United Nations

Syria at crossroads: Can return to violence or move to peace, says UN envoy

Three months following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad, Syria is at a crossroads, the top UN envoy for the country said. Geir Pedersen told the UN Security Council that Syria can return to violence or start an inclusive transition and end decades of conflict. He said the road back to conflict, fragmentation and violations of Syrian sovereignty by external powers "must not come to pass". The other road, which would restore Syria's sovereignty and regional security, is "viable" but "requires the right Syrian decisions" and international support, Pedersen said. Syria's civil war had gone on for 13 years when a lightning insurgency led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, overthrew Assad in December, ending his family's more than 50-year rule. Former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa was announced as the country's interim president after a meeting of armed groups that took part in the offensive. Pedersen spoke weeks after clashes between al-Sharaa's security forces an

Pak continues to illegally occupy J&K, which it must vacate: India at UNSC

These remarks were made by India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish during remarks at a UNSC Open Debate on Advancing Adaptability in UN Peace operations

UN says will reduce footprint in Gaza, blames Israel for staffer's death

The United Nations has said it will reduce its footprint in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli tank strike hit one of its compounds last week, killing one staffer and wounding five others. Israel has denied it was behind the March 19 explosion at the UN guesthouse in central Gaza. In a statement Monday, UN Secretary-General spokesman Stphane Dujarric said that based on the information currently available, the strikes on the site were caused by an Israeli tank. He said the UN has made taken the difficult decision to reduce the Organisation's footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar. He said the UN is not leaving Gaza but did not give details on the impact of the decision.

Nearly 9,000 migrant deaths recorded last year by UN migration agency

Nearly 9,000 people have died last year attempting to cross borders, the UN agency for migration said on Friday. The death toll set a new record for the fifth year in a row. The International Organization for Migration recorded at least 8,938 migrant deaths in 2024. However, the real death toll is likely much higher given that many deaths go unreported or undocumented IOM said in a statement. The rise of deaths is terrible in and of itself, but the fact that thousands remained unidentified each year is even more tragic, Julia Black, coordinator of IOM's Missing Migrants Projects said in the statement. Asia was the region with the most reported fatalities with 2,788 migrant deaths, followed by the Mediterranean Sea with 2,452 and Africa with 2,242. IOM said there were also an unprecedented 341 lives lost in the Caribbean", 233 in Europe and 174 in the Darin crossing between Colombia and Panama, a new record. News of the record death toll comes only days after the agency announced i

Can India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme drive climate target success?

IETA estimates that by 2030, the global carbon credit market will be around $300 billion, growing to $1 trn to $1.5 trn by 2050. India is expected to be one of the big sellers

Trump's 'America First' era: Are global institutions losing relevance?

World leaders are increasingly questioning the relevance of major global institutions, including the UN, WHO, WTO, and climate summits such as the Paris Agreement, in a multipolar world

How India is advancing towards United Nations' TB elimination goal by 2030

India has made notable progress under the National TB Elimination Programme. However, given TB's complexity and its deep connection to social factors, a longer, more sustained effort will be essential

Gaza hostilities must end, emergency aid needs access: UN coordinator

The U.N. official said that since March 2, Israeli authorities had cut off the entry of all lifesaving supplies

A requiem for multilateralism in an era of increasing interdependence

The shift away from the '90s started with the turn of the millennium. Now it is even worse with the US asserting what it still considers its paramount power

Pakistan terms as 'misleading and one-sided' PM Modi's remarks on J&K

Pakistan on Monday rejected as misleading and one-sided the remarks made on Jammu and Kashmir by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a podcast. The Indian leader said during the interview with American podcaster Lex Fridman on Sunday that every attempt to foster peace with Pakistan was met with hostility and betrayal and that he hoped that wisdom would prevail on the leadership in Islamabad to improve bilateral ties. Pakistan Foreign Office issued a statement in response to media queries regarding the remarks made by Modi and rejected his assertions. The remarks are misleading and one-sided. They conveniently omit the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which remains unresolved for the last seven decades despite India's solemn assurances to the United Nations, Pakistan and the Kashmiri people, according to the statement. It alleged that India was involved in fomenting trouble on Pakistani soil and carrying out state-sanctioned oppression in Jammu and Kashmir. It also accused India of orchestrat

Modi speaking Trump's language: Cong on PM's remarks on global bodies

The Congress on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks in a podcast on the relevance of global organisations, claiming that the PM is clearly going out of his way to keep US President Donald Trump in good humour and "repeating his good friend's chant". In his interaction with American podcaster and computer scientist Lex Fridman, Modi emphasised the need for synchronisation and collaboration to propel global initiatives forward. He also addressed the relevance of global organisations like the United Nations, noting that their inability to evolve with the times has sparked a global debate on their relevance. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "Mr. Modi clearly is going out of his way to keep Mr. Trump in good humour." "He says international organisations, from which India has benefited immensely, have become irrelevant. "This is the US President's language. In fact, it is Mr. Trump who is doing his best to make them irrelev

US, Houthis both vow escalation after airstrikes target rebels in Yemen

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the US strikes killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded almost 100 in the capital of Sanaa

UN chief Guterres pays visit to Bangladesh, highlights plight of Rohingyas

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called upon the international community to provide necessary financial and political support for Rohingya refugees and their host communities to avoid humanitarian disasters in Bangladesh, state-run BSS news agency said. Guterres, who is on a four-day visit from March 13 to Bangladesh, was addressing a joint press briefing in Dhaka, a day after he travelled to Cox's Bazaar on a mission of solidarity with the Rohingya refugees. The plight of more than 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar remains uncertain over possible aid cuts in near future. After his visit to Cox's Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh to see the plight of Rohingyas in the crammed makeshift camps after being evicted from their homeland in Myanmar's Rakhine state, Guterres described humanitarian aid cuts by the United States and countries in Europe to Bangladesh, where thousands of Rohingya refugees are located, as a crime. On Saturday. He reiterated his

UN chief, Bangladesh's Yunus discuss domestic issues, Rohingya crisis

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has discussed with Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus the country's domestic issues and the Rohingya situation and expressed solidarity with Dhaka's reform and transition process. Guterres is in Bangladesh on a Ramadan Solidarity visit from March 13-16. Guterres travelled to Cox's Bazaar on a mission of solidarity with the Rohingya refugees and with the Bangladeshi people who have hosted them. He expressed appreciation for the close cooperation between the UN and Bangladesh, including its contributions to peacekeeping. The Secretary-General and the Chief Adviser discussed the situation of the Rohingya and Bangladesh's domestic issues. The Secretary-General expressed his solidarity with Bangladesh's reform and transition process, a readout of the meeting between Guterres and Yunus provided by the office of the Secretary-General's spokesperson said on Friday. The Secretary-General is back in Dhaka after having spent the day in Cox's Bazaa

Religious discrimination affects followers of all faiths: India at UNGA

India has said it stands united with the UN members in condemning incidents of religious intolerance against Muslims, as it underlined the need to recognise that religious discrimination is a broader challenge affecting followers of all faiths. India is a land of diversity and pluralism. We are home to followers of virtually every major religion in the world and India has been the birthplace of four world religions namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. With over 200 million of its citizens practising Islam, India is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the world, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador P Harish said on Friday. Addressing the informal meeting of the plenary in the UN General Assembly to commemorate the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, Harish said that fostering a world free from religious discrimination, hatred and violence has been a way of life for India since time immemorial. We stand united with the UN membership in ..

India, China saw strong trade growth in Q4 2024 amid risks: UN report

Developing nations, particularly India and China, saw better than average trade expansion in the fourth quarter of 2024, a UN report has said but warned of a potential for an economic slowdown globally in the upcoming quarters. The latest Global Trade Update by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), covering data through early March, said that global trade expanded by nearly USD 1.2 trillion in 2024, reaching USD 33 trilliona result of a 9 per cent rise in services trade and a 2 per cent increase in goods trade. Developing nations, particularly China and India, saw better than average trade expansion, while many developed nations experienced trade contractions, it said. It said that China and India saw stronger trade momentum in Q4 2024 while the US remained a key driver. Merchandise trade showed mixed trends among major economies in Q4 2024. China and India trade continued to increase, particularly in exports. Conversely, export growth in South Korea decelerated, although it remaine

Global crises demand a new governance model beyond nation-states

Our international institutions simply are not designed to address systemic issues indifferent to national borders

UN's food agency WFP to cut aid for about one million people in Myanmar

The agency said the cuts would affect communities across Myanmar, including around 100,000 internally displaced people comprising the minority Muslim Rohingya communities and others

Iran increasingly electronically surveils for headscarf violations: UN

Iran increasingly relies on electronic surveillance and the public to inform on women refusing to wear the country's mandatory headscarf in public, even as hard-liners push for harsher penalties for those protesting the law, a United Nations report released on Friday found. The findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran come after it determined last year that the country's theocracy was responsible for the physical violence that led to the death of Mahsa Amini. Her death led to nationwide protests against the country's mandatory hijab laws and the public disobedience against them that continues even today, despite the threat of violent arrest and imprisonment. Two and a half years after the protests began in September 2022, women and girls in Iran continue to face systematic discrimination, in law and in practice, that permeates all aspects of their lives, particularly with respect to the enforcement of the mandatory hijab, the ...

UN accuses Israel of sexual violence, Netanyahu alleges anti-Israel bias

United Nations-backed human rights experts on Thursday accused Israel of "the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence" in its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The allegations came in one of the most extensive reports of its kind on the issue since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel ignited the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the Human Rights Council, a UN-backed body that commissioned the team of independent experts, as an "anti-Israel circus" that "has long been exposed as an antisemitic, rotten, terrorist-supporting, and irrelevant body". His statement did not address the findings themselves. The findings by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which seeks to document in minute detail the allegations and evidence of crimes to bolster accountability for perpetrators, could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or in other jurisdictions to try to bring justice