“When you study history in high school, you learn about the origins of the United Nations, and it was always the organisation that I connected with, in terms of the values it promotes. However, I never thought I would have a direct role in the organisation. During my time working...
UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned the attacks, which also damaged homes and critical civilian infrastructure, including health and educational facilities. “Today’s appalling attack – one of the deadliest against civilians since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly four years ago – once again underlines the urgency of a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire in...
“How has the UN lived up to expectations,” asked Mr. Jaishankar, pointing to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as West Asia and “innumerable hotspots” which “don’t even make the news.” The minister decried a perceived lack of global solidarity on a number of issues: he...
On Friday, the UN Security Council heard sobering briefings from Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, and Shayna Lewis, Sudan Specialist and Senior Advisor with Preventing and Ending Mass Atrocities (PAEMA), a US-based organization. Ms. Pobee stressed that front lines continue to shift as the RSF and SAF press...
Roza Otunbayeva, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said the ongoing missile attacks between Iran and Israel are already having a tangible impact. “This conflict is already having an effect in Afghanistan, disrupting trade and increasing the prices of basic goods and...
“Today, we have a new Syria, one that’s brimming with hope and opportunity,” David Carden told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York. He warned, however, that “while the levels of conflict have subsided in many parts of the country, the humanitarian crisis in Syria is far from over,” as...
Speaking from Gaza, Jonathan Dumont said many people have been displaced multiple times, and that families are living either in tents or in the rubble of collapsed buildings, with no access to electricity or running water. The text has been edited for length and clarity. UN News: How do you...
Holland’s outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Sigrid Kaag will facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify aid consignments to the embittered enclave, in line with a recent Security Council resolution. She will also establish a mechanism to accelerate humanitarian relief shipments through States that are not party to the conflict. She is expected...
135 UNRWA staff members are known to have been killed in Gaza since the escalation of fighting since the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel. That’s the most ever in one incident but, despite the danger and extremely difficult working conditions, UNRWA is continuing to assist those caught up in...
“Today the stakes for preventive diplomacy and dialogue could not be higher,” said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific, in a meeting organized by the Brazilian presidency. Referring to the escalating situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, he warned that in the absence...
“There needs to be a negotiated solution to end this war as soon as possible. There is no other alternative,” said Martha Pobee, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, whose portfolio covers both political and peacebuilding affairs. “The longer this war continues, the greater the risk of fragmentation, and foreign...
The call comes amid reports that the situation in Haiti is deteriorating by the day, with citizens facing spiralling violence, human rights, and food emergencies, as well as a cholera epidemic. The influence of armed gangs is growing exponentially in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and beyond, reaching the Department of Artibonite,...
