Month: February 2018

UN peacekeeping chief wraps up three-day visit to Lebanon

  The head of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations has wrapped up a visit to Lebanon with a call on leaders from Lebanon as well as Israel to take advantage of the role UN peacekeeping can play in finding political solutions to conflict. The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, concluded on Tuesday the Lebanon leg […]

Dry, hot weather likely to reduce harvests in southern Africa, UN warns

Southern Africa’s water sources and crops are under serious pressure as a long dry spell and high temperatures have taken hold in the region, the United Nations agriculture agency said Tuesday, warning that after record maize production in 2017, food shortages are set to worsen this year. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that while cereal […]

In Geneva, UN chief urges new push to free world from nuclear weapons

Warning that nuclear weapons pose catastrophic risks to human life and the environment, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday called on the international community to make a reinvigorated push to rid the world of such weapons. “Countries persist in the mistaken idea that nuclear weapons make the world safer,” said the Secretary-General, addressing the […]

UN receives 40 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in last quarter of 2017

The United Nations has received 40 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse across its entities and implementing partners for the last three months of 2017, including 15 reported from peacekeeping operations, UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric announced on Thursday. “Not all allegations have been fully verified, and many are in the preliminary assessment phase,” Mr. Dujarric told reporters […]

New UN report cites violations of rights to freedom of opinion and expression in South Sudan

Undue restrictions on freedom of expression are having a “chilling effect” and “further shrinking the space for debate and dissent” in war-torn South Sudan, a new United Nations human rights report has revealed. Co-authored by the UN Mission in the country (UNMISS) and the Organization’s human rights wing, OHCHR, the report also warned that incitement to […]

‘There is no plan B,’ says Guterres, reiterating UN’s commitment to two-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict

After over a century of hostilities including 50 years of continued military occupation, Israelis and Palestinians are still no closer to peace, a United Nations special envoy said on Tuesday, warning that even as many in the region have lost hope for positive change, the enemies of peace are growing more confident by the day. […]