Page 65 - United Nations

India must end crackdown on Kashmiri human rights defenders: UN expert

A top UN expert on Friday asked India to immediately end the crackdown on Kashmiri human rights defenders and urged New Delhi to release and close all investigations initiated against them. Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders made this comment days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) formally arrested jailed Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society programme coordinator Khurram Parvez in connection with its NGO terror funding case. The NIA said the case relates to the terror funding of proscribed terrorist organisations, such as LeT and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, by certain NGOs, trusts and societies based in the Valley. Indian authorities appear to be intensifying the long-standing repression of Kashmiri civil society, Lawlor said. The State must respect its human rights obligations and be held accountable where it violates them," she said in a statement. Parvez has been in prison since his arrest by the NIA in November 2021 for anti-national ...

Receding glaciers to cut flows of rivers like Indus, Ganges: UN chief

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that major Himalayan rivers like the Indus, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, all hugely important for India, could see reductions in their flows as glaciers and ice sheets recede over the coming decades due to global warming. "Glaciers are critical to all life on earth. Over centuries, they carved out the landmasses we call home. Today, they cover 10 per cent of our world. Glaciers are also the world's water towers," Guterres said in his remarks to an event on the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation Wednesday. Guterres voiced concern that human activity is driving the planet's temperature to dangerous new levels and "melting glaciers are the canary in the coalmine". Antarctica is losing an average of 150 billion tons of ice mass every year while the Greenland ice cap is melting even faster losing 270 billion tonnes per year. In Asia, 10 major rivers originate in the Himalaya region, supplying freshwater to 1.3 billion people living

UN chief Guterres urges 'game-changing' commitments on clean water

The United Nations chief urged the first world conference on water in over 45 years on Wednesday to address the 21st century emergency that is wasting the world's most important resource and has left billions of people without clean water and basic sanitation. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the opening session that water is humanity's lifeblood and a human right, but the world is draining it through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use and evaporating it through global heating. In a challenge to all nations and the broader international community, he said the three-day conference must represent a quantum leap in recognition of the vital importance of water and the need for action to ensure its sustainable use. Guterres called for game-changing commitments toward U.N. goals, including ensuring that all people have access to drinking water and sanitation by 2030. The U.N. World Water Development Report, issued on the eve of the conference, says 26% of the world's .

About half of world's urban population to face water scarcity by 2050

26% of the world's population doesn't have access to safe drinking water

India likely to be severely affected by water scarcity by 2050: UN report

India is expected to be the most severely affected as the global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to increase from 933 million in 2016 to 1.7-2.4 billion people in 2050, a flagship UN report said on Tuesday. The 'United Nations World Water Development Report 2023: partnerships and cooperation for water', issued Tuesday ahead of the UN 2023 Water Conference, said that around 80% of people living under water stress lived in Asia; in particular, northeast China, as well as India and Pakistan. "The global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to increase from 933 million (one third of global urban population) in 2016 to 1.7-2.4 billion people (one third to nearly half of global urban population) in 2050, with India projected to be the most severely affected," the report said, citing data. "There is an urgent need to establish strong international mechanisms to prevent the global water crisis from spiralling out of control," said UNESCO Director-General .

26% of world lacks clean drinking water, 46% basic sanitation: UN

A report released on the eve of the first major UN conference on water in over 45 years says 26 per cent of the world's population doesn't have access to safe drinking water and 46 per cent lacks access to basic sanitation. The UN World Water Development Report 2023, issued Tuesday, painted a stark picture of the huge gap that needs to be filled to meet UN goals to ensure all people have access to clean water and sanitation by 2030. Richard Connor, editor-in-chief of the report, told a news conference that the estimated cost of meeting the goals is between USD 600 billion and USD 1 trillion a year. But equally important, Connor said, is forging partnerships with investors, financiers, governments and climate change communities to ensure that money is invested in ways to sustain the environment and provide potable water to the 2 billion people who don't have it and sanitation to the 3.6 million in need. According to the report, water use has been increasing globally by roughly 1 per

Demystifying Nithyananda's self-proclaimed country United States of Kailasa

The 'nation' made it to headlines again in February this year when its 'representatives' attended a discussion conducted by the United Nations in Geneva

World Water Day 2023 observed today: History, significance, theme and more

World Water day is celebrated on March 22 every year. The theme for world water day 2023 is Accelerating the change to solve the water and sanitation crisis

Denial of women's right to education in Afghanistan not justifiable: UN

The denial of women's rights to education by the Taliban de facto authorities in Afghanistan has no justification on any grounds

26% of world lacks clean drinking water, 46% sanitation, says UN report

A new report launched Tuesday on the eve of the first major UN conference on water in over 45 years says 26 per cent of the world's population doesn't have access to safe drinking water and 46 per cent lack access to basic sanitation. The UN World Water Development Report 2023 painted a stark picture of the huge gap that needs to be filled to meet UN goals to ensure all people have access to clean water and sanitation by 2030. Richard Connor, editor-in-chief of the report, told a news conference that the estimated cost of meeting the goals is somewhere between USD 600 billion and USD 1 trillion a year. But equally important, Connor said, is forging partnerships with investors, financiers, governments and climate change communities to ensure that money is invested in ways to sustain the environment and provide potable water to the 2 billion people who don't have it and sanitation to the 3.6 million in need. According to the report, water use has been increasing globally by roughly 1

UN chief's call for greater ambition on climate gets muted response

Senior government officials gathered for a climate meeting in Copenhagen gave a muted response Tuesday to calls from the head of the United Nations for countries to show greater ambition when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged rich countries to bring forward their target for achieving net zero emissions as close as possible to 2040, and for emerging economies to aim for a date as close as possible to 2050. This would be a significant shifting of the goalposts: the United States and the European Union are currently aiming for net zero by 2050, while China is targeting 2060 and India has set a deadline of 2070. Guterres' call came Monday in a video message responding to a new report by the UN's top climate science panel which found that the world is still far off track if it wants to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times, as agreed in the 2015 Paris accord. He did not attend t

Months after Pak floods, millions lack access to safe water, warns Unicef

The United Nations children's agency on Tuesday warned that after last summer's devastating floods, 10 million people in Pakistan, including children, still live in flood-affected areas without access to safe drinking water. The statement from UNICEF underscored the dire situation in impoverished Pakistan, a country with a population of 220 million that months later is still struggling with the consequences of the flooding, as well as a spiraling economic crisis. The floods, which experts attribute in part to climate change, killed 1,739 people, including 647 children and 353 women. So far, less than half of UNICEF's funding appeal for Pakistan 45 per cent of USD 173.5 million has been met. According to the agency, before the floods struck last June, water from only 36 per cent of Pakistan's water system was considered safe for human consumption. The floods damaged most of the water pipelines systems in affected areas, forcing more than 5.4 million people, including 2.5 million ..

India at 126th position in World Happiness Report; below Sri Lanka, Pak

India was ranked even below Pakistan, Nepal, China, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. In Asia, India is only better off than Afghanistan that was placed at 137th position

IPCC's 'final' warning: Current goals not enough to limit global warming

To safeguard against the inevitable climate hazards, the IPCC has laid emphasis on 'climate resilient development'

LIVE: Delhi Police to deploy 20,000 personnel for 'Kisan Mahapanchayat'

Catch all the latest news updated from across the globe here

Fight between countries over emissions targets holds up UN climate report

Publication of a major new United Nations report on climate change is being held up by a battle between rich and developing countries over emissions targets and financial aid to vulnerable nations. The report by hundreds of the world's top scientists was supposed to be approved by government delegations Friday at the end of a weeklong meeting in the Swiss town of Interlaken. The deadline was repeatedly extended as officials from big nations such as China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Nations and the European Union haggled through the weekend over the wording of key phrases in the text. The report by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is meant to cap a series that digests vasts amounts of research on global warming compiled since the Paris climate accord was agreed in 2015. A summary of the report was approved early Sunday, but three sources close to the talks have told The Associated Press that there is a risk that agreement on the main tex

North Korea criticizes UN, US for raising Pyongyang's human rights issue

The mission stressed that it defines the "pressure campaign" as a violation of the dignity and sovereignty of the North and "resolutely denounces and rejects it,"

Afghanistan seeks UN support for wheat storage amid concerns of drought

Afghanistan has sought help from the United Nations (UN) amid rising concerns about drought in the war-stricken country, asking the UN to provide storage facilities for wheat

UN commission calls for efforts to close the gender digital divide

The U.N.'s premiere global body fighting for gender equality on Saturday called for wide-ranging efforts to close the gap between men and women in today's technology-driven world and urged zero tolerance for gender-based violence and harassment online. In a document approved by consensus after all-night negotiations at the end of a two-week meeting, the Commission on the Status of Women expressed grave concern at the interrelation between offline and online violence, harassment and discrimination against women and girls and it condemned the increase in these acts. It called for a significant increase in investments by the public and private sectors to bridge the gender digital divide. It also called for the removal of barriers to equal access to digital technology for all women and girls, and new policies and programs to achieve gender parity in emerging scientific and technological fields. Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, an entity of the United Nations focusing on ...

UN confirms extension of Black Sea grain deal for exports from Ukraine

"The Black Sea Grain Initiative, signed in Istanbul on 22 July 2022, has been extended," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement