Uncategorized Archives - Page 38 of 184

Explainer: How Darfur became a ‘humanitarian calamity and catastrophic human rights crisis’

·December 15, 2023·6 min read

Close to nine million people need humanitarian assistance and reports suggest that some 4,000 people have been targeted and killed because of their ethnicity. There are now concerns that Darfur is returning to the years of brutal fighting and increasing atrocities last witnessed two decades ago that left some 300,000...

World News in Brief: End e-cigarette boom urges WHO, measles surge in Europe, Central Asia; crisis for kids in Lebanon

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·December 14, 2023·3 min read

WHO said that 88 countries have no minimum age at which e-cigarettes can be bought and 74 countries have not implemented any e-cigarette regulations. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on countries to ramp up prevention measures, saying that “kids are being recruited and trapped at an early age to...

Gaza flooding latest disaster to hit desperate Palestinians

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·December 14, 2023·2 min read

UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said that many areas in the enclave have been flooded, “worsening the struggle of displaced Palestinians”, while UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini was due to brief journalists in Geneva on the situation on Thursday, following his most recent visit to Gaza. Almost 1.9 million people...

Stories from the UN Archive: Kissing trees and protecting the natural world

Uncategorized

·December 14, 2023·1 min read

On the heels of the International Day of Neutrality, marked annually on 12 December, we took a look at Ms. Goodall’s contributions as a Messenger of Peace. Launched in 1997, the UN Messengers of Peace programme has designated more than a dozen influential individuals, including Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, Pakistani...

Global Refugee Forum opens amid ‘crisis of humanity’

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·December 14, 2023·3 min read

The world’s largest gathering dedicated to refugee issues, the Forum is co-hosted by UNHCR and Switzerland and convened by Colombia, France, Japan, Jordan and Uganda. It brings together Member States, civil society, financial institutions, private companies and more than 300 refugee advocates. Shattered dreams, disrupted lives Setting the tone for...

‘Hunger catastrophe’ looming in war-ravaged Sudan, UN agency warns

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·December 13, 2023·1 min read

The World Food Programme’s (WFP) latest food security analysis of the country shows the worst hunger level ever recorded during the harvest season (October through February), which is typically a period when more food is available. If there is no significant increase in assistance by the time the lean season...

Gaza ceasefire ‘in everybody’s interest’: UN humanitarian coordinator

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·December 13, 2023·3 min read

Lynn Hastings stressed that the intensifying hostilities have pushed almost half of the population of the Strip, or about a million people, into Rafah in the south, compounding the dire health and hunger crisis. “The reason why Gaza is not safe is not just because of the airstrikes but also because...

COP28 ends with call to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels; UN’s Guterres says phaseout is inevitable

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·December 13, 2023·3 min read

Reacting to the adoption of the outcome document, UN chief António Guterres said mention of the world’s leading contributor to climate change comes after many years in which the discussion of this issue was blocked. He stressed that the era of fossil fuels must end with justice and equity. “To...

‘Rebuild a foundation of hope’ for global human rights: Türk

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·December 13, 2023·4 min read

“This is a pivotal day. We are here to rebuild a foundation of hope – hope that we need now, perhaps more than ever, at this sombre moment in history,” Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said, addressing participants which included leaders from Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Greece Senegal, Colombia...

Myanmar overtakes Afghanistan as world’s top opium producer

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·December 12, 2023·2 min read

The southeast Asian country’s opium output has surpassed that of Afghanistan, where the Taliban imposed a ban on its production in April last year – leading to a 95 per cent fall in cultivation, UNODC said. The area under opium cultivation this year is estimated to be 47,100 hectares, up...

‘Humanitarian disaster zone’: Gaza hospital capacity decimated – WHO

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·December 12, 2023·4 min read

Briefing reporters from Gaza, Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, described corridors overflowing with trauma patients at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, where doctors treat people on the floor and fuel, oxygen, food and water are scarce. In just 66 days of fighting, the Strip has...

UN launches $46 billion appeal to respond to worsening crises in 2024

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·December 12, 2023·2 min read

Launching the Global Humanitarian Overview, Martin Griffiths, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, praised the heroic efforts of humanitarians but emphasized that international support is falling far short of the escalating needs. “We thank all donors for their contributions, which amount to $20 billion so far this year – but that is just...