This Week @UN: UN aid “reset”; upcoming SecGen candidate debates; crucial peacekeeping in South Sudan.
Plus: Praising US-Iran talks; Trump’s Pope-bashing; UN envoy in Riyadh & Oman; peacenik Pope; World Bank “borrowers’ platform”; Lebanon breathes; ICJ’s birthday.
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Our #1 story: Trump Nominates an ‘America First’ Advocate to Lead the UN’s World Food Program, by Damilola Banjo
PassBlue this week:
• Don’t Diminish the UN Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan, op-ed by Laetitia Bader
• Top Policy Questions for SG Candidates, by Passblue
• Has the UN Aid ‘Reset’ Made the System Better or Worse?, Experts Ask, by Paula Dupraz-Dobias (reprinted from Geneva Solutions)
Top UN news:
Monday, April 13
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Secretary-General António Guterres called the talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, held on April 11, a “positive and meaningful step toward dialogue” that underscored the “seriousness” of each party’s engagement. He stressed that all parties must “absolutely” respect the terms of the current ceasefire (which expires on April 22), including the freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, where disruptions in maritime trade have “already had a direct impact well beyond the immediate region, with increased global economic fragility and insecurity in many sectors.”
• Following US President Trump’s verbal attack on Pope Leo for criticizing the US–Israeli war in Iran, Dujarric was asked whether the pope had “fulfilled his moral duty as a religious leader” or overstepped into political territory, and whether Guterres feels “equally free” to similarly criticize Trump. Dujarric: Guterres and Pope Leo “share a lot of the same sensitivities when it comes to preventing conflict . . . pushing for peace” as well as “the respect of human dignity.” He added that although Guterres’s responses “may never rise to the level that you want,” the secretary-general “has been pretty open and blunt in his remarks.”
Tuesday, April 14
• No noon briefing. Instead, Guterres held a press encounter about his trip this week to The Hague for the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) 80th anniversary. He planned to send “an unmistakable message” that the UN “stands firmly” behind such institutions and that international law “applies to all States, without exception, and that respect for its rules is not optional.” On peace talks in Islamabad, he said that it was “highly probable” they would resume, expressing his “enormous admiration” to Pakistan for mediating the discussions. (See ICJ writeup on April 17.)
Wednesday, April 15
• Spokesperson’s briefing: While Jean Arnault, Guterres’s personal envoy for the Middle East conflict, traveled to Saudi Arabia and then Oman to discuss with respective officials how the UN could help resolve the war, Dujarric reported that Tom Fletcher of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) allocated $12 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to supplement the “humanitarian response” in Iran. The money will go toward “life-saving activities in health, water, sanitation and hygiene, and food security.” Regarding casualty updates from Iranian authorities, Dujarric said that US–Israeli airstrikes killed over 2,360 civilians, including 257 women and 220 children, in Iran from Feb. 28 to April 8 and injured “tens of thousands” more, “severely stretching” Iran’s healthcare system. Despite the current ceasefire, “widespread destruction,” including damage to such civilian infrastructure as schools, homes and health facilities and rubble and explosive or toxic remnants of war are still cutting off people’s access to basic needs and response effort.
Thursday, April 16
• Note to correspondents: Guterres “is following with interest the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Cameroon, which is being conducted under the banner of peace,” Dujarric wrote. Guterres “calls on all actors to capitalize on the momentum of the Pope’s visit to Bamenda in the country’s North-West region, including the announced break in fighting. The United Nations remains willing to support any efforts in this direction.”
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Guterres helped launch the Borrower’s Platform at a World Bank meeting on April 15. It is meant to address “deep inequities in the global financial and debt architecture” by forging a collective voice among borrowing countries to change “power relations is essential to achieving a fairer, more inclusive international financial system.”
• Guterres “welcomed” Trump’s announcement of a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, commended the US’ role in mediations and reaffirmed the UN’s support to “all efforts to end hostilities and alleviate the suffering of communities on both sides of the Blue Line.”
Friday, April 17
• Spokesperson’s briefing: Guterres welcomed Iran’s announcement that the Strait of Hormuz is “completely open for all commercial vessels for the remainder of the ceasefire” (till April 22), calling the news a “a step in the right direction.” (Trump noted Tehran’s announcement, calling it the Strait of Iran; he also said the US would continue to blockade it.)
• The International Court of Justice marked its 80th anniversary on April 17 in what it called a “solemn sitting” in The Hague. The court’s 15 judges, including President Yuji Iwasawa, attended along with top UN officials: Guterres; the president of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock; and the rotating president of the Security Council, Jamal Alrowaiei of Bahrain. Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen represented the court’s host country, with King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands seated in the front row. The hourlong ceremony featured musical performances and speeches, but the mood was somber.
“Normally, 80 years would be a big birthday party to celebrate,” said Baerbock. “Yet these are unfortunately not ordinary times.”
A common thread ran throughout every speech: The international rule of law is backsliding dangerously. Guterres spoke of a “moment of crisis” in which humankind can choose between either “a future governed by law or a future driven by raw power.” Other speakers described a world where the might-makes-right mindset is increasingly the order of the day. No countries were singled out as culprits, in keeping with diplomatic practice, but Guterres made barely veiled references to the US, which attacked Venezuela in January and Iran (with Israel) in February, and to Russia, for invading Ukraine. He also seemed to allude to Israeli attacks against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon and against UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine.
“There’s every reason to uphold and defend international law,” Berendsen, the Dutch foreign minister, said. “We owe it to those living today and to the future generations.” – DALI TEN HOVE
ICYMI:
Epstein: My Diplomatic Work Was Just a Facade: How Epstein Corrupted the International Peace Institute, news article
US: US Ambassador to UN Mike Waltz Testifies Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee, news article
Haiti: International Force in Haiti Allegedly Responsible for Sexual Violence, NGO report
Sudan: Three Years of War Push Millions of Sudanese Into Hunger & Extreme Poverty, Substack post
US: US to UN Global Aid Has Failed to Improve Lives of Poor, news article
Gaza: Rats Spread Across Gaza’s Camps, Threatening Children, Substack post
Nuclear nonproliferation: States Gather for 11th NPT Review Conference, NGO analysis
Legacy Fund: Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, women’s rights advocate
Dulcie Leimbach is a co-founder, with Barbara Crossette, of PassBlue. For PassBlue and other publications, Leimbach has reported from New York and overseas from West Africa (Burkina Faso and Mali) and from Europe (Scotland, Sicily, Vienna, Budapest, Kyiv, Armenia, Iceland, The Hague and Cyprus). She has provided commentary on the UN for BBC World Radio, ARD German TV and Radio, NHK’s English channel, Background Briefing with Ian Masters/KPFK Radio in Los Angeles and the Foreign Press Association.
Previously, she was an editor for the Coalition for the UN Convention Against Corruption; from 2008 to 2011, she was the publications director of the United Nations Association of the USA. Before UNA, Leimbach was an editor at The New York Times for more than 20 years. She began her reporting career in small-town papers in San Diego, Calif., and graduating to the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. Leimbach has been a fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies as well as at Yaddo, the artists’ colony in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; taught news reporting at Hofstra University; and guest-lectured at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the CUNY Journalism School. She graduated from the University of Colorado and has an M.F.A. in writing from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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