Extreme weather highlights need for greater climate action: WMO

Extreme weather highlights need for greater climate action: WMO

According to the UN weather agency, June witnessed the warmest global average temperature on record, and heatwaves have persisted into early July. Torrential rains and floods have resulted in dozens of fatalities and affected millions in the United States, Japan, China and India. ‘New normal’ “The extreme weather – an increasingly frequent occurrence in our…

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Security Council urged to address ‘most silenced and least condemned crime’

Security Council urged to address ‘most silenced and least condemned crime’

“Every new wave of warfare brings with it a rising tide of human tragedy, including new waves of war’s oldest, most silenced and least condemned crime,” she said. The Council meeting to examine implementation of its resolutions on conflict-related sexual violence was convened by the United Kingdom, which holds the rotating presidency this month. Meetings survivors in…

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Kenya: OHCHR ‘very concerned’ over disproportionate use of force against protesters

Kenya: OHCHR ‘very concerned’ over disproportionate use of force against protesters

The demonstrations began over what many Kenyans view as unfair tax hikes and rising inflation in the country, according to news reports. OHCHR Spokesperson Jeremy Laurance issued a statement condemning the violence, expressing concern over “allegations of unnecessary or disproportionate use of force, including the use of firearms, by police”. Reports estimate the number of people…

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World ‘wilfully ignoring’ child deaths during dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossings

World ‘wilfully ignoring’ child deaths during dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossings

The figure is equivalent to about 11 children dying each week, “far beyond what we hear in news headlines,” Vera Knaus, the agency’s Global Lead on Migration and Displacement, told journalists attending the biweekly UN humanitarian briefing in Geneva. “We cannot continue to ignore what is happening – stand by silently when nearly 300 children…

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African leaders commit to end AIDS among children by 2030

Ending AIDS by 2030 a ‘political and financial choice’

That’s the message from UNAIDS, the UN agency dedicated to ending the epidemic, which said on Thursday that truly eradicating it boils down to a “political and financial choice”.  The agency’s Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, said that today’s leaders have the opportunity to save millions of lives and be “remembered by future generations” as those…

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Ethiopia: Rights experts denounce mass deportation of Eritreans

Ethiopia: Rights experts denounce mass deportation of Eritreans

According to the experts, hundreds of Eritreans were also subjected to summary deportations at the end of June. “Collective expulsions are prohibited under international law,” the experts, including Mohamed Babiker, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, said in a news release issued by the UN human rights office (OHCHR). “Deporting migrants,…

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Sudan: Emergency seed distribution campaign underway as fighting continues

Sudan: Emergency seed distribution campaign underway as fighting continues

The agency plans to reach and assist over one million vulnerable farmers and their families, estimated at around five million people. Combatting the crisis The fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and powerful Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, originates from the collapse of a 2022 power-sharing agreement between the two, that has impacted millions…

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