Last week, the Senate Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), approved a State & Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2018. Most importantly, by a vote of 31-0, the bill adds back nearly $11 billion to the Trump administration’s whittled down budget submission.… continue »
Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, bragged on Twitter recently about cuts to UN peacekeeping funding, saying:
“Just 5 months into our time here, we’ve cut over half a billion $$$ from the UN peacekeeping budget & we’re only getting started.” pic.twitter.com/LA7IKqupff
— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) June 29, 2017
Haley’s ill-advised and alarming boast and promise to cut more funds is a serious risk to UN peacekeeping operations.… continue »
These days, the Trump administration is not just threatening human rights with executive orders, tomahawk missiles and tweets. It is also wielding the government’s wallet as a weapon against the international human rights system, proposing to cut or withhold billions of dollars in funding for a variety of international institutions that play crucial roles in the defense and promotion of human rights.… continue »
The UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR), known by its French acronym MINUSCA, reported last month that on February 26 it “had intervened” militarily to halt “an offensive maneuver” (‘la progression offensive’) by approximately 40 alleged members of an armed group near the town of Bambari.… continue »
A new United Nations report on sexual exploitation and abuse at the UN, along with its high profile media launch, may signal “a new approach” by the organization. It also reflects the seriousness with which the new secretary-general, António Guterres, views the matter, which has plagued the UN for years.… continue »
The conflict and long-term crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR) is characterized by its inter-ethnic cleavages and deepened by scattered surges of violence and state disintegration. It has now moved from a religious-based conflict to a fight for resources between Seleka rebels.… continue »
Speaking at the UN on Thursday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon apologized to the Haitian people for not doing more to halt the spread of cholera in the country, but stopped well short of saying the UN was responsible for–or that he was apologizing for–causing the cholera outbreak, which has killed more than 9,000 people.… continue »
A new Haitian cholera vaccination program. Image by UN/MINUSTAH/Logan Abassi
In this post, we’re trying something attempted once before at Just Security. Below, we present an almost line-by-line annotation of last night’s New York Times story on UN acceptance of moral—but not legal—responsibility for UN peacekeepers having caused a cholera epidemic in Haiti.… continue »
Media reports continue to trickle through detailing rape and indiscriminate killing by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR). Despite condemnation by UN Headquarters and some moves toward accountability by those states providing troops, the reports of sexual violence and exploitation continue unabated.… continue »
Following yesterday’s post about President Al-Bashir of Sudan, it might be useful to examine other fugitives from justice and the state of U.S. policy toward their capture.
Turning to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), all but one of the International Criminal Court’s DRC indictees is in custody, in trial, or pursuing an appeal. … continue »
