World News in Brief, deadliest year for migrants, Syria refugee support crisis, Shamima Begum appeal

World News in Brief, deadliest year for migrants, Syria refugee support crisis, Shamima Begum appeal

Nearly 8,600 people on the move died in 2023, a 20 per cent increase from 2022, according to the UN agency’s Missing Migrants Project online platform. It details the global movement of people risking their lives to escape conflict, economic crisis and natural disasters, including drought and flooding linked to climate change. IOM says the…

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UN envoy calls again for removal of restrictions on Afghan women

UN envoy calls again for removal of restrictions on Afghan women

Briefing ambassadors in the Security Council, Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), said that recent arbitrary arrest of Afghan women for alleged Islamic dress code violations was having a chilling effect among the wider female population, “many of whom are now afraid to move in public,” she said. “The denial of women and…

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Allow more aid into Gaza now, pleads UN health agency chief

Allow more aid into Gaza now, pleads UN health agency chief

These are “children who survived bombardment, but may not survive a famine”, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros said on X, formerly Twitter.  Accompanying the WHO chief’s warning, video testimony from Kamal Adwan Hospital’s paediatric unit highlighted the massive scale of needs which UN humanitarians and partners have been unable to relieve, citing aid…

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UN rights expert condemns ‘systematic’ war-time mass destruction of homes

UN rights expert condemns ‘systematic’ war-time mass destruction of homes

Citing alarming examples in Aleppo, Grozny, Mariupol, Myanmar, Sudan and Gaza, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, said an “increasingly systematic, massive and arbitrary destruction of civilian housing and infrastructure” during too many conflicts around the world is in blatant violation of international human rights and humanitarian laws. “We have seen or are…

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‘Widespread’ sexual abuse of children in entertainment business revealed

‘Widespread’ sexual abuse of children in entertainment business revealed

“The sexual abuse and the exploitation of children within the entertainment industry resulting from unethical systems, structures, practices or abuse of power and authority is widespread,” said Mama Fatima Singhateh, the UN Special Rapporteur on sale and sexual exploitation of children. Child performers in the entertainment industry are exposed to sexualized, violent and aggressive environments that…

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South Sudan: Top UN official calls for greater political investment as polls loom

South Sudan: Top UN official calls for greater political investment as polls loom

Briefing ambassadors at the Security Council, Jean-Pierre Lacroix said that if the parties display greater political will and invest adequate resources, credible elections can still take place before the end of the transition period. “Despite the shortcomings in implementation, the peace agreement did instill a period of stability at the national level and brought opponents…

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