Page 26 - United Nations

UN releases $100 million for humanitarian emergencies in 10 countries

The United Nations released USD 100 million on Friday for humanitarian emergencies in 10 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean. Acting UN humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya said a lack of funding in these countries is preventing aid agencies from providing life-saving assistance, and that is heart-wrenching. More than one-third of the new funding from the Central Emergency Response Fund known as CERF will go to Yemen, where a civil war is now in its 10th year, and Ethiopia, where government forces are fighting several rebel groups in its regions as well as ethnic-related insurgencies. Yemen is getting USD 20 million and Ethiopia USD 15 million. Humanitarian operations in countries engulfed in years of conflict and displacement, exacerbated by climate shocks will also be getting funds: Myanmar (USD 12 million), Mali (USD 11 million), Burkina Faso (USD 10 million), Haiti (USD 9 million), Cameroon (USD 7 million) and Mozambique (USD 7 million). So will two countries

India calls for decisive, transparent approach to reform in UNSC talks

Central to India's position is need for text-based negotiations within IGN framework, Patel pointed out that, unlike other multilateral processes, discussions on UNSC reform have that yet to adopt

Proposed UN resolution on Myanmar condemns military attacks on civilians

Britain circulated a wide-ranging United Nations resolution on Myanmar urging renewed peace efforts, condemning attacks on civilians especially by the Myanmar military and calling for a halt to illicit arms transfers. The draft resolution obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press expresses alarm at the increased violence across Myanmar, which is engulfed in civil war between the military-led regime and resistance forces. It calls for safe, rapid, and unhindered humanitarian access at scale," expressing grave concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation and restrictions on humanitarian access in the country that led to rising food insecurity and hunger. The proposed resolution warns that the current situation has the potential to further exacerbate discrimination, ethnically motivated violence, violations of international humanitarian law, human rights abuses, and conflict-related sexual violence. Myanmar's military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1

UN nuclear chief Grossi visits Russia's Kursk atomic plant near front line

The safety of nuclear power plants has repeatedly been endangered over the course of the Ukraine war

Rising seas 'worldwide catastrophe' affecting Pacific paradises: UN chief

Highlighting seas that are rising at an accelerating rate, especially in the far more vulnerable Pacific island nations, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued yet another climate SOS to the world. This time he said those initials stand for save our seas. The United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization Monday issued reports on worsening sea level rise, turbocharged by a warming Earth and melting ice sheets and glaciers. They highlight how the Southwestern Pacific is not only hurt by the rising oceans, but by other climate change effects of ocean acidification and marine heat waves. Guterres toured Samoa and Tonga and made his climate plea from Tonga's capital on Tuesday at a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, whose member countries are among those most imperiled by climate change. This is a crazy situation, Guterres said. Rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity's making. A crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale, with no ..

UN aid operations in Gaza halted after Israel issues evacuation orders

The official said UN staff on the ground had been directed to try and find a way to keep operating. He said UN operations had not been formally suspended

13 died after boat carrying migrants sunk off Yemen's coast, says UN

A boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, leaving more than two dozen people dead or missing, the UN migration agency said Sunday, the latest in a string of shipwrecks that have left scores dead. Despite a nearly decade-long civil war, Yemen which borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast remains a major route for migrants from East Africa trying to reach wealthy Gulf countries for work. The vessel was carrying 25 Ethiopian migrants and the boat captain and his assistant, both Yemeni, when it capsized Tuesday off the province of Taiz, the International Organisation for Migration said in a statement. The bodies of 11 men and two women were recovered along the shore of Bab el-Mandeb Strait that links the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, while the 14 others including the two Yemenis remain missing. The migrants departed from Djibouti, IOM said. This latest tragedy is a stark reminder of the perils faced by migrants on this route, said Matt Huber, IOM's ..

UN rights chief raises alarm about trapped Rohingya civilians in Myanmar

The UN's human rights chief joined a chorus of concern on Friday for members of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority after many were reported killed in recent fighting between the military government and the Arakan Army, an armed ethnic rebel group. According to a statement from the Geneva office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Trk, he expressed grave alarm and raised profound concerns about the sharply deteriorating situation across Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine State where hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed while trying to flee the fighting. It said his agency had documented that both the military and the Arakan Army, which now controls most of the townships in Rakhine, have committed serious human rights violations and abuses against the Rohingya, including extrajudicial killings, some involving beheadings, abductions, forced recruitment, indiscriminate bombardments of towns and villages using drones and artillery, and arson attacks. The

WHO partners can start talks to buy mpox vaccines before approval

Earlier this month, the WHO asked vaccine manufacturers to submit information so it could accelerate its approval process, and grant an emergency licence by mid-September

UAE joins final UN SG's Critical Energy Transition Minerals panel in Kenya

During last meeting, panel members stressed importance of forming stronger foundations, focusing on international cooperation to achieve mutual and collective benefits with respect to mining industry

Palestinians plan UN resolution enshrining court demand to end Israel hold

The Palestinians said Thursday they are planning to introduce a U.N. General Assembly resolution in September enshrining the recent sweeping ruling by the U.N.'s top court that declared Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territories unlawful and setting a time frame for it to end. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told the U.N. Security Council that the resolution, which would not be legally binding, is essential to spur the end of Israel's occupation. We are sick and tired of waiting, he said. The time for waiting is over. The International Court of Justice on July 19 issued an unprecedented, sweeping condemnation of Israel's rule o ver the lands it captured 57 years ago. It called for the occupation to end and for settlement construction to stop immediately. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for an independent state. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon, who spoke to the

UN team to arrive in Bangladesh's Dhaka to probe killings of protesters

A team of UN experts is set to arrive in Dhaka on Thursday to set a framework for the fact-finding mission that will investigate the killings of at least 650 protesters ahead of and in the aftermath of Sheikh Hasina's resignation as the prime minister earlier this month. "This is the primary UN team of experts before the UN fact-finding mission comes and investigates (the atrocities). We are expecting to sign an agreement of framework for the probe," The Daily Star newspaper quoted a UN official based in Dhaka as saying on Wednesday. The UN team is expected to discuss detailed terms and conditions for investigating all the human rights violations that took place between July 1 and August 15, the official said. The delegation will stay here for at least a week and meet the civil society groups, victims of human rights violations, students and government officials and any other actors concerned, the official added. Foreign ministry officials also confirmed the arrival of the ...

Record number of aid workers killed in 2023, this year may be worse: UN

A record number of aid workers were killed in conflicts around the world last year more than half after the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7 -- and this year may become even deadlier, the United Nations said on Monday. The 280 aid workers from 33 countries killed in 2023 was more than double the previous year's figure of 118, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs known as OCHA said in a report on World Humanitarian Day. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted that honouring the humanitarians killed in the deadliest year on record is not enough. In Sudan and many other places, aid workers are attacked, killed, injured and abducted. We demand an end to impunity so that perpetrators face justice, the UN chief said. OCHA said this year may be on track for an even deadlier outcome, with 172 aid workers killed as of August 7, according to a provisional account from the Aid Worker Security Database. More than 280 aid workers have been killed in the war i

Nearly 650 people killed in recent spate of violence in B'desh: UN report

Nearly 650 people have been killed in the recent unrest in Bangladesh between July 16 and August 11, the UN Human Rights Office has said in a preliminary report, suggesting a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions. According to the 10-page report titled Preliminary Analysis of Recent Protests and Unrest in Bangladesh, nearly 400 deaths were reported between July 16 and August 4 while around 250 people were reportedly killed following the new wave of protests between August 5 and 6, leading to the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The available public reports by media and the protest movement itself claimed that between July 16 and August 11, more than 600 people were killed due to the wave of violence following the Anti-Discriminatory Student demonstrations. The number of reported killings in revenge attacks since that time remains to be determined, the report, released on Friday in ...

UN team to visit Bangladesh next week to probe killings of protesters

A team of UN experts will visit Bangladesh next week to investigate the killings of the protesters ahead of and in the aftermath of Sheikh Hasina's resignation as the prime minister last week, it was announced on Thursday. This will be the first time the UN is sending a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh since its independence in 1971 to investigate widespread human rights abuses in the country, according to a UN official, said a post on X by the Chief Adviser of the Government of Bangladesh. Muhammad Yunus took oath as the Chief Adviser of the interim government on August 8, days after Sheikh Hasina's government collapsed and she fled to India on August 5 amid violent protests over quota reforms for government jobs. The United Nations is sending a UN fact-finding team next week to probe atrocities committed during the Student Revolution in July and early this month. UN human rights chief Volker Turk announced the move when he called Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus late ...

Extreme heat endangering children in West, Central Africa, says UNICEF

Children in West and Central Africa are increasingly exposed to extreme heat, which further endangers their health, according to a new report by UNICEF. The frequency of heatwaves in the region has more than quadrupled since the 1960s, according to the report published on Wednesday. West Africa experienced an unprecedented heat wave earlier this year that led to a surge in deaths. One hospital in Mali reported 102 deaths in the first four days of April, compared to 130 deaths in the entire month of April last year. It's unknown how many of the fatalities were due to the extreme weather as such data cannot be made public under the regulations imposed by the country's military rulers. The extreme heat is creating health concerns for children and pregnant women as it is linked to higher chances of stillbirths, low birth weight and preterm births, according to the report. Exposure to high levels of heat also leaves children more vulnerable to developing chronic diseases and contracting

UN Chief calls for parliamentary election in B'desh, urges govt's inclusion

Bangladesh is experiencing a volatile political situation, after Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of Prime Minister on August 5 amid mounting protests

UN chief pushes for Security Council reforms, permanent seat for Africa

In a high-level debate on Monday, United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, addressing Security Council said that the composition of the UNSC has failed to keep pace with a changing world

Trump's campaign says its emails were hacked, Iranian actors suspected

Former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign said Saturday that it has been hacked and suggested Iranian actors were involved in stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents. The campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran's involvement, but the claim comes a day after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents' attempts to interfere in the US campaign in 2024. It cited an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor. Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blamed the hack on foreign sources hostile to the United States. The National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday by The Associated Press. Politico first reported Saturday on the hack. The outlet reported that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source an AOL email ..

Protesters rally outside UN over violence against minorities in Bangladesh

HinduACTion, a Washington-based NGO, said that people from all walks of life showed up spontaneously