The United Nations Charter was ratified 71 years ago today. Learn more about the history of the UN and read the Charter in 6 languages clicking here!
Happy Sunday, all! This year is the 60th annivesary of a hopeful revolution that started on the streets of Budapest in the fall of 1956 but resulted in brutal repulse and more than 40 more years under Russian oppression. Around this time every year we remember the bravery of those Hungarian people who risked their lives for freedom. There were commemorations held around the world this week for the occasion. And a lot of other news, of course. Let’s see some of them. Truly Winning the Battle of Mosul The battle of Mosul was kind of the news of the week….
October 16 is World Food Day 71 years ago today the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations was established with the goal to fight hunger and malnutrition. October 16 is therefore celebrated as World Food Day, ever since. Click the title to learn more. This year’s theme is “Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too.”
Happy Sunday! Antonio Guterres was officially appointed by the General Assembly as the 9th Secretary General of the UN this week. I honestly think he is well suited for the role and great things can be expected in his tenure. On a completely different note, Bob Dylan got a Nobel Prize in Literature and although I am only slightly aquainted with his work, I am not at all one of those literature snobs who can’t understand this one. I have always considered song lyrics in the league of poetry (well, the better ones anyway), so congrats is definitely in order…
united-nations: Delegates applaud as history was made this morning. The United Nations General Assembly has officially selected António Guterres as 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations! “I have long valued his advice, and long admired his spirit of service. He is a wonderful choice to steer this Organization as we build on the progress of the past decade while addressing the insecurity and uncertainties of today’s world,” the 8th UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this morning. Mr. Guterres will take office on 1 January 2017 for an initial term of five years. Read more here: tp://bit.ly/2evGbjT via UN Web TV:…
Happy Fall, everybody! Summer is undeniably over now. As much as I love the summer weather, there are a lot of things to be excited about during autumn too. And I said autumn, let’s not jump ahead, believe it or not, yesterday I heard Christmas music playing in a drugstore! Isn’t it way too early for that?! Anyway, I hope you are having a great time with your choices of fall activities, and cut out some time to do our weekly reading too. Colombia’s Brexit Vote Very interesting, particularly comparing this vote to some others. I shall add that I…
Happy Sunday, everybody! Today, there is a referendum held in Hungary, where Hungarians are asked to answer with yes or no to the following question. “Do you want the European Union to be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens into Hungary without the approval of Parliament?” Well,first of all, the EU can do that now, whether citizens of member states want it or not, simply based on the EU Treaty. So a “No” answer doesn’t make any sense. A “Yes” answer doesn’t make sense either, no-one really “wants” this, not even the EU, although the quotas are off the table…
Happy Sunday, everybody! I am spending this weekend in The Hague, the international city of peace and justice for the Just Peace Festival. Around the time when this post goes up, I am scheduled to be at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. I can’t wait to write about it all. As of this past week, the high level week of the UN General Assembly was a busy one as usual. There’s at least one more post about the general debate in the making. In the meantime, check out this week’s posts. If the 65 Million Refugees Were…
This high level week in September is the one when world leaders gather in New York for the general debate of the UN General Assembly, and while there, they can take part in other summits and initiatives of high importance. This year was no difference, these are three main achievements of this past week at the United Nations. 1. Two separate summits on refugees and migrants resulted in major commitments to solve the current crisis On Monday the UN’s High Level Meeting on Refugees and Migrants was mainly a political event where political commitments of all UN member states were put…
