Todd Hayen Remember the ugly prank taping a sheet of paper on a nerd’s back (or on the back of some other vulnerable innocent) that said KICK ME? Maybe you are from a generation where teenagers didn’t do such things. I never liked the idea because I was of the type that would get such …
David Beasley, the head of the World Food Program and an American, spoke to the media at UN headquarters in New York City remotely on Oct. 16, 2020. The agency was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a week earlier, and he used the briefing to plea for billions of more dollars in donations to the agency to stave off famines in certain countries. He also asked billionaires to pitch in as nations are “tapped out” from the pandemic financially. JOHN PENNEY
In October 2015, the Security Council held a debate on women, peace and security to review the status of Resolution 1325, which was adopted on Oct. 31, 2000, to recognize the effects of war on women and built on the 1995 Beijing conference for gender equality. The essay’s experts map how the visions of the Beijing conference have been integrated into US foreign policy but the fact is, gender equality remains elusive globally. AMANDA VOISARD/UN PHOTO
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada speaking remotely at the UN’s event on financing the Sustainable Development Goals amid Covid-19. Secretary-General António Guterres, right, Sept. 29, 2020. The authors of this essay say that to build the post-pandemic planet, nations and people must understand the need for solidarity and humility to master the challenges ahead. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
The world order is no more.
“Digital Future of Development Dialogue,” a UN event, above, was held in September 2019. The UN is pushing to widen traditional pools of funding through digital channels to lift the faltering Sustainable Development Goals, especially in the Covid-19 era. But risks to such an approach abound. ©SUMAYA AGHA/UNDP
The Covid-19 pandemic’s effects on poor countries is hitting children hard, forcing some of them to work while navigating unsavory home lives. In wars, children’s status is worse than ever. Here, in Madagascar, the health system is strained and schools are closed. HENITSOA RAFALIA/WORLD BANK
A UN Development Program workshop on gender and disaster-risk reduction related to climate change, Cambodia, August 2019. In an essay, an expert on the UN development system says it “cries out for reform” but is stuck in inertia. MANUTH BUTH/UNDP CAMBODIA
A refugee with the documents he needs to go from Greece into what is now called North Macedonia, 2015. Over the next two years, scores of countries will conduct censuses, and they will need to include migration data. That collection of information will be difficult but essential for societies to function optimally. STEVE EVANS/CREATIVE COMMONS
The United Nations headquarters showcasing the Sustainable Development summit, September 2015. The essayist, an expert in governance and democracy, bemoans the growing participation of multinational corporations in UN system forums. CIA PAK/UN PHOTO
Global governance is slipping away from the United Nations.
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.
