In an appeal for greater urgency to resolve the grinding war which erupted 12 years ago this month, which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions, Mr. Pedersen insisted that he would not accept continued inaction on the UN-led push for the Syrian Government and Opposition to agree on a new Syrian Constitution. Engagement…
At noon on Wednesday, LDC5 held a moment of celebration near Maman, the iconic bronze and stainless-steel sculpture by the artist Louise Bourgeois that towers over the main atrium at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Qatar, where the Conference has been under way since last Sunday. A celebration of motherhood, the giant statue, Ms….
Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva, UN Special Representative and head of the UN’s Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, strongly condemned recent Taliban decrees that have further eroded the rights of Afghan women. However, she also urged the international community to preserve “whatever political space exists” for frank discussions with Afghanistan’s leaders, warning of rapidly deteriorating humanitarian and…
Notwithstanding progress in increasing enrolment rates for primary education, 16.2 per cent of children of primary school age were out of school in least developed countries (LDCs) in 2019 and almost half of children out of school worldwide are in those same countries, with girls, children with disabilities and other children in vulnerable situations disproportionately…
“We are in the midst of a cycle of violence that must be stopped immediately,” Tor Wennesland said in a statement on Wednesday. Concern for civilians “I am deeply disturbed by the continuing violence and appalled by the attacks of Israeli settlers against Palestinians two days ago in Huwwara, near Nablus. Israel, as the occupying…
Despite the increasing digitalization of everyone’s daily lives, the digital gender gap has grown; globally around 63 per cent of women have access to the internet today, compared to 69 per cent of men. Across all areas of digital technology, women and girls remain under-represented, from coding and creating, to accessing services, and drafting regulations…
Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, was speaking during a Council meeting to reaffirm the importance of Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, adopted in October 2000, and to take stock of implementation since it turned 20 nearly three years ago. “As we meet today at the mid-point between the 20th and 25th anniversaries, on…
The current human rights landscape is compounded by conflict, discrimination, poverty, shrinking civic spaces, and the emergence of new human rights challenges such as the rise of artificial intelligence and surveillance, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk noted. “Fresh thinking, political leadership, renewed commitments, and dramatically scaled-up financing, with the centrality of human…
Among the many challenges they face, the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) remain hotspots of chronic and acute food insecurity, with an average prevalence of chronic undernourishment of 22.1 per cent, and in some countries, reaching more than 50 per cent. Despite some progress since 2020, the overall situation has worsened over the past decade due…
The unprecedented flooding, triggered by severe monsoon rains, submerged a third of the country and resulted in some 1,700 deaths. Millions displaced, infrastructure damaged More than 33 million people were affected overall, or one in seven Pakistanis, while eight million were displaced and 13,000 injured, according to the UN Office in the country. Around one…
