News stories by Kul Chandra Gautam

KATHMANDU, Nepal, October 13 (IPS) - The United Nations turned 80 this year. What should have been a moment of pride and celebration at the high-level session of the UN General Assembly in September 2025 turned instead into an occasion of bitter irony.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Jan 02 (IPS) - Former American President Jimmy Carter was a man of peace and principles. He presided over a tumultuous period in American history from 1977 to 1981, working hard to restore trust in government after the Watergate scandal and the divisive era of the Vietnam War. He brokered a landmark peace deal between Israel and Egypt and negotiated a historic treaty to hand over the Panama Canal to Panama.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Mar 22 (IPS) - In an opinion piece published in PassBlue on 15 March 2022, historian Stephen Schlesinger asked, "Where is the UN's Guterres?" as Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war on Ukraine has been dominating the world’s headline news.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Feb 08 (IPS) - The 1 February 2021 coup d’état by Myanmar’s military (Tatmadaw), has been widely condemned by all the world’s democratic leaders, human rights activists and genuine friends of the people of Myanmar around the globe. In an unusual manner for the world’s top diplomat, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has gone so far as to urge the world community to make sure that Myanmar's military coup fails.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Jul 20 (IPS) - I have had 5-decade long and happy association with the Peace Corps since I was a 7th grade student in the hills of Nepal. My wonderful Peace Corps teachers were instrumental in helping transform my life. And the 4000+ Peace Corps Volunteers who have served in Nepal have contributed immensely to my country's development.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Oct 11 (IPS) - The United Nations is faced with a financial crisis once again. Leaders of as many as 64 countries who paraded and pontificated at the UN General Assembly and its multiple Summit meetings in September 2019 were deadbeats, who had not paid their dues in full to the UN for this year.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Jun 27 (IPS) - Kul Chandra Gautam, a former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, is author of a forthcoming memoir: "Global Citizen from Gulmi: My Journey from the Hills of Nepal to the Halls of United Nations"Pele's example has inspired millions of young people to join the ‘beautiful game' and contribute to building a peaceful and prosperous world fit for all our children.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Feb 22 (IPS) - Kul Chandra Gautam is a former UN Assistant Secretary-General & Deputy Executive Director of the UN children's agency, UNICEFAs a member of OXFAM GB's Council of Trustees since 2014, I have received many queries about the recent scandal concerning sexual misconduct committed by some OXFAM staff in Haiti in 2011 and elsewhere. I appreciate the concerns expressed as well as many messages of solidarity and support for OXFAM in the face of the relentless onslaught of criticism – both fair and foul.

KATHMANDU, NEPAL, Oct 05 (IPS) - On 1 October 2015, Somalia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), leaving the United States of America as the only remaining member state of the UN not to embrace this most universally accepted human rights treaty. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reflects the sentiments of all the world's human rights activists in encouraging the US to join the global community by ratifying this noble treaty.

KATHMANDU, NEPAL, Sep 28 (IPS) - After a decade of violent insurgency, followed by another decade of chaotic transition, Nepal promulgated its new constitution on Sept. 20, 2015. Immediately afterwards, the U.N. issued a rather terse statement attributed to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that merely "acknowledged" the adoption of the constitution, without any congratulatory warmth.