“There is no place for lethal autonomous weapon systems in our world,” Mr. Guterres said on Monday, during an informal UN meeting in New York focused on the use and impact of such weapons. “Machines that have the power and discretion to take human lives without human control should be...
In a statement, UNFPA said the move – which invokes a 1985 legal provision known as the Kemp-Kasten Amendment – is based on “unfounded claims” about the agency’s work in China. These allegations, it noted, have “long been disproven”, including by the US Government itself. The Kemp-Kasten amendment states that...
Mr. Lazzarini made the remarks in a social media post, in which he noted that the siege, which is preventing food, medicines, water and fuel from entering the occupied Palestinian territory, has lasted longer than blockades imposed during the first phase of the war. The UNRWA chief pointed out that people...
“UNRWA continues to deliver assistance and services to the communities we serve,” the agency said in a post on the social media platform X. “Our clinics across the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem are open while the humanitarian operation in Gaza continues.” No official word Last October, the Israeli...
Briefing ambassadors in New York on Tuesday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned that the laws passed in October last year in the Knesset jeopardize the lives of millions of Palestinians and risks undermining the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. They require that UNRWA cease its activities in the territory of the...
The development comes one week after a court in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank ordered the closure of several Al Jazeera websites. A Palestinian Authority ministerial committee had earlier justified the enforced closure of the media company’s office in the West Bank, accusing it of broadcasting “inciting” material, “misinformation,...
The measure, issued by the de facto Ministry of Economy on 26 December, enforces a two-year-old decree prohibiting women from working with both national and international NGOs. In his statement, Mr. Türk emphasised the devastating impact on the delivery of critical humanitarian aid in Afghanistan the decree will have, where...
In November, following several failed attempts, politicians of all stripes approved a bill to overhaul legislation that has been in effect since 1887, reflecting a deep-rooted practice that violates the rights of children and adolescents: according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). one in five girls aged between 14...
The rebound follows a massive 95 per cent decrease in 2023, when the ban nearly eliminated poppy production nationwide, leading to a severe decline in Afghanistan’s opium output. However, while cultivation has increased, the current levels remain substantially lower than in 2022, which saw 232,000 hectares under poppy cultivation. UNODC...
The Israeli Parliament, known as the Knesset, adopted two bills on Monday banning UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA from operating in its territory and prohibiting authorities from having any contact with it. “UNRWA is indispensable in delivering the urgent, life-saving assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need,” UNICEF...
Echoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s warning late Monday that the development would likely have “devastating consequences” as UNRWA is the principal deliverer of aid relief inside the war-torn enclave, UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the Knesset move “deeply troubling for many reasons”. In Geneva, spokesperson for the UN...
The UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts criticised the decision by the French football and basketball federations to exclude players wearing the hijab from competitions, including at amateur level, and the French Government’s decision to prevent French athletes wearing the hijab from representing the country at last summer’s Paris Olympic Games. Infringement...