Nicholas Haysom, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for South Sudan, warned that a political standoff between President Salva Kiir and former First Vice President Riek Machar – the two principal signatories to the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement – has now degenerated into direct military confrontation. Volatility is mounting amid...
The framework – agreed during the just-concluded meeting of the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee – aims for net-zero emissions from the sector by 2050 and will be formally adopted in October before coming into force in 2027. They will apply to large ocean-going vessels over...
Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters, António Guterres commended mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States for their dedicated efforts in brokering the agreement. “Their unwavering commitment to finding a diplomatic solution has been critical in achieving this breakthrough,” he said. He called on all relevant parties to uphold their...
“I am continually inspired by the strength and courage of the Ukrainian people. As I have travelled to Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, and most recently to Kramatorsk and Lyman, I have seen for myself how the disruption of essential services such as electricity, water and heating affects people. I...
“It is a moment of great importance, especially for the civilians who were paying an enormous price for the fact that this conflict is not only dragging on, but is also gaining increasingly worrying dimensions,” he said. The Secretary-General was speaking in the Portuguese capital at a joint press conference...
“Immediately after the ceasefire came into force at 4am, residents of south Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa (valley) began their return after months of forced displacement,” said the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. “Heavy traffic [was] observed on the highway from Beirut to the south since the...
The meeting follows two years of intergovernmental negotiations to develop a legally binding global instrument that covers land and the marine environment – a blink of an eye in diplomatic circles, where multilateral deals can be decades in the making. “Our world is drowning in plastic pollution. Every year, we...
After two weeks of intense negotiations, delegates at COP29, formally the 29th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), agreed to provide this funding annually, with an overall climate financing target to reach “at least $1.3 trillion by 2035”. Countries also agreed on the rules...
The new draft outcome text, which will surely push this round of talks into the weekend, called for the overall climate financing goal to reach “at least $1.3 trillion by 2035”, but left out specifics – grants, loans, or from the private sector – on how these funds will be...
The source of the hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of funds that developing nations say will be needed to adapt to a fast-changing climate – governments, multilateral banks, or the private sector – has become a major subject of contention during the last eight days. The good, the bad...
“Let’s dispense with any idea that climate finance is charity;” runaway climate change is impacting “every single individual in the world one way or another,” Mr. Stiell said on Monday. His strong call to action kicked off the latest round of UN climate talks, which will run in the Azerbaijan...
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed in 2015 lays out the rules for monitoring Iran’s domestic nuclear programme and paved the way for US sanctions to be lifted. It was agreed by Iran, the five permanent members of the Council (China, France, Russia the United Kingdom and the...