitir que sus ‘bebés de paz’ vayan a colegios como este de Kolminy. Michelle D. Milliman/Shutterstock.com

MundoAmérica Latina y CaribeInternacionalONU, ,

Marie* tenía 14 años y acudía a una escuela cristiana cuando conoció a Miguel, un soldado brasileño destinado en Haití como Casco Azul de la ONU. Pronto inició una relación con él. Cuando le dijo que estaba embarazada de su hijo, Miguel le aseguró que le ayudaría con el niño, pero volvió a Brasil. Marie trató de comunicarse con él vía Facebook, pero Miguel nunca respondió.

Al enterarse de que estaba embarazada, el padre de Marie la echó de casa y se fue a vivir con su hermana. Actualmente, su hijo tiene cuatro años y Marie continúa a la espera de recibir algún tipo de ayuda por parte del ejército brasileño, alguna ONG, las Naciones Unidas o el estado haitiano.…  Seguir leyendo »

A soldier on the African Union Mission in Somalia standing guard on a street during a security operation in Mogadishu, Somalia. EPA/Tobin Jones

MundoÁfricaInternacionalONU,

In an ever more urbanising world, peacekeepers will increasingly operate in cities. In a recent article, we analysed how attacks against the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) affected the peacekeepers’ ability to operate in Mogadishu.

Cities host key logistical and political assets and institutions. They are frequently the object of fierce contestation among warring parties. Cities may also remain divided and insecure long after formal peace agreements are signed, posing significant challenges to peaceful transitions.

Securing strategically important cities and protecting key institutions are thus crucial tasks for peace operations. However, operating in densely populated urban areas brings significant challenges.…  Seguir leyendo »

New U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft casts a vote during her first U.N. Security Council meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., 12 September 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar

InternacionalONU

Security Council diplomats have a chance to engage in some self-criticism this week. On Thursday and Friday, representatives of the Council’s current members will attend a workshop with their counterparts from the five elected members joining it in 2020 (Estonia, Niger, Tunisia, Vietnam, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines). This event, convened by Finland, is one of two annual opportunities for Council insiders to discuss their collective efforts – the other, a retreat with the Secretary-General, took place in May – and their talks can be quite frank.

According to a detailed summary of last year’s workshop, “a participant lamented that there was a prevailing image of the Security Council as an organ that was becoming less effective and less influential over time”.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica Latina y CaribeInternacionalONU,  

Cuando se trata de Venezuela, la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos no se contiene. Hace solo unos meses, publicó un informe que detalla una vasta campaña de abusos contra los derechos humanos, incluyendo tortura, el encarcelamiento de cientos de disidentes políticos y más de 5,000 ejecuciones extrajudiciales solo el año pasado. Y no se detuvo allí. La libertad de expresión y el acceso a alimentos, medicinas, justicia: el alto comisionado detalló los abusos más graves cometidos por el gobierno de Nicolás Maduro de casi todos los derechos fundamentales.

Luego, en la mañana del jueves 16 de octubre, la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas eligió a Venezuela para formar parte del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas (CDHNU) por un período de tres años.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica Latina y CaribeInternacionalONU,  

When it comes to Venezuela, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights minces no words. Just a few months ago, it published an incandescent report detailing a vast campaign of human rights abuses including torture, the jailing of hundreds of political dissidents, and more than 5,000 extrajudicial killings last year alone. And it didn’t stop there: freedom of speech and access to food, medicine, justice — the high commissioner detailed major abuses carried out by the government of Nicolás Maduro of just about every fundamental right.

Then, Thursday morning, the U.N. General Assembly elected Venezuela to serve on the U.N.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalONU

How is Kelly Knight Craft doing as U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations?

It is almost exactly one month since Craft presented her credentials to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sept. 12. It has been an eventful period, including the annual General Assembly jamboree and Security Council crisis talks on North Korea and Syria. To top it off, Guterres warned this week that the U.N. is about to run out of operating funds because over 60 members have not paid their annual dues. The U.S. has accumulated over $1 billion in arrears, equivalent to a third of the U.N.’s regular budget, putting Craft in a tricky spot.…  Seguir leyendo »

Greta Thunberg asiste a la cumbre de acción climática de las Naciones Unidas en Nueva York el pasado 23 de octubre. Spencer Platt (Getty Images / AFP)

InternacionalONU

La adopción de la Agenda 2030 y sus 17 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) fue una victoria para los pueblos y habitantes de los 193 estados firmantes pero, sobre todo, fue una oportunidad para la vida en el planeta. Ahora tenemos otra para reflexionar sobre los primeros cuatro años de este logro. En este periodo nunca estuvieron tan presentes en la sociedad ni la crisis climática ni las desigualdades, y jamás vimos manifestaciones de la juventud o el feminismo tan importantes. Son el primer puntal para detener cuatro años de retrocesos en igualdad y sostenibilidad.

Diversos informes constatan importantes pasos atrás en áreas clave del camino hacia el desarrollo sostenible: se ha reducido nuestro espacio cívico y democrático, al tiempo que ha emergido un fuerte discurso del odio y se ha activado una cruzada contra el multilateralismo.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalONU

El sol abrasador que mantenía la temperatura de Bagdad estacionada a 50 grados centígrados hizo que nuestra mañana comenzara temprano, como le gustaba tanto. Fui a la cocina a hacer chocolate caliente y una rodaja de papaya, pero los planes para un desayuno tranquilo se desvanecieron cuando me di cuenta de que un apagón al amanecer había cortado la leche. Tuvimos que conformarnos con Ovomaltine diluido con agua. No se quejó. Tomó mi mano en la suya y dijo para consolarme que pronto estaríamos de vuelta en Río de Janeiro. La promesa fue acompañada por su sonrisa franca y un beso apresurado.…  Seguir leyendo »

Laurent Gbagbo looks on next to his lawyer Emmanuel Altit before the start of his trial at the ICC on 28 January 2016. Photo by Getty Images.

InternacionalONU

The 1998 treaty which established the International Criminal Court (ICC) was adopted at a time when the world (or most of it) was willing to reach multilateral agreements on a variety of topics and was encouraging the development of international criminal justice. The two tribunals, set up by the UN Security Council, for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda had been relatively successful. The time was ripe for states to agree together to set up a permanent international court with wider scope than the two tribunals.

So the ICC was created, with jurisdiction over the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes; its jurisdiction for the crime of aggression developed later.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalONU

One hundred years ago this month, after the horrors of the First World War, participants from all over the world concluded negotiations to establish the basis for a stable, prosperous peace. The resulting Treaty of Versailles not only imposed a punitive settlement on Germany but simultaneously created the first world organization designed to preside over the postwar order. Its name? The League of Nations.

If you learned about the league in your history classes, you were probably told how it failed miserably. How President Woodrow Wilson, the league’s controversial champion, went “all in” on this Promethean effort to “make the world safe for democracy” only to lose the support of his own Congress.…  Seguir leyendo »

Kofi Annan in 2017. Photo: Getty Images.

InternacionalONUReflexionesTestimonios

On 3 and 4 June, Chatham House will host a major conference in partnership with the UN Association (UK), supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates and Open Society Foundations, to reflect on the lessons learned from the remarkable life of Kofi Annan, who served as UN secretary-general from 1997 to 2006 and passed away almost a year ago, on 18 August 2018.

The conference will fall on the same days as Donald Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom, which, though unplanned, brings into stark relief the ways in which current changes in international relations are affecting Kofi Annan’s legacy of UN-led multilateralism that Ban Ki-moon and now Antonio Guterres have carried forward.…  Seguir leyendo »

A soldier from MONUSCO patrols outside an Ebola Treatment Centre in Butembo, the epicentre of Democratic Republic of the Congo's latest Ebola outbreak, after it was attacked 9 March. Photo: Getty Images.

InternacionalONU,

This month marks the third anniversary of the unanimous adoption by the UN Security Council of Resolution 2286, which condemns attacks on health care and demands that UN member states ensure the protection of health care delivery during conflicts.

The resolution addresses attacks against the wounded and sick; medical personnel and humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical duties; their means of transport and equipment; and hospitals and other medical facilities in armed conflicts. It calls on all parties to conflicts to fully comply with their obligations under international laws to ensure health care delivery is protected.

In August the same year, the UN secretary general submitted his recommendations on measures to operationalize the resolution.…  Seguir leyendo »

A mother washes her infant at a Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in a civilian protection site in Malakal, South Sudan, in March. (Alex Mcbride/AFP/Getty Images)

MundoÁfricaInternacionalONU

The military overthrow of Sudan’s longtime president last week raises new concerns for the fragile peace process in South Sudan, where a five-year civil war left 400,000 people dead and 4 million displaced. Will the new government in Khartoum continue to put pressure on South Sudanese parties to maintain peace — something that ousted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir had made a priority?

The risk of renewed conflict puts a new spotlight on the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and whether it is able to protect civilians in a territory the size of France with only 17,000 troops, a task that some call mission impossible.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalONUMundoOriente Próximo,

Como es conocido, Israel, que sigue siendo la única democracia real existente en el Próximo y Medio Oriente, no parece que lo sea para el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas, que no ceja en su empeño de hostigar los valores democráticos que, desde su creación el 14 de mayo de 1948, ha enarbolado contra viento y marea este país. Sin embrago, es el país que más veces ha sido condenado en las resoluciones de este órgano de las Naciones Unidas, como si fuera un país paria de la sociedad internacional, y a pesar de que se encuentra muy bien situado en los estándares internacionales en materia democrática y de Derechos Humanos.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalONUEspañaPolítica Exterior

España aboga por un multilateralismo que conjugue legitimidad y eficacia.

La frase anterior no es fruto de la ingenuidad o de un quijotismo idealista: figura en la Estrategia de Acción Exterior de España aprobada en 2015. En el mismo espíritu se pronuncia la Estrategia Global de la Unión Europea, según la cual “el orden multilateral fundado en el Derecho internacional, incluyendo los principios de la Carta de las Naciones Unidas y de la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos, es la única garantía de paz y seguridad en el exterior y dentro de nuestras fronteras”. Esa Declaración de los Derechos Humanos cumple hoy 70 años.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalONU

Alors que la 73e session annuelle de l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies (AGNU) s’est ouverte le 18 septembre dernier, il peut être instructif de se pencher sur les plus de 310 résolutions qui ont été adoptées lors de la précédente session, ceci du point de vue du vote des pays postsoviétiques*. Que nous indiquent-ils de leur évolution dans le système international?

L’exception du Turkménistan

Depuis 1991, les pays de l’espace postsoviétique évoluent différemment dans le système international. Un premier groupe d’Etats est plutôt proche de la Russie et participe à un nombre élevé d’institutions formées autour de celle-ci. A titre d’exemple, l’Union économique eurasiatique (UEEA) compte parmi ses Etats membres l’Arménie, la Biélorussie, le Kazakhstan, et le Kirghizistan.…  Seguir leyendo »

The headquarters of Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. Photo: Getty Images.

InternacionalONU, ,

The recent revelations about the cyberattacks conducted by Russian military intelligence (GRU) in several countries did not come as a surprise. The UK and its allies have been calling for public attribution of cyberattacks coupled with, when appropriate, a series of diplomatic and economic responses, and even retaliation-in-kind. The thinking behind this is that attribution, coupled with sanctions initiated by a united front of like-minded states, could create a deterring effect.

However, these revelations also play into wrangling over cyber regulation at the UN level. Russia is planning to submit two UN resolutions later this month, one on a code of conduct to regulate states behaviour in cyberspace and one on a new UN cybercrime convention.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfricaInternacionalONU

As world leaders have been gathering in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly, the memory of the late Kofi Annan looms large in our minds. Despite Annan’s achievement in breaking the glass ceiling for black Africans and becoming the first black African to become the secretary general of the United Nations, more than a billion of us in sub-Saharan Africa are still struggling to get our voices heard internationally.

The United Nations was designed for a different world, born as it was in the aftermath of World War II when colonial empires still dominated much of the globe. Sadly, although the world has moved on, the United Nations’ governance has not.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalONU

El nuevo contrato social para hacer frente a los tremendos desajustes que ha traído la globalización, que tenga a todas las personas en el centro de su acción sin dejar a nadie atrás y que, además, nos ponga en la senda de salvar al planeta, ya está diseñado. Existe y tiene nombre. Sus objetivos y metas están pactados y son muchos los Gobiernos, líderes económicos y destacados activistas de la sociedad civil que están decididos a que se cumpla. Nadie discute la urgencia ¿Qué requerimos para que se hagan realidad? Voluntad, energía y determinación. Trabajo sin pausa hasta 2030. El plan está tan pautado, vigilado y trabado, que no tiene escapatoria de cumplimento una vez asumido.…  Seguir leyendo »