In The News

The Nation: Saudi Teen’s Fate Hangs in Balance

January 7, 2019
Saudi women resist the religious restrictions imposed in their homeland. In addition to clothing requirements and arranged marriages, women cannot study, travel or work without permission from male relatives. Women also lack full voting, property or inheritance rights. Globalization of travel and communications ensures that Saudi women assess freedoms for women around the globe, with some fleeing...

Asia Sentinel: Curbing Asia’s Corrupt Governments

December 17, 2018
Civil society organizations from nine ASEAN member states are trying to fast-tract the UN Convention Against Corruption: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. Corruption wastes funding and weakens governments, and Transparency International reports that corruption is entrenched throughout Asia. Ending a culture of cheating and fraud...

Telegraph: Yemen Death Toll Higher Than Estimated

Josie Ensor December 13, 2018
The civil war in Yemen has raged since 2015, and the death toll is difficult to assess due to rough conditions on the ground. “The figure of 10,000 used by the United Nations is outdated and nowhere near the likely true fatality figure of 60,223, according to UK-based independent research group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project,” reports Josie Ensor for the Telegraph. “The Saudi-...

Guardian: Tackle Climate or Face Financial Crash

Damian Carrington December 11, 2018
Some of the world’s largest pension funds, insurers, rating agencies and asset managers are heeding warnings from climate researchers to demand phase-out on all coal burning, reduced carbon emissions and introduction of carbon taxes. As ministers arrive for a UN climate summit in Poland, more than 400 investors signed a Global Investor Statement describing refusal to acknowledge climate change as...

Japan Times: Delay in UN Security Council Reform

November 25, 2018
Developed and developing nation alike are impatient for reforms in the UN Security Council with its governance structure of permanent members, any of which can veto actons. “The negotiations have been going on for the past 10 years with various groups representing different positions on how reform should be manifested and has relied on a consensus-based decision-making style,” report Kyodo and...

DW: The UN Migration Pact

November 2, 2018
Displaced peoples and global migration are at historic highs with climate change, conflicts, natural disasters and an oversupply of jobs in some countries and undersupply in others. “The United Nations' Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration marks the first time the world body has ever agreed on a list of global measures to tackle the risks and challenges involved in...

Reuters: An Imperfect UN Still the World’s Best Hope

Peter Apps September 27, 2018
The United Nations has a track record of preventing wars, pointing out atrocities and human rights violations, encouraging dialogue and setting goals. Reform would be useful – including an adjustment in the frustrating veto power of the Security Council’s five permanent members – but the world should be grateful. “The assembly gives smaller nations and groupings a voice, and its resolutions can...