Kelly Knight Craft, shown here as the American ambassador to Canada, is Trump’s nominee for the top envoy role at the United Nations. Her Senate confirmation hearing, held June 19, 2019, for the UN ambassadorship elicited many questions from senators regarding her posture on climate change. She and her husband, Joseph Craft III, have extensive coal investments.
Karen Pierce, Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations, mixes a dashing clothing style with a pronounced, articulate voice on her country’s policies as the only female diplomat among the permanent-five members, Britain, China, France, Russia and America, on the Security Council. UN WEBTV
Women in Uruguay preparing to participate in an International Women’s Day march, 2019. New global plans are underway to mark the 25th anniversary of the Beijing conference advancing women’s rights in 2020, including events to be held in Mexico, France and New York. The efforts will not be easy. CREATIVE COMMONS
The US State Department has created a new commission to advise Secretary of State Pompeo, above, on redefining policies aligned with “natural law and natural rights.” For human-rights advocates, the language suggests ominous religious and other overtones. RON PRZYSUCHA/STATE DEPARTMENT
Critical needs arrive for the 45,000 or so Syrian refugees stuck in Rukban camp, near the Jordan border, with most residents women and children. A new bill from the US House of Representatives may overturn Trump-Pence policies that deny women and girls in poor nations and conflict zones access to reproductive health care. UNHCR
Vice President Pence suddenly showed up at the UN on April 10, 2019, to demand that the Security Council strip the current Venezuelan ambassador’s UN credentials. That has not happened. The US mission to the UN lacks a permanent representative amid an outflow of a range of personnel. Some UN diplomats say, “There is no one left.” MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO
On the last day of the annual UN women’s conference in March, joy was mixed with relief by delegates after grueling negotiations over a summary document. The facilitator for the negotiations, Koki Muli Grignon, a Kenyan diplomat, received bullying text messages during the process. The US mission to the UN said it would investigate the incidents but the status of that work is unclear. RYAN BROWN/UN WOMEN
Wazhma Frogh, an award-winning advocate for Afghan women and girls, said in a recent interview about women’s participation in the current peace talks for her country: It’s a litmus test for the world, what’s going on in Afghanistan. LARA MCKINLEY
A new Security Council resolution recognizes for the first time that men and boys are victims of sexual violence in conflicts, reflecting more attention to this problem in addition to the work being done for female victims. Here, a scene from Aleppo, Syria. CREATIVE COMMONS
A wave of new or persistent accusations of harassment and corruption in some UN system agencies and programs reflects poor management and more politicization of high-level appointments demanded by UN member nations. Here, the UN headquarters.
