Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the UN chief condemned the “barbaric” Hamas-led attacks on 7 October in which approximately 1,200 people were butchered in southern Israel and some 250 taken as hostages. And amid reports of ongoing heavy Israeli bombardment which has left tens of thousands of civilians dead and…
Sigrid Kaag was appointed to monitor and verify aid shipments into Gaza, in line with a UN Security Council resolution adopted last month. She will also work to establish a mechanism for accelerating aid flows into Gaza through States that are not party to the conflict. Acute needs Ms. Kaag said she was in Egypt…
A staggering six million people have been displaced within Sudan since the war between rival militaries – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RAF) – erupted on 15 April 2023. A further 1.7 million civilians have sought refuge across borders in South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, Egypt, the Central African…
Incumbent President of the island archipelago off the east African coast, Azali Assoumani, was re-elected for a fourth term. However, the turnout was reportedly only 16 per cent and opposition parties denounced the elections as “fraudulent”, according to media reports. In a statement released by his office (OHCHR) on Wednesday, Volker Türk called on…
Sean Casey, WHO Health Emergency Officer, was speaking fresh from a more than five-week visit to the war-torn enclave, where he said convoys have faced access and security constraints, as well as movement limitations. “The last week that I was in Gaza, we tried every single day for seven days to deliver fuel and supplies…
Eastern and southern African nations are among the worst affected, accounting for about 75 per cent of the fatalities and a third of the cases, as of 15 January, according to UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). With the regions also suffering from lack of adequate clean water and sanitation, and poor case management, children are particularly…
Five other ‘blue helmets’ were injured during the attack which happened when their vehicle hit an explosive device in Mbindali, in Ouham-Pendé Prefecture, northwest of Paoua. “The Secretary-General offers his sincere condolences to the family of the victim and to the Government of Cameroon and wishes a speedy recovery to the wounded”, said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric,…
Delivering his first message of the new year, Dr. Hans Kluge stressed that without vaccines, the death toll on the continent “could have been around four million, possibly even higher.” More than 2.5 million COVID-19 deaths, and 277 million confirmed cases, were reported in the vast WHO European Region, which comprises 53 countries stretching from…
Kenneth Eugene Smith was convicted of murder in 1988 and is scheduled to be executed on 25 January in the southern state of Alabama. A grim first This will mark the first time in the US that a person will be put to death using nitrogen gas. OHCHR Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said Smith’s execution could…
Emphasizing a commitment to addressing pressing challenges, President Dennis Francis signalled a determined push for transformative change. “We must set our sights squarely on the Summit of the Future – the pivotal event of 2024 – where world leaders are expected to gather here in New York and forge a new global consensus on how…
