Syria: UNICEF plans to reach 2.6 million children with winter supplies and cash assistance
New York, Dec 9 (Just Earth News/IBNS): Warning of harsh winter conditions looming for more than eight million Syrian children living inside the war-ravaged country or as refugees around the region and beyond, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced a package of assistance for 2.6 million Syrian children, including cash assistance, in addition to ongoing humanitarian programmes.
UN tests data collection system to track and curb attacks against health workers
New York, Dec 9 (Just Earth News/IBNS): The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that it now testing a new system for collecting data to ensure that attacks against healthcare workers in the line of fire – from Afghanistan to Ukraine and Yemen – do not go unnoticed and that they are better protected from violence and harm.
UN health agency outlines global trends and looks ahead to 2030 targets
New York, Dec 9 (Just Earth News/IBNS): The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday issued a comprehensive analysis of global health trends since 2000, and laid out actions that should be prioritized over the next 15 years to achieve the newly-agreed United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), saying that universal health care is the “linchpin of development in health.â€
Confronting conflicts, UN launches largest ever humanitarian appeal at $20.1 billion
New York, Dec 8 (Just Earth News/IBNS): Warning that global suffering has reached levels not seen in a generation, the United Nations and its partners on Monday launched their largest ever humanitarian appeal, calling for 20.1 billion life-saving dollars for 2016, even as the 2015 appeal posts the largest funding gap on record – $10.2 billion.
Amid violence in Syria: UN deputy relief chief urges greater civilian protection
New York, Dec 8 (Just Earth News/IBNS): Against the backdrop of devastating attacks on health facilities resulting in the deaths of countless health workers along with their patients in Syria, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Kyung-wha Kang on Monday called for greater protection and assistance for Syrians caught up in the country’s four-year conflict.
UN bedside tool to help prevent maternal and newborn deaths worldwide
New York, Dec 5 (Just Earth News/IBNS): The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Friday a new checklist for healthcare workers that will help reduce maternal and newborn deaths with "a single and practical bedside tool" designed to make a difference for women and infants in various settings around the world.
UN refugee agency concerned by violence at Greek border, calls for improved security
New York, Dec 4 (Just Earth News/IBNS): As a result of restrictions imposed by the authorities along the Western Balkans route, tensions have been rising at the border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, prompting the United Nations refugee agency to call on the authorities of both countries to manage the border in a manner consistent with human rights and refugee-protection principles.
UN Middle East envoy calls for action on West Bank arson attack case
New York, Dec 3 (Just Earth News/IBNS): Four months after the arson attack against the Dawabsha family in the West Bank village of Duma, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, on Wednesday expressed concern at the slow progress on the case and called on the Israeli authorities to "move swiftly in bringing the perpetrators of the this terrible crime to justice."
UN seeks to enlist citizens of world as foot soldiers in battle against hate speech
New York, Dec 3 (Just Earth News/IBNS): The United Nations on Wednesday launched a campaign against hate speech, with senior officials calling for a global mobilization of citizens as foot soldiers in the battle to uproot a scourge that seeks to unleash a clash of civilizations in the name of religion.
UN marks World AIDS Day with hope as momentum builds to break epidemic
New York, Dec 2 (Just Earth News/IBNS): The first World AIDS Day since political leaders committed to ending the epidemic by 2030 as part of the United Nations-led Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has generated "new hope" to break the epidemic and keep it from rebounding in "an unparalleled opportunity to change the course of history for ever."
Veteran Australian rights official appointed deputy UN human rights chief
New York, Dec 2 (Just Earth News/IBNS): Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday announced the appointment of Kate Gilmore of Australia, a veteran United Nations, Government and non-governmental organization (NGOs) official, as Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.
UN nuclear watchdog's work impacting lives worldwide: Agency chief
New York, Nov 27 (Just Eath News/IBNS): The head of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday delivered an opening statement at the meeting of its Board of Governors by addressing issues of technical cooperation, nuclear applications, nuclear energy, safety and security, and nuclear verification.
UN weather agency delivers 'bad news' for planet, cites record heat
New York, Nov 26 (Just Earth News/IBNS): In the last major report before world leaders meet in Paris to draft measures to counter global warming, the United Nations weather agency on Wednesday delivered "bad news for the planet," warning that 2015 is likely to be the warmest year on record, breaching the symbolic and significant milestone of 1 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial era.
UN guidelines seek to make genetic diversity part of climate change adaptation
New York, Nov 26 (Just Earth News/IBNS): With the United Nations climate change conference in Paris just days away, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has issued new voluntary guidelines to assist countries in better managing and sustainably using genetic resources while addressing climate change.
UN: More than 21 million people in Yemen need basic humanitarian aid
New York, Nov 25 (Just Earth News/IBNS): Some 21.2 million people in Yemen – or 82 per cent of the population – require some kind of assistance to meet their basic needs, according to a recently-published overview of the country’s humanitarian needs for the next year carried out by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).