For six years now, children in Syria have been living with the constant fear of being killed and, according to a report released today by Save The Children, the psychological toll has sparked a growing mental health crisis.
Read MoreUnder new leadership, the United Nations is finally taking measures to redress its long recognized failure to promote women’s leadership of the institution. Antonio Guterres, who assumed the role of Secretary-General on January 1st, campaigned as a champion of gender equality and upon taking the oath of office promised to make gender-parity within the 44,000-person Secretariat a priority. Meet some of the women he has appointed to top positions so far.
Read MoreTo the chagrin of many, the UN’s next leader will be not a woman. However, he—Antonio Guterres, former Portuguese prime minister and head of the UN refugee committee—did campaign on a promise of gender parity. And yesterday, moments after taking the oath of office and presenting his agenda to the General Assembly, he reiterated to the press that he will prioritize correcting the gender imbalance among UN staff during his first 100 days in office.
Read MoreOf the million refugees, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, who arrived in Europe since the beginning of 2015, over 85 percent entered Europe through Greece. According to the U.N. refugee agency, they continue to arrive at a rate of almost 5,000 per day, but they are slipping from the grasp of the world's fickle attention. Georgia Lale, a 26-year old artist from Greece launched #OrangeVest a performance art project designed to remind us their struggles are far from over.
Read MoreUntil recently, Thair Orfahli, a convivial Syrian just shy of his 27th birthday, had little to worry about save a tough exam or the travails of young love. Today, while waiting out the lengthy asylum process in Germany, he lives in a dormitory for refugees, but exists mainly a liminal space between the nightmare he has survived and the bright future he is determined, but not yet able, to forge.
Read MoreMaybe if the U.N. blueprint for peace and prosperity for 2030 were sexier, people around the world would take notice and support it. So goes the thinking behind #GlobalGoals, an infotainment campaign to frame the U.N.'s new agenda for economic and social development as something that everyone should be excited and optimistic about.
Read MoreNoorjahan Akbar's stubborn optimism about the future of her native Afghanistan offers a compelling counte-rnarrative to the bleak picture painted by Western media. Despite the gargantuan security challenges, it is possible, she insists, to revive the prosperity, tolerance, commitment to learning and cultural vibrancy that characterized Afghan society throughout much of the country’s illustrious history.
Read MoreOn a panel moderated by the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, six former and current female Security Council members spoke about the strengths and talents they bring to the practice of diplomacy and the gender-based discrimination they still sometimes face.
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