Stories written by Thalif Deen
Thalif Deen, IPS United Nations bureau chief and North America regional director, has been covering the U.N. since the late 1970s. A former deputy news editor of the Sri Lanka Daily News, he was also a senior editorial writer for Hong Kong-based The Standard. He has been runner-up and cited twice for “excellence in U.N. reporting” at the annual awards presentation of the U.N. Correspondents’ Association. A former information officer at the U.N. Secretariat, and a one-time member of the Sri Lanka delegation to the U.N. General Assembly sessions, Thalif is currently editor in chief of the IPS U.N. Terra Viva journal. Since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, he has covered virtually every single major U.N. conference on population, human rights, environment, social development, globalisation and the Millennium Development Goals. A former Middle East military editor at Jane’s Information Group in the U.S, he is a Fulbright-Hayes scholar with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, New York.

Veto Returns to Haunt Big Powers in Arms Trade Treaty

By Thalif Deen
When the United Nations set out to draft a politically-sensitive Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), ever since negotiations began in 2006, member states agreed to take the final decision by "consensus".

U.N. Accused of Opaque Selection Process for Top Officials

By Thalif Deen
- The Geneva-based U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), described as a key forum for developing nations on issues relating to trade, investment and development, will have a new secretary-general come September.

Ex-World Leaders Find Haven, and Per Diem, at U.N.

By Thalif Deen
A potential ad from the United Nations to be placed in a weekly London newsmagazine could possibly read: Vacancy for ex-head of government or ex-head of state; lucrative globe-trotting political assignments in Asia, Africa or Latin America; attractive per diem; first or business class travel; five star hotels; and guaranteed diplomatic immunity (including from the International Criminal Court).

Water and Sanitation Seek Rightful Place in Post-2015 Agenda

By Thalif Deen
When the General Assembly unanimously adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) back in 2000, water and sanitation were reduced to a subtext - never a stand-alone goal compared with poverty and hunger alleviation.

China Outsells UK in World’s Lucrative Arms Bazaar

By Thalif Deen
After ranking ahead of Japan as the world's second largest economy, China has reached another milestone: displacing the UK as the world's fifth largest arms supplier.

Q&A: Rise of South “Unprecedented in Speed and Scale”

By Thalif Deen
The world's 132 developing nations, largely part of the global South, are ascending at a pace “unprecedented in its speed and scale", according to the latest Human Development Report (HDR) released Thursday by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP).

Q&A: Water Disputes Get Resolved While Other Conflicts Rage

By Thalif Deen
What has education, science and culture to do with one of the world's most scarce and finite resources? Plenty, says the United Nations, which has designated the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as the lead agency to promote the 2013International Year of Water Cooperation (IYWC).

A Political Tug-of-War Over Militarism and Gender Violence

By Thalif Deen
When the largest single gathering of women met at the United Nations in February last year, the adoption of a future plan of action was undermined by rigidly conservative governments opposed to women's reproductive rights - largely misinterpreted as a right to abortion.

U.N. Security Council Hits N. Korea with New Sanctions

By Thalif Deen and Jim Lobe
North Korea, which has survived three rounds of diplomatic and economic sanctions since its first nuclear test in 2006, reacted with predictable fury, threatening to nuke the United States, in retaliation for a Security Council resolution imposing new sanctions against Pyongyang.
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Q&A: South Korean Brands Invade Global Markets

By Thalif Deen
When U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former foreign minister of South Korea, met with Psy last October, he jokingly told the wildly popular rapper that he was "a bit jealous" of him.

U.N. to Build Bridges Battling “Merchants of Hate”

By Thalif Deen
Amidst the rising tide of racial and religious intolerance worldwide - including xenophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia - the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) will meet in the Austrian capital of Vienna later this week to strengthen cross-cultural relations in a world it describes as "alarmingly out of balance".

U.N. Lambasted for Denying Compensation to Haiti’s Cholera Victims

By Thalif Deen
The United Nations has come under heavy political fire for its decision to deny compensation for thousands of victims of cholera in Haiti - a deadly disease spread by U.N. peacekeepers in the troubled Caribbean nation.

Arms Bazaars Proliferate as U.N. Tries to Regulate Trade

By Thalif Deen
When a 20-year-old went on a deadly shooting spree killing 26 students and teachers in an elementary school in Connecticut last December, there was the inevitable outcry either for a ban or a tight control on gun shows, where firearms can be purchased over the counter with no background checks on the buyer.

World’s Nuclear Environment Remains Politically Toxic

By Thalif Deen
The world's nuclear environment has increasingly turned politically toxic, replete with threats, accusations and open defiance of Security Council resolutions.

North Korea Defies World Body with Third Nuke Test

By Thalif Deen
North Korea, which conducted its third nuclear test Monday, is following closely in the heavy footsteps of Israel as one of the world's most intransigent nations, ignoring Security Council resolutions and defying the international community.
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