IO/UNS Newsletter [08/13/22]

Dear IO/UNS Community, 

Summer is in full swing and the new semester will begin in a month on September 6. We are extremely excited to welcome you (back) on campus! 

For now, please join us for the IO/UNS Summer Social, next Friday, August 19, 5:00 to 7:00 pm at Ancel Plaza (in front of SIPA / the International Affairs Building). During the event you will catch up with familiar faces, meet new students or recent alums and share your summer experiences. Register here.

We are also excited to share that the IO/UNS team has two new program assisants. Aurelian Mohan is already supporting our activitiies in the summer, and in the fall, Aurelian Mohan and Asha Richards will be working with the specialization to bring you news, events, and opportunties around international organizations. 

• On August 8, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza after three days of hostilities between the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Israeli military force. Here you can read the briefing of Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. He warned that "the ceasefire is fragile. Any resumption of hostilities will only have devastating consequences for Palestinians and Israelis and make any political progress on key issues elusive." More details about these events can be identified here.

• Rafael Mariano Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned the UN Security Council that the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has deteriorated rapidly to the point of becoming “very alarming”. On 5 August, the Zaporizhzhia plant was subjected to shelling which caused several explosions near the electrical switchboard and a power shutdown. One reactor unit was disconnected from the electrical grid, triggering its emergency protection system. The preliminary assessment of IAEA indicats that there is no immediate threat to nuclear safety as a result of the shelling or other military actions. You can find more details here.

• Yesterday, August 12, the international community celebrated the International Youth Day. The entire UN System encourages youth around the world to organize activities with the aim of raising awareness about the situation of youth in their country. For International Youth Day 2022, UN DESA organized together with the Major Group on Children and Youth (MGCY) a global webinar for its official commemoration. The webinar features an exchange of views on the topic of intergenerational solidarity, intergenerational equity, future generations, and ageism. The webinar can be accessed here.

• The International Labour Organization (ILO)'s new report on Global Employment Trends for Youth 2022: Investing in transforming futures for young people estimates that the number of young people at the global level who can’t find a job this year is set to reach 73 million. This represents a six million increase in comparison to the  pre-COVID-19 time frame. According to the ILO, women have struggled more than their male counterparts to find work.

• Fall 2022 Classes
• What We’re Listening To: International Day of Rememberance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism
• IO/UNS Summer Social
• Event Recap: IO/UNS Internship Discussion
• Pre-Semester IO/UNS Social
• Events at SIPA and Beyond

**Please note this message is clipped. You can open the message in a new browser to see full event and internship listings.

Daniel and Aurelian
IO/UNS Specialization Team

Fall 2022 Courses

We hope that all of you had the time to prepare a robust list of classes for the Fall 2022 semester. This is a unique opportunity not only to engage with amazing courses that tackle questions of multilateral action, cooperation, and development, but also to explore interesting topics and debate with a diverse range of individuals. 

As you know, IO/UNS specializers need one required course, such as "Governance and Management in the UN System" (INAF U8560), that will be taught by Professor Marc Jacquand in the fall of 2022, or "United Nations & Globalization" (INAF U6352), which is taught by Professor Daniel Naujoks in the Spring 2023 term. In addition, IO/UNS specializers need 6 credits in electives.

If you are still searching for courses pertaining to the Fall 2022 term, we provide a list of classes that may be of interest!

• INAF U8560 - Governance and Management in the UN System (3 credits)

• INAF U6041 - Corporations and Human Rights (3 credits)
• INAF U6042 - Energy, Enterprise and Development (3 credits)
• INAF U6043 - Sustainable Development Policy and Practice (3 credits)
• INAF U6143 - Gender, Globalization, and Human Rights (3 credits)
• INAF U6114 - Private Sector Development Outcomes (3 credits)
• INAF U6173 - Migration and Human Development (3 credits)
• INAF U6178 - Politics of Sustainable Development (3 credits)
• INAF U6259 - Adaptation to Climate Change (3 credits)
• INAF U6264 - Meeting the Climate Challenge at all Levels of Government (3 credits)
• INAF U6267 - Climate-security: Examining the links between climate change, peace and security (1.5 credits)
• INAF U6375 - Gender and Livelihoods (1.5 credits) 
• INAF U6391 - Conflict Resolution (3 credits)
• INAF U6394 - Writing About War: Seeking Narratives in Conflict (3 credits)
• INAF U6450 - Conflict in the 21st Century: Rethinking Conflict Prevention and Conflict Resolution (3 credits)
• INAF U6489 - Human Rights Research and Reporting (3 credits)
• INAF U6490 - International Humanitarian Law & Human Rights in Wars (3 credits)
• INAF U6549 - Peacebuilding After Mass Violence (3 credits)
• INAF U6751 - International Human Rights Law (3 credits)
• INAF U6802 - International Law (3 credits)
• INAF U8565 - European Security (3 credits)
• INAF U8690 - Managing Humanitarian Emergencies (3 credits)
• LAW L6249 - European Law and Institutions (3 credits)
• PUAF U6801 - Negotiation & Conflict Resolution (3 credits)
• PUAF U8349 - Intersections of Race and Power in Development (3 credits)
• REGN U6315 - Politics in the European Union (3 credits)
• REGN U8090 - The Transatlantic Economy: US-EU Relations (3 credits)

To find information about any of the classes, please use the following resources:

• Columbia University Directory of Classes (great for identifying classes, instructors, and details about availability)

• Stellic (key website that will allow you to search for classes, plan your academic path at SIPA, add and drop classes, generate calendars with prospective classes, see concentration & specialization requirements)

• Vergil (similar in functionality to Stellic; good to visualize a calendar with all classes; you can import your Vergil list of classes directly into SSOL)

• SSOL (the Registration section allows students to search for classes; it is useful if you already know the name or code of the class)

What We're Listening To

In this column, we highlight IO/UNS-related podcasts, movies, news sources, and more that might be of interest to students in our community.

Today, we will share details about the International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. 

In its resolution 72/165 (2017), the General Assembly established the International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. Commemorated annually on 21 August, the aforementioned day of rememberance aims to honour and support the victims and survivors of terrorism and to promote and protect the full enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms

In April 2020, mandated by GA resolution 73/305, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres published his report on the ‘Progress of the UN system to support Member States in assisting victims of terrorism’ (A/74/790), which calls for the 'enhancement of international cooperation to assist victims of terrorism'.

Here you can find more details about the International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism.

In this context, we recommend the movie entitled "Surviving Terrorism: The Power of Connections" created by the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism. You can see the video here.

Event recap: Summer internship events

During the virtual IO/UNS internship preparation on June 3, we discussed 

• What skills should you aim at building?
• How can you influence your assignments?
• How can you use your internship as a platform for robust networking? 

Follow the IO/UNS Specialization on
CampusGroups, Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp.

Feel free to reach out to us:
Daniel Naujoks, Director, daniel.naujoks@columbia.edu

Aurelian D. Mohan, Program Assistant, aurelian.d.mohan@columbia.edu