Three years after the world began its epic struggle against COVID-19, the least developed countries (LDCs) – already grappling with severe structural impediments to sustainable development and highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks – have found themselves stranded amid a rising tide of crisis, uncertainty, climate chaos and deep global injustice. “Systems are stretched…
When my mandate began, in 2018, it was not long after the end of the dictatorship [The two-decade rule of Yahya Jammeh]. The new Government was already embracing several reforms simultaneously, reviewing the constitution, the judiciary, and the security sector, and the UN had allocated funds for peacebuilding. Women working in a rice field, The…
“Countries with the least need support the most. And you need it now. You represent one in eight people on earth. But your countries are trapped in vicious cycles that make development difficult, if not impossible,” Mr. Guterres told the Summit of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), in Doha, Qatar Today’s Summit of Heads of State…
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, appointed by the UN Secretary-General in 2016 as a United Nations Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding, recently played their first concert at UN headquarters in New York, at a special event organized to demonstrate that when people listen to each other, both musically and in other ways, great results can be…
“Continuous” violence, including the killing, arbitrary arrest, torture and enforced disappearance of opponents in Myanmar between 1 February 2022 and 31 January 2023, have left the country’s people desperate for outside help, OHCHR’s James Rodehaver said, unveiling the Office’s latest report on the crisis. “Despite all the challenges that they face, so far there has…
“The prison sentences delivered today in Belarus against four human rights defenders, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, are deeply troubling and indicative of the ongoing repression in the country,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR. UN human rights chief Volker Türk has called for an end to the…
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report, Haiti’s criminal markets: mapping trends in firearms and drug trafficking, warns that a recent increase in arms seizures alongside intelligence and law enforcement reporting, suggests trafficking of weapons is on the rise. ‘Volatile situation’ “By providing a rapid assessment of illicit firearms and drug trafficking, this…
In its latest annual report, the global body dedicated to promoting peace through parliamentary diplomacy and dialogue, also said that women’s participation has never been as diverse as it is in many countries today. The findings are based on data from the 47 countries that held elections last year. These polls saw women take an…
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, tens of thousands of people have been killed and maimed on Ukrainian soil, many Ukrainian cities have been reduced to rubble, and their inhabitants forced to flee; UN investigations have found evidence of war crimes. Throughout the year, UN staff have continued to provide humanitarian…
During an update to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN rights chief highlighted the death on Tuesday of a 17-year-old demonstrator, shot dead by a police officer in the Sharq Alnil area of Khartoum, “one of 125 people to die since protests began over 16 months ago, one in five of whom have…
