Page 25 - United Nations

S Africa submits legal claim to UN court which accuses Israel of genocide

The South African legal team delivered a nearly 5,000-page document to the United Nations' top court on Monday, the latest step in a case the country brought accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The document, which the International Court of Justice will not make public until a later stage in the proceedings, puts forth the main case that Israel has a special intent to commit genocide, according to a statement from South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa. Israel has fiercely denied the allegations. The government called the case blood libel when South Africa launched the complaint in Dec. 2023. On Monday a court official at the ICJ confirmed that they had received the document. The filing takes place as the Israeli military has called on Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza, where it has been waging a large offensive for more than three weeks. The U.N. said earlier this month at least 400,000 people are still in northern Gaza and hunger is rampant

Slight progress in biodiversity protection but some species decline: Report

Global efforts to protect the world's plants and animals have made slight progress and some species remain in serious decline, according to two reports released Monday at a major United Nations biodiversity summit in Colombia. A report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) evaluated global progress since its biodiversity report in 2020. Two years ago, 196 countries signed a historic treaty to protect biodiversity on 30% of the planet by 2030. The biodiversity summit underway in Cali, Colombia is a follow-up to the 2022 accord in Montreal, which includes 23 measures to halt and reverse nature loss. One calls for putting 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. The UNEP report found countries have made some headway on pledges, but that expansion of the global network must accelerate over the next six years to meet the goal. The report says 17.6% of land and inland waters and 8.4% of the ocean and coastal areas globally are within ...

India's gender equality advancing; social norms, safety concerns remain: UN

India's progress towards gender equality has accelerated in recent years, with increased investments and focus on women's leadership at the grassroots but social norms, limited workforce participation and gaps in safety measures hinder full gender parity, UN Women officials said. In an interview, Daniel Seymour, UN Women's Director of Strategic Partnerships and Susan Jane Ferguson, Country Representative for UN Women in India, shared insights on the country's strides and the challenges that remain. The conversation highlighted India's increased investments in women's empowerment and gender-responsive policies, yet stressed that deep-rooted social norms and limited financing continue to hamper full progress. "India's progress is significant, but closing the remaining gaps requires targeted efforts across both public and private sectors," Ferguson said. India has seen substantial growth in recent years, especially in gender-responsive budgeting, which has increased to 6.8 per cent, .

Despicable yet predictable: India slams Pak at UN for raking Kashmir issue

Remarks came after Pakistan's representative in his remarks during the UNSC debate made references to Jammu and Kashmir

Gangs in Haiti open fire, hit UN helicopter mid-air as violence rises

Gangs on Thursday opened fire and hit a UN helicopter as it prepared to land in Port-au-Prince, marking the latest attack in Haiti's capital as violence surges once again. No one was injured as several rounds of gunfire hit the helicopter that was carrying three crew members and 15 passengers, according to a UN source who was not authorised to confirm the incident. The helicopter landed safely. The attack comes five months after Haiti's main international airport reopened following coordinated gang attacks that forced it to close for nearly three months. The violence has spilled to nearby areas including Arcahaie, where some 50 suspected gang members died this week after attacking the coastal town located just northwest of the capital. Among the dead are at least a dozen gunmen who drowned after their boat capsized, a government official said Thursday. While the majority were killed by police, a group of gunmen drowned on Wednesday after their boat hit the reef as they ferried ...

World may warm up to 3.1 degrees celsius on lack of climate action: UN

Continuing with current policies means world will be on course for temperature rise of 3.1C before the end of the century, while implementing promised reforms would at best lead to an increase of 2.6C

United Nations Day 2024: History, significance, theme, celebrations, more

The United Nations has become a symbol of hope, inspiring dreams of a better future and a united world for the last 70 years and hence UN Day is observed every year on Oct 24

WHO approves Zydus Lifesciences' typhoid vaccine for UN procurement

Typhoid affects an estimated 11 to 21 million people annually, leading to between 117,000 and 161,000 deaths

UN nature talks explore rules for digital genetic data use and compensation

Species-rich countries, including tropical giants like Brazil and India, are on guard against corporations and researchers capitalizing on their biodiversity without offering compensation or royalties

UK warns Russian strikes on Black Sea delay food supplies to Palestinians

After the collapse last year of a U.N.-backed Black Sea grain export initiative that involved Russia and had ensured safe passage of grain ships

It could take 350 years for Gaza to rebuild if blockade remains: UN report

UN agencies have long warned that it could take decades to rebuild Gaza after Israel's offensive against Hamas, one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns since World War II. Now, more than a year into the war, a new report speaks in terms of centuries. The UN Conference on Trade and Development said in a report released on Monday that if the war ends tomorrow and Gaza returns to the status quo before Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, it could take 350 years for its battered economy to return to its precarious prewar level. Before the war, Gaza was under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas seized power in 2007. Four previous wars and divisions between Hamas and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank also took a toll on Gaza's economy. The current war has caused staggering destruction across the territory, with entire neighbourhoods obliterated and roads and critical infrastructure in ruins. Mountains of rubble laced with

Ukraine blasts UN's Guterres over invitation to Brics summit in Russia

"The U.N. Secretary General declined Ukraine's invitation to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland," the ministry said in a post on the X social media platform

UN failure reason for 600 aid trucks just sitting at Gaza border: Israel

COGAT also said that it has coordinated pick-up at various hours, expanded routes to improve traffic to the crossings, set up a tactical pause along the route

What's on agenda at COP16 nature summit in Colombia: All you need to know

COP16 host country Colombia has put the inclusion of Indigenous and traditional communities at the center of its agenda in Cali

UN climate secy gives call to 'step up' climate finance ahead of COP29

At COP29 in Baku, all governments must agree on a new goal for international climate finance

India among 5 nations with largest number of people living in poverty: UN

India is among the five countries globally with the largest number of people living in poverty, according to the UN report that said 1.1 billion people, over half of them minors, live in acute poverty worldwide. The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was released on Thursday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) based at the University of Oxford. It said that 1.1 billion people live in acute poverty worldwide, with 40 per cent living in countries experiencing war, fragility and/or low peacefulness, according to at least one of the three widely used datasets of conflict settings. India has 234 million people living in poverty, which is medium Human Development Index, placing the country among five globally with the largest number of people living in poverty. The other four countries are Pakistan (93 million), Ethiopia (86 million), Nigeria (74 million) and the Democratic Republi

Lifted 250 mn people out of poverty, devoted to food security: India at UN

The First Secretary added that India remains committed to ensuring food security for its vast population

Kashmir is ours and will remain ours: MEA spokesperson on Pak statement

This came in response to the joint statement issued by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, and Chinese Premier Li Qiang, where they called for a resolution on the ongoing Kashmir issue

Yemen risks being dragged into Mideast conflict that could spiral, says UN

Yemen risks being dragged further into the military escalation in the Middle East that keeps intensifying and could spiral out of control, the U.N. special envoy for the Arab world's poorest nation said Tuesday. Hans Grundberg told the U.N. Security Council that regrettably Yemen is part of the escalation and he warned that repeated attacks on international shipping by its Houthi rebels have significantly increased the risk of an environment disaster in the Red Sea. Both Grundberg and the U.N.'s acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya urged the Iranian-backed Houthis to halt their attacks on international shipping, which the rebel group began to support fellow Iranian-backed militant group Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack in Israel that sparked Israel's ongoing war in Gaza. The U.N. officials also demanded the release of dozens of U.N. personnel, staff of non-governmental organizations and diplomatic missions, and members of civil society, most detained since June. Msuya called the ...

UN urges Asia-Pacific nations to boost investments in disaster prevention

Disasters, including those wrought by fiercer storms, are threatening more people and could derail economic progress in the Asia Pacific region if governments don't invest more in disaster mitigation and prevention, a U.N. official said Tuesday. U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Kamal Kishore, who heads the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, issued the warning in a speech at the start of a regional conference on disaster mitigation hosted by the Philippines, one of the world's most disaster-prone countries. "Disasters are now affecting record numbers of people and threatening their lives and livelihoods, Kishore told hundreds of delegates to the three-day conference in Manila led by ministers in charge of disaster mitigation and response across the Asia Pacific. "Left unchecked, these disaster risks threaten to derail the development aspirations of the Asia Pacific region and push back progress that has taken decades to achieve, he said. Kishore said Asia Pacific countries sho