Latest Updates

Over the past year, the UN’s limitations in preventing deadly conflict have repeatedly been on display. But the world organisation still has several vital roles to play.

The UN Security Council has passed through periods of inaction before, but in recent years it seems unusually restrained. Major power politics are only one reason why. It may be time to accept that the body – while still useful – has built-in limits.

With Secretary-General António Guterres visiting Brussels, the UN and European Union have an opportunity to forge closer cooperation in global hotspots from Libya to Venezuela. Together, the two organisations can strengthen multilateral crisis management in a period of geopolitical tensions.

The G7 is preparing for its first summit since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. While conflict resolution is low on its agenda, it cannot do away with it entirely. Crisis Group outlines seven challenges it faces in this domain and steps to address them.

This week on War & Peace, Olga Oliker and Hugh Pope talk with Mexican diplomat to the UN María Antonieta Jáquez about the global movement for nuclear disarmament, the reality of non-proliferation agreements, and how to reframe the narrative around nuclear-weapon-free zones. 

EU-Russia ties are frostier than ever. In this excerpt from the Watch List 2021 – Spring Update, Crisis Group urges the EU and its member states to forge consensus with the U.S. and UK on responses to any threats, or evidence, of Russian attacks on Ukraine, and to work with the U.S. on breaking the impasse in talks.

The 1 February coup d’état has pushed Myanmar toward possible state collapse. In this excerpt from the Watch List 2021 – Spring Update, Crisis Group urges the EU and its member states to channel significant aid to Myanmar, support regional diplomacy, expand targeted sanctions on the regime and ensure that the EU arms embargo is strictly enforced.

Every year Crisis Group publishes two additional Watch List updates that complement its annual Watch List for the EU, most recently published in January 2021. These publications identify major crises and conflict situations where the European Union and its member states can generate stronger prospects for peace. The Spring Update of the Watch List 2021 includes entries on Bolivia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Ukraine and Yemen.

This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood and Naz Modirzadeh talk to Richard Gowan, Crisis Group’s UN director, about UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ bid for a second term, the UN’s peacemaking under his leadership and challenges posed by a divided Security Council.

Facing intractable conflicts and great-power frictions, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has found it hard to deliver on his promised “surge in diplomacy for peace”. As he applies for a second term, it is worth contemplating why and how he can still leave his mark.