“We owe it to people to find solutions, to fight back, and to act”, said Secretary-General António Guterres. “At times, discreetly but always with determination, we will fight back.” Building on his general call to action, Mr. Guterres announced that he would convene a Climate Ambition Summit next September, and...
Mr. Guterres was speaking at the opening of the 9th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) which is taking place in Fez, Morocco. “The forces of division and hate are finding fertile ground in a landscape marred by injustice and conflicts,” said Mr. Guterres, calling for the creation...
“This insecurity is exacerbating an already disastrous humanitarian situation”, said Martha Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, pointing out that women and children are the primary victims of violence and growing inequality. Regionally led force Meanwhile the Joint Force of the Group...
Alaa Abdel Fattah has been arrested many times over more than decade for his activism around violations perpetrated by the security forces and the use of military courts to try civilians. “I urge the Government to immediately release Abdel Fattah from prison and provide him with the necessary medical treatment,”...
“Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish. It is either a Climate Solidarity Pact – or a Collective Suicide Pact,” the UN Secretary-General told over 100 world leaders reunited for the first official plenary of the UN Climate Change Conference. The proposed Pact would see all countries taking extra efforts...
Mr. Grandi expressed hope that these dimensions “will be in clearer focus” at the COP27 UN climate change conference, opening this weekend in Egypt, and at its successor conference in a year’s time. The climate emergency is ravaging resources and creating tensions, including between communities, particularly in already fragile...
Even though they make up half the population, women and girls get a raw deal when it comes to city design: in surveys, around 97 per cent of women in the UK aged 18-24, have complained of sexual harassment in public spaces, whilst in Ireland more than half of women...
Although private digital currencies have rewarded some individuals and institutions, they are an unstable financial asset that can bring social risks and costs, the agency warned. UNCTAD said their benefits to some are overshadowed by the threats they pose to financial stability, domestic resource mobilization, and the security of monetary...
In a call for action to protect workers, ILO Country Coordinator in Iraq Maha Kattaa has urged that measures be put in place to reduce the risks for those working under extreme heat. Dangerous sectors According to the recent Labour Force Survey, one in four workers in Iraq is employed either...
“Nuclear weapons are nonsense. Three-quarters of a century later, we must ask what we’ve learned from the mushroom cloud that swelled above this city in 1945”, he urged during the solemn event at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park attended by dozens of people, including hibakusha, young peace activists, Japan’s Prime Minister...
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has yet to comment publicly on the occupation of his residence, along with that of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, but the Prime Minister’s office reportedly said it had been informed that the President planned to step down on Wednesday. President Rajapaksa has become the focus for widespread...
Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the UN was “concerned over the deteriorating security situation…and the increase of attacks against civilians by the Cooperative for Development of the Congo (CODECO) and the M23 as well as the on-going presence of other foreign armed groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Red Tabara and the...