António Guterres was speaking to journalists in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where he will be chairing a meeting of chief executives from across the whole UN system. Since violence erupted in Sudan on 15 April, more than 334,000 have likely been uprooted and more 100,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries, according to UN aid…
The 45-year-old Palestinian died in his prison cell on Tuesday morning following a nearly three-month hunger strike. He had been protesting Israel’s widespread policy of arbitrarily detaining Palestinians in “abhorrent conditions” and in violation of fair trial guarantees. The call for greater accountability came from the independent expert, or Special Rapporteur, on the situation of…
El Niño and La Niña are natural phenomena which WMO describes as “major drivers of the Earth’s climate system”. After a three-year La Niña spell, which is associated with ocean cooling, the world faces an 80 per cent chance of an El Niño event developing between July and September. Tell-tale signs are a warming of…
Ambassadors met to examine the Council’s efforts towards building trust that leads to sustainable peace, in light of current and emerging threats. “Full compliance with human rights is the best antidote to the inequalities, unaddressed grievances and exclusion which are often at the root of instability and conflict,” said Mr. Türk, speaking via videolink from…
Secretary-General António Guterres was speaking to reporters in Doha, Qatar, after convening an international meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan. He said they had agreed on the need for a “strategy of engagement” with the Taliban, to help the country’s most vulnerable people. No question of Taliban recognition Mr. Guterres made clear that the gathering had not focussed…
The appeal comes in his message ahead of World Press Freedom Day, celebrated annually on 3 May, in line with a 1993 UN General Assembly resolution. The focus this year is on the connection between press freedom and overall human rights. A global problem “Freedom of the press is the foundation of democracy and…
“Corruption drains more than 5 per cent of the global GDP,” said Lachezara Stoeva. “Of the approximately $13 trillion in global public spending, up to 25 per cent is lost to corruption.” That translates into at least $3 trillion for public spending. Under the theme, Unleashing the transformative power of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16:…
“It is welcome news that health systems in the majority of countries are starting to restore essential health services for millions of people who missed them during the pandemic,” said Dr. Rudi Eggers, director for integrated health services at the World Health Organization (WHO). “But, we need to ensure that all countries continue to close…
Those fleeing the fighting include Sudanese refugees as well as people who were themselves refugees in Sudan. UNHCR estimates that the number of refugees and returnees may rise to over 800,000. UNHCR spokesperson, Olga Sarrado, told journalists in Geneva that many of the seven neighbouring countries are already hosting large refugee, and internally displaced populations….
Currently, one in five young women aged 20 to 24, were married as children, versus nearly one in four a decade ago, according to the new analysis, entitled, Is an End to Child Marriage within Reach? Latest trends and future prospects. Dreams crushed “The world is engulfed by crises on top of crises that are…
