Top UN aid official in Ukraine condemns latest wave of indiscriminate attacks

Top UN aid official in Ukraine condemns latest wave of indiscriminate attacks

Denise Brown issued a statement deploring the “indiscriminate” attacks impacting civilians and civilian infrastructure.  She stressed that people in the south, including in the Kherson and Odesa regions, had endured “a particularly harsh weekend” after reports that strikes left many civilians, including children, killed and injured. An entire family, including an infant, were among the…

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The eerie silence of starvation ‘is deafening, it never leaves you’: UN official

Rights experts denounce idea of ‘reformed’ Taliban two years after return to power

The gap between promises and practices by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities has widened during this period, they said, denouncing the idea of a “reformed” Taliban.  They said Taliban policies imposed on the population “have resulted in a continuous, systematic and shocking rescinding of a multitude of human rights, including the rights to education, work, and…

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Disability rights threatened by bad working conditions for carers: independent expert

Disability rights threatened by bad working conditions for carers: independent expert

Gerard Quinn, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, said that “dead-end jobs, low wages, poor conditions and little room for social mobility” in the care sector are not a way to build resilient systems – as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown.  Women carers ‘severely disadvantaged’  Speaking at the opening of the…

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From ashes to riches: Profiting from peatland in Indonesia

From ashes to riches: Profiting from peatland in Indonesia

Progress is already being made: a school building was saved from burning down; farmers are earning 50 per cent higher incomes; and a healthier peatland is reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Since its launch in 2019, the programme, which includes training for villagers and critical infrastructure upgrades, has dramatically reduced fire risk and equipped the residents…

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As record warming puts climate targets at risk, young people’s ‘green skills’ may help save the planet

As record warming puts climate targets at risk, young people’s ‘green skills’ may help save the planet

International Youth Day is marked annually on 12 August and the 2023 edition spotlights green skills and the major role young people will play in driving the much-needed shift towards an environmentally sustainable and climate-friendly mindset. These include technical knowledge and skills that enable the effective use of green technologies and processes in occupational settings,…

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Sudan crisis: You don’t dare ask refugees where the men have gone, say UN aid teams

Sudan: ‘Grim prediction’ now ‘harsh reality’ as hunger engulfs over 20 million

Of that figure, 6.3 million people – 13 per cent of Sudan’s population – are experiencing emergency levels of hunger – classified as Phase 4 of the Integrated Food Security Classification – just one step from famine, with the conflict continuing to disrupt access to humanitarian aid and forcing millions to flee their homes. “The…

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Vessel to remove oil from stricken Yemen tanker could arrive by May

Yemen: UN concludes removal of one million barrels of oil from decaying tanker

UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the news of the successful transfer of oil aboard the FSO Safer to a replacement vessel, thus “avoiding what could have been a monumental environmental and humanitarian catastrophe.” The FSO Safer was built as a supertanker in 1976 and converted a decade later into what is in effect a floating…

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