“What Israeli forces are doing in besieged north Gaza cannot be allowed to continue,” said Joyce Msuya, acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a statement posted on the social media platform X. Hospitals have been hit, health workers detained and first responders prevented from rescuing...
Agreement in Brussels on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum reportedly followed three years of intense negotiations, and it should start taking effect in 2024. The deal will attempt to distribute migrants more evenly across the bloc, providing enhanced support and coordination for processing claims away from frontier states...
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...
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has identified 10 priority areas – such as livestock, soil and water, crops, diets and fisheries – where following the roadmap can help push the world closer to achieving ‘Zero Hunger’, the second of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) The aim: to...
The High Commissioner also rejected allegations of double standards regarding the UN’s position on the crisis in Gaza, noting that he had been made aware of allegations of sexual violence during the Hamas attack on communities in southern Israel. It was “painfully clear” that the “atrocious” attacks should be fully...
Speaking in Geneva, the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the parties to the conflict to “create the political space for a path out of this horror”. Mr. Türk condemned the widespread targeting of civilians in the past five weeks of hostilities and urged accountability for gross rights violations. He...
The Oscar-winning actor helped the UN amplify the need for clean water in a South American village in a unique podcast (even before they were called podcasts) almost 70 years ago. Soundcloud The Hollywood legend memorably narrated The Well of Happiness in 1956, following a UN-led project in the South American...
In his Annual Report on the work of the Organization, released on Wednesday, ahead of the gathering of world leaders at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Guterres highlighted how the UN has stepped up. “Nowhere are the needs greater than in the midst of emergencies,” he said. “In 2022,...
The task of transferring a million barrels of oil from the stricken supertanker Yemen, will take some 19 days – preventing what would be the fifth largest spill in history, were the rusting tanker to break apart. But this process will not end with the oil transfer, because the FSO...
“If we want a healthy world, then it needs to be a kind and welcoming one too,” said Benedict Phillips, the UNAIDS Director of Communications and Global Advocacy. That means ensuring all communities are included, especially marginalized groups, he said. However, in many countries, stigma, discrimination, and criminalization tend to make...
Taking aim at the expected rise in so-called “expedited removals” from the United States, Mr. Türk also criticised the intention to use the COVID pandemic-related Title 42 public health order even more than today. Fast-track expulsion The move will permit the “fast-track expulsion to Mexico” of 30,000 Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans...
“SDG 6.2 is about ending open defecation and providing access to safe sanitation and hygiene, and it is the furthest off-track of all the SDGs, and furthest in terms of underfunding,” said Ann Thomas, Team Leader, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH Programme Division, UNICEF, at a UN Headquarters press conference on Thursday. ‘Sanitation crisis’ In...