Diplomacy & Crisis News

COVAX has been trending in stories about the COVID-19 pandemic in recent days, particularly in relation to the shipment of vaccines to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the first to arrive in Africa. Here’s a UN News recap of what COVAX is, and why it is so important.

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency told journalists on Monday that inspections in Iran should not be used as a “bargaining chip” to revive a troubled nuclear deal. 

After six consecutive weeks of decline, COVID-19 cases worldwide increased last week for the first time, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. 

A new cease-fire at the Line of Control must avoid problems that have derailed past attempts at peace.

As the first recipients of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine doses through the UN-partnered COVAX initiative, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana began their vaccine rollouts on Monday, prioritizing frontline workers and vulnerable groups, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Russia is responsible for the poisoning and attempted killing of jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny, two independent UN rights experts said on Monday, issuing an “open call” for an international investigation into the incident. 

We urgently need a global ethical consensus on how far technological advances can go.

“The World for Sale” peels back the cover on the secretive—and sometimes shady—people who make the modern world go around.

The international response to Monday’s High-Level Pledging Event on Yemen has been described as “disappointing” by the UN chief, announcing that pledges totalled less than last year’s humanitarian response, and a billion dollars less than the figure raised in 2019.    

U.S. and European COVID-19 shots aren’t enough. It is time to tap into Africa, Asia, and Latin America’s enormous production capacity.

The fate of tens of thousands of civilians being held in Syria’s “notorious” prisons or detention centres is still unclear, 10 years after the country’s civil war began, UN investigators said on Monday. 

During crisis after crisis, London’s financial giants cried wolf about leaving. Now the wolf is at the door.

Amid a brutal crackdown, Aung San Suu Kyi has another offense added to her charge sheet.

The UN's top human rights official on Monday called for transparent investigation into the death in custody of a writer in Bangladesh, who was held in pre-trial detention for nine months for publishing an article and sharing social media posts critical of the Government’s COVID-19 response. 

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The United Nations Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA), on Sunday, strongly condemned an attack in Yemen that killed five civilians, including a woman and child. 

 

What if? (5) Si la rivalité sino-américaine tournait mal». La chronique de Frédéric Charillon Frédéric Charillon  23 février 2021 à 12h45

« De part et d’autre du Pacifique se trouvent des faucons qui rêvent d’en découdre. Même sans imaginer de confrontation militaire, les terrains du rapport de force s’accumulent »

      

« Jusqu’ici tout va bien », pour reprendre le leitmotiv du film La Haine. L’Amérique de Joe Biden adopte une posture plus prévisible et un ton plus modéré que l’administration Trump face à Pékin. La Chine n’a pas intérêt à une confrontation avec des Etats-Unis toujours surpuissants. Donald Trump, tout en multipliant les pommes de discordes (Huawei, TikTok, tarifs douaniers…), n’a jamais coupé les ponts. Avec la nomination dans la nouvelle équipe diplomatique de quelques connaisseurs de la Chine déterminés à en contenir la montée en puissance (Ely Ratner, Kathleen Hicks, Mira Rapp-Hooper, Melanie Hart), Joe Biden s’inscrit dans un consensus national bipartisan, mais insiste davantage sur la compétition que sur la confrontation. La trajectoire des deux grands rivaux reste donc sous contrôle. Les choses pourraient toutefois s’envenimer.

En premier lieu, un choc frontal n’est pas à exclure : si une montée préméditée aux extrêmes est peu probable, les occasions de dérapage ne manquent pas. Plus vraisemblable, l’augmentation des tensions indirectes qui, accumulées, finiraient par instaurer un climat de guerre froide aux inévitables conséquences économiques. Dans les deux cas l’Europe se retrouverait en position difficile, sans moyen de se distancier de la protection américaine, ni de résister aux tentations économiques chinoises.

Risques de choc frontal
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The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Sunday urged all countries to repatriate and safely reintegrate their young nationals being held at Syria’s largest camp for refugees and internally-displaced, following a deadly weekend fire at Al-Hol camp which saw at least three children die, and another 15 injured.

Accusé d'inceste, le politologue Olivier Duhamel est subitement passé de la lumière à l'ombre. Habitué des cérémonies officielles et des plateaux de télévision, il y est devenu persona non grata. À Sciences Po, certains connaissaient pourtant l'affaire depuis plusieurs années, et ils continuaient de (...) / France, Éducation, Université, Société, Politique, Démocratie - 2021/03

In response to the killing of at least 18 protesters demonstrating against Myanmar’s military coup, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Sunday together with the UN chief, strongly condemned the “escalating violence” and called for an immediate end to the use of force.