Category: Getting To Know the United Nations
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COVID-19 and the Evolving Character of “Peace and Security” within the UN Charter
[This blog series was originally posted on the now-defunct website of American University, Washington College of Law’s Law and International Development Society in April 2021.] Over the past two decades, the world has seen a variety of epidemics (e.g., HIV/AIDs, SARS, MARS, and Ebola) as well as pandemics (e.g., COVID-19). Epidemics and…
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What is a “Uniting for Peace” Resolution and why does it matter?
Last week, the United Nations General Assembly held a “special emergency session” under its “Uniting for Peace resolution” power. Unfortunately, while this event was widely covered in international news, the news didn’t always get the details right. So, as the UN nerd that I am, I decided to set the…
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Made-For-Twitter, A United Nations SDG Rant
At work, I go through a disturbing amount of articles every day picking out the most relevant ones to tweet from our company accounts. And because my personal twitter is absolutely abysmal follower and activity-wise, I’ve been using the less company-relevant (but still thought provoking) articles for myself. Recently one…
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What is the Function of International Law?
What is the function of International Law? International law is the framework through which the world attempts to achieve far reaching goals – such as human equality – worldwide and increase the quality of life for the human population. While international decisions which are disregarded (such as that by the…
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The UN is an Amazing Organization – But It Still Has Many Problems
Three of the most striking observations made during my two weeks at two different UN conferences were: a) the amount of people at least in their 60s or 70s talking about issues which directly affect youth, while there are hardly any youth in the room for the discussion; b) the…
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What is An Nongovernmental Organization (NGO)? (AKA What Is Lena Working With This Week?)
When most people hear ‘the United Nations’ (and this applies to Model UN people too!), most will think: “A place where governments meet together and talk.” Well yes, on a basic level that is what the UN does. But it goes much deeper than that. The United Nations is composed…
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What is Social Development? (AKA What Does ‘Commission on Social Development’ Mean?)
So, funny story. A little over a year ago, I came to the UN with my best friend (shout out to Joy!) who is a super smart human being and was invited to the UN to take an exam for a job with the Young Professional Programme at the UN.…
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What are the Sustainable Development Goals? (AKA What is Lena Discussing at the UN this Week?)
One of the largest topics on the international stage – and the focus of the conference I am attending this week – is the ‘Sustainable Development Goals‘ (SDGs). Now, I totally expect everyone who has never been in Model UN not to understand what this means – the SDGs are…
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How Is International Law Enforced?
Contrary to what many may believe, there is not actually a military branch to the United Nations (there is something called the ‘UN Peacekeepers’ but they are only deployed by the Security Council and are mainly responsible for helping countries stabilize after conflict or after natural disaster. And they are not…
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2017 Economic and Social Council Youth Forum
As the US has desended into mass protests, I sit in one of my favorite places on earth – the United Nations – and listen to hundreds of youth from around the world actively discussing one of the most pressing issues on the international stage: implementing the Sustainable Development Goals…
Ginger Without Borders 