The appeal comes as global leaders prepare to gather for the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Baku next month, amid repeated dire warnings about the human cost of ignoring the existential crisis from UN Secretary-General António Guterres and others. Echoing the UN chief’s longstanding appeals, WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett...
The warning from Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA UNRWA was prompted by renewed evacuation orders from the Israeli military, which “many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe”. The development comes amid reports by the local authorities of intense Israeli bombardment in the...
Coronaviruses like COVID, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) “must be taken seriously” as they are particularly dangerous for at-risk groups including the elderly, pregnant women and people suffering from existing or chronic illness, WHO Europe insisted, as it launched a region-wide protection campaign. “Collective amnesia on COVID-19 has set...
Only hours earlier, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the Security Council that “hell is breaking loose in Lebanon” along the UN-patrolled line of separation, with exchanges of fire greater in “scope, depth and intensity” than previously. That warning came as US President Joe Biden told the world’s leaders gathered at UN...
In an appeal for greater global solidarity with the people of Sudan, the World Food Programme (WFP) said that around 800,000 people have fled to Ondo in neighbouring Chad after enduring “unimaginable violence”. WFP Communications Officer Leni Kinzli told journalists in Geneva that those fleeing areas at risk of famine...
“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...
“Almost everybody on Earth, basically nine out of 10 people breathe air that is essentially unfit for purpose,” said Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer at WMO. “This means that it is air that exceeds the [UN World Health Organization] WHO guideline limits and contains a high level of pollutants with low...
“Access to sufficient amounts of clean water is a matter of life and death…children in Gaza have barely a drop to drink,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Children and their families are having to use water from unsafe sources that are highly salinated or polluted. Without safe water, many more...
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...
“As we drove through Gaza City it was like a ghost town; all the streets were deserted,” said Thomas White, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza. “The impact of heavy airstrikes and shelling was so visible. Roads are riddled with craters, complicating aid deliveries.” Truce deadline looms Wednesday marks the...
Briefing the Security Council, Sima Bahous, Catherine Russell and Natalia Kanem – heads of UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA), respectively – also welcomed the agreement on the release of some of the hostages taken...
Goris, population 20,000, is a picture-postcard town, sitting in a bowl in the high mountains of southern of Armenia. It’s 25 kilometres to the border with Azerbaijan, to the Lachin corridor. During the last week in September, over 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the Karabakh region and arrived in Goris, Armenia,...