Secretary-General António Guterres giving a toast at the annual heads of state luncheon during the opening session of the UN General Assembly, Sept. 25, 2018. This year, the session will include conferences on climate change, universal health care and the Sustainable Development Goals. And, of course, there will be the parade of speeches by global leaders. LI MUZI/UNCA POOL PHOTO
Kersti Kaljulaid, the president of Estonia, after her country’s election to the UN Security Council, June 7, 2019. She is scheduled to speak at the UN General Assembly on Sept. 25. Eastern Europe appears to dominate now with the most female government leaders globally. LOEY FELIPE/UN PHOTO
Lieut. Comdr. Marcia Braga, left, a 45-year-old Brazilian naval officer, spent a year as a UN military gender adviser in the war-wracked Central African Republic, above. She called it “the most rewarding experience she has ever had.” BRAGA ARCHIVES
At an entrance to the UN headquarters in New York, Indonesian diplomats passing one of the many signs, including some sterner than others, announcing the ban on single-use plastic in the UN dining areas. DULCIE LEIMBACH
People who regularly work or visit the United Nations headquarters in New York have surely noticed something new in the cafeteria this summer: no more single-use plastic, not even for takeout.
Joanna Wronecka, Poland’s ambassador to the UN, is president of the Security Council in August. She is known in the UN for speaking Arabic fluently, drawing admiration from that community of diplomats and reporters. Besides Polish, she also speaks English, French and German. DULCIE LEIMBACH
Even though many people think of August as vacation time, Joanna Wronecka, Poland’s ambassador to the United Nations, is not taking off anytime soon, as she is presiding over the Security Council for the month.
Amina Mohammed, right, the deputy secretary-general of the UN, signed a partnership agreement with the World Economic Forum, led by Borge Brende, left, to speed up progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. António Guterres, the UN secretary-general (behind Mohammed) and Klaus Schwab, the Forum’s chief executive, joined the ceremony in June.
A demonstration outside the Organization of American States in Washington, April 5, 2016, protesting the murder of the Honduran rights defender Berta Cáceres, who was killed a month earlier. Her daughter, Berta Zúñiga Cáceres, is part of the protests. The author of the essay suggests that instead of women’s rights activists being called on to “push back” against oppression, it’s time for others to “join us”?
Nils Melzer, the UN special rapporteur on torture, was criticized by hundreds of international human-rights lawyers recently for his “problematic definition of rape,” as expressed in an essay he wrote online about Julian Assange of Wikileaks. JEAN-MARC FERRE/UN PHOTO
Andrew Bremberg, Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 20, 2019. Aspects of his anti-abortion views, whether rape victims should be entitled to abortions, infuriated Senator Bob Menendez, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee. Bremberg, above, in 2018. GAGE SKIDMORE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
A new agreement by the UN and the Central African Republic pledges to tackle rape and other forms of sexual abuse committed in the war there by delivering justice and essential services to the victims. But will the agreement be carried out?, the author asks.
