Addressing the opening of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the pivotal forum dedicated to promoting and safeguarding the rights of women and girls worldwide, Secretary-General António Guterres stressed the disproportionate impact of wars on women. “In conflict zones around the globe, women and girls are suffering most from wars waged by men,”…
March marks the thirteenth anniversary of the conflict in Syria, with systematic atrocities and untold suffering of civilians. According to UN estimates, 16.7 million people, equivalent to 70 per cent of the total population, will require humanitarian assistance in 2024. Roughly half the pre-war population remains displaced inside or outside Syria. Compounding the crisis, a…
“Equality is overdue; to achieve it, we must match rhetoric with resources,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “We must invest in women and girls, turbocharge progress and build a better world for us all.” His new UN System-Wide Gender Equality Acceleration Plan “commits to placing women and girls at the centre of our work across…
Speaking before a panel of experts at the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, Volker Türk underscored the importance of strengthening social cohesion and increasing respect, with a particular focus on the role of social media. “Social media platforms have a clear responsibility to combat online hate speech that may lead to real-world discrimination…
The war between rival militaries Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), now in its eleventh month, has not only claimed thousands of lives but has created a massive internal displacement crisis. More than six million are seeking refuge within Sudan and 1.7 million have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries….
Doreen Bogdan-Martin underscored ITU’s wide-ranging brief, emphasizing its pivotal role in fostering connectivity across the globe. Founded in 1865 as an international telegraph association, today ITU champions two paramount goals: universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation. The first woman in the post, Secretary-General Bogdan-Martin highlighted the stark digital divide impacting women and marginalized communities. Women…
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…
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York that António Guterres wanted to see “urgent action, particularly in providing financial support for the multinational security support mission”, which has been authorized by the Security Council in a bid to restore law and order to the crisis-wracked nation, the poorest in the western hemisphere. Kenya…
“I am deeply concerned that in this powder keg, any spark could lead to a much broader conflagration,” Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council, the UN’s top rights forum. In a scheduled update on global crises to the Council’s 47 Member States, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights insisted that the international community should…
In an update to the UN Human Rights Council, Mr. Türk described 2024 as a “mega election year” with more than 60 countries slated to hold elections involving nearly half of the world’s people. “Every election – even an imperfect one – constitutes an effort to at least formally acknowledge the universal aspiration to democracy,” the…
