Pramila Patten, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, called for the immediate, safe, and unconditional release of all those who remain in captivity. Ms. Patten met this week with the mother of one of the young women taken hostage who expressed the pain, despair and helplessness that families are facing as they…
The High Commissioner also rejected allegations of double standards regarding the UN’s position on the crisis in Gaza, noting that he had been made aware of allegations of sexual violence during the Hamas attack on communities in southern Israel. It was “painfully clear” that the “atrocious” attacks should be fully investigated independently “because that is…
“Silence the guns and return to dialogue – the suffering inflicted on civilians is too much to bear. More violence is not the answer. It will bring neither peace nor security,” Volker Türk said in a statement, voicing deep concern that negotiations towards a continuation of last week’s pause had reportedly stalled. Fighting resumed on…
The latest update from UN aid coordination office OCHA indicated that two hospitals in Gaza City, Al Ahli and As Sahaba, had received a total of 10,500 litres of fuel, which is enough to operate their generators for about seven days. But humanitarians have warned that despite the pause in fighting, much more aid is…
In the second of a two-part series from Uganda, Timothy Mbene Masereka spoke to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) ahead of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, marked annually from 25 November to 10 December, Human Rights Day. As a village health worker, Mr. Masereka goes from house to house in some of the remotest…
Co-founding the groundbreaking magazine Ms. in 1972, Ms. Steinem and her colleagues brought feminist issues to the forefront. “For the first time, there are fewer females on Earth than males because of all the forms of violence,” Ms. Steinem said at UN Headquarters in 2016 to draw attention to violence against women. Ahead of UN Women’s 16…
Such investment is not just practical but transformative, she said in a video message to the official UN commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, held in New York on Wednesday. “Investment in prevention is to invest in our collective well-being,” she said. “It means creating conditions where women and…
Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, informed ambassadors on the Security Council that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have gained territory, pushing the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) out of several of its bases in the region since late October. The RSF seems poised to advance on El Fasher in north Darfur, a major…
“Water is scarce and fear is pervasive” in Gaza, Mr. Türk told journalists in Amman, recounting a conversation he had minutes earlier with a colleague in Gaza who had to flee Israeli bombardments with his family. “His children, aged nine and seven, are asking him questions he does not know how to answer: ‘Why is…
Israeli settler violence has increased significantly, from an already high average of three incidents per day in 2023 to seven a day now, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA). During this period, OCHA recorded 171 settler attacks against Palestinians, resulting in 26 different casualty incidents, damage to 115 Palestinian…
