United Nations

What Canada Can Do About the Rohingya Genocide
- May 1, 2019
By Payam Akhavan and John Packer

Twenty-five years ago, as young UN human rights officers working together in Geneva, we witnessed how the world watched and did nothing as close to a million Rwandan Tutsis were exterminated. Brimming with idealism …
By CIPS
Asia, Canadian Foreign Policy, Human Rights, International Law, Refugees, United Nations
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“If you want to kill me, please kill me quick”
- April 12, 2019
The images, and voices, from Libya’s migrant detention centres are sickening. An online blog posted a letter written by an anonymous refugee from Darfur, detained in Libya. “RS” writes of having left his village, destroyed by the Janjaweed, to find …
By Patti Tamara Lenard
Africa, Canadian Foreign Policy, Fragile States, Human Rights, Refugees, United Nations
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A New Face in International Development
- March 29, 2019
Maryam Monsef is the new face mandated to set the tone of international co-operation as Minister of International Development. Her arrival on March 1^st is the result of the crisis of integrity in the government triggered by the flow …
By John Sinclair
Canadian Foreign Policy, International Development, Refugees, United Nations, Women
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New Partnerships for Minister Monsef?
- March 29, 2019
Since March 1, 2019, Maryam Monsef has been the new Minister of International Development, adding to her responsibilities as Minister for Women and Gender Equality. A companion blog outlines the demanding new landscape in which she must operate. The aim …
By John Sinclair
Canadian Foreign Policy, International Development, Refugees, United Nations, Women
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China and UN Peacekeeping
- January 14, 2019
For the last year or so, I have been researching China’s contributions to UN peacekeeping. It has been an interesting journey, culminating in a new CIPS report, 30 years of Chinese Peacekeeping, which will be launched on January 24, …
By Christoph Zuercher
China, Peacekeeping, United Nations
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Canada’s Security Council Campaign
- December 18, 2018
In a recent CIPS blog, also published in the Globe and Mail, my colleague Roland Paris outlined the reasons “Why Canada cares about that Security Council seat.” This blog wonders whether the world cares about Canada’s …
By Daniel Livermore
Canadian Foreign Policy, United Nations
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Human and Non-Human Rights — Convergence or Conflict?
- December 10, 2018
Today is the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Most reflections on this milestone are likely to sound a sombre note, dwelling on the many challenges faced by those championing human rights in an increasingly …
By David Petrasek
Environment, Human Rights, United Nations
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Why Canada Should Care — a lot — about that UN Security Council seat
- December 3, 2018
Canada will stand for election to the United Nations Security Council in June 2020. Our competitors are Norway and Ireland. Of the three countries, two will win seats on the council and begin their two-year terms in January 2021.

There …
By Roland Paris
Canadian Foreign Policy, International Relations, International Security, International Trade, United Nations
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Decisive Action is Overdue to Protect the Rohingyas
- September 15, 2018
By John Packer

Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa and Neuberger-Jesin Professor of International Conflict Resolution

Finally, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar has stated the obvious: the Rohingya …
By CIPS
Asia, Canadian Foreign Policy, Human Rights, International Law, Refugees, United Nations
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Making the United Nations Fit for Purpose in an Illiberal Era
- July 15, 2018
Louise Riis Andersen, Senior Researcher, Danish Institute for International Studies

The return of geopolitics and the rise of populism have reinforced crude and divisive distinctions between “us” and “them.” As a result, the notions of collective security and the …
By CIPS
International Relations, United Nations
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How History Helps Us Uncover the Real Successes of Middle Power Internationalism
- July 15, 2018
Heidi Tworek, Assistant Professor in International History, University of British Columbia, and Visiting Fellow, Center for History and Economics, Harvard University

Over 15 years ago, Barry Buzan and Richard Little lamented that international relations had long sustained “a dominant …
By CIPS
International Relations, United Nations
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Women Leaders Needed in the WTO
- June 14, 2018
The Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment is a stepping stone on the road to advancing gender equality and the economic empowerment of women in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The best way to achieve gender equality in an …
By Debra Steger
Gender, International Trade, United Nations, Women
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