This week, the governments of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) signed a Tripartite Agreement, setting the stage to help more than 50,000 Congolese refugees return home after living in camps in Rwanda.  

In January, there were two discussions in the United Nations Security Council that are important to Refugees International’s work.  The discussion on Somalia was particularlydisappointing, but we were pleased that the UN Security Council is finally looking at how to respond to the escalating violence in south Sudan.

Last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, announced that the U.S. is … “very concerned that UNMIS take on board and fully implement the portion of its mandate – the critical portion of its mandate – that relates to the protection of civilians.” Ambassador Rice did not, however, elaborate on what the United Nations Mission in Sudan, otherwise known as UNMIS, could do to make protection a reality.

In two weeks the existing mandate for the UN peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) will expire, and UN Security Council will make an important decision about the future of the mission, and the trajectory of UN involvement in this volatile country.

Refugees International wrote in a September 2009 field report that sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had increased since the start of the government-led “Kimia II” military operations against the FDLR rebel group. When Refugees International Advocate Camilla Olson and I were in South Kivu in August carrying out research for the report, many displaced women described their experiences after they fled the fighting. One woman from Ziralo groupement told RI she escaped after hearing gunshots outside her house. In the chaos, her family was scattered and left home with nothing. She spent four nights in the forest before she could make it into town. She said women were raped by the FDLR while fleeing, and she didn’t want to go back home as long as they were still around.

This year there were two important developments for women at the United Nations.  The first was the creation of a unified gender entity, and the second was the passage of Security Council Resolution 1888 on women and armed conflict.  While neither of these developments has led to concrete improvements in the lives of refugee and displaced women as of yet, we’re hopeful that in the near future the issues affecting them will be front and center of the UN's agenda.

On Tuesday at the Brookings Institution, Refugees International advocates Kristele Younes and Patrick Duplat presented on their recent mission to Pakistan. The country is facing a complex humanitarian emergency, and many people who were displaced by the military operations during the summer are still unable to return home. Moreover, the humanitarian community and the United Nations face many challenges in working with the Pakistani government to deliver aid.

ISLAMABAD -- The mandate of the UN World Food Program (WFP) is to feed the hungry and the poor. It is an agency which only has one purpose --- to help the needy. That did not protect its staff from the wrath of Pakistani militants, one of whom blew himself up today in the offices of the WFP in Islamabad. The casualties will be far greater than those killed or injured by the blast. This attack will impact the future of the UN in Pakistan. It will also affect millions of Pakistanis who depend on the WFP assistance to survive.

After President Obama made his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly last Wednesday, the collective sigh of relief within the UN and UN missions was audible.  His speech embodied the spirit of optimism and hope contained in the UN Charter, rather than the hostility to the UN that characterized the US attitude over the previous eight years.  From my informal conversations with delegates, there was a sense that Obama had said all the right things.

Last week the United Nations made a decision that many of us thought impossible --- after three years of discussion the General Assembly agreed unanimously to consolidate four organizations into a single entity focused on promoting the rights and well-being of women world-wide and achieving gender equality. The decision merges the programs of four organizations --- the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women --- under the leadership of an under-secretary general.