Mosul’s ‘3D contamination’ adds to challenges of deadly mine clearance work
Feb 08, 2019, at 08:56 am
New York, Feb 8 (IBNS): Demining and other explosives clearance operations are ongoing in former ISIL-held areas of Iraq, but the work is painstaking and even more dangerous because of “3D contamination”, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said on Thursday.
UN rights chief ‘deeply concerned’ over Jehovah’s Witness sentencing in Russia
Feb 08, 2019, at 08:46 am
New York, Feb 8 (IBNS): The sentencing in Russia of a Danish Jehovah’s Witness on Thursday to six years in prison on charges of “organising the activity of a banned extremist organisation” has been described as a “dangerous precedent” by the UN human rights chief.
Feb 08, 2019, at 08:42 am
New York, Feb 8 (IBNS): A newly formed parliamentary committee to amend Myanmar’s problematic constitution was welcomed as a positive move on Thursday by Yanghee Lee, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the country.
Rising landmine blast toll in Afghanistan highlights long-term care needs of survivors
Feb 07, 2019, at 01:56 pm
New York, Feb 7 (IBNS): The number of casualties in Afghanistan from landmines and other explosives has more than tripled since 2012, the UN said on Wednesday, in support of a call to provide more long-term support for survivors.
Guterres underlines climate action urgency, as UN weather agency confirms record global warming
Feb 07, 2019, at 01:54 pm
New York, Feb 7 (IBNS): In the wake of data released by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO), showing the past four years were officially the ‘four warmest on record,’ UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent climate action and increased ambition, ahead of his climate summit in September.
Central African Republic: UN chief hails signing of new peace agreement
Feb 07, 2019, at 10:22 am
New York, Feb 7 (IBNS): Following the signing of a peace agreement between the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) and 14 non-state armed groups active in the country on Wednesday, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, congratulated all stakeholders and encouraged them to now “live up to their commitments”.
Largest joint UN humanitarian convoy of the war, reaches remote Syrian settlement
Feb 07, 2019, at 10:09 am
New York, Feb 7 (IBNS): The largest UN humanitarian convoy of the Syrian civil war reached the remote settlement of Rukban, on the border with Jordan on Wednesday, where it is delivering life-saving assistance to more than 40,000 displaced people, some of whom have been trapped there for years as the eight-year conflict grinds on.
With millions of girls ‘at risk’ today of genital mutilation, UN chief calls for zero tolerance
Feb 07, 2019, at 09:58 am
New York, Feb 7 (IBNS): Female genital mutilation, is “an abhorrent human rights violation” still affecting women and girls around the globe, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated in his message for the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, marked on Wednesday.
Feb 07, 2019, at 09:54 am
New York, Feb 7 (IBNS): More than six in 10 children globally lack access to social protection, leaving them particularly vulnerable to falling into chronic poverty, the UN said on Wednesday, warning also that some governments are cutting State cash entitlements, amid continuing economic uncertainty.
Priests, bishops sexually abused nuns, admits Pope
Feb 06, 2019, at 01:06 pm
Vatican City, Feb 6 (IBNS): Pope Francis has admitted that Catholic priests and bishops had sexually abused nuns in a latest scandal which has been alleged, media reports said.
Dramatic drop in South Sudan political violence since peace agreement signing
Feb 06, 2019, at 10:21 am
New York, Feb 6 (IBNS): Since the signing of a September 2018 deal between the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his political rival and former deputy Riek Machar to end conflict in the country, political violence has “dropped dramatically,” David Shearer, head of the UN Mission in South Sudan told reporters on Tuesday.
Feb 06, 2019, at 10:18 am
New York, Feb 6 (IBNS): Online violence, cyberbullying and digital harassment affect over 70 per cent of young people globally, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday, calling for concerted action to tackle and prevent this form of violence.
Piracy and high seas crime growing, becoming more sophisticated, UN Security Council told
Feb 06, 2019, at 10:13 am
New York, Feb 6 (IBNS): International maritime crime is becoming “increasingly sophisticated” as criminal groups exploit jurisdiction and enforcement challenges on the high seas and pose “immediate danger to people’s lives and safety”, the UN anti-drugs and crime chief warned the Security Council on Tuesday.
Feb 06, 2019, at 10:07 am
New York, Feb 6 (IBNS): The United Nations and its aid partners, together with the interim Government of Libya, launched on Tuesday a humanitarian response plan (HRP), appealing for $202 million to bring urgent life-saving assistance to some 550,000 women, children and men affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
-1549427290.jpg "North-east Nigeria displacement crisis continues amid ‘increased sophistication’ of attackers, warns UN")
Feb 06, 2019, at 09:58 am
New York, Feb 6 (IBNS): An upsurge in violent attacks in crisis-riven north-east Nigeria has displaced nearly 60,000 people in the last three months, the UN migration agency, IOM, said on Tuesday.
Confidence-building measures continue in new Yemen prisoner-swap talks
Feb 05, 2019, at 09:46 am
New York, Feb 5 (IBNS): Yemen’s warring sides are due to meet for fresh discussions on a prisoner exchange agreement, the UN’s Special Envoy for the war-torn country announced on Monday.
As inequality grows, the UN fights for a fairer world
Feb 05, 2019, at 09:40 am
New York, Feb 5 (IBNS): The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – the UN’s blueprint for a better and more sustainable future for all – calls for a reduction in inequality between and within countries. Nevertheless, global inequality is increasing. So what can be done?
Feb 05, 2019, at 09:36 am
New York, Feb 5 (IBNS): With mercenaries undermining global peace and security and weakening States’ capacities to protect their people, the UN Security Council on Monday shone its spotlight on their activities as a source of destabilization in Africa.
Somalia: Car bomb blast in Mogadishu kills 10
Feb 04, 2019, at 06:24 pm
Mogadishu, Feb 4 (IBNS): At least 10 people were killed when a car bomb blast rocked a crowded shopping mall in Mogadishu city of Somalia on Monday.
Emiliano Sala: Plane wreckage found
Feb 04, 2019, at 09:44 am
Washington, Feb 4 (IBNS): Wreckage of a flight, which was carrying Argentine football star Emiliano Sala and 3ent missing nearly two weeks ago, has been found, media reports said.
UN chief hopes for new agreement after Israel concludes international observation mission
Feb 03, 2019, at 05:07 pm
New York, Feb 3 (IBNS): United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his gratitude to the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), West Bank, after Israel decided not to renew its mandate.
UN calls for support to implement Central Africa’s newly minted peace agreement
Feb 03, 2019, at 05:02 pm
New York, Feb 3 (IBNS): After 10 days of negotiations, the Central African government and 14 armed groups reached a peace agreement on Saturday, according to a tweet from the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
UN chief welcomes new Government in Lebanon, after eight-month impasse
Feb 02, 2019, at 10:30 am
New York, Feb 2 (IBNS): United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed, on Friday, the announcement of a new Government in Lebanon; the result of eight months of negotiation, following general elections last May.
Feb 02, 2019, at 10:16 am
New York, Feb 2 (IBNS): Small shelters, some covered in the ubiquitous white sheeting provided by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), dot the dusty grey sun-bleached plain around the village of Goura, in the far north-east of Cameroon.
Feb 02, 2019, at 10:10 am
New York, Feb 2 (IBNS): Hundreds of ancestral languages have gone silent in recent generations, taking with them the culture, knowledge and traditions of the people who spoke them. To preserve and revitalize those that remain, the United Nations on Friday officially launched the International Year of Indigenous Languages, at UN Headquarters in New York.
Aid stepped up to Syria camp; new arrivals say terrorists blocked their escape
Feb 02, 2019, at 10:00 am
New York, Feb 2 (IBNS): Harrowing details continue to emerge of thousands of families who have risked their lives fleeing fighting in Syria’s last ISIL terrorist-held enclave, as UN humanitarians warned on Friday that children are still dying on their way to an overcrowded camp for the displaced, amid access problems and perishing cold.
Kim Jong UN, Donald Trump expected to meet in Vietnam at the end of February
Feb 01, 2019, at 03:30 pm
Washington, Feb 1 (IBNS): The second meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump will take place in Vietnam at the end of this month, media reports said on Friday.
Top envoy to Yemen praises ‘flexibility’ of chief negotiators as new UN mission chief is named
Feb 01, 2019, at 08:58 am
New York, Feb 1 (IBNS): The UN Special Envoy for Yemen said on Thursday that the main negotiators for the warring sides were continuing to show the “necessary flexibility and good faith” to move forward, despite delays in implementing the agreement marking the first steps towards a lasting peace deal, brokered in Sweden last December.
Feb 01, 2019, at 08:55 am
New York, Feb 1 (IBNS): The Holocaust illustrates how easily “people can move from condoning brutality, to committing genocide” and shows that “leaders who sanction hate speech or make anti-Semitic or xenophobic slurs” are encouraging their own citizens “to do the same”, the UN’s head of Global Communications told leading members of the Jewish community at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday.
Syria: ‘Violence, displacement’ and cold kill 11 infants ‘in the past two days’
Feb 01, 2019, at 08:51 am
New York, Feb 1 (IBNS): “Violence, displacement and extremely harsh conditions” in northern and eastern Syria have killed at least 32 children since December – including 11 infants in the past two days, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) revealed on Thursday.