This Week @UN: Finances of SecGen race; Mideast wars’ toll on kids; “the gravest crime against humanity”; glass ceiling/glass cliff.
Plus: Crushing Lebanon; new envoy goes to Khartoum; a new Mideast envoy; helping Cuba; UN SecGen upsets; Strait of Hormuz task force.
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• Our #1 story: How US Tried but Failed to Wipe Out 70 Years of Global Consent on Women’s Rights, by Damilola Banjo
US-UN Tracker: Mike Waltz, United States envoy to UN, was interviewed by CBS News on March 22, in which he responds to a question by the correspondent that attacks by Israel and the US on Iran’s water desalination plant are linked to “energy infrastructure, civilian infrastructure” and therefore a possible war crime, Waltz said: “I have no doubt that the president, the Pentagon, their team will ensure that what they target is geared towards the military infrastructure of Iran. But I have to tell you, they deliberately blend, have a long history, everything from hiding weapons under schools and hospitals to using power plants and other critical infrastructure to not only power their military but their civilian, and they deliberately blend in contravention of international law.” Waltz provided no proof of Iran hiding weapons in schools and hospitals and did not mention the US missile attack on a primary school in Manib, Iran, on Feb. 28, killing at least 165 people, mostly children. — DULCIE LEIMBACH
PassBlue this week:
• UN Secretary-General Race: Financial Disclosures, an Explainer, by Ben Donaldson
• An Average of 87 Children Are Killed or Injured Daily in Mideast Wars, UN Says, by Damilola Banjo
• A UN Resolution Urging Reparatory Justice Wins Backing Without Western Support, by Damilola Banjo
• Will the Next UN Leader Shatter the Glass Ceiling but Fall Off the Glass Cliff?, op-ed by Jennifer Parlamis
• We pay tribute to our dear friend Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, a staunch feminist who died on March 20, 2026. Among her long list of accomplishments, Mavic initiated the Philippines’ national action plan to actualize UN Security Council Resolution 1325 — the infamous “women, peace and security” doctrine — to ensure that women take equal part in all peace talks and peace-building endeavors, which are always in short supply. Mavic, who also founded the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, was so dedicated to her work pushing for women’s equal place in every global setting related to peace, that she never seemed to sleep.
When I first met her a decade ago, her office was located in a maze of other small but dogged NGOs near the UN. As an enduring example of her humble practicality, she worked on a computer parked in a wall inset in a hallway, breaking to chat in a conference room about “localization” — of which I knew nothing but learned to respect like everything Mavic did to improve the lives of women everywhere. (Localization converts Rez 1325 into a national reality.) Mavic showed such relentless dedication to her work that when she paused on a trip I took with her to Yerevan, Armenia, and we drank coffee,
I thought she might tell me about her journey to being a nonstop women’s advocate, but instead she unburdened herself about the terrors that Duterte was carrying out in her native Philippines. In fact, her last essay, in January, for PassBlue sums up Mavic, headlined: “Who’s Afraid of the ‘F’ Word? The Next UN Leader Must Be a Woman and a Feminist.” Our hearts are heavy. — DULCIE LEIMBACH
Top UN news:
Monday, March 23
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the UN was “deeply concerned” by the 64 attacks on Lebanon’s “already fragile” health care system in Lebanon, killing 51 people and injuring 91, part of a broader pattern of continuing Israeli “strikes on critical infrastructure,” including several bridges across the Litani River. Over 1.2 million people, or one-fifth of the country’s residents, have been forcibly displaced, 130,000 of whom are staying in overcrowded shelters, a figure Dujarric said “will rise further […] with Israeli authorities announcing plans to escalate ground operations along the Blue Line.”
[Update, March 27]: Yesterday, UNIFIL peacekeepers reported over 200 rockets and artillery shells fired from the area of operations toward Israel. The mission detected 1,325 trajectories from the south to the north of the Blue Line, the highest number since March 2, when fighting between Hezbollah and Israel was renewed. Peacekeepers recorded a high volume of artillery exchanges in the area of operations and observed 16 airstrikes amid the exchanges of fire yesterday, including a bullet shattering a window at the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura.
Tuesday, March 24
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Pekka Haavisto, the new personal envoy of UN Secretary-General António Guterres for Sudan met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Muhieldin Salim in Khartoum on March 24 and will meet Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, chair of the Sudanese Sovereign Council and commander of Sudanese Armed Forces, to start a multidestination tour of consultations toward peace efforts in the country. Haavisto will also seek to meet Sudanese political and civil society players, as well as the diplomatic community. Guterres “strongly condemns” a drone attack on the El-Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur, slaughtering at least 60 people, including children and health workers.
[Update, March 26]: Haavisto met with General Al-Burhan and civilian and political parties. In his meetings, he has “emphasized the need to safeguard the unity and territorial integrity of Sudan and underscored our commitment to engaging all relevant stakeholders to advance peace in the country,” Dujarric said.
Wednesday, March 25
• Secretary-General’s press encounter (no noon briefing): Guterress told reporters that the world was “staring down the barrel of a wider war […] and a deeper global economic shock,” with the US–Israeli war in Iran “out of control” and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz “choking” the flow of oil, gas and fertilizer during global planting season. He warned Israel that the “Gaza model must not be replicated in Lebanon.” Calling for a ceasefire and all parties to “return to full respect of international law,” he added that he has initiated plans for “dialogue and peace” and appointed Jean Arnault of France as his personal envoy to lead UN efforts on the conflict and its fallout.
[Update, March 26]: Iranian authorities, with the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), are leading humanitarian remedies in the war, according to the UN, including search and rescue, emergency medical care and temporary shelter. The World Food Program, UNICEF, the UN Refugee Agency, as well as the UN Development Program and humanitarian partners on the ground are also supporting food, health, water, education and refugee aid. UNOCHA has received reports of “significant damage to essential services.” As of today, the IRCS has reported damage to more than 87,000 civilian residential and commercial units, 600 schools, 289 health facilities, 17 IRCS centers, three helicopters and 48 of their own emergency vehicles.
Thursday, March 26
• Spokesperson’s briefing: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched a revised, $94 million plan to address the humanitarian impact of the US executive order and other sanctions on Cuba, which have caused a “severe reduction” in the nation’s access to fuel, damaging health care, education, sanitation, food and water availability. The plan, for which only $26 million has been allocated thus far, focuses on “maintaining essential services and ensuring the continuity of life-sustaining supply chains,” Dujarric said, and supporting “alternative energy solutions, helping to keep essential services functioning” for two million people, or one-fifth of the island’s population.
Friday, March 27
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Guterres has established a task force, led by Jorge Moreira, head of the UN Office of Project Services (UNOPS), and consisting of representatives from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Chamber of Commerce, to “develop and propose technical mechanisms specifically designed to meet humanitarian needs in the Strait of Hormuz,” Dujarric said. The task force aims to enable trade of fertilizer and other raw materials in “close consultation with relevant Member States, with full respect for national sovereignty and established international legal frameworks,” to ultimately “create confidence” among participating countries toward a “diplomatic approach” to ending the US/Israeli war against Iran. (Our story, by Damilola Banjo.)
ICYMI:
UN SecGen race: Chile withdraws its endorsement of Michelle Bachelet, news
UN SecGen race: Maldives withdraws its endorsement of Virginia Gamba, news
UN SecGen race: Macky Sall, a candidate backed by Burundi, fails to win AU endorsement, NGO tweet
Venezuela: Delcy Rodríguez, acting president, appoints a new envoy to the UN, news
UN: How to End the UN’s Current Financial Crisis & Prevent Future Ones, NGO analysis
Afghanistan: Women’s and Girls’ Right to Health, UN report
Global warming: Earth’s Climate Swings Increasingly Out of Balance, UN report
Arthur Bassas is a researcher and writer who graduated from St. Andrews in Scotland, majoring in international relations and terrorism. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and speaks English and French.
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