International media reported that walkie-talkies used by members of the Hezbollah militant group blew up on Wednesday, a day after hundreds of pagers across the country exploded simultaneously. Mr. Guterres was deeply alarmed by reports that a large number of communication devices exploded in Lebanon and Syria over the past...
Both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with their allied militias, continue to flout international humanitarian and human rights laws, said Martha Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa at the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), while addressing the Security Council. “Violations...
Mr. Guterres was speaking as negotiations for the Summit of the Future, which opens at UN Headquarters on Sunday, enter the final stretch. “I have one overriding message today: an appeal to Member States for a spirit of compromise. Show the world what we can do, when we work together,”...
The coordinated attacks reportedly targeted the Hezbollah militant group, with hundreds of electronic pagers belonging to its members blowing up at the same time, according to international media reports. ‘Extremely concerning escalation’ “The developments today mark an extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context,” Ms. Hennis-Plasschaert...
“We need urgent and ambitious action now to support sustainable development, climate action and disaster risk reduction. The decisions we make today could be the difference between a future breakdown or a breakthrough to a better world,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. Echoing the stark assessment of the latest UN-partnered...
Alice Edwards, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed Special Rapporteur on Torture, also condemned the killing of six Israeli hostages earlier this month and called for an immediate end to hostilities on all fronts. Approximately 250 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken hostage during the 7 October 2023 terror attack by...
At least 5,350 civilians have been killed, and more than 3.3 million displaced, since the military seized power on 1 February 2021, and over half the population is living below the poverty line mainly due to violence perpetrated by the national armed forces. Furthermore, nearly 27,400 people have been arrested,...
Ambassadors in the UN General Assembly again discussed on Monday the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and the critical work of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which is facing an existential threat, hearing a briefing by its Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, and holding a heated debate on the US...
In a new alert, UNRWA highlighted how Gazans’ shelters have become a target for insects and rodents after more than 11 months of war – echoing deep concerns among humanitarians about the lack of basic hygiene items that have left families unprotected from communicable diseases. Echoing those warnings, top independent...
Earlier this year, an audience in a Geneva conference hall sat captivated by a video screen carrying live pictures of a 25-year-old man in Portugal suffering from ‘locked-in syndrome’, a devastating neurological disorder that causes patients to lose control of their body; some two years after contracting the condition, he...
In 2025, the Ministry for the Future, a powerful global organization advocating for the rights of the generations to come, convinces bankers and economists to introduce wide-ranging policies that finally reverse the effects of the devastating climate crisis and bring about a fairer, cleaner global economy. If that sounds like...
The UN has described the current global situation as “uniquely dangerous”, with the risk of major powers engaging in conflict at its highest levels since the Cold War, the possibility of nuclear war breaking out higher that it has been for several decades, and the climate crisis driving migration and exacerbating...