Publications
Publications
Fiona’s writing has appeared in such outlets as The Daily Beast, Ms. Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Post, the Financial Times, PassBlue, The Washington Times and The Christian Science Monitor. She served as Afghanistan editor and later as editor-at-large for Muftah, a news site dedicated to global news analysis from diverse perspectives. Previously she was assistant editor of the United Nations Association’s InterDependent magazine, and assistant editor of New York University’s NYU Today. Fiona is a chapter author of two editions of “A Global Agenda: Issues Before the United Nations.”
Fiona began her journalism career reporting for The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, MA. She worked as a news reporter for community newspapers in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York before earning a masters degree in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.
JOURNALIST
In Kabul, the entrance to Hamid Karzai International Airport was jammed with people trying to flee the country, Aug. 16, 2021. The United Nations has a large presence in Afghanistan and said it was determined to remain, yet some Afghan staff members are afraid of staying in their country, fearing the Taliban. VOICE OF AMERICA
Afghans Who Work for the UN in Their Country Say They Fear for Their Lives
PassBlue | Independent Coverage of the UN
August 20, 2021
United Nations staff members in Afghanistan who work for the UN political mission there say it is failing to protect its national staff since the Taliban’s takeover of the country on Sunday and as the United States began evacuating thousands of Americans from the Kabul airport amid danger and chaos.
Numerous current and former Unama (UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) personnel at its base in Kabul, where the Taliban now rule, as well as staff outside the country, told PassBlue throughout this week by phone and WhatsApp that there appeared to be “no leadership across the system” and that national staff “are alone and petrified,” as one person put it.
Kandahar, above, was the second-largest city taken by the Taliban recently, before the group seized Kabul on Aug. 15. An interview this week with an outspoken education activist in Kandahar said the United Nations should be the main international voice pressuring the Taliban to accept the rights of women and girls, because the Taliban want “legitimacy from the UN.” FIONA SHUKRI
An Afghan Activist Who Keeps Telling the Taliban to Respect the Rights of Women and Girls
PassBlue | Independent Coverage of the UN
August 18, 2021
The Taliban seized Afghanistan’s second-largest city of Kandahar just last week, marking the beginning of the quick takeover of the country. Kandahar, a city of 60,000 that borders Pakistan, is a historic center of Pashtun culture and power and was once Afghanistan’s capital. Three days later, on Sunday, the nation’s capital of Kabul was captured by the Taliban, who now control the country for the first time since 2001. Much remains to be seen how the new leaders will take charge of a country that has been racked for so long by war. One major fear across the world is how women will be treated.
At a clinic at La Fossette Health Center in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, nurses vaccinate babies, among other health care services. The pandemic could further erode Haiti’s stability, experts say, given its precarious economic and political state. DANIEL LANARI/USAID
Haiti Could Face a ‘Perfect Storm’ With the Pandemic
PassBlue | Independent Coverage of the UN
August 4, 2020
As Covid-19 continues to ravage many parts of the world, the effect of the virus in Latin America and the Caribbean region has been particularly devastating. The situation in Haiti, for example, has alarmed international humanitarian groups, as the country lacks sufficient virus-testing ability and has limited health-care infrastructure, among other serious problems.
On top of these deficiencies in combating the pandemic, Haitian migrants returning from neighboring countries like the Dominican Republic are believed to be spreading the virus significantly.
Kelley Currie, US ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, has had the job since January. The Trump administration tried to eliminate the post at one point but the Senate made it permanent. Currie worked previously at the US mission to the UN, above, for Nikki Haley. (ERIC BRIDIERS / UN Photo)
Does the New US Envoy for Women’s Rights Have Anything to Do?
Ms. Magazine
July 24, 2020
Six months into her job as the United States ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, Kelley Currie has done little to demonstrate that she can restore American leadership on women’s rights while reporting to an ideologically driven administration known for its regressive stance on gender equality.
While the ambassador’s office is charged with promoting women’s rights globally, the administration is better known for curtailing them. Currie reports directly to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who shows little interest in furthering the rights of women and shares President Trump’s opposition to reproductive and sexual health rights.
Eradication of Polio, Getty
Trump Defunding WHO Could Cost Us the Chance to Eradicate Polio Forever
The Daily Beast
June 20, 2020
Already struggling with a surging Covid-19 pandemic, United Nations health agencies must now face the possible abdication of the United States’ leading role in fighting polio — just as the world gets tantalizingly close to eradicating it for good.
Polio-free since 1979, the US has historically made combating the infectious disease its top funding priority at the World Health Organization, investing more than $158 million in voluntary funding over the last two years alone. The effort has broad public support dating to the 1950s, when Jonas Salk, with the help of the March of Dimes, created the first vaccine.
Samea Shanori and Fiona Shukri
Afghan Women on the US-Taliban Peace Deal: We Refuse to Be Symbols
PassBlue | Independent Coverage of the UN
March 25, 2020
Afghan women’s inclusion in the current peace negotiations with the Taliban and the United States has become an international cause célèbre. But calls for participation of Afghan women without methodical, sustained and substantive engagement in a peace settlement has the potential to harm them, not help them.
The international community should ensure that Afghan women are not used as window dressing. We’ve seen it happen too often before the Taliban-US deal.
Solar panels installed on the roof of the United Nations in New York, Aug. 27, 2019. MARK GARTEN/UN PHOTO
The UN Moves Toward ‘Climate Neutrality,’ but Is It Fast Enough?
PassBlue | Independent Coverage of the UN
February 18, 2020
The United Nations system has instituted some important changes toward becoming what it calls climate neutral. Some employees and former employees, however, think the UN could be doing much more to reduce the organization’s carbon footprint globally and to be a stronger role model in mitigating climate change.
After all, Secretary-General António Guterres recently said in Pakistan about the global “climate emergency” that “climate disruption is a clear and present danger worldwide.”
UN officials contend the system has largely met its target of becoming climate neutral by this year. The Secretariat — the main administrative and policymaking body of the UN system — reached that goal in 2018, and the overall UN system is now 95 percent climate neutral, according to UN Information Officer Dan Shepard.
Editor
Editor at Large 2013 -2015
Muftah
Advising publication focused on Middle East and North Africa culture and politics, working with journalists, and editing select articles.
“Interview with Afghan Rock Band Kabul Dreams”, Muftah, May 6, 2013
“Taliban Spring Offensive Underway”, Muftah, April 8, 2013
“Clarification of ISAF Mandate Bad News for Afghans”, Muftah, November 5, 2012
Editor for Afghanistan 2012 -2013
Assigning article and editing articles on Afghanistan news.
Blogger 2012 - 2013
Providing weekly political and social analysis of Afghanistan.
author
Congressional Record
Cited in Congressional Letter to U.S. President Biden
September 20, 2021
Afghans Who Work for the UN in Their Country Say They Fear for Their Lives
PassBlue | Independent Coverage of the UN
August 20, 2021
United Nations staff members in Afghanistan who work for the UN political mission there say it is failing to protect its national staff since the Taliban’s takeover of the country on Sunday and as the United States began evacuating thousands of Americans from the Kabul airport amid danger and chaos…
“Wilton Church was Born out of Merger of 19th Century Churches”
July 9, 1991
WILTON.-Although the building is just over a year old, members of the Trinity United Church will tell you the area church dates back to 1839.
The church, located on Ballard Road, opened its doors Feb. 4, 1990, the result of a merger of three local churches, all of which were established in the 19th century.