Soft Power and Public Health: Why the United States Should Reconsider Its Exit from the WHO Thomas Boakye, 2025-26 Iowa UNA College Ambassador from Iowa State University The United States was one of the founding nations of the UN after the end of World War II, helping to create an international system of cooperation, including specialized agencies that would work together to address important global issues. One of the specialized agencies created through this process was the

Itchy Skin and Mental Health: Why Skin Health Deserves Global Advocacy Thomas Boakye, 2025-26 Iowa UNA College Ambassador from Iowa State University The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 25) establishes a human right to an adequate standard of living necessary for health and well-being. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights codifies a human right to health. In global discussion of health as a human right, much focu

Student Protests in Serbia and Democratic Hopes in Eastern Europe Andrew Corrow, 2025-26 Iowa UNA College Ambassador from Drake University An earlier version of this blog appeared in the December 2025 edition of Advocacy News , the Iowa UNA’s biannual newsletter. In the years following the collapse of Yugoslavia and the various crises throughout the Balkans that followed, some may be tempted to view a consistent democratic stability as beyond the reach of many of the coun

The Human Right to Education and Immigration Enforcement in the United States: ICE in Schools Carissa Phan, 2025-26 Iowa UNA College Ambassador from Drake University The Trump Administration’s aggressive approach to enforcement of U.S. immigration laws has drawn global criticism about U.S. compliance with international human rights commitments. In January 2026, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk issued a statement charging that the administration’s polic