Diplomacy & Crisis News

Although new COVID-19 cases in Africa have slowed following an eight-week surge, this “small step forward” could be short-lived, the Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. 

/ France, Droit international, Mer, Frontières, Économie - Espace et territoire / France, Droit international, Mer, Frontières, Économie - Espace et territoire

The head of the UN food relief agency called on the world’s richest nations on Thursday to invest more in sustainable living, to feed the world’s growing population.  

Nearly half of the 1.7 million children worldwide living with HIV were not on treatment last year, the UN programme leading the global fight against HIV and AIDS, UNAIDS, said in a report released together with partners. 

/ Allemagne, Mer, Commerce international, Commerce, Histoire, Économie - Europe / Allemagne, Mer, Commerce international, Commerce, Histoire, Économie - Europe

Islamabad will come to regret aiding the Taliban’s resurgence.

The head of the UN World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has welcomed the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games as a chance to spread “hope to the world”.  

Independent UN rights experts on Wednesday warned that hundreds of Venezuelan cancer patients could die because they have been caught up in the excessively strict application of United States sanctions aimed at Venezuela and the state-owned oil company, Petroleum of Venezuela.

/ Malaisie, Commerce, Commerce international, Histoire, Transports - Asie / Malaisie, Commerce, Commerce international, Histoire, Transports - Asie

Celebrating what would have been Nelson Mandela’s 102nd birthday on Wednesday, the UN deputy chief hailed the man who led the struggle that ended the racist apartheid system in his native South Africa as exemplifying “courage, compassion and an unwavering commitment to social justice and equality”.   

/ Industrie, Environnement, Pollution, Pêche, Mer, Économie - Environnement - Pollution / Industrie, Environnement, Pollution, Pêche, Mer, Économie - Environnement - Pollution

Historic docklands and buildings in the UK city of Liverpool have been removed from the UN cultural body UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites, it announced on Wednesday.

En première ligne pour soutenir le président Bachar Al-Assad, le Hezbollah voit sa légitimité et sa position renforcées sur le plan intérieur. Désigné comme « groupe terroriste » par la Ligue arabe, il demeure pourtant très populaire dans les pays du Maghreb. / Iran, Liban, Proche-Orient, Syrie, Armée, (...) / Iran, Liban, Proche-Orient, Syrie, Armée, Conflit, Islam, Parti politique, Religion, Terrorisme, Violence - 2016/04

Selon certains, les étudiants barreraient la route aux jeunes non qualifiés, dont les chances d'accéder à « l'emploi » seraient améliorées par le projet de loi réformant le code du travail. Certes, les étudiants sont globalement issus de milieux sociaux plus favorisés que les autres jeunes, mais tous ne (...) / France, Droit, Inégalités, Jeunes, Pauvreté, Politique, Travail, Chômage, Université - 2016/04

How to prevent catastrophe in a post-American Afghanistan.

Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned the “horrific bomb attack targeting civilians” at a busy market in the northeast of the Iraqi capital, just before the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Survivors of a massacre of mainly Muslims in the former Yugoslavia, and people associated with the perpetrators of what has become known as the Srebrenica genocide, have been telling their stories in a new exhibition by the United Nations, released 26 years after the events took place.

Marking World Chess Day on Tuesday, the UN is celebrating the fact that while COVID-19 has forced most sports to scale down, this ancient game of intellect, not brute strength, has demonstrated remarkable resilience and adaptability throughout months of lockdown worldwide.

Race, partisanship, and fake news at the dawn of the republic.

(Getty Image)

One day, the Kim regime’s diplomatic envoys around the world might be haunted by Otto Warmbier’s name, which will be written on every incoming mail. The heightened bipartisan consensus among NYC councilmen to rename after Otto Warmbier – an American college student who passed away in 2017 from injuries sustained while imprisoned in North Korea – the street on which the Kim regime’s mission to the UN is located, is creating a ripple effect: Washington’s most prominent public figures and the heads of international NGOs are joining a growing wave of enthusiasm for commemoration of Warmbier’s sacrifice. As Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), anticipates, this local activist movement could be “the opening salvo in a coordinated effort by international NGOs to have each and every street where there is a North Korean embassy or consulate mission, all over the world, renamed after Otto Warmbier, from Bucharest to Madrid, and from Stockholm to Kuwait City—everywhere.”

Otto Warmbier at the Kim regime’s Supreme Court in Pyongyang, North Korea, March 16 2016 (Yonhap News)

“We are a symbol of human rights to the whole world, and we have confronted in this city dictators and tyrants historically; this is a place that has really led the international effort against oppression.” So said NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio recently to a City Hall news conference last June, in order to emphasize that his support for “Otto Warmbier Way” is part of NYC’s long history of opposing tyranny. At America’s birth in the late 18th century, the Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan was the venue for two of the three sessions of the First U.S. Congress: During the course of the sessions, fierce yet fruitful debates took place between federalists and anti-federalists over the just definition of tyranny (whether of the majority over the minority, or vice versa), and checks and balances and the bill of rights were officially enshrined in the Constitution. Past street re/naming ordinances in NYC have reflected this heritage, the latest being the new “Black Lives Matter Boulevard” along a portion of Centre Street.

The proposed bill for “Otto Warmbier Way” was first introduced by City Councilman Joe Borelli in 2019. The goal, in the councilman’s own words, was to “recall that this was a life given up … in the face of an absolute dictator and authoritative government” and to “draw attention to the plight of the people of North Korea.” If the bill is passed, the address of the Kim regime’s mission to the UN will change from “820 second Ave” to “820 Otto Warmbier Way.” The passage of the bill requires 51 NYC councilmen’s approval votes as well as the mayor’s final signature. Some prominent public figures who have expressed their support for the bill include former Secretaries of State John Kerry and Mike Pompeo, former U.N. Ambassadors Bill Richardson and Kelly Craft, and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. Many North Korean human rights experts are also highly supportive of the bill. Suzanne Scholte, the chairman of the North Korea Freedom Coalition, enthusiastically applauded the bill: “We actually reached out to the council member in New York, Borelli, when he introduced the resolution two years ago. I think it’s really important because we can never forget what happened to this young man. He is the face of the cruelty of this regime. So we, the North Korea Freedom Coalition, enthusiastically endorsed this back when it was first proposed…We can’t forget that this is how this regime treats people, and this is how they treat their own citizens as well.”

Pacing with NYC’s local activist efforts, the Congress introduced another bill named after Otto Warmbier on June 19, 2020, the fourth anniversary of Otto Warmbier’s passing. The Otto Warmbier North Korea Censorship and Surveillance Act proposes to annually allocate $10 million to the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) over the next five years to foster human rights activities countering the Kim regime’s repressive information environment. In particular, it allows the USAGM to develop new means and partnerships to empower North Korean people with both non-digital and digital access to outside information. Furthermore, the proposed bill imposes sanctions on those within and without the regime responsible for precipitating such an environment. In conjunction with previously enacted Otto Warmbier bills, the Otto Warmbier Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea (BRINK) Act of 2017 and the Otto Warmbier North Korea Nuclear Sanctions Act of 2019, the proposed bill is expected to strengthen the overall effectiveness of sanctions against the Kim regime’s brutal tyranny.