The Strathmore Law School two weeks ago was gracious to host Professor Abdullahi Ahmed who is a lecturer of Law at the Emory Law School. He gave a presentation on “The Limited Legal protection of human rights and individual and collective self-determination”. The crux of his presentation was on the long lasting nature of […]

The new trend in politics is to put youth at the forefront of important decisions. As part of America’s youth, I’m begging you, stop putting us in charge! Some member states of the UN are pulling a new stunt where they bring youth ambassadors to speak on behalf of their country. I had the privilege […]

The most uncouth criticism of an individual that I have heard at the United Nations in my time there this summer was spoken during the opening session of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development on July 9 at the United Nations headquarters. This criticism came from Mr. Alex Steffen, a “planetary futurist”1, “eco-crusader,”2 […]

Eric Assoudrin of World Watch called for a more daring approach to promote One Child Policy in order to promote sustainable development. Cheered on by the moderator at a session, which took place at UN, he called for ‘political will’ to push one-child policy. In a side event organized by the UN Major Group for […]

As I approached United Headquarters at NYC a woman approached me and handed over a brochure. She said “could you please sign a petition asking UN Secretary General to promote small family norm especially for the poor?” That was it. She picked the wrong person. While I was running late in my schedule for the […]

In a High-Level Political Forum event in the UN this week on renewable energy, there was an alarming comment made. It occurred when the topic of clean cooking fuels for women came up. One of the forum discussants, Joan Carling of TEBTEBBA (Indigenous Peoples Major Group), was commenting on this issue. Carling said that we […]

The United Nations awarded two affiliates of Planned Parenthood with the Population Award last week at the ceremony at UN headquarters. Hosted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), this award celebrates individuals and institutions for the ‘most outstanding work in increasing public awareness of population questions or to their solutions,’ including family planning and […]

In a side event at the Conference of State Parties to the Convention of People with Disabilities (2018), sponsored by the permanent mission of India to United Nations, the Secretary of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities rephrased a crucial question concerning the Right to Life of persons with disabilities as depending on the […]

He breaks the universal sphere’s Machine-smoothed skin, To show the meshing gears And cogs within. -John Scattergood (excerpt from “Six Ways of Looking at a Pomodoro”)1   Recently, I was given a tour of the United Nations campus as a part of my internship with the Center for Family and Human Rights. The large meeting […]