Month: July 2023
Russia urged to free opposition leader Kara-Murza amid failing health
Mr. Kara-Murza, 41, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin and the war in Ukraine, was arbitrarily arrested in Moscow on 11 April 2022. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison a year later on charges of “high treason”, “disseminating false information about the army of the Russian Federation” and participation in an “undesirable organisation”.…
Read MoreUN missions battle old and emerging threats, to protect civilians
Climate change and conflict Briefing the Security Council, Lt. Gen. Mohan Subramanian, Force Commander of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) recalled when dykes collapsed in Unity State in October 2022, leading to flash floods not seen in nearly six decades, displacing over 170,000 people to the provincial capital Bentiu. If left unaddressed the…
Read MoreUNHCR urges solidarity with Burkina Faso’s victims of extremist violence
“We’re urgently appealing for all States to refrain from forcibly returning any individuals originating from the regions in Burkina Faso where there is an ongoing crisis,” said Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR Director of International Protection. Speaking in Geneva, Ms. Tan highlighted “killings, forced disappearances, torture and kidnappings”, while in several instances, civilians had been targeted and…
Read MoreNiger: UN chief demands president’s immediate and unconditional release
A group of officers from all branches of the military made the television announcement late on Wednesday, after members of the president’s own guard detained him inside his offices in the capital Niamey. According to news reports, the attempted coup does not have the backing of the entire military, but the head of the army…
Read More‘Urgent steps’ needed to end surge in violence across West Bank
“This deterioration is taking place alongside ongoing unilateral steps that undermine a two-State solution, the absence of a peace process and the continuing economic challenges facing Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority (PA),” said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, briefing ambassadors. “It is critical that all parties take urgent steps to stop the downward…
Read MoreTürk calls on Israeli Government to ‘heed the calls of the people’ over judicial reform
Volker Türk said he had been “following developments closely” in Israel, where parliamentarians supporting the hard-line nationalist Government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu passed a bill on Monday which in effect strips the Supreme Court of its power to block Government decisions. Opposition parties boycotted the vote which came after seven months of protests which…
Read MoreOn 70th anniversary of Korean armistice, Guterres calls for renewed dialogue
His message marked the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice Agreement that ended the hostilities and established a demilitarized zone, about 240 kilometres long and 4 kilometres wide, as a buffer. The conflict however never officially ended because the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Republic of Korea (more commonly known as North…
Read MoreWarming trend in Asia set to cause more disruption: UN weather agency
Melting ice and glaciers and rising sea levels threaten more socio-economic disruption in future, according to the agency’s latest State of the Climate report for the region. The mean temperature over Asia for 2022 was the second or third warmest on record and was about 0.72 degrees Celsius (°C) above the 1991–2020 average, which was…
Read MoreTransforming food systems, key to get SDGs back on track: Mohammed
According to development indicators, almost half of the SDG targets are moderately or severely off track, and 37 per cent are showing no change. “Transforming our food systems is one key to getting the world back on track and reversing these worrying trends,” Amina J. Mohammed said at the closing of the UN Food Systems…
Read MoreThe UN’s milestone operation to salvage Yemen’s stricken oil tanker: Key questions answered
The task of transferring a million barrels of oil from the stricken supertanker Yemen, will take some 19 days – preventing what would be the fifth largest spill in history, were the rusting tanker to break apart. But this process will not end with the oil transfer, because the FSO Safer will continue to pose…
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