“Children continue to pay the highest price of violence,” the statement declared. “As the situation remains very volatile, UNICEF fears that an increasing number of children will suffer.” Just a few weeks into the new year, seven Palestinian children and one Israeli child had been killed and many more injured. Since 26 January alone, the terrorist attack outside…
News reports stated that a militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred at a crowded mosque. Reports showed that the bombing caused the roof to collapse on top of those inside. ‘Abhorrent’ attack “It is particularly abhorrent that the attack occurred at a place of worship,” the Secretary-General António Guterres said in…
Ahead of 1 February – marking two years since the military overturned and arbitrarily detained members of the democratically elected civilian Government, including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi – the Secretary-General, in a statement issued by his Spokesperson, raised several concerns. He also condemned all forms of violence…
Representing the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), they stressed that the world’s largest humanitarian operation – supporting some 28 million people in Afghanistan – simply cannot function without women staff. The officials reported on their mission to the country last week, in the wake of the edict prohibiting Afghan women from working with local and international…
Costa Rica is known for its strong democracy, pro-human rights stance, and deep respect of the rule of law, so it was a shock when the 2018 general elections ushered in an unprecedented polarization of Costa Rican society. Allegra Baiocchi, the UN resident coordinator in Costa Rica, witnessed the unprecedented polarization of society, and the…
“The Holocaust did not happen as a ‘lesson’ for humanity, but it did happen. And because it happened, it may happen again,” Mr. Guterres told the annual ceremony held at the historic Park East Synagogue in New York to commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. “We must never let down our guard. We must…
“Following my meeting with President [Nicolás] Maduro, he publicly expressed his readiness to work towards improving the justice system. This is a key area for reform, and I offer the support and expertise of my Office to pursue this,” Volker Türk told reporters in Caracas at the end of his three-day visit. In addition to Mr. Maduro,…
Hate speech is having a demonstrable effect on society: one of the many similarities between the January attacks on Brazil’s government buildings, and the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, is that each occurred after certain groups repeatedly directed dangerous rhetoric and false claims against others. Concerns over the growing phenomenon have…
In his speech, delivered at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Guterres recalled that, within months, the Nazis had dismantled fundamental constitutional rights and paved the way for totalitarian rule: members of parliament were arrested, freedom of the press was abolished, and the first concentration camp was built, in Dachau. The antisemitism of the Nazis…
WFP Executive Director, David Beasley, said that if we don’t address this humanitarian crisis, “things are going to get worse than we can possibly imagine”. Following 12 years of brutal conflict, an economy crippled by runaway inflation, a currency that has collapsed to a record low and soaring food prices, 12 million people do not know…
