Page 55 - United Nations

India a key player in maintaining the multilateral system: Ruchira Kamboj

She highlighted New Delhi's 'thriving democracy' and significant contribution to the UN and said that India is a key player in maintaining the multilateral system

Bankers hate saying 'ESG' but are hardwiring it into finance: Survey

The term ESG has only existed for about two decades after being created through a United Nations-led initiative

India's G20 presidency is proof of its rise as world power: US Congressman

India should be a permanent member of the UN Security Council and its G20 presidency is an appropriate recognition of its rise as a world power, influential US Congressman Ro Khanna said on Monday. In an exclusive interview to PTI, Khanna said India can play a "helpful role" in bringing "just peace" to Ukraine considering its "historical relationship" with Russia. The Indian-American Congressman, currently on a visit to New Delhi, also asserted that China must respect its borders with India and that Washington would strongly support New Delhi if it faces any security challenge. Khanna and Congressman Michael Waltz, the two co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, are leading a Congressional delegation to India. Describing India's G-20 presidency as "very consequential", Khanna said the country should be in the UN Security Council considering its rising global profile. "India should be in the UN Security Council. Let's be very candid about it

Youth must be equipped with skills to shape climate-resilient future: UN

International Youth Day is marked annually on 12th August and the 2023 edition spotlights green skills and the major role young people will play in driving the much-needed shift

Over 1 mn barrels of oil removed from tanker moored off Yemen, says UN

The transfer of more than a million barrels of oil from an aging tanker moored off the coast of war-torn Yemen has been completed, avoiding an environmental disaster, the United Nations said Friday. In a statement, Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the operation had prevented monumental environmental and humanitarian catastrophe. An international team began siphoning the oil from the dilapidated vessel known as SOF Safer on July 25. All of the oil is now aboard a replacement tanker called the MOST Yemen. Before the transfer, the Safer carried four times as much oil than was spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska, one of the world's worst ecological catastrophes, according to the U.N. International organizations and rights groups warned for years of the potential for a spill or an explosion involved the tanker, which has not been maintained and has seawater in its engine compartment and damaged pipes. It is moored 6 ...

Niger's neighbours, UN looking to reduce tension with last-minute diplomacy

Nigeriens awoke Tuesday to deepening uncertainty about whether a regional bloc will follow through on its threat to use military force to try to reinstall ousted President Mohamed Bazoum or if last-minute diplomacy will prevail, nearly two weeks after mutinous soldiers overthrew the country's democratically elected leader. The West African regional bloc ECOWAS had given the mutinous soldiers until Sunday to release and reinstall Bazoum or they threatened to use force. Members from ECOWAS, the United Nations and the African Union were expected to join talks in the capital, Niamey, on Tuesday, a foreign official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media. On Monday, acting US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met with the coup leaders in Niger and said they refused to allow her to meet with Bazoum, whom she described as under virtual house arrest. She described the mutinous officers as unreceptive to her appeals to .

Amid humanitarian crisis, UN to cut aid to 21 million in Afghanistan

The 3.2 billion US dollar plea to aid almost half of the Afghan population has received less than 25 per cent of its funding more than halfway through the year

UN official criticizes ban on women's education in Afghanistan by Taliban

Garnier in a press conference said the UN and the international community's pressure on Taliban is "critical" owing to the country's restrictions on girls' education

Pak imposed PKR 215 bn additional taxes to meet IMF condition: Ishaq Dar

Although Pakistan was able to secure the IMF deal just in time, the conditions imposed by the body are turning out to be tedious to implement

14 million children in Sudan in 'dire need' of humanitarian support: UNICEF

Over 1.7 million children in Sudan have been forced out of their homes facing risks of hunger, disease, violence, and family separation

India supports UN efforts to continue Black Sea Grain Initiative: Kamboj

She also showed appreciation to the United States for its presidency of the Security Council and for bringing to focus the crucial issue of conflict-induced food insecurity

US to put forward UN order to allow Kenya-led police to fight Haiti gangs

The United States said Tuesday it will put forward a UN Security Council resolution that will authorise Kenya to lead a multinational police force to help combat gangs in Haiti that control much of the capital and are spreading through the Caribbean nation. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a news conference at the start of the U.S. presidency of the council this month that we welcome Kenya's decision to lead the multinational force (and) we will be working on a resolution to support that effort. Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry sent an urgent appeal last October for the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force, in sufficient quantity to stop the gangs. U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres had been appealing unsuccessfully since then for a lead nation to help restore order to Latin America's most impoverished country. More than nine months later, Kenya was the first country to positively consider leading a force, offering to send 1,000 police to help train an

Halted Ukraine grain deal, funding shortages rattle UN food aid programmes

A halted landmark grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to flow to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, along with donor's fatigue, is rattling the operations of the United Nations food agency, its deputy executive director said Tuesday. What we have to do now is to look elsewhere (for grain) of course, Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program told The Associated Press. We don't know exactly where the market will land, but there might well be an increase in food prices." The WFP on Tuesday started reducing monthly cash aid for 120,000 Syrian refugees living in two camps in Jordan citing budget cuts, a decision that upset both refugees and Jordanian officials. The agency has said it would gradually cut off 50,000 refugees in Jordan from its assistance altogether. The program had initially covered 465,000 refugees. Syrian refugees in Jordan expressed frustration at the news, as they continue to struggle with finding work and high inflation rates. Th

COP28 president UAE, UN body on climate change sign Host Country Agreement

The UAE, which holds the COP28 presidency, and the UNFCCC have signed the Host Country Agreement, strengthening their joint commitment to inclusivity and transparency at the summit to foster solidarity and transformative progress across the climate agenda. The Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host the 28th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 28), with a view to building on previous successes and paving the way for future ambition to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change. The Host Country Agreement, signed by COP28 President-Designate Dr Sultan Al Jaber and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Simon Stiell during a meeting in Abu Dhabi, puts in place the necessary legal basis for this year's UN Climate Summit, said the joint statement issued on the occasion. The statement also said the COP-28 would focus on four areas -- full inclusivity of the COP process, fast-tracking the energy ...

$3.9 bn UN humanitarian appeal for Ukraine is only 30% funded: UN official

The USD 3.9 billion humanitarian appeal for war-torn Ukraine is less than 30 per cent funded as the country starts preparing for a second winter with more residential buildings damaged and destroyed and thousands of people homeless following the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, the country's U.N. humanitarian coordinator said Monday. Denise Brown told a virtual news conference from Kyiv that 17 million Ukrainians need aid and the U.N. is targeting between 11 million and 12 million but funding is becoming a serious issue. A report last week from the U.N. humanitarian office said lack of funding is hampering operations, adding to the challenges imposed by insecurity and other obstacles. By the end of June, it said, the U.N. and its humanitarian partners reached 7.3 million people but in some parts of Ukraine's south, east and north, more than 25% of targeted people couldn't be reached due to a combination of funding shortages and other operational challenges. Brown stressed that winter

UN to reduce food aid, cash payments to Afghanistan amid 'funding crisis'

Carl Skau, the Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Program said apart from Afghanistan, these countries include Syria, Yemen, and West Africa

LIVE: Violence during Muharram processions in west Delhi, 10 cops injured

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Balochistan PM-in-exile seeks India's support at UN for freedom from Pak

Prime Minister of the Balochistan government-in-exile Naela Quadri has sought the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the United Nations (UN) for its freedom from Pakistan's illegal occupation. "Prime minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government have an opportunity today to rise in support of Balochistan at the UN, which they may not have tomorrow," Quadri told reporters on Friday, after performing a puja at the VIP ghat of the Ganga here in Uttarakhand, praying for Balochistan's freedom. "Balochistan, which was once an independent country, is under the illegal occupation of Pakistan, which is looting its mineral resources and subjecting its people to all sorts of atrocities. Baloch girls are being raped, houses and orchards are being set on fire," she said. "Pakistan is not doing it alone. It has also roped in China to perpetrate atrocities on the Baloch people," Quadri said. If India stands for Balochistan at the UN, "we will also stand in support of India when our countr

Forced to cut food aid to millions globally because of funding crisis: UN

The United Nations has been forced to cut food, cash payments and assistance to millions of people in many countries because of a crippling funding crisis that has seen its donations plummet by about half as acute hunger is hitting record levels, a top official said Friday. Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Programme, told a news conference that at least 38 of the 86 countries where WFP operates have already seen cuts or plan to cut assistance soon including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and West Africa. He said WFP's operating requirement is USD 20 billion to deliver aid to everyone in need, but it was aiming for between USD 10 billion and USD 14 billion, which was what the agency had received in the past few years. We're still aiming at that, but we have only so far this year gotten to about half of that, around USD 5 billion, Skau said. He said humanitarian needs were going through the roof in 2021 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukrain

29.2 mn projected to need humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan: UNICEF

Afghanistan's recession has been exacerbated by drought-like conditions, floods, insecurity, harsh winters, political and economic instability, and displacement