In his message marking World Cities Day, the UN chief highlighted the critical role urban areas have in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs outline global action and targets across 17 critical areas including poverty reduction, gender equality and clean energy. “On World Cities Day, let us resolve...
Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, said that amid severe underfunding, the move would “further undermine humanitarian partners’ ability to support the population, especially the most vulnerable such as women and girls”. “The world cannot abandon the people of Afghanistan at this precarious moment,” Dr. Alakbarov insisted, before...
Addressing the Assembly’s annual general debate, Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, said, “the world cannot afford Cold War 2.0,” because there are a raft of challenges facing humankind that can only be addressed through global cooperation. Multiple shocks Indeed, a series of external “shocks” – COVID-19, climate change and conflict – have devastated...
Briefing correspondents at UN Headquarters in New York just a few days after visiting Haiti along with the head of the World Food Programme (WFP), Catherine Russell said “the current situation of insecurity is unacceptable. “Women and children are dying. Schools and public spaces should always be safe. Collectively the...
“Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities. It is now catastrophic. The world must do more,” they said. The statement was issued by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World...
And a busy stage it was. The big week of UNGA’s 78th session was triple focused on health, climate change, and turbocharging the race midway to realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While world leaders’ report cards on this global stage have traditionally headlined past UNGA sessions, recent years have...
“Palestine will remain ours. And if anyone were to leave, it will be the occupying usurpers,” he declared. He began by highlighting that Palestinians have endured nearly a year of what he described as one of the most heinous crimes of our time. “It is the crime of a full-scale...
In a crucial year for climate action which, in accordance with the Paris Agreement, seeks to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, World Radio Day is dedicated in 2025 to highlighting the power of broadcasting to bring climate change issues to prominence. That’s the goal of Climate Radio...
At the same time, Israel’s brutal aggression against Gaza and its current attacks on the West Bank place shame on international institutions, which are unable to put an end to these aggressions. Condemning Israel’s escalation and its attacks on Lebanon, which are “pushing the region into the abyss”, he said...
For Malawians, Cyclone Freddy was an unmitigated disaster. In March this year, the storm ripped through the African country twice during its record-breaking month-long destructive rampage through southern Africa. The unprecedented duration of the extreme weather event would have been difficult for any country to deal with, but for Malawi,...
Antonio Guterres was addressing via videolink, the fourth meeting of the Major Economies Forum, convened by the United States President Joe Biden, which is designed to galvanize efforts to keep the global temperature rise of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, within reach – in line with the Paris Agreement. Biggest coffers,...
“Together, we can make sure that every person…can fully participate in every aspect of life – social, economic, cultural, and political”, said Secretary-General António Guterres, adding that “we can, and we will, advance our common future.” Forward motion He hailed the progress driven by the disability convention as being “broad, swift, and...