Peacekeeping Missions and a Marshall Plan Won’t Save Mali
The country needs stronger institutions to bolster public confidence in the democratic system. The international community can help.
The U.N. Protest Gag Order Lives On
One staffer has accused the United Nations Development Program of muzzling efforts to protest racism.
A U.N. Agency Lauded for Its Work Faces a Funding Shortage
The World Food Program will need more than a Nobel Prize to feed the millions who are newly food-insecure.
Our Top Weekend Reads
The U.N.’s diversity problem, why Americans are giving up on democracy, and Germany’s successful—yet broken—integration experiment.
The U.N. Has a Diversity Problem
Westerners are overrepresented in senior positions across the world body.
A Partial Ban on Autonomous Weapons Would Make Everyone Safer
Great powers stand to lose the most from weapons like drone swarms and should back a limited ban on the most dangerous systems.
The World Needs a New Refugee Convention
For 30 years, right-wing parties and nativist leaders have whittled away refugees’ rights. In the wake of a global pandemic, seeking asylum will be nearly impossible unless the international community revises and modernizes its approach to people fleeing war.
Syria Is Still Trying to Use Chemical Weapons
And not just against civilians at home—but potentially against regional rivals.
How to Stop the Export of Authoritarianism
China is slowly killing the global human rights regime. Defending it requires Washington’s full engagement.
Our Top Weekend Reads
Trump is a pariah for top security experts, Biden won’t end U.S. trade wars, and Saudi Arabia’s bid to rejoin the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Saudi Arabia Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Rejoin the U.N. Human Rights Council
A state that tortures and executes children has no place in an international body that aims to protect human rights.
The World’s Sustainable Development Goals Aren’t Sustainable
There are big problems with the most important metric used to assess progress toward the U.N.'s environmental goals.
Syria’s Forgotten Displaced Aren’t Equipped to Fight the Pandemic
The regime has restricted aid to those who fled Afrin in 2018, leaving them without test kits, basic supplies, or access to specialist care.
Document of the Week: The Mighty U.N. Fighting Force That Never Was
After World War II, the United States envisioned the creation of a big-power fighting force to keep world peace. But the ambitious plan foundered amid bickering between Washington and Moscow.
Pompeo’s Critics Misrepresent the Commission on Unalienable Rights
The NGOs and activists criticizing the commission’s inaugural report are distorting its contents.
What the U.N. Is Good For… or Could Be
The best way to advance U.S. interests isn’t to chastise the United Nations—it’s to participate actively in its proceedings.
Much Maligned But Still Necessary: the U.N. at 75
The postwar institution designed to maintain global peace has fallen short of many goals, but on the whole succeeded.
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