When the United Nations began negotiations on a legally binding treaty to protect and regulate the high seas, one diplomat pointedly remarked: “It’s a jungle out there”—characterizing a wide-open ocean degraded by illegal and over-fishing, plastics pollution, indiscriminate sea bed mining and the destruction of marine eco-systems. Although the origins of
Author: Thalif Deen, IPS
Will the Ukraine war be resolved with talks or with tanks?
After much reluctance, the US and its Western allies last week agreed to provide Ukraine with some of the world’s most sophisticated battle tanks: American-made Abrams, German-made Leopards and British-made Challengers. But the question remains as to whether these weapons will make a decisive difference to Ukrainian armed forces fighting a
Security Council reforms move at the pace of a paralytic snail
The reform of the Security Council, the most powerful body at the United Nations, has remained a never-ending political saga. According to the President of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi of Hungary, 43 years have passed since the question of Security Council reform first appeared on the UN agenda. “It has been
The decline and fall of democracy worldwide
A head of state who presided over an authoritarian regime in Southeast Asia, was once asked about rigged elections in his country. “I promised I will give you the right to vote” he said, “but I didn’t say anything about counting those votes.” That infamous quote, perhaps uttered half-jokingly, was rightly described
UN deploys unarmed weapon in humanitarian & peacekeeping operations
A sign outside the United Nations reads, perhaps half-seriously, that it is a “No Drone Zone”—and “launching, landing or operating Unmanned or Remote-Controlled aircraft in this area is prohibited”. The “warning” comes even as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) – or drones – are some of the new weapons of war deployed
A climate summit following empty promises & funding failures
The COP 27 climate summit is taking place amid a rash of political, economic and environmental upheavals, including missed funding and emission targets, increased pollution and climate devastation, rising global inflation, cuts in Western development assistance and the negative after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The
Russian dispute over drones threaten to escalate world food crisis
Ukraine rises from near zero to major recipient of US arms
UN censures 42 nations for retaliating against human rights activists & journalists
The United Nations has singled out 42 countries (out of 193 member states) for condemnation– virtually blacklisting them– for retaliating against human rights activists and journalists If you cooperate with the United Nations and complain about human rights abuses in your home country, chances are you will find yourself either jailed,
UN’s high-level meeting of world leaders falls short of gender empowerment
When the UN’s high-level meeting of world leaders concluded last week, the head count seemed lopsided: 190 speakers, including 76 Heads of State, 50 Heads of Government, 4 Vice-Presidents, 5 Deputy Prime Ministers, 48 Ministers and 7 Heads of Delegations—overwhelmingly male. Among the 190 speakers, there were only 23 women, “a