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...
“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...
In short, countries must start curbing emissions immediately, according to the UN Emissions Gap Report 2024. “Climate crunch time is here,” said UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen. “We need global mobilisation on a scale and pace never seen before, starting right now before the next round of climate pledges.” If...
“Today, Israeli airstrikes hit the town of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, yet again… As the theatre and intensity of the exchanges of fire continue to expand, civilian suffering is reaching unprecedented heights,” said UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in a statement. Five people were killed in the attack and there...
The UN chief’s appeal comes as aid agencies warn that millions of people remain in acute need across Myanmar – particularly in the north, southeast and Rakhine state. Their plight has been made even worse by torrential rainfall and catastrophic flooding, amid a lack of humanitarian access and insufficient relief funding....
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...
“That’s why I have written directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express profound concern about draft legislation that could prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” he said at the Security Council stakeout in New York. He said such a measure would suffocate...
Sergey Lavrov said criticism of Russia’s “special operation” based on the UN Charter and Ukraine’s territorial integrity, ignored the fact that the UN’s founding document also “declares the obligation to respect the principles of the equality and self-determination of peoples”, he said, arguing that this had after all been the...
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...
Briefing ambassadors in the Security Council, Geir Pedersen expressed grave concern over the mounting violence and its cascading impact on Syria, which has been embroiled in civil conflict – later drawing in outside forces – since 2011. He highlighted an attack earlier in the day on a vehicle at...
“The series of explosions across Lebanon and rockets fired toward Israel in recent days adds to the volatility,” said Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. He urged all sides “to refrain from steps that will further exacerbate the situation and take immediate steps to de-escalate.” Settlement...
In a new alert, UNRWA highlighted how Gazans’ shelters have become a target for insects and rodents after more than 11 months of war – echoing deep concerns among humanitarians about the lack of basic hygiene items that have left families unprotected from communicable diseases. Echoing those warnings, top independent...