Happy Sunday and happy March! Spring is on the way! On the off-chance you haven’t seen this already, even though it seemed to be everywhere this week (rightly so), you should watch it now. Also, I just wanted it to be on my blog, because it’s that good. Here it is, for this week leading up to International Women’s Day next weekend. The Outbreak of COVID-19 Coronavirus: are the International Health Regulations fit for purpose? This is a long read with dry legal knowledge, no panic inciting, we have enough of that elsewhere. The UN is Warning of a Massive…
Happy Sunday! I hope you are well and safe this weekend! Here’s some reading for you. Am I the only one to think that most of this list should be applied all the time, regardless of world health emergencies? 🤔 The source is of course the World Health Organization, be sure to check out their website clicking here for many more useful information (and some myth-busting) about the coronavirus. Brexit Endgame: Britain’s EU Departure Marks the End of Brexit’s Beginning The day has come and Monday will probably look very similar to the days past (expect for British MEPs maybe),…
Happy Sunday! We are past the gloomiest day of the year (last Monday, according to general understanding, but no science at all), so we can expect things to be brighter from here on. I mean once Christmas passes, I am so over winter weather anyway, I can’t wait for it to be summer already… How about you? Here’s some weekend reading that unfortunately will not cheer you up, but I hope you’ll enjoy them nontheless. How Multilateral Cooperation Can Stop the Coronavirus Outbreak From Spreading This is yet another example when internationalism and international organizations are indeed helping humankind. One…
Happy weekend everybody! I am trying to slowly get back into the habit of zeroing my Feedly by the weekend, so I started collecting some worhty blog posts to recommend during the week for you. Although I’ve taken quite long breaks between posts lately, this is actually the 250th Sunday Smack, believe it or not! I’d really like to revive it somehow, but I’m not making promises, just see how it goes. Here is a small collection of good reads in the topic of world affairs/international law for this weekend! What do you think? Let me know which one did…
25 November every year is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. UN Women’s campaign runs every year from 25 November for 16 days where the official call is to #orangetheworld in order to create awareness about this serious issue. Here are a few facts from UN Women: Click here to learn more. Here you will find 16 ideas about what you can do. What will you do in the next 16 days? Link your (either your own or your favourite) posts about this issue in the comments.
On 22 September it was my second time attending The Hague International Open Day, which is held every year on a Sunday closest to the International Day of Peace (21 September), with a week long of programs surrounding it. Although The Hague has been a centre of legal knowledge for years, it was then UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who called it the “legal capital of the world” in a speech in the early 90s. This and the overall academic history of the city inspired the government of The Netherlands to lobby for more and more international organisations to move or…
The United Nations offices have been present in the beautiful city of Vienna for 40 years this year and to mark the occasion they held an open house day last Sunday. I love Vienna and actually visited UNIS Vienna two times before, but this was the first open day event I’ve attended. They opened their doors from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on a Sunday and around 3000 people visited. It wasn’t a tour-like event (although you could take a tour if you wanted), but people had the chance to wander around the open parts of the building where the…
The full title is Prisoners of Geography: Ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about global politics, and I can’t believe I only got around to read this great book now. Although I wouldn’t describe it as a summer read, I enjoyed reading it out in the sun on a long weekend off recently. 📷: Goodreads I couldn’t exactly tell what I’ve expected from this book, but it sure exceeded my expectations in many different ways. It is almost like academic writing in a journalistic style, reciting history and stories of world affairs about how much geography…
united-nations: Throwback Thursday: Nelson Mandela addresses the Special Committee Against Apartheid in the United Nations General Assembly Hall in June 1990: “We hold it as an inviolable principle that racism must be opposed by all the means that humanity has at its disposal. Wherever it occurs it has the potential to result in a systematic and comprehensive denial of human rights to those who are discriminated against.” Nelson Mandela’s journey from prisoner to President of South Africa was the triumph of an extraordinary individual against the forces of hate, ignorance and fear – and it was a testimony to the…
united-nations: “9 out of 10 people worldwide are exposed to air pollutants that exceed WHO air quality guidelines. This is lowering life expectancy & damaging economies across the planet.” – UN Secretary General António Guterres’ call to beat air pollution. With simple steps you can do your part to help: Plant trees 🌳 Clean up trash 🗑 Commute without polluting 🚲 UN Environment has more details on Wednesday’s World Environment Day: www.worldenvironmentday.global/
