“Universal meaningful connectivity is within our grasp,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “Thanks to these new commitments, millions of people will benefit from accessible and affordable connectivity across the world.” Fresh investments from e&, China Telecom, Ooredoo and VEON build on strong industry support for the UN digital agency’s efforts to “connect the world”, she…
“Regional spillover is only the latest accelerant to a conflict that is growing in complexity and with each passing year. The situation is worsening on almost all indicators and the status quo is unsustainable and unmanageable,” he said. Airstrikes and casualties Multiple airstrikes attributed to Israel were carried out this month in Syria, including on…
Its new session beginning on Monday is the longest ever, running until April, and promises a packed agenda, with ongoing wars in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, the situation of human rights defenders worldwide and more than 50 national human rights records under scrutiny. But, what does the Human Rights Council do and why does its work…
More than 7,000 delegates from 182 countries are scheduled to take part in the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) which runs through Friday. Delegates are convening in the Kenyan capital as climate change intensifies, a million species face the risk of extinction, and pollution remains among the world’s leading causes of…
Writing on the social media platform X, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that “aid was supposed to increase not decrease” to meet the huge needs of Gaza’s two million people, who are living in desperate conditions. He listed some of the obstacles to aid delivery, including lack of political will, the regular closing of the two…
The Conference, which was established with the primary goal of fostering cooperation for mutual disarmament, has faced significant challenges in recent times. “Something looks wrong if a disarmament conference leads to no meaningful disarmament, year after year,” Secretary-General António Guterres said. “Humanity needs the Conference on Disarmament to work successfully. The paralysis and deadlock that…
Stéphane Dujarric told correspondents at the regular press briefing in New York, that during the clashes, two rockets landed close to the UN peacekeeping base in Kimoka, about four kilometres northwest of Sake town, in North Kivu. No casualties on the UN side were reported, he said. The UN mission, MONUSCO, “remains deeply concerned by…
Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva at the start of its first high-level session of the year, the UN chief insisted that any further extension of Israel’s ground operation in the south of Gaza “would not only be terrifying for more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there; it would put the final nail…
Set up as a sort of ‘world parliament on the environment’, UNEA aims to define priorities for environmental policies and develop international legislation on the matter. Why is UNEA important? The 2024 Environment Assembly, or UNEA-6, is expected to host a record 6,000 delegates, including seven Heads of State and 139 Ministers and Vice-Ministers, as…
UN News’s Daniel Dickinson travelled to Madagascar ahead of the United Nations Environment Assembly, which is taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 26 February, to ask people how they are coping. Life is becoming increasingly challenging in the village of Zanavo Fagnalenga on the southernmost tip of Madagascar. Years of under-development, a series of humanitarian…
