The new Gender Snapshot report from the UN’s gender equality agency at this midway point towards the SDGs warns that if current trends continue, over 340 million women and girls will be living in poverty by 2030. That represents eight per cent of the female population worldwide. Close to one in four will experience moderate or…
The agency is also calling for guardrails on data protection and user privacy. Publicly available GenAI tools, such as ChatGPT, can produce automated text, images, videos, music and software code. The platforms have evolved rapidly and are already in use by hundreds of millions around the world, including many students. However, very few countries…
Renewable technologies like wind and solar power are, in most cases, cheaper than the fossil fuels that are driving climate change, but the world needs to prioritize the transformation of energy systems to renewable energy. The Climate Ambition Summit, scheduled for 20 September at UN Headquarters in New York, will consider how to accelerate this transformation….
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stressed the urgency of addressing these challenges if the country is to move forward, recalling the 2022 anti-Government protests demanding a fairer and more inclusive society. “But the potential for a historic transformation that would address long-standing challenges is far from being realized.” The UN rights chief’s…
Other Russian strikes damaged schools and homes in the Zaporizhzhya region, and port and grain infrastructure in the Odesa region. “I am shattered by the news of a series of attacks that today, once again, have left a path of death and destruction in different parts of Ukraine,” Denise Brown, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine…
Tomoya Obokata, the Human Rights Council-appointed Special Rapporteur on the global scourge of modern slavery issued his statement at the end of a 14-day visit. He called on the Canadian Government to intensify its efforts to safeguard workers’ rights and offer a clear pathway to permanent residency for all migrants. Migrant workers at risk “I am deeply…
Hope Away from Home gets underway at a time of unprecedented, forced displacement. There are a staggering 110 million people displaced from their homes, and access to asylum and protection is under threat in various regions due to increasingly harsh policies. “People fleeing war, violence and persecution should be met with compassion and kindness, not…
Airborne contaminants are one of the most significant environmental health risks. According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), 99 per cent of the world’s population breathes polluted air, with the exposure significantly worse in low and middle-income countries. The pervasive nature of air pollution requires global collaboration. This year’s theme, Together for Clean Air, addresses the urgent…
The news came as the UN chief released a strongly worded statement on a record summer of global warming in the northern hemisphere, according to the European Union’s climate service Copernicus. Dog days bite back “Our planet has just endured a season of simmering – the hottest summer on record,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres,…
The UN humanitarian affairs office which he leads (OCHA), reported that in 2023, global funding requirements have surpassed $55 billion to support 250 million people affected by conflict, climate change, disease outbreaks, and other crises. Faced with these record needs, less than 30 per cent of the target funding goal has been received. ‘Cruel reality’…
