Ukraine: War ‘weakening’ international security, political affairs chief warns

PNP DeskJune 23, 2023September 14, 202409 mins

“The war in Ukraine has created a humanitarian and human rights catastrophe, traumatized a generation of children, and accelerated the global food and energy crises,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. “We cannot discount further dangerous knock-on effects,” she cautioned, citing urgent concerns, from rising death tolls to nuclear threats. Worsening conditions The impact…

Europe warming twice as fast as other continents, warns WMO

PNP DeskJune 19, 2023September 14, 202406 mins

According to a report issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, during 2022, multiple nations in the region had their warmest year on record but the expanded use of renewable energy provides a silver lining. Extreme heat, drought and wildfire, marine heatwaves, unprecedented glacier melt – the…

Poverty, inequality and exclusion fuelling terrorism, warns UN chief

PNP DeskJune 19, 2023September 14, 202405 mins

The day also marked the start of the UN’s Third Counter-Terrorism week. Addressing the delegates “at the forefront of a great global effort”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed that terrorism affects every region of the world, while preying on local and national vulnerabilities. “Poverty, inequalities and social exclusion give terrorism fuel. Prejudice and discrimination targeting specific…

More than half of all Syrians going hungry: WFP

Syria: ‘Unprecedented funding crisis’ means cuts for 2.5 million in need, warns WFP

PNP DeskJune 13, 2023September 13, 202405 mins

The announcement comes as the European Union gears up to host the seventh Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, beginning on Wednesday in Brussels. WFP took the decision, after exhausting all other options, to prioritize the three million Syrians who are unable to make it from one week to the next without…

Human rights for all, still ‘work in progress’ warns Türk

PNP DeskJune 6, 2023September 13, 202405 mins

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, and its mandate has become a powerful vehicle for change, progress, dignity, and justice, yet “this is far from enough to meet today’s challenges”, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in his keynote address at the +30 Symposium, Vienna World Conference: 30 Years On: Our Rights…

Nearly half of Haiti going hungry, new food security report warns

PNP DeskMay 30, 2023September 13, 202404 mins

The latest integrated food security phase classification (IPC) analysis, reported on Sunday that of the total number of affected people, 1.8 million are in an emergency-level phase of need. This means that households face large food consumption gaps resulting in high acute malnutrition and excess mortality, or are forced to adopt negative coping mechanisms to…

Progress on human health ‘in peril’, warns UN chief

PNP DeskMay 21, 2023September 13, 202406 mins

Secretary-General António Guterres was addressing the annual opening of the World Health Assembly, the decision making body of the WHO, and said that the agency was born out of a spirit of cooperation, leading to dramatic improvements in human health. “Global life expectancy – up over 50 percent; Infant mortality – down sixty percent in…

IAEA warns of ‘increasingly tense military situation’ around Ukraine nuclear plant

PNP DeskMay 19, 2023September 13, 202405 mins

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Friday in a statement, that a location near the town of Enerhodar, home of most of the plant’s staff, reportedly came under artillery fire earlier in the day, “in the latest incident indicating an increasingly tense military situation in the area.” Speculation of military activity The ZNPP,…

Malawi: Over 500,000 children at risk of malnutrition, UNICEF warns

PNP DeskMay 19, 2023September 13, 202404 mins

Although the southern African country has made recent progress in reducing chronic malnutrition, the agency said these gains have been threatened by acute food insecurity, compounded by other challenges such as recurrent climate shocks, preventable disease outbreaks and economic instability. Malawi was also slammed by Tropical Cyclone Freddy in March and is still grappling with…

Chronic diseases taking ‘immense and increasing toll on lives’, warns WHO

PNP DeskMay 19, 2023September 13, 202406 mins

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the latest World Health Statistics check-up – covering data up to 2022 – “sends a stark message on the threat of noncommunicable diseases, which take an immense and increasing toll on lives, livelihoods, health systems, communities, economies and societies”. The report calls for a substantial increase in investments in health…