Month: November 2023
Somali-born champion of refugee education wins top UNHCR award
Abdullahi Mire grew up in the sprawling Dadaab refugee complex in northeastern Kenya with its population today of more than 240,000 registered refugees, mostly from Somalia. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) coordinates operations there together with partners, relying also on the support of the Kenyan Government and host communities. The majority of the population, around…
Read MoreHopes for a sustainable planet must not ‘melt away’: Guterres
UN Secretary-General António Guterres was briefing reporters in New York after seeing for himself over the weekend the “profoundly shocking” speed at which ice is melting in Antarctica – three times faster than the rate in the early 1990s. New figures reveal that sea ice at the South Pole is now 1.5 million square kilometres…
Read MoreWorld News in Brief: Delivering on health at COP28, aid for north Darfur, food standards watchdog turns 60
That’s the message from UN health agency WHO, which said on Monday that negotiators at the upcoming meeting must recognize their responsibility “for the health of populations worldwide”. “Leaders must deliver in Dubai, providing the strong health outcomes their peoples expect and their economies urgently need,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. According to the…
Read MoreGaza: Vital aid reaches shattered north as halt to fighting enters fourth day
And as the UN emergency relief coordination office, OCHA, reported that people in the south were queuing for kilometres to obtain cooking gas and resorting to burning window frames and doors for cooking, it added that the four-day humanitarian pause agreed upon by Israel and Hamas has been “largely maintained”. Under the agreement, Hamas released 17…
Read MoreUkraine: Civilian casualties mount as war enters second winter
The Monitoring Mission stated that the casualty figure represents deaths verified according to its methodology, cautioning that the actual figure may be significantly higher given the challenges and time required for verification. “Ten thousand civilian deaths is a grim milestone for Ukraine,” said Danielle Bell, head of the Monitoring Mission, adding that the war, now…
Read MoreFunding shortfall puts WFP operations in Chad at risk
The warning comes as aid agencies scramble to respond to a fresh wave of displacement sparked by the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Darfur region of Sudan, with reports of mass killings, rapes and widespread destruction. The crisis is occurring amid the ongoing war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which erupted…
Read MoreUN confirms more aid entering Gaza as humanitarian pause holds for second day
The freight included food, water and emergency medical supplies. Eleven ambulances, 3 coaches and a flatbed were delivered to Al Shifa hospital to be used to assist with evacuations. Also on Saturday, another 200 trucks were dispatched from Nitzana, with 187 of them successfully entering Gaza by 19:00 local time. In addition, 129,000 liters of fuel…
Read MoreFighting gender-based violence door-to-door with support of Ugandan men
In the second of a two-part series from Uganda, Timothy Mbene Masereka spoke to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) ahead of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, marked annually from 25 November to 10 December, Human Rights Day. As a village health worker, Mr. Masereka goes from house to house in some of the remotest…
Read MoreHitching a ride to a better future: Sustainable Transport Day
“This first World Sustainable Transport Day reminds us that the road to a better future depends on cleaner and greener transportation systems,” Antonio Guterres explained, spotlighting the relationship between transportation and global sustainability. Fuelling climate chaos “Transportation represents the world’s circulatory system, delivering people and goods across countries and around the world, creating jobs, and supporting…
Read MoreStep up investment to end violence against women and girls: UN deputy chief
Such investment is not just practical but transformative, she said in a video message to the official UN commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, held in New York on Wednesday. “Investment in prevention is to invest in our collective well-being,” she said. “It means creating conditions where women and…
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