United Nations Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Secretary Of State Blinken: ‘No Doubt’ U.S. Diplomacy ‘Tarnished By Recent Events’

By NPR News February 16, 2021

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington last month. CREDIT: Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been in office three weeks. He arrives at a challenging time: the U.S. must figure out how to deal with China, Russia and Iran, the coronavirus pandemic rages on, and the State Department must rise from the morale slump it suffered during the Trump administration.Read More

U.N. Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Takes Effect, Without The U.S. And Others

By NPR News January 22, 2021

People hold letters reading #NUCLEARBAN in New York City, in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which took effect on Friday. Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

A U.N. treaty outlawing nuclear weapons went into effect on Friday, having been ratified by at least 50 countries. But the ban is largely symbolic: The U.S. and the world's other nuclear powers have not signed the treaty.Read More

Grim And Hopeful Global Trends To Watch In 2020 (And Fold Into A Zine)

By NPR News January 2, 2020

There's cause for pessimism and optimism in the year ahead as our expert sources share their predictions. Plus: Print and fold your own global trends zine.Read More

U.N. Climate Summit Goes To Extra Time, But Ends With Major Questions Unresolved

By NPR News December 15, 2019

Demonstrators take part in a protest on climate emergency outside the U.N. Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid on Friday. CREDIT: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP via Getty Images

The talks showed deep divisions, as small countries highly vulnerable to rising seas and powerful storms were at odds with wealthy, high-emitting countries like the United States. Read More

U.N. Climate Summit Sets Stage For New National Emissions Promises

By NPR News September 23, 2019

A coal-fired power plant in central Poland. Global greenhouse gas emissions rose in 2018, and the world is on track for potentially catastrophic climate change in the coming decades. Czarek Sokolowski/AP

Humanity is not on track to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Delegations from nearly 200 countries are meeting to discuss promises they made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.Read More

Rwanda’s Genocide Victims Remembered 25 Years Later

By NPR News April 7, 2019

From left to right, Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Rwandan First Lady Jeannette Kagame, and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, light the flame of remembrance at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Kigali, Rwanda on Sunday. Ben Curtis/AP

Some 800,000 Rwandans, mostly from the country's Tutsi minority, were killed in the mass slaughter. President Kagame said the country is "wounded and heartbroken, yes. But unvanquished."Read More

Oregon’s Grant County Keeps Its United Nations Ban. Leaders Have Other Ideas Against Big Government

By Tom Banse February 2, 2019

Former Grant County Supervisor Mark Webb has challenged the anti-United Nations and other anti-big government initiatives. CREDIT: TOM BANSE/N3

In 2002, Grant County, Oregon banned the United Nations by citizen initiative. The referendum wasn't close: 58 percent of voters said to keep the United Nations out of Eastern Oregon. The sponsors asserted the United Nations sought to impose "world taxation," take away guns and private property and bring about "one world controlled education."Read More

U.S. Ends 1955 Treaty With Iran, After U.N. Court Orders A Partial Lift Of Sanctions

By NPR News October 3, 2018

The unanimous ruling from the International Court of Justice orders the U.S. to allow Iran to import food, medical supplies and other products for humanitarian reasons. Here, people browse for goods in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran. CREDIT: FATEMAH BAHRAMI

The U.N.'s top court gave a partial victory to Iran in its dispute with the U.S. on Wednesday, saying the U.S. "must remove" sanctions that could stop food, medical supplies and other humanitarian products from entering Iran.Read More

Kofi Annan, Former U.N. Secretary-General, Peace Prize Winner, Dies At 80

By NPR News August 18, 2018

Kofi Annan served two terms as United Nations Secretary-General before creating the Kofi Annan Foundation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.Read More