United Nations

Funding commitments for global maternal health, the most lagging U.N. Millennium Development Goal, were predictably disappointing this week. But Michelle Bachelet’s first appearance as head of the women’s “superagency” raised some spirits.

The U.N.’s $169 billion catch-up plan for global maternal health–the runt of the development-goal litter–faces a final checkup meeting in New York this week. As a maternal death clock tick-tocks in Times Square, the big question is money.

The 10-year checkup on the U. N. Millennium Development Goals is coming up in September. Ahead of that meeting, civil society groups are editing an outcome document with an eye to ending the segregated treatment of women’s rights.

Papua New Guinea came to New York in July to face a U.N. inspection of its recent record on women’s rights. A critical panel highlighted murders of women accused of sorcery and witchcraft and the chair of the delegation apologized for the country’s poor record.

Congo’s president is pressing the U.N. to withdraw its historic peacekeeping mission. Margot Wallstrom, the special envoy on sexual violence, advises otherwise. Other advocates agree, offering details on how peacekeepers assist women’s safety.