Martin Griffiths, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, highlighted the worsening humanitarian crisis, noting that 16.7 million people now require humanitarian assistance – the highest number since the conflict began 13 years ago. He stressed that the situation is deteriorating year by year, with a particular emphasis on the ongoing protection crisis, as children continue…
Mr. Guterres began the day by laying a wreath at the Peacekeepers Memorial Site on the grounds of UN Headquarters in New York in honour of the more than 4,300 “Blue Helmets” who lost their lives over the Organization’s nearly 80-year history. Later, at a ceremony in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, he called for a…
The World Food Programme (WFP) distributed more than 74,000 hot meals to over 15,000 displaced people in the besieged capital, Port-au-Prince, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, told journalists at UN Headquarters on Thursday, providing an update on the gang-ravaged Caribbean nation. In addition, about 2,400 children received mental health and psychosocial support from…
Organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the annual forum is the place where humans meet artificial intelligence. It is popular to the extent of being oversubscribed for attendance, with the queue to enter stretched for hundreds of metres, along one of Geneva’s biggest conference centres, and internet bandwidth barely coping with the flood of…
The experts highlighted recent incidents targeting the Persian language news service Iran International, its journalists and staff, and its owner Volant Media UK Limited. Death threats and intimidation against the staff escalated into the violent stabbing of journalist Pouria Zeraati outside his home in London on 29 March. Since 2017, Iran International has faced ongoing…
“Humanitarian facilities in Rafah are forced to close one after another…The flow of humanitarian aid supplies into Gaza, already insufficient to meet the soaring needs, has dropped by 67 per cent since 7 May,” reported the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. Until Israeli troops seized and closed the Rafah border crossing in the very south…
In a briefing to the Security Council, Tor Wennesland emphasised the urgent need for all sides to change course. “We must reach an agreement to release the hostages and put in place an immediate ceasefire. There is absolutely no time to lose,” he said, stressing that halting the fighting is essential for a comprehensive humanitarian…
“We have distributed an enormous amount of essential medical supplies, but it’s not enough. I mean, this is such an overwhelming disaster, it’s not enough,” said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Palestine. Speaking in Geneva on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly, the senior WHO official echoed widespread…
That was the strong message from President of the Western Pacific nation of Palau Surangel Whipps speaking at an Interactive Dialogue on Wednesday during the Fourth International Conference on SIDS (SIDS4), taking place this week on the twin island of Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean. He told delegates there needed to be a “transition…
Laura Lo Castro, UNHCR‘s representative in Chad, said that expected rains have started in Adre, leaving tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees without shelter suitable for protection. The rains also impede humanitarian access due to catastrophic flooding, she added. “It’s paramount that we scale up the response now and immediately relocate as many refugees as…
