Page 25 - United Nations

UN considers resolution demanding Israel end occupation of Palestinian land

The UN General Assembly is considering a Palestinian resolution Tuesday demanding that Israel end its unlawful presence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year and calling for sanctions and an arms embargo against the country. It will be put to a vote in the 193-member assembly Wednesday as Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza approaches its first anniversary and as violence in the West Bank reaches new highs. The war was triggered by Hamas attacks in southern Israel on October 7. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, urged member nations to reject the measure, describing it as an attempt to destroy Israel through diplomatic terrorism and that "ignores the truth, twists the facts and replaces reality with fiction. Instead of a resolution condemning the rape and massacre committed by Hamas on October 7, we gather here to watch the Palestinians' UN circus a circus where evil is righteous, war is peace, murder is justified and terror is applauded, he told the assembly. Th

PM Narendra Modi to attend Quad summit in US on September 21: MEA

Modi to address UN General Assembly, meet with tech CEOs

Taliban suspends polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, says UN

The Taliban have suspended polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, the U.N. said Monday. Afghanistan is one of two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. The other is Pakistan. News of the suspension was relayed to U.N. agencies right before the September immunization campaign was due to start. No reason was given for the suspension, and no one from the Taliban-controlled government was immediately available for comment. A top official from the World Health Organization said it was aware of discussions to move away from house-to-house vaccinations and instead have immunizations in places like mosques. The WHO has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That's up from six cases in 2023. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is aware of the recent policy discussions on shifting from house-to-house polio vaccination campaigns to site-to-site vaccination in parts of ..

US backs India, Japan, Germany in UNSC reform, proposes seats for Africa

The United States has reaffirmed its support for new permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, including India, but may not support extending veto powers to new members

India has consistently championed cause of Global South: UN Representative

Harish stated that South-South Cooperation offers the potential to build stronger ties among countries of the Global South

UN cutting back on Yemen activities after crackdown by Houthi rebels

The United Nations is cutting back its activities in Yemen in response to a crackdown by Houthi rebels on staff working for the UN and other humanitarian, human rights, development and education organisations, the top UN aid official said Thursday. Acting UN humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya told the UN Security Council that the United Nations has taken steps to minimise the exposure of staff to risk in Houthi-controlled areas. The UN has narrowed its focus to essential lifesaving and life-sustaining activities, she said, and is deprioritising broader activities to develop the Arab world's poorest nation. In June, the Houthis detained more than 60 people working with the UN and other organisations, according to the UN Human Rights Office. Days later, the Houthis said they had arrested members of what they called an American-Israeli spy network. The Houthis' claims could not be independently verified. Msuya said the UN strongly rejects false allegations by the Houthis against ...

UN food agency emphasis on Gaza ceasefire after staff come under fire

An Israeli airstrike last month demolished the top floor of a guest house in Gaza where World Food Program international staff were staying, the UN agency's director said Thursday, calling the situation impossibly dangerous for aid workers trying to feed the Palestinian population. The previously undisclosed incident occurred Aug 31 in the Nuseirat refugee camp, just days after WFP temporarily stopped aid deliveries to northern Gaza and halted staff movements when its team came under fire near an Israel checkpoint. "It was always dangerous before. It's become impossibly dangerous now," McCain said. The World Food Programme is in touch with the Israeli Defence Force over the strike on the house where 11 UN employees, including 10 WFP staff, were staying. None was injured and they have been evacuated to Jordan, where McCain met with them this week. The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment. McCain said she has a simple message for Israeli Prime Minister .

UNGA new prez calls for unity to tackle all kinds of borderless issue

Cameroon's former prime minister took over the presidency of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, issuing a clarion call to the world's divided nations to come together and take action to address global challenges from climate change and poverty to conflicts and armed violence. Philemon Yang told the 193-member world body there are doubts that nations can join forces to tackle these and other pressing issues. But he said: We must demonstrate that international cooperation remains the most effective tool at our disposal for addressing the profound and borderless issues we confront. Yang, a former diplomat who was prime minister of his West African nation from 2009 to 2019, said the cornerstone of his one-year presidency will be built on the principles of unity in diversity. He said peace and security will continue to be of paramount importance during his presidency. This is why, I will urge the assembly to intensify its determination to prioritize the resolution of conflicts, ...

Assured Guterres of India's commitment to multilateralism: UN Ambassador

India's new Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish assured the country's commitment to reformed "multilateralism" and "revitalisation" of the UN as he presented his credentials to UN chief Antonio Guterres here. Deeply honoured to present my letter of credence to UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres. It is a matter of great pride and immense responsibility to represent India at the United Nations, Harish said in a post on X and thanked Guterres for his friendship and support for India. Harish, who arrived in New York last week to take charge as India's envoy to the world body, presented his credentials to Guterres at the UN headquarters Monday during an official ceremony. You are extremely welcome. India is a fundamental pillar of the democratic system in the UN and cooperation between India and the UN is exemplary. We believe that in your presence it will become even stronger, Guterres said as Harish presented his credentials to him. Harish conveyed to

UN human rights chief urges states to challenge Israel over occupation

He denounced the increased use of the death penalty and "alarming regressions" on gender equality, in reference to new morality laws in Afghanistan

Activists criticise high cost of Pope Francis' visit to 'poor' East Timor

East Timor pulled out all stops for Pope Francis' historic visit to one of the world's youngest and poorest countries to the tune of USD 12 million, drawing rebuke from activists and human rights organisations in a nation where almost half the population lives in poverty. The cost for the two-day visit starting Monday was approved by the government through the Council of Ministers in February, including USD 1 million to build an altar for a papal Mass. Walls were still being dabbed with fresh paint and banners and billboards filled the streets of the seaside capital, Dili, to welcome the pontiff, who earlier visited Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. About 42 per cent of East Timor's population of 1.3 million live below the poverty line, according to the UN Development Programme. Unemployment is high, job opportunities in the formal sector are generally limited and most people are subsistence farmers with no steady income. The country's budget for 2023 was USD 3.16 billion. The ...

UN accuses Israel of starvation campaign in Gaza that Netanyahu denies

The UN independent investigator on the right to food accused Israel of carrying out a "starvation campaign" against Palestinians during the war in Gaza, an allegation that Israel vehemently denies. In a report this week, investigator Michael Fakhri claimed it began two days after Hamas' surprise attack in southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people, when Israel's military offensive in response blocked all food, water, fuel and other supplies into Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said accusations of Israel limiting humanitarian aid were "outrageously false". "A deliberate starvation policy? You can say anything it doesn't make it true," he said in a press conference Wednesday. Following intense international pressure especially from close ally the United States Netanyahu's government gradually has opened several border crossings for tightly controlled deliveries. Fakhri said limited aid initially went mostly to southern and central Gaza, not to the north where ..

World food price index eases slight to 120.7 pts in August, shows UN data

The FAO index hit a three-year low in February this year as food prices retreated from a record peak set in March 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine

UN chief warns Africa's inadequate access to debt relief risks unrest

Zambia in June became the first country to successfully restructure its debt through the scheme

UN hails limited pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow polio vaccinations

United Nations officials on Wednesday hailed limited pauses in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow children's polio vaccinations as rare moments of hope in the nearly yearlong war in Gaza. Top U.N. officials on peacebuilding and humanitarian affairs spoke at a meeting requested by Israel, which was backed by its allies, veto-holding permanent council members France, Great Britain and the United States. Israel's ambassador on Wednesday focused on the hostages taken during Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that launched the war and the recent killing of six captives. Algeria, which sits on the 15-member council until next year, also requested that the U.N. body meet to discuss the broader situation in the Palestinian territories. Both Rosemary DiCarlo, U.N. undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, and Edem Wosornu, director of the Operations and Advocacy Division at the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, spoke about the ...

UN watchdog warns conditions 'very fragile' at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia plant

The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog on Tuesday described the situation at Europe's largest nuclear power plant as very fragile following fresh attacks near the site in central Ukraine, and vowed to expand the agency's inspections to include critical electricity supplies. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was making his 10th visit to Ukraine since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022. He was headed to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after talks in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top energy officials. I think the situation I have very often characterized it as very fragile, Grossi told reporters in the Ukrainian capital. The station is again on the verge of being on a blackout. We've had eight of those in the past. A blackout (means) no power: no power, no cooling. No cooling, then maybe you have a disaster. Earlier, Grossi posted on X that he was on his way to Zaporizhzhia to help

UN, Odisha govt launch India's first 'grain ATM' to boost food security

Odisha and WFP are introducing 'Annapurti' 24-hour grain ATMs statewide to enhance food security. The first machine was launched in Bhubaneshwar on August 9

Families in Bangladesh fight for justice against forced disappearances

In a dimly lit room in Dhaka, Baby Akhtar clutches a faded photograph of her husband, Tarikul Islam Tara, who vanished twelve years ago after allegedly being taken by Bangladesh's security agencies, a personal tragedy reflecting the broader nightmare of enforced disappearances that has haunted Bangladesh for over the last 15 years. I have been waiting for my husband for the last 12 years. My life and family have been ruined for no fault of mine. We want justice. We hope that the interim government will give us justice. I want my husband back, she said as tears rolled down her cheeks. The fate of hundreds like Tara remains shrouded in uncertainty following the recent ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose administration was accused of presiding over systematic enforced disappearances. With Hasina's departure, the interim government has taken a significant step by forming a commission to investigate these cases. However, for the families still waiting, the commission's

Will keep engaging with stakeholders in Afghanistan, including Taliban: UN

Notably, the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan had expressed deep concern on August 25 regarding the new morality law imposed by Afghanistan's de facto authorities

UN to engage with Taliban in Afghanistan despite new laws limiting women

The United Nations will continue to engage all stakeholders in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, a U.N. spokesman said, even though Afghanistan's rulers issued a ban on women's voices and bare faces in public and severed ties with the U.N. mission after it criticized them. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric in New York defended the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, and its head Roza Otunbayeva, who said that the new laws provided a distressing vision for Afghanistan's future. She said last week the laws extend the " already intolerable restrictions on the rights of women and girls, with even the sound of a female voice outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation. The laws were issued after they were approved by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The Taliban had set up a ministry for the " propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice after seizing power in 2021. They say the laws are based on their interpretation of Sharia law. The ministry