Diplomacy & Crisis News

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the Government and all parties in Yemen as well as States in the region to commit to a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire to enable the rapid resumption of already delayed peace talks which the United Nations is facilitating.

Nearly a decade after the UN Human Rights Committee agreed that a Peruvian woman’s rights were violated for having been denied an abortion – and recommended that the Government compensate her – the UN human rights office announced today that Peru has said it will pay compensation for having refused her access to a legal medical procedure.

United Nations humanitarian agencies expressed concern today that an estimated 200,000 people are facing “sharply deteriorating conditions” in the besieged western side of Deir-Ez-Zor city in Syria, while the top UN relief official stressed that the world body continues to act “impartially, neutrally and independently” to reach people in need throughout the country.

Expressing concern over the impact on vital remittances from diaspora countries into Somalia caused by “necessary but less considered counter-terrorism regulations,” United Nations rights experts today warned the measures may “severely affect the human rights” of Somali people, while urging regulation-setting governments to guarantee the flow of such funds.

Strongly condemning the two stabbing attacks on two women, one of them fatal, in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a senior United Nations envoy on the Middle East today called upon Israeli and Palestinian authorities to ensure that the perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice.

I don’t understand the disproportionate focus on a half day in Benghazi vs. more than a decade in Iraq. When people say they just the facts, I think: We still don’t know when the decision was made to invade Iraq, or who was involved. We still don’t know why the intelligence was so warped. We ...

The United Nations in Libya has expressed regret over the decision of the country’s Presidency Council to postpone the formation of a national unity government for 48 hours beyond the deadline set by a UN-facilitated political agreement, emphasizing that all efforts to combat and eliminate these terrorist groups must be led by the Libyan State.

  By David Crist Best Defense guest columnist The importance of last week’s event in the Persian Gulf goes beyond current political sound bites. It speaks to the complex relationship between the two nations where engagement and confrontation co-exist. It shows the importance for the United States of having diplomatic relations with a still hostile ...

25 years after Desert Storm, America still hasn’t learned why it’s so difficult to win wars overseas.

International tourism grew by 4.4 per cent last year to a record 1.184 billion as calculated by overnight visitors to international destinations, 50 million more than in 2014, and the sixth consecutive year of above-average growth, UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported today.

Shawn M. Campbell, 41, College Station, Texas. Brian T. Kennedy, 31, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kevin T. Roche, 30, St. Louis, Missouri. Steven R. Torbert, 29, Florence, Alabama. Dillon J. Semolina, 24,Chaska, Minnesota. Adam C. Schoeller, 25, Gardners, Pennsylvania. Jeffrey A. Sempler, 22, Woodruff, South Carolina. William J. Turner, 25, Florala, Alabama. Matthew R. Drown, 23, Spring, ...

Millions of lives can be saved by ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today stressed at the World Future Energy Summit taking place in the United Arab Emirates.

A head-spinning visit to Dubai’s massive Chinese mega-mall.

筛选出十个最需要国际社会关注和支持的冲突是一项极其艰难的任务，背后的原因严峻而令人遗憾。冷战结束后的20年间，致命的冲突总体呈下降趋势，战争渐稀，杀戮减少。但五年前，这一积极态势开始反转。每年都有更多冲突爆发，更多人口死伤，更多流民背井离乡。 同2015年相比，2016年的世界局势难有改观：战争——而不是和平——势头正盛。

Refugees and cool kids are living side-by-side -- but not together -- in one of Germany’s most immigrant-heavy neighborhoods.

The United Nations and individual nations lifted their nuclear-related sanctions on Iran this weekend after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran had met its obligations under the agreement reached with the P5+1 in July 2015. Under the terms of the deal, Iran has shipped much of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to Russia, ...

Over the past year, violent extremist movements have made striking gains. ISIS has consolidated its control over a large swathe of Iraq and Syria, attracting tens of thousands of foreigners, establishing footholds elsewhere, and perpetrating terrorist attacks across the Middle East and beyond. Al Qaeda affiliates from Yemen to Syria to Somalia appear resilient, in some cases stronger than ever. ISIS’s attacks in the West – apparently centrally coordinated in the case of Paris, perpetrated by lone wolves elsewhere – have upped pressure on Western powers to respond more forcefully. Certainly, more can be done to fight ISIS. But any action must be informed by an accurate diagnosis of the problem and must avoid the mistakes of the past.

With 14 million people facing hunger in southern Africa as the El Niño weather pattern, the worst in over three decades, exacerbates drought, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that it faces critical funding challenges in scaling up food and cash-based aid.