Watcharapol Mahaprom, who goes by the name Paan, accesses services at a clinic in Bangkok run by the UNODC-supported non-governmental organization, Ozone. The organization promotes harm-reduction services which focus on their clients’ needs with the aim of preventing the health and social impacts of drug use. He spoke to UN News ahead of the International…
Speaking at the Paris Finance Summit, Mr. Guterres said many African States were spending more on debt repayments than on desperately needed healthcare, and that over 50 countries were either in default or “dangerously” close to it. The UN chief called for a debt relief mechanism that supports payment suspensions, longer lending terms and lower…
The Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, warned that technology enabled easy sharing of sensitive health data of adolescents, migrants and people whose sexual orientation or health status was subject to discrimination. “Accessibility of information through digital tools should not impair the right to have personal health data treated with confidentiality,” Ms. Mofokeng…
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have designed a new joint programme for smallholder farmers and rural families most affected by the conflict. The goal is to clear farmland impacted by the fighting of mines and other explosive remnants of war, safely allowing it to produce crops once again. …
“Whilst many challenges and risks lie ahead, there are also many opportunities, and I urge all international partners to lean in and provide additional support to the people,” said the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia Catriona Laing. Regarding current security conditions, Ms. Laing, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), raised concerns…
UN Special Representative Roza Otunbayeva was briefing the Security Council on the dire situation facing the country and the international aid effort, with UN women workers among those now prevented by Taliban edicts from working. “We will not put our national staff in danger and therefore we are asking them not to report to the office”…
Achim Steiner, head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Vice-Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group told delegates he had just returned from the war-torn country, noting civilians’ “extraordinary determination to adapt, to recover and to rebuild.” “The UN had developed a clear picture to inform a targeted recovery through a Rapid Damage and…
“The overall human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran has markedly deteriorated against the backdrop of continuously worsening socio-economic conditions, aggravated by sanctions and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Nada Al-Nashif, UN deputy human rights chief, presenting the report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The report focuses on developments…
This year’s observance organized by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in collaboration with the Secretariat, took place under the theme, Yoga for Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam (“the world is one family”). In his video message for the event, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres reminded everyone that in a dangerous and divided world, the benefits of…
With 360 million people worldwide in need of humanitarian assistance, up 30 percent since early 2022, global humanitarian needs have yet again reached record levels. In a video message to the Humanitarian Affairs Segment, a platform created by the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to find solutions to pressing humanitarian aid issues, Antonio Guterres cited…
