Uncategorized Archives - Page 77 of 185

UN agencies continue to deliver aid in Niger

·August 15, 2023·1 min read

Agencies continue to reach people despite the challenges, including the ongoing rainy season, UN Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told journalists in New York on Monday. Roughly 4.3 million people in the West African country rely on humanitarian aid. Last week, 22,000 people in the Maradi region, located in the centre, received...

Top UN aid official in Ukraine condemns latest wave of indiscriminate attacks

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·August 15, 2023·1 min read

Denise Brown issued a statement deploring the “indiscriminate” attacks impacting civilians and civilian infrastructure. She stressed that people in the south, including in the Kherson and Odesa regions, had endured “a particularly harsh weekend” after reports that strikes left many civilians, including children, killed and injured. An entire family, including...

Rights experts denounce idea of ‘reformed’ Taliban two years after return to power

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·August 15, 2023·3 min read

The gap between promises and practices by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities has widened during this period, they said, denouncing the idea of a “reformed” Taliban. They said Taliban policies imposed on the population “have resulted in a continuous, systematic and shocking rescinding of a multitude of human rights, including the...

Disability rights threatened by bad working conditions for carers: independent expert

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·August 14, 2023·2 min read

Gerard Quinn, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, said that “dead-end jobs, low wages, poor conditions and little room for social mobility” in the care sector are not a way to build resilient systems – as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown. Women carers ‘severely disadvantaged’ Speaking...

COVID-19: WHO tracking EG.5 ‘variant of interest’

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·August 14, 2023·1 min read

“The risk remains of a more dangerous variant emerging that could cause a sudden increase in cases and deaths,” he said. EG.5 is a sublineage of the omicron variant and has been detected in 51 countries, including the United States, China, South Korea and Japan, according to an initial risk...

UN rights chief concludes visit to Iraq

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·August 14, 2023·2 min read

Climate change crisis Speaking at the end of his four-day visit on Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk provided a first-hand account of the impact of climate change in Basra, in the country’s south. “In 50-degree-Celsius heat, in the midst of drought-ridden and barren fields, local community...

UN: Deal reached with Syria to reopen main border crossing from Türkiye

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·August 14, 2023·2 min read

For the next six months, the Bab al-Hawa border crossing will be accessible and allow much-needed assistance to reach millions of people in northwest Syria. Bab al-Hawa has been used since 2014, when the UN Security Council authorized cross-border relief deliveries “across conflict lines”. Around 85 per cent of aid...

Ukraine: Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant initiates reactor shutdown following water leak, reports IAEA

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·August 13, 2023·2 min read

The purpose of placing reactor unit 4 in cold shutdown is to investigate the exact cause of the leak and carry out necessary maintenance to repair the affected steam generator, according to a statement by Rafael Mariano Grossi, IAEA Director General. There was no radiological release to the environment, the...

Ethiopia: De-escalate tensions in Amhara, international rights experts urge

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·August 13, 2023·1 min read

On 4 August, the Ethiopian Council of Ministers declared a state of emergency in the region after, according to media reports, the regional leader said he was no longer able to contain a surge of violence between a local militia and the army over a disputed plan to absorb the...

From ashes to riches: Profiting from peatland in Indonesia

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·August 13, 2023·5 min read

Progress is already being made: a school building was saved from burning down; farmers are earning 50 per cent higher incomes; and a healthier peatland is reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Since its launch in 2019, the programme, which includes training for villagers and critical infrastructure upgrades, has dramatically reduced fire...

International Youth Day: Battling the stigmatization of teen pregnancy in Thailand

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·August 13, 2023·6 min read

A young mother sits on a low wooden stool above burning embers from a piece of bark placed in a small earthenware pot. A bright purple and white cloth covers her legs and keeps the smoke from escaping. This is part of a lower-body treatment process for mothers who have...

Sudan: ‘Grim prediction’ now ‘harsh reality’ as hunger engulfs over 20 million

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·August 12, 2023·2 min read

Of that figure, 6.3 million people – 13 per cent of Sudan’s population – are experiencing emergency levels of hunger – classified as Phase 4 of the Integrated Food Security Classification – just one step from famine, with the conflict continuing to disrupt access to humanitarian aid and forcing millions...