Month: November 2023
UN delivers more aid into Gaza on first day of humanitarian pause
Gaza has a population of over two million, with the UN agency that assists Palestine refugee, UNRWA, hosting more than a million displaced people in 156 of its installations across the enclave. The UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said on Friday that 200 trucks were dispatched from Nitzana, a town in Israel, to the Rafah…
Read MoreFrom the Field: A destroyed Ukrainian village rebuilds
A landmine warning sign behind a fence of a destroyed house in Posad-Pokrovske in the Kherson region of Ukraine. “Blackberries grew in front of my house and local children constantly ate them,” he told UN human rights monitors. “Now the blackberries are drying up and no one touches them. This makes me very sad.” As invading…
Read MoreUgandan woman advocates for her rights after ‘life of pain’
In the first of a two-part series, Angela Muhindo spoke to UN Women ahead of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, marked annually from 25 November to 10 December, Human Rights Day. “My life has been full of pain,” she said, surveying the green landscape where she spent her childhood in Kasese, in Uganda’s western region.…
Read MoreIn visit to Antarctica, Guterres appeals for action to end ‘climate anarchy’
António Guterres is in Antarctica this week, where he saw first-hand how climate change is impacting the world’s southernmost continent, which is mostly covered in ice. The heat is on “Fossil fuel pollution is heating our planet, unleashing climate anarchy in Antarctica,” said Mr. Guterres, adding that the Southern Ocean has taken the majority of…
Read MoreClashes in eastern DR Congo displace 450,000 in six weeks
Violent clashes between non-state armed groups and government forces have displaced more than 450,000 people in the last six weeks in Rutshuru and Masisi territories in North Kivu province. People arriving in the town of Sake, located near the provincial capital Goma, spoke of having to make harrowing choices, with men risking death to feed…
Read MoreGaza: start of truce feeds hopes for respite, access to people in need: UN humanitarians
They reiterated calls for access to all parts of the war-shattered enclave where the death toll inched towards 15,000 and many displaced people were sleeping in the streets. UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva that the hope regarding the agreement between Israel and Hamas announced earlier this week…
Read MoreWorld News in Brief: Aid cut threat for Afghan deportees, saving Rohingya lives at sea, China respiratory illness spike, new rail transport treaty
Pakistan announced in October that it would begin deporting “undocumented” foreign nationals starting on 1 November, affecting thousands of Afghans who have found refuge in the country. WFP said most families crossing the border are arriving hungry, desperate and in need of immediate support. The UN agency continues to supply them with fortified biscuits and…
Read MoreStories from the UN Archive: Feminist icon calls out violence against women
Co-founding the groundbreaking magazine Ms. in 1972, Ms. Steinem and her colleagues brought feminist issues to the forefront. “For the first time, there are fewer females on Earth than males because of all the forms of violence,” Ms. Steinem said at UN Headquarters in 2016 to draw attention to violence against women. Ahead of UN Women’s 16…
Read MoreWith Gaza truce on horizon, UN relief teams stand ready to ramp up aid
According to media reports, ongoing negotiations over the Israel-Hamas agreement on a four-day humanitarian pause and the freeing of hostages held by the Palestinian armed group since its 7 October terror attacks indicated that the deal’s entry into force was believed to be unlikely before Friday. Amid rising hunger, UN World Food Programme (WFP) chief…
Read MoreWorld News in Brief: DPR Korea missile launch condemned, malaria vaccines for Cameroon, solidarity with Haiti
The country, commonly known as North Korea, claimed to have carried out a third attempt to launch a ballistic missile on Tuesday, according to media reports. Comply with obligations Any such launch is contrary to relevant Security Council resolutions, Mr. Guterres said in a statement issued later that day by his deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.…
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