United Nations
Highlights:

Expert Backgrounder: What to Watch for at This Week’s Pivotal International Meeting on Autonomous Weapons
A United Nations gathering this week could prove pivotal for the international governance of lethal autonomous weapon systems.

Is Trump pushing Iceland into the EU?
Iceland may seek European integration partly as a hedge against a more capricious and unpredictable United States, and others may follow.

A System Working: Five Years On, the Taliban Still Doesn’t Have a Seat at the U.N.
Five years after the fall of Kabul, the Taliban government still has not succeeded in achieving recognition at the United Nations.

U.N. Secretary-General Candidates May Agree More than They Differ on the Way Forward
The seven candidates share a common premise: that the U.N. remains indispensable but is struggling to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.

Reading the Signals of China’s U.N. Security Council Role in the Afghanistan Mission Renewal
China's prominent role in negotiations over the U.N. mission in Afghanistan marks a shift in its approach to Security Council diplomacy and illuminates its tactics.

AI in the Military Domain: Multilateralism at a Crossroad
Recent U.N. discussions add a new forum on global governance and international norms on military uses of A.I.
716 Articles

Why the Dearth of Female Nominees for U.N. Secretary-General?
UN member states should expand the field of candidates for Secretary-General by nominating more women for the role.

Effective Interviewing, Not Torture: Lessons from the Méndez Principles Five Years On
The Mendez Principles, drafted to end the use of torture in interrogations, are being implemented variously across regions and institutions.

After a Failed U.N. Counterterrorism Strategy Review, What Other Paths to Structural Reform?
The U.N.'s periodic review of its counterterrorism strategy again leaves human rights protections weak and its sprawling system unchecked.

Merchant Mariners: Unseen in Peacetime and Forgotten in Conflict
The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran illustrates how thousands of merchant mariners, so desperately needed globally, increasingly are trapped at sea during times of conflict.

Key Trump Deportation Strategies: Removing, Replacing, and Pressuring Immigration Judges
New data shows how mass firings, loyalist replacements, and pressure tactics are turning U.S. immigration courts into a deportation enforcement arm.

Will States Address Disability Invisibility in the Crimes Against Humanity Convention?
Only two of 64 proposed amendments submitted by U.N. member States for a draft Crimes Against Humanity Convention enumerate disability as a specific protected category.

Beyond the Vanishing Point? What the Destruction of Civilian Infrastructure in Armed Conflicts Reveals about the State and the Role of IHL Today
There is a widening gap between international humanitarian law and the realities of civilians affected by armed conflicts.

As U.N. Secretary-General Candidates Make Pitch to be Mediator-in-Chief, Will Peacebuilding End Up On the Cutting Room Floor?
A U.N. pivot back to conflict mediation, suggested in the secretary-general search, will only reap dividends if peacebuilding is high on the next leader's agenda.

Deep Sea Mining and the Logic of Contracting Around the Commons
A non-binding U.S.-Japan agreement on deep-sea mining highlights the weaknesses and vulnerability of the International Seabed Authority.

Blockade and Article 2(4) of the UN Charter
"The U.S. military’s enforcement of the ongoing naval blockade of Iran may have now resulted in fresh violations of the U.N. Charter against four entirely different countries."

Ukraine and the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression: Redefining International Justice
The tribunal to prosecute Russia's crime of aggression seeks to close one of the most enduring gaps in international criminal law and strengthen the U.N. Charter.

The ICESCR in Armed Conflict: Submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Experts argue ICESCR applies in armed conflict and caution against broad claims of international humanitarian law as lex specialis.