Posts Tagged 'United Nations'

HomeTag: United Nations

CANADA AND THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL: BETTER LUCK THIS TIME?

CANADA AND THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL: BETTER LUCK THIS TIME?

McLeod Group Blog, February 8, 2017

After the Harper government’s disastrous attempt in 2010 to win one of the temporary seats on the United Nations Security Council, the Trudeau government has decided to try again. The next opening is in 2021. Fair questions to ask at this point are: Why are we doing this, and what difference might it make for Canada?

Fifteen months into the mandate of the Liberal government, foreign policy issues have attracted considerable attention on the part of ...

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LIFEBOAT DRILL: CANADA, TRUMP AND THE WIDER WORLD

LIFEBOAT DRILL: CANADA, TRUMP AND THE WIDER WORLD

McLeod Group Blog, January 23, 2017

Preparation for the incoming Trump administration is, understandably, a high priority for Canada. In this, the Canadian government needs to think beyond immediate self-interest, and consider not just the long game, but the fact that we are not alone in checking the lifeboats, the davits and the life preservers.

In advance of the inauguration, the Trudeau government has done some hasty redecorating and furniture rearrangement. Multilingual former journalist and author Chrystia Freeland, now a tested deal-maker, ...

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BACK TO THE FUTURE: CANADA AND UN PEACEKEEPING

BACK TO THE FUTURE: CANADA AND UN PEACEKEEPING

McLeod Group Blog, January 17, 2017

How serious is Canada about global peace and security? The decision has been made to return to UN peacekeeping, but only in principle. Now comes the hard part: the what and the where. Do we understand what has been happening during our absence from the modern world of peace operations? Discussions have been based on a fair amount of misinformation (e.g. peacekeeping didn’t use to be complicated, or political, or dangerous).

So what’s missing now?

When dealing ...

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REFUGEES: BRIDGING THE HUMANITARIAN-DEVELOPMENT GAP

REFUGEES: BRIDGING THE HUMANITARIAN-DEVELOPMENT GAP

Guest Blog by James Milner and Kevin Dunbar, January 11, 2017

Events in Europe and elsewhere over the past year have again highlighted the many deficiencies of the “global refugee regime.” Established in the aftermath of World War II, this regime has two core functions: to ensure protection for refugees and to find a solution to this plight.

By any objective measure, the global refugee regime is not working – and there have been growing demands from the public and politicians of ...

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REFUGEES: FLEETING FEELINGS OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

REFUGEES: FLEETING FEELINGS OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

McLeod Group blog by Hunter McGill, Sept. 23, 2016

The week of September 19 occasioned the usual cluster of high-level meetings in New York, as the United Nations begins its autumn sessions. Of particular importance for the international community of humanitarian organizations were the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants and the Leaders’ Summit on Refugees, hosted by President Barack Obama and co-hosted by Canada, among other countries. Both events were marked by hand-wringing, reminders of how many ...

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FRIGHT NIGHT: CANADA’S NEW PEACEKEEPING AGENDA

FRIGHT NIGHT: CANADA’S NEW PEACEKEEPING AGENDA

A McLeod Group Blog by Ian Smillie, Sept. 9, 2016

Even before Prime Minister Trudeau announced Canada’s new peacekeeping agenda, the media were awash with excited, not to say hysterical warnings. After the announcement, it was as though he had declared World War III.

The basics in the announcement: first, $150 million a year to a Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPs)—as far as one can see, very similar to the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force (START) in place since ...

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The UN Development System: Running on Empty

The UN Development System: Running on Empty

McLeod Group Blog, May 31, 2016

Canada wants to regain its international reputation. But we won’t get it back with a charm offensive. Canada needs to renew support for an effective UN, with a special focus on ways in which the UN Development System is financed.

Imagine running a company and having control over only 25% of your overall budget—your core funding. Imagine the rest being controlled by 30 large investors and a score of smaller ones, each pushing you into product ...

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BROKE OR BROKEN? HOW WE RESPOND TO EMERGENCIES

BROKE OR BROKEN? HOW WE RESPOND TO EMERGENCIES

A McLeod Group Blog, April 22, 2016

by Ian Smillie

In May the United Nations will convene the first-ever ‘World Humanitarian Summit’ in Istanbul, bringing together world leaders, NGOs, the private sector and others—5000 people in all—to talk about the growing humanitarian challenges of our time. The objective is to ‘enable the world to better prepare for and respond to crises, and become more resilient to shocks.’ A ‘major shift’ in disaster prevention is foreseen.

Maybe.

For months, the humanitarian paper mill has ...

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Not Wanted on the Voyage

Not Wanted on the Voyage

McLeod Group Blog, December 21, 2015

Like a bunch of month-old puppies, the media are all over the Syrian refugee story, unsure whether to focus on missed deadlines or new ski jackets for kiddies getting off the plane. There isn’t much talk, however, about those left behind: the 4.3 million Syrians in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, and the hundreds of thousands of Afghans, Somalis, Iraqis, Eritreans, West Africans and Asians trying to make it across the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean.

Of the ...

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Welcome to Fantasy Island: Financing for Development

McLeod Group Blog, July 28, 2015

It’s pretty much official: The UN’s hugely ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), not yet formally launched, aren’t going to be worth much more than the paper they are being written on. If proof is needed, just read the 39-page report of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Addis Ababa in July.

There, the world’s development ministers, a few heads of state, the aid community and what the UN likes to ...

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