The UN rights chief expressed grave concerns for the people of Niger. “The people have already been through so much hardship over the years. Now, the very people who they elected to build a pathway to end their destitution have been removed by force,” he said. The message comes as the UN International Organization for…
The wreath-laying ceremony at the UN in New York was held on the eve of World Humanitarian Day, commemorated annually on 19 August. This marks the day in 2003 when a suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives outside the UN headquarters at the Canal Hotel in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. A change in…
Across the country, there have been at least 31,342 suspected or confirmed cholera cases and 230 deaths in the first seven months of 2023 – many of them children. The worst affected province, North Kivu, has seen more than 21,400 confirmed or suspected cases, including more than 8,000 children under five, according to the Ministry…
Khaled Mansour, now a writer and journalist, was the WFP spokesperson in Iraq at the time and narrowly missed the massive explosion which killed 22 of his UN colleagues. On World Humanitarian Day which was established to mark the 19 August attack, he reflects on his life since and what he has learnt. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré…
Laura Dolci’s husband, Jean-Selim Kanaan, had been deployed by the UN Office for Project Services to work as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq. Twenty years after the attack and to mark World Humanitarian Day which is commemorated annually on 19 August, she remembers her husband. “In the terrorist attack against…
Speaking at the event on Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus underscored the “enormous” contributions of traditional medicine to human health and its understanding of the “intimate links” between health and the environment. Tedros stressed the importance of the gathering for “bringing together ancient wisdom and modern science for the health and well-being of people…
Briefing the UN Security Council, Volker Türk ran through a long list of rights abuses, saying that many “stem directly from, or support, the increasing militarisation of the DPRK.” His argument was reinforced by the UN independent human rights expert Elizabeth Salmón who told ambassadors that leaders of the DPRK – more commonly known as…
Sudan’s military leadership plunged into protracted conflict for control of Sudan with former partner turned rival, the Rapid Support Forces, four months ago, leaving thousands dead, and millions forcibly displaced, the group of more than 30 rights experts said. Around 700,000 refugees and asylum seekers have been forced to flee across Sudan’s many borders into…
“The influx of weapons and ammunition into any armed conflict can contribute to the escalation and presents significant risks of diversion and proliferation even after the conflict has ended,” Izumi Nakamitsu, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, told the Council, briefing on the latest developments in the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022….
The grim forecast comes ahead of World Humanitarian Day, commemorated annually on 19 August. Since the start of the year, 62 aid workers have been killed, 84 have been wounded and 34 kidnapped, the UN said, citing provisional data from the independent research organization Humanitarian Outcomes. Last year, the death toll reached 116. Under attack South Sudan remains the most dangerous place to…
