Better data on corruption can reduce its impact, support sustainable development

Explainer: How the UN is promoting a ‘global commitment to fight corruption’

PNP DeskDecember 8, 2023September 17, 2024010 mins

The Executive Director of UNODC, Ghada Waly, was speaking ahead of what she describes as a “milestone” meeting taking place in Atlanta in the United States which will discuss how to improve international cooperation and to better prevent and tackle corruption. It’s widely accepted that corruption diverts crucial resources, hampers essential services, enables organized crime, and deepens inequalities and grievances. As the UN marks International Anti-Corruption…

Homicide a bigger killer than armed conflict and terrorism combined

PNP DeskDecember 8, 2023September 17, 202407 mins

The Global Study on Homicide analyzes the complex dynamics behind these violent deaths and includes a special section on how organized crime is driving death rates up in Latin America and the Caribbean.  The report examines homicides related to criminal activities and interpersonal conflict, as well as “socio-politically motivated homicides” such as the deliberate killing…

Our voices and needs must be put first in climate talks, young people tell COP28

PNP DeskDecember 8, 2023September 17, 202403 mins

With negotiations on curbing global warming and the future of fossil fuels generating the most buzz as the latest UN climate conference heads towards the finish line – COP28 is scheduled to wrap up next Tuesday – young people and children grabbed the spotlight today. In the lead-up to the conference, the UN released a…

World must not look away from humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, UN chief tells Security Council

UPDATING LIVE: Security Council meets as Gazans stare ‘into the abyss’, says Guterres

PNP DeskDecember 8, 2023September 17, 2024014 mins

Live broadcast of the meeting, which starts at 10 AM New York time. 10:25 AM Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the Observer State of Palestine to the UN, outlined the impact of the strikes by Israel, saying the bombardment “placed every possible impediment on humanitarian aid and access.” “And we are all supposed to pretend…

Gaza humanitarian disaster heralds ‘breakdown’ of society

PNP DeskDecember 8, 2023September 17, 202408 mins

In a letter to the President of the UN General Assembly Dennis Francis, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, warned that UNRWA’s ability to implement its mandate in Gaza is “severely limited” and that the primary platform for humanitarian assistance to over 2.2 million people in Gaza is “on…

Stories of courage and dedication: Humanitarians on Gaza’s front line

PNP DeskDecember 8, 2023September 17, 202401 mins

Amid ongoing bombardment in the Gaza Strip, UN agencies and humanitarian partners continue to provide desperately needed food, water, healthcare and other services to the more than two million people living there. PNP Deskpnp.com.pk

UK Bill ‘significantly erodes’ human rights and refugee protections, UN agencies warn

World News in Brief: Haiti’s humanitarian crisis, disease outbreaks in Sudan, UK sentencing reform

PNP DeskDecember 8, 2023September 17, 202408 mins

Ulrika Richardson, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti, who is also the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, told journalists in Geneva that 5.2 million Haitians need humanitarian assistance and over 4.3 million face acute food insecurity – that’s a staggering two out of five people in a country which used to be…

Fighting engulfs over two-thirds of Myanmar, fuelling humanitarian needs

PNP DeskDecember 8, 2023September 17, 202403 mins

Among those fighting the military are a loose coalition of well-armed ethnic militias, as well as the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) – an armed group supporting National Unity Government (NUG) and opposed to the February 2021 military coup, according to media reports. Telecommunication blackouts In a flash update, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian…

Stories from the UN Archive: The man who defined genocide

PNP DeskDecember 7, 2023September 17, 202402 mins

On the eve of International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime, 9 December, we looked at the origin of the word. Mr. Lemkin developed the term partly in response to the Nazi policies of systematic murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust, but…

Gaza fighting further compromises aid amid near ‘apocalyptic’ conditions: UN humanitarians

PNP DeskDecember 7, 2023September 17, 202407 mins

In a joint statement 27 aid organisations including UN agencies and their partners issued a call for an immediate stop to the fighting, stressing that conditions in Gaza are “amongst the worst we have witnessed”. Meanwhile on Thursday Israeli troops reportedly entered the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, where hundreds of thousands of displaced…