Kelly Craft, the US envoy to the UN, arriving in the morning at the General Assembly Hall to cast her country’s secret ballot for various UN elections, June 17, 2020. By the afternoon, the new members of the Security Council were announced: India, Ireland, Mexico and Norway. The race between Djibouti and Kenya for the African seat goes to another round. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
As part of standard procedures in UN General Assembly elections, officials hold up empty ballot boxes for inspection by teller delegates, before collecting member states’ ballots. The pandemic has forced new methods on Assembly voting as the UN stays physically shut until the end of June for now. 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
Hasmik Egian, center, director of the Security Council Affairs Division of the UN, receiving requests from diplomats who want to speak at the emergency Council session on Venezuela, Jan. 26, 2019. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO
Jockeying for a two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council starts early — way early. Three countries are already vying for the two open seats in the regional group known as Weog — Western Europe and Others — for the 2021-22 term. The election is June 2020, and the “others” are Australia, Canada, Israel and New Zealand.
