UN in Focus
2025
2024
Revitalising Global Engagement: The Case for a United Nations Peace Corps
A UN Peace Corps can transform global indifference into active engagement, leveraging the American Peace Corps model to foster international cooperation and make a tangible impact in the global South.
'No place for the politicisation of aid': Why the West's UNRWA fund cuts are nakedly political
While accountability for wrongdoing of UNRWA is necessary, collective punishment that exacerbates the suffering of the vulnerable is neither just nor effective.
2023
Frail and Ambiguous Words: How Diplomacy Hinders Peace in Gaza
In the UN's high-stakes negotiations, a pivotal linguistic duel over 'cessation' versus 'suspension' casts Gaza's fate into uncertainty.
Redefining Peacekeeping: The Case for a United Nations Corps of Peacekeeping Engineers
A proposed UN Corps of Peacekeeping Engineers could shift the focus from mere conflict containment to active infrastructural revival in war-torn states.
A Council in Deadlock: The UN's Faltering Quest for Peace in Gaza
UN peace efforts in Gaza are criticised as Security Council vetoes block cease-fire moves and expose the General Assembly's limited power.
Palestine and the UN: Will this 794th letter jolt the Security Council into action?
In his 794th plea to the UN, Riyad H. Mansour exposes the unchecked horrors in Palestine, but can the UN overcome its inertia and respond, or will inaction deepen the global human tragedy?
'24 Years of Missed Opportunities': How the UN Failed to Secure Peace in the DRC
As the UN's longest-standing peacekeeping mission faces a turbulent exit from the Democratic Republic of Congo, what were its critical failings, and what can the UN learn from them?
The Global Constitution: And Why we Need it
In a world beset by rising nationalism and a chronic disregard for global responsibility, could a world constitution steer us towards peace and prosperity?
Preserving Peace and Heritage: Converting Woodrow Wilson's Vision into a UN World Park Service
Could Wilson's US National Park Service inspire a UN World Park Service to preserve ecological and historic sites, promote international cooperation, and appreciate cultural heritage?
World Peace Now Secure: Fugitive War Criminal Assumes UN Peacekeeping Chief Role
As Russia takes over the UN Security Council presidency, the world confronts the baffling irony of a nation, embroiled in the Ukraine war and led by a convicted war criminal, guiding an organisation entrusted with the preservation of global peace and security.
The 3 Scenarios of Russia’s Removal from the UN Security Council: A Bleak Future or a Chance for a Fresh Start?
Russia's permanent seat on the UN Security Council is under scrutiny like never before. What would happen if the UN decided to expel this rogue state from the Security Council? Will it lead to war, polarisation, or perhaps a new beginning for the UN?
The New International Man: Can World Federalism Overcome Nationalism?
Exploring the concept of the ‘New Soviet Man’ and how a modern-day equivalent could promote world federalism and overcome nationalism.
6 Solutions to Overhaul the United Nations Security Council
Six game-changing proposals to reform the UN Security Council and restore global peace
Odessa's Cultural Heritage Threatened by Ongoing Conflict in Ukraine
Despite being inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, the historical Ukrainian city of Odessa struggles to protect its monuments from the effects of war.
‘Like heads in the sand’: United Nations Votes on Israeli Occupation
The recent UN General Assembly vote on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories sheds light on the disturbing trend of political ignorance amongst powerful nations.
Bye bye United Nations: A Jolly Good Move!
Angelina Jolie, has decided to quit her role as a Special Envoy to the United Nations refugee agency citing a desire to “work differently”.
Iran's Removal from the Commission on the Status of Women: Change in Membership Standards?
The UN has removed Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women for violations against women's rights, but many countries with poor records remain on the council.
The Case for Permanent Continental Members at the UN Security Council
Empowering continents and ensuring lasting peace - a case for permanent continental members at the UN Security Council
The Montreux Declaration: An Alternative Vision for World Peace
The Montreux Declaration presents a coherent alternative to the UN's design flaws for achieving genuine world peace, argues Lukas Pfluger.
2022
Can the United Nations Parliamentary Assembly Address Failed State Realities?
With poverty, corruption, and functional illiteracy affecting many nations, can the UN Parliamentary Assembly's proposal for representative democracy succeed?
UN votes on a fact-finding mission into Iran, but don’t look at it too closely
The UN HRC approved a fact-finding investigation into human rights violations in Iran. However, the vote reveals three disturbing facts about the Council and its ability to protect human rights.
UN Security Council: Differences over Haiti
The UN Security Council finally establishes sanctions regime on Haiti to punish actors threatening peace and security.
Russia booted out of the UN Human Rights Council. What's next?
Following the General Assembly declaring the annexation of Ukrainian illegal, Russia's presence on the UN Security Council has officially lost its legal basis.
UNICEF and WHO: Alarm over cholera outbreaks
As Cholera outbreak spreads across 29 countries, UNICEF calls for 27.5 million to combat disease.
What is the World Atomic Weapons Disarmament Agency (WAWDA) and why do we need it
The IAEA has successfully preserved the spirit nuclear disarmament, but today we know that the enforcement of international law fails without a multilateral body of enforcement.
How to Make War Redundant
People and nations may disagree, they may commit crimes, but these antagonisms can be resolved in countless ways. Why war?
Here are what your leaders had to say at the UN General Debate 2022
Quickly catch up with some of the best/worst quotes of the United Nations General Assembly debates.
China in Focus at UN "Selective Rights Council" (UNRC)
The Human Rights Council passed a resolution on the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The need for an International Anti-Corruption Court (IACC) is greater than ever before
While the ICC is busy with sanctimonious show trials in the Global South, the need for a supranational criminal court that prosecutes corruption without fear and favour is rising.
The Ukraine Recovery Conference: When Guterres (almost) told Russia to piss off
One cannot help comparing Guterres to a spouse in an abusive relationship who does what they can to protect their children from constant harm.
The WHO warns of pathogenic outbreaks threatening Africa
The WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, warned of a growing risk of pathogenic outbreaks on the continent, caused by human proximity to wild and domesticated animals.
Is Mexico suing the United Nations?
Mexico threatens to sue the UN following the WHO's failure to provide the country with covid vaccines.
Solitary confinement is cruel and amounts to torture
The UN defines torture as cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. Solitary confinement clearly reaches this bar, stripping prisoners of their rights to socialisation at the cost of their mental health.
OHCHR: Take action to ban harmful conversion practices against LGBTQIA+
UN-aligned calls on the OHCHR to take action to ban harmful conversion practices against LGBTQ+
The UN human rights report on Belarus is worrying, but there is precious little the UN can do
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, Anaïs Marin, issued her annual report on June 29, which paints a dire picture of tightening legislation and diminishing civil and political rights.
Why doesn't the UN expel Russia like the League of Nations did in 1939?
After the Soviet Union invaded Finland, the League of Nations kicked the country from its council. Why doesn't the UN do that too? Well, for all sorts of reasons, but mainly because it is bound to the moral low ground.
Appeasement: Forfeiting somebody else’s justice
Appeasement is giving the school bully your lunch money in order to avoid being beaten up. In politics, however, it is more like giving the school bully someone else’s lunch money, to stop them from being picked on.
WHO? Yes, Tedros Again!
Tedros Ghebreyesus gets re-elected by the World Health Assembly (WHA) to a second term despite his affiliation with the repressive regime that has been accused of torture, repression, and electoral fraud.
Michelle Bachelet's visit to China: "Unacceptable" is a missing word from the UN's arsenal
Sadly, “concerns” is one of the strongest words in the United Nations’ arsenal, only a notch or two below “unacceptable”- its primary weapon – which, to no one’s surprise, was not used during this visit.
The three UN conventions on the laws of the sea and how they are failing to secure it
In this article, we will explore the three UN conventions that are designed to protect the laws of our seas: the UNCLOS, the ITLOS and ISA.
Rehauling Lady Justice: Is the United Nations guilty in Ukraine?
As long as international justice is left in the hands of nation states at the UN nothing will ever improve because self-interest will always win the day. This needs to change.
Gutterres' visit to Ukraine: Another blow to the UN
Guterres visit to Kiev made it once again clear: the UN is not led by principles, but by States that regularly flout the most basic standards of decency.
Letter to Putin: “You are a serial killer, but there is one thing I must thank you for…”
Putin, sometimes the West is as crazy as you are, but not for saying you should be removed, but for trying to mitigate the blow.
It shouldn't be NATO, it should be the United Nations: The Poetry of Appeasement
Once again, the UN fails to secure its primary mission of safeguarding world peace. But what can we do about it?
Putin's invasion of Ukraine is a death knell for the United Nations
Would you entrust a child you love to the care of a school or nursery if you knew that not only many of its teachers, but the school board itself, consisted of child abusers, rapists and murderers? Of course not! And yet that is exactly what we are doing when we entrust world peace and human rights to the United Nations.
Celebrity islands with the United Nations
Many may not know, but the United Nations is the creator of some of the worst “reality TV” of all time. This is The Gordian Magazine’s review of United Nations events as if they were reality TV.
Abstaining in the face of war
Apart from the hackneyed pleas to resolve the differences and a blunt reassertion of the facts there were no enlightened solutions aimed at finding ways of de-escalating the Ukraine crisis.
UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine Review: Abstaining Romance and Plenty of Hot Air
Participating members in this UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine attempt their best with this bland, shallow and awkwardly structured meeting, which can be characterised in 6 words: “Too late”, “nothing new” and “bad directing”.
2021
SDG 16: "People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones"
Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions are three fundamental facets of any progressive civil society in the 21st century. Therefore, as the UN is in many senses the world’s guardian, one of its utmost duties is to promote, instil and maintain these components globally to ensure collective harmony.
The UN is failing to eradicate poverty
Poverty, to put it simply, is one of humankind’s greatest ills and despite various ways to quantify, analyse or measure it, the problem remains unsolved. With the world finding itself in unprecedented straits owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not only claimed the lives of 4,000,000, but has revealed ominous and record-breaking poverty worldwide, humanity more than ever needs its leaders to come together and work towards effective solutions.
"There is too much stupidity around": The UN's Climate Change Report
The Sixth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was published on August 9, 2021. The Report paints a grim picture of the planet’s health owing to human induced climate change and rising temperatures.
Security Council Arria-Formula meeting on Myanmar
On July 29, the UN had a Security Council Arria-Formula meeting on the deteriorating situation in Myanmar. US ambassador and senior advisor for political affairs, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, summarised the dire situation, stating: “Humanitarian aid workers inside Burma are sounding the alarm.
UN is failing to combat Climate Change
Climate change is the world’s biggest collective enemy, which threatens to destroy the very planet that we all live on. Whether it be rising sea levels, global warming, record-breaking temperatures, melting ice caps or an overall shift in severity of natural disasters, we as humankind need to strategise together for immediate solutions.
5 Reasons Why You Should Not Trust The United Nations
The United Nations: the devil you know I met someone from a peculiar land with a completely messed up political system yielding a society that was plagued with poverty, oppression, corruption and strife. I commiserated until I found out that there actually was an alternative party that, given the chance, would put things right, yet nobody seemed to care about it.
UNESCO’s 44th Session: 27 sites that made it into the World Heritage List - in Pictures
The 44th session of the World Heritage Committee saw Liverpool stripped of its heritage status due to development concerns, while Venice and the Great Barrier Reef narrowly avoided being added to the list of endangered sites.
The new UN-peacekeeping budget: pun intended!
At the end of June, the budget for peacekeeping operations for the period from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022 was approved by the United Nations. Eye-watering sums have been allocated in order to maintain buffers between hostilities that have been stewing for decades.
Alone against the world: The US betrays the UN on Cuba
For the 29 years in a row, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution demanding the end of the 60-year embargo on Cuba imposed by the US. What happened? The US and Israel were the only countries opposed to the June 30 resolution: 184 voted in support of it. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla did not mince his words lambasting the US for human rights violations: “This is made visible by the lengthy lines which every day overwhelm the Cuban people in the midst of a pandemic to access basic goods, by the shop shelves that are empty and the unbridled increase in food prices. … The blockade is a massive, flagrant and systematic violation of the human rights of all of the Cuban people.
António Guterres: The Power Under The Throne
The feeling I experience when plunging into the ocean of communiques from the United Nations is always the same: drowning in an alphabet soup. Often, the words are noble, the causes honourable.
8 UN Secretariat Offices explained in 10 minutes
The Secretariat consists of the personnel of the United Nations, with the Secretary-General as its head. It is estimated that as of 2021, more than 35,000 people are employed by the United Nations.
UN's slow pace of justice & UNESCO's decision on Venice
The slow pace of justice UN judges have still not quite finished with the aftermath of the atrocities relating to the breakup of the former Yugoslavia almost 30 years ago. On June 30, they convicted former head of Serbia’s State Security Service, Jovica Stanisic, and his subordinate Franko “Frenki” Simatovic to 12 years in prison.
Edward Mortimer was wrong about the United Nations
Last week Edward Mortimer, the chief speechwriter for Kofi Annan, passed away at the age of 77. He was described as “one of the lively minds surrounding the Secretary-General, given license to think and experiment at a time when the future of the United Nations was being written anew”.
“Pay no heed to the hippie”: Filippo Grandi, UNHCR chief, ignored once again
The globally displaced rose from 79.5 million in 2019 to 82.4 million by the end of 2020, a near 3 million increase. This is as the G7 decides to take no action whatsoever. The UNHCR says that the number of refugees around the world has hit a new high, this is in spite of the pandemic, a time in which over 160 countries closed their borders.
Guterres publishes report about the lack of progress of UNSC Resolution 2334
On 23 June, António Guterres reported ongoing Israeli settlement expansion and Palestinian displacement, despite Security Council Resolution 2334 and recent political shifts.
Eradicate colonialism by 2030? Unlikely.
On the 21st of June the United Nations General Assembly started publishing a number of draft resolutions calling on the colonial powers to relinquish their control on the few remaining colonies. The UN states that its target is to eradicate colonialism by 2030.
Who is Jean Arnault and what can he do about the Afghan peace talks?
Earlier this year, Secretary General António Guterres appointed the Frenchman Jean Arnault as his envoy covering Afghanistan and regional issues. Mr Arnault is expected to support the negotiations and implementation of any agreements between the Taliban and Afghanistan.
France halts its joint military operations in Mali as the G7 pledge 870 million doses of vaccine to the world
Unlike France, the UN must not suspend its peacekeeping operations in Mali Following Mali’s latest coup on May 24, France decided to stop joint military operations with Malian forces until it is convinced that a civilian government will be returning to power. Some may argue that the UN should also take a step back and suspend its peacekeeping operations rather than indirectly aid a regime that usurped power.
Who are the 5 new non-permanent members of the UNSC for the term of 2022-2023?
Final tallies earlier this month showed that Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were elected as the five new non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The new members elected this year will be taking up their seats on 01.01.2022 and will serve for 1 year, until 31.12.2023.
Mladic revisited: An unremarkable news item, were it not for the absurdity of the process
Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb commander largely responsible for the Srebrenica Massacre in 1995 lost his appeal with the special UN tribunal set up to judge the case. He had been convicted on ten counts including genocide and crimes against humanity.
How to achieve a robust legal system? Solutions towards comprehensive global justice
In an article in last month’s issue of The Gordian, I highlighted some of the weaknesses of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). Whilst these bodies are merely a part of a wider international legal system that is also governed by various treaties, conventions and accords, they are pivotal in as much as their focus is on safeguarding human life and world peace.
“Abandon all hope ye who enter here”: The shitshow that is the UN Security Council
Is the UNSC becoming obsolete? Well, it is not that the Security Council (UNSC) is no longer fit for purpose, it has never really been designed to fit its purpose. In 1946, after the League of Nations ceased its operations, the Security Council was invested with most of the power of the brand new organisation, the United Nations.
Paralysed, Betrayed & Battled: UN in Focus - May 2021
Battling for universally affordable and available vaccines The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights released a Statement on May 11 calling for COVID-19 vaccines to be universally affordable and accessible. The five-page document covered all the main issues comprehensively and with refreshing lucidity.
Are the ICJ and the ICC our answers to international justice? - Podcast
Humanity has created a biased, self-serving 'doppelgänger' of true justice through flawed laws, a concept explored here in relation to institutions like the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
What is the difference between the ICJ and the ICC?
Justice is not a relative term, but for much of our history we have manipulated it to such an extent that we have created a parallel sort of justice. More often than not, human justice is just a sinister doppelgänger of justice in its purest form.
Funding and Fiscal Responsibility of the United Nations
The following is an extract from UN-aligned’s new publication that highlights the shortcomings of the United Nations with details that cover its foundation, structure and monumental failures. You may be surprised at the murky facts that this book will bring to your attention.
A Powerful Panacea? The Sanctions Dilemma
“Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there! He wasn’t there again today, Oh how I wish he’d go away!” The above quote from Hughes Mearns’ poem, Antigonish, could so easily allude to sanctions. They are full of sound and fury, and yet, they signify nothing concrete, but rather an absence of something.
What is The United Nations General Assembly?
The following is an extract from UN-aligned’s new publication that highlights the shortcomings of the United Nations with details that cover its foundation, structure and monumental failures. You may be surprised at the murky facts that this book will bring to your attention.
"No, it's not just a snip": Why Circumcision is Legalised Child Abuse
Mutilating the sexual organs of a child (circumcision) in the name of culture, religion or dubious preventative medical claims is outrageous and a blatant breach of the child’s human rights. Female genital mutilation is thankfully on the decline and relatively rare in developed countries.
Unravelling the United Nations, Argead style
How can the UN achieve its sacred mission without the shackles of obsolete structures and bullying superpowers? This is how!
2020
5 reasons why the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize was misplaced
On 9 October 2020, the World Food Programme (WFP) was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee: “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.” No doubt this was a safe political move since even leaders who are hostile to the United Nations, of which the WFP is a branch, cannot feel affronted by such a selection. In dangerous times, however, a safe move is often a cowardly one and, in this case, it certainly feels like one.
“The Future We Want and the UN We Need”: The UNGA Debates of 2020
What are the United Nations General Assembly Debates? Every year, in September, all 193 Member States of the United Nations who are represented in the General Assembly come together to discuss a wide array of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations, such as development, peace, security and international law. UN-aligned will be watching the developments of this event closely In the live blog from last year’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Adrian Liberto and I summarised some of the most important speeches that unfolded during this four-day event.
2019
An Assembly that is stuck in time
This year we took it upon ourselves to go through every speech of the United Nations General Assembly and brief you about the most important updates. In doing so, we got to hear some of the most bold and exciting statements from leaders around the world. We believe that the President of El Salvador’s speech was courageous, effective and to the point and thus, deserves the prize of the best statement of the debate.
The UN unable to condemn attack on migrants
And so it continues… Migrants are once again the victims of indifference and direct aggression. Six children and about 50 adults were killed and more that three times as many were badly hurt when a migrant detention centre was bombed by the forces of General Khalifa Haftar who are fighting the UN recognised government of Libya.
What is wrong with the United Nations to warrant the founding of an organisation like UN-aligned?
The United Nations (UN) is a remarkable organisation. It has achieved some outstanding results for humanity and it continues to do so.
