Ethiopia: UN welcomes steps towards governance reforms and increased political participation
Feb 24, 2018, at 02:38 pm
New York, Feb 24 (JEN): The United Nations on Friday took note of the recent decision by the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, to resign, to ‘allow further political reforms to take place in the country aimed at widening democratic space,’ and welcomed the Government’s expressed intention to follow through with governance reforms.
Uruguay: Helping the UN to keep the peace around the globe for nearly 70 years
Feb 24, 2018, at 02:33 pm
New York, Feb 24 (IBNS): Uruguay is one of over 120 countries working with the United Nations to help keep the peace around the globe. Whether military, police or civilian personnel, they share a common purpose: the protection of vulnerable communities and the provision of support to countries struggling to move from conflict to peace.
Fresh threats loom over 720,000 Rohingya children ‘cast adrift, trapped in limbo’ – UNICEF
Feb 24, 2018, at 02:23 pm
New York, Feb 24 (JEN): Rohingya children are facing threats either from severe weather approaching Bangladesh where hundreds of thousands are sheltered in squalid, overcrowded refugee camps, or by ongoing violence in their Myanmar homeland, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday, calling urgently for scaled-up assistance ahead of the region’s storm season and to address the root causes of the crisis.
Top UN officials urge stronger support for Syrians and host communities amid escalating violence
Feb 24, 2018, at 02:17 pm
Australia: Barnaby Joyce to resign as Deputy PM
Feb 23, 2018, at 06:48 pm
Melbourne, Feb 23 (IBNS): Scandal-hit Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said on Friday that he'll resign from his post three days later.
Road to peace in Central African Republic remains ‘long and difficult,’ says UN envoy
Feb 23, 2018, at 02:51 pm
New York, Fe 23 (JEN): The violence plaguing communities across the Central African Republic (CAR) is a reminder that despite the efforts of all stakeholders, the path to peace, stability and reconciliation in the country remains long and difficult, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council on Thursday.
Feb 23, 2018, at 02:47 pm
New York, Feb 23 (JEN): The United Nations humanitarian chief on Thursday called for action by the Security Council to halt the appalling destruction of Syria’s eastern Ghouta, where nearly 300 people have reportedly been killed in just the past few days, as “bombs and mortars have rained down on bakeries and medical facilities.”
UN receives 40 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in last quarter of 2017
Feb 23, 2018, at 02:43 pm
New York, Feb 23 (JEN): The United Nations has received 40 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse across its entities and implementing partners for the last three months of 2017, including 15 reported from peacekeeping operations, UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric announced on Thursday.
New UN report cites violations of rights to freedom of opinion and expression in South Sudan
Feb 23, 2018, at 02:40 pm
New York, Feb 23 (JEN): Undue restrictions on freedom of expression are having a “chilling effect” and “further shrinking the space for debate and dissent” in war-torn South Sudan, a new United Nations human rights report has revealed.
Feb 23, 2018, at 02:35 pm
New York, Feb 23 (JEN): A senior United Nations relief official is urging the international community to boost support for humanitarian efforts in crisis-gripped Central African Republic (CAR), where nearly half the population requires assistance.
Job creation around agriculture can spur youth employment in Africa – UN agency
Feb 23, 2018, at 02:28 pm
New York, Feb 23 (JEN): Agriculture will continue to generate employment in Africa over the coming decades, but businesses around farming, including processing, packaging, transportation, distribution, marketing and financial services, could also create jobs for young people, especially those in rural areas, a senior United Nations official said Thursday.
Sudan: After years of conflict, millions require aid; But is the world paying attention?
Feb 22, 2018, at 03:09 pm
New York, Feb 22 (JEN): If it were a new crisis, it would be one of the biggest in the world, but despite the fact that more than five million people need aid, Sudan is at risk of falling off international donors’ radar, a senior United Nations official has said.
Protect the rights of ‘Dreamers,’ UN human rights experts urge US Government
Feb 22, 2018, at 03:00 pm
New York, Feb 22 (JEN): With hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrived in the United States as children facing possible expulsion, a group of United Nations human rights experts has urged the country to take urgent steps to address their situation and ensure that their rights are protected.
At leaders forum in Belarus, deputy UN chief urges concrete action on Global Goals
Feb 22, 2018, at 02:53 pm
New York, Feb 22 (JEN): The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the most ambitious, universal, people-centred and planet-sensitive set of goals and targets ever conceived by the United Nations, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told a regional leaders forum in Belarus on Wednesday.
Feb 22, 2018, at 02:48 pm
New York, Feb 22 (JEN):The Principles outlined in the United Nations Charter remain the foundations of international relations and global harmony at a time when conflicts have come more complex, new threats and challenges have emerged and impacts of instability are felt far beyond their source, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday.
Feb 22, 2018, at 02:44 pm
New York, Feb 22 (JEN): A future with zero net global deforestation is possible with the right mix of policies, social action and political will, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said as a major international conference on sustainable forest management kicked off this week in Rome.
Feb 22, 2018, at 02:39 pm
New York, Feb 22 (JEN): Every two weeks, one of the world’s languages disappears, along with the human history and cultural heritage that accompanies it, the chief of the United Nations cultural agency warned on Wednesday, calling for greater efforts to preserve and promote mother languages and indigenous languages, to bolster inclusion, diversity and ultimately, sustainable development.
UN chief ‘deeply alarmed’ by escalating hostilities in Syria’s east Ghouta
Feb 22, 2018, at 02:26 pm
New York, Feb 22 (JEN): Deeply alarmed by the escalating violence in Syria’s east Ghouta, the United Nations has reiterated a call for an end to hostilities so that the sick and wounded can be immediately evacuated and humanitarian aid deliveries can reach those in need.
Feb 21, 2018, at 03:11 pm
New York, Feb 21 (JEN): Iraqi civilians, driven from their homes in fear by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, Da’esh), are now starting to make their way back home after the terrorist group has been uprooted from its bastions in the country, the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported.
Feb 21, 2018, at 03:08 pm
New York, Feb 21 (JEN): Cautioning that the Tanganyika region in south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo could be engulfed by a humanitarian disaster of “extraordinary proportions,” the United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday urged the Government to ensure protection of civilians.
Feb 21, 2018, at 03:05 pm
New York, Feb 21 (JEN): After over a century of hostilities including 50 years of continued military occupation, Israelis and Palestinians are still no closer to peace, a United Nations special envoy said on Tuesday, warning that even as many in the region have lost hope for positive change, the enemies of peace are growing more confident by the day.
World is failing newborns; UNICEF says global mortality rates remain ‘alarmingly high’
Feb 21, 2018, at 02:58 pm
New York, Feb 21 (JEN): Newborns are dying at “alarmingly high” rates in countries that are poor, conflict-ridden or have weak institutions, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday in a new report, which reveals that babies born in these places are 50 times more likely to die in the first month of life than those born in some wealthier nations.
Civilian situation in Syria’s east Ghouta ‘spiraling out of control,’ warns UN aid official
Feb 21, 2018, at 02:15 pm
New York, Feb 21 (IBNS): The humanitarian situation of civilians in Syria’s east Ghouta is spiraling out of control, a senior United Nation aid official has warned in the wake of escalating conflict which resulted in more than 40 civilian deaths on Monday alone.
Woman dries underwear under AC vent in packed flight
Feb 20, 2018, at 11:38 pm
New York, Feb 20 (IBNS): In what might be called a bizarre episode, a female passenger was caught on camera, while she was traveling in a flight, drying an underwear under the AC vent.
Syria: Government strikes kill dozens of civilians in Ghouta
Feb 20, 2018, at 05:46 pm
Damascus, Feb 20 (IBNS): Dozens of civilians have been killed by strikes conducted by Syrian forces in Eastern Ghouta area outside Damascus, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Peru's ex-President to be tried for 1992 farmer killings
Feb 20, 2018, at 04:29 pm
Lima, Feb 20 (IBNS): Peru's former President Alberto Fujimori will be tried for the killings of six farmers in 1992, reports said.
Feb 20, 2018, at 01:22 pm
New York, Feb 20 (IBNS): Recognizing Latin American and Caribbean countries as “pioneers” in the protection of refugees and asylum seekers, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees urged the region to bolster its standards even further given the global increase in number of people being driven from their homes.
Ahead of Social Justice Day, UN agency calls for fair labour migration governance
Feb 20, 2018, at 01:19 pm
New York, Feb 20 (JEN): Many migrant workers end up trapped in low-pay, unsafe and unhealthy jobs, the head of the United Nations labour agency warned Monday, calling for the adoption of fair labour migration governance frameworks at the global, regional and national levels.
United States: Planned execution of seriously ill man may amount to torture, warn UN experts
Feb 20, 2018, at 01:15 pm
New York, Feb 20 (JEN): Two United Nations human rights experts have urged the Government of the United States to halt the execution a seriously ill person stressing that given his health condition, the use of lethal injection could possibly amount to torture.