“As we drove through Gaza City it was like a ghost town; all the streets were deserted,” said Thomas White, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza. “The impact of heavy airstrikes and shelling was so visible. Roads are riddled with craters, complicating aid deliveries.” Truce deadline looms Wednesday marks the sixth and final day of…
The annual observation on 29 November marks the day in 1947 that the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on partitioning Palestine into two independent States, one Arab and one Jewish. The 1948 displacement of Palestinians from land that became Israel – known as the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic) – is the subject of an…
Maria José Torres Macho travelled to Antarctica with the UN chief, António Guterres, ahead of the global climate conference, COP28, which is getting underway in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates: “The sleeping continent hides under its beauty, its undeniable role as a key climate regulator for the planet. While we enjoyed the majestic and…
Briefing top diplomats, the UN chief said the world must not look away from the suffering of civilians in Gaza, calling for “a true humanitarian ceasefire” that leads to a lasting two-State solution. The meeting has now ended in New York, but the frantic diplomacy continues to try and end the devastation in Gaza caused…
The conflict in neighbouring Sudan has had an impact on the country’s economy, increasing the prices of food and the number of vulnerable people who need assistance. It is estimated that 7.1 million people in South Sudan will continue to be food insecure during the lean season, which runs from April to July, while roughly…
Priorities include transporting fuel to the north of the war-torn enclave, so that it can be used to power hospitals, provide clean water and maintain other vital civilian infrastructure. Such services have been massively impacted by weeks of Israeli bombardment in response to Hamas’s 7 October massacres in southern Israel that left some 1,200 dead…
A large number of fighters from the militant Islamist group JNIM attacked a military base, homes, and a camp for displaced people in the city of Djibo, on Sunday. At least 40 people were killed and more than 42 injured. The attackers also set fire to 20 shops and three sites for displaced people. Stop attacking civilians “Attacks on…
Here’s what you need to know: The last COP was held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022. What is a ‘COP’? UN climate conferences are government-level large-scale annual gatherings focused on climate action. They are also referred to as COPs – Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC…
Addressing the Assembly’s annual debate on the Question of Palestine, Dennis Francis urged UN Member States to find common ground, engage with each other in good faith, and increase collective resolve to end the crisis. “The longer the fear, distrust, appetite for revenge, hatred, and anxiety fester and deepen further – the more lethal the…
The report, published on Tuesday by the UN human rights office (OHCHR) and the UN political mission in Haiti (BINUH), calls for the urgent deployment of the multinational security support mission authorized by the UN Security Council in October. But alongside that, greater efforts will need to be made to strengthen the institutions of the…
