Category: Newsletter
-
‘It’s Scandalous’
This may be our last newsletter for a little while as we try to find new funders for our work — but more on that later. We had hoped to be able to sign off with the long-awaited news of the appointment of a new Emergency Relief Coordinator for the UN. This role is ever-more crucial as…
-
Time Is Running Out
For the third month running, we are reporting that politicking around the appointment of the dual job of UN Humanitarian Chief and Emergency Relief Coordinator remains in full swing. This is one of the most important jobs in the world, as it leads the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
-
One Rule for Them, One Rule for Us
When the United Nations last appointed its Emergency Relief Coordinator in 2021, New York was abuzz with rumours with dozens of names circulating. This time around, things are much quieter: either the Secretary-General is struggling to find candidates for the role, or he’s happy with the names he has received that the search has not intensified. Formally,…
-
For British Eyes Only
The UN Secretary-General is often described as having “the world’s most impossible job,” but right now that title may well belong to his Emergency Relief Coordinator, the person responsible for managing humanitarian efforts in Gaza, Sudan, Yemen and wherever else famine or other serious disaster strikes. The post is about to fall vacant after Martin Griffiths, a…
-
There Will Be a Woman… Soon
That the next Secretary-General of the United Nations must be a woman should be indisputable — after almost 80 years of men occupying the UN’s top job without interruption, it’s long overdue. Encouragingly, political momentum behind the idea that it must be a woman seems near the tipping point beyond which male candidates — and the…
-
The Future Is Packed
Diplomats are wading through 250 pages of member states’ suggestions on what should be included in the United Nations’ grandly named “Pact for the Future,” the outcome document of the world body’s equally grandly named “Summit of the Future” this September. A single pact to transform multilateralism and fix the world feels far-fetched, but one useful result could be…
-
What Was Azerbaijan Thinking?
As we went to press in our final newsletter of 2023, Azerbaijan was appointed host of the 2024 UN Climate Summit as part of a deal that may have been made to help bring some peace to the region. Moreover, against all odds, the UAE-hosted COP28 actually agreed to certain outcomes which, while far from…
-
Oiling the Machinery of Climate Governance
The head of an oil company who doesn’t believe there is scientific evidence to support the need to phase out fossil fuels chairs the United Nations’ most important climate summit — the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He got the job because it was an Asian country’s turn…
-
Service and Sacrifice
Welcome to the November edition of the Blue Smoke newsletter – part of our continuing project to shine a light on appointments and elections at the UN. Much is asked of UN officials, and none more so than the many thousands of UN personnel who have lost their lives in the line of duty since…
-
Sounding the Alarm
Welcome to the October edition of the Blue Smoke newsletter, part of our project to shine a light on appointments and elections at the UN. We’re back from a brief summer hiatus recharged and raring to continue our work to sound the alarm and dispel the smoke that shrouds senior appointments. Since launching in February…
Blue Smoke 