Citizens for Global Solutions

Andrew Igdal wins the 2026 New Voices 4 Global Solutions Essay Contest with a case for a UN maritime force to protect shipping lanes under Article 109. Citizens for Global Solutions · August 19, 2026 His winning essay argues that the world’s shipping lanes are guaranteed by law and protected by no one in particular, and that a clause of the UN Charter nobody has ever used is the way to fix it.

Dr. Arthur Lyon Dahl of Geneva, Switzerland, is President of the International Environment Forum, and a retired Deputy Assistant Executive Director of UNEP, where he was Deputy Director of Oceans and Coastal Areas in Nairobi, and Coordinator of the UN System-wide Earthwatch in Geneva.

Dr. Arthur Lyon Dahl of Geneva, Switzerland, is President of the International Environment Forum, and a retired Deputy Assistant Executive Director of UNEP, where he was Deputy Director of Oceans and Coastal Areas in Nairobi, and Coordinator of the UN System-wide Earthwatch in Geneva.

Two CGS Global Governance Fellows keynoted UN High-Level Political Forum side events on housing, public health, and rural road access in Brazil. Citizens for Global Solutions · August 5, 2026 The 2026 United Nations High-Level Political Forum brings together governments, civil society organizations, and changemakers from around the world to advance progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dr. Arthur Lyon Dahl of Geneva, Switzerland, is President of the International Environment Forum, and a retired Deputy Assistant Executive Director of UNEP, where he was Deputy Director of Oceans and Coastal Areas in Nairobi, and Coordinator of the UN System-wide Earthwatch in Geneva.

On March 1, 1945, only six weeks before his death, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered an address to Congress that pointed toward a sweeping transformation of international relations.

In 2025, the world experienced the highest number of armed conflicts since World War II, and, in a time when many struggle to make ends meet, governments collectively spent a record $2.9 trillion on their militaries. The UN’s Security Council was charged with the maintenance of international peace and security eight decades ago, yet has little to show for it because of a promise made but never kept. The “San Francisco promise” was the compromise that held the Charter negotiations together.

As Americans and people of other former colonies recognize, there’s a great deal to be said for national independence. But, at times, we might also wonder:  is it sufficient? Until recently in human history, imperialism was widespread. In 1939, Britain’s Empire and Commonwealth alone had direct or de facto political and economic control of 25 percent of the world’s population and 30 percent of its land mass.

If those killed in war could speak, this is what I imagine they would say. They would claim that war is humanity’s biggest moral failure and that war is the real enemy.

Although the U.S. labor movement is sometimes depicted as hawkish and xenophobic, this characterization ignores its repeated attempts to grapple with the global problem of war.