Decades of conflict and under-investment have placed a huge strain on Iraq’s healthcare system – with pregnant women and their babies paying for it with their lives, according to three United Nations agencies. “Although progress has been made to lower maternal mortality rates, there has been slow headway in reducing the mortality rates for children […]
Marking three years since the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) attacked the Yazidis in Syria, a United Nations-mandated inquiry has called for justice and rescue plans. “The Commission of Inquiry calls on the international community to recognize the crime of genocide being committed by ISIL against the Yazidis and to undertake steps to refer […]
Welcoming a drop in the number of reported attacks against people with albinism, a United Nations human rights expert has concluded that this group of people in rural Tanzania continue to live in fear amid widespread attitudes that lead to violence against them. “People with albinism continue to live in a very fragile situation, as […]
Criminal groups feed off the instability created by conflicts, and as links between wars, trafficking and migrant smuggling become more widely known, the United Nations is calling on the international community to act now to help and protect trafficking victims and to end this crime forever. “Conflict is a breeding ground for criminal activity,” said […]
Despite the remarkable hope and strength shown by most Syrians, daily life remains dangerous for millions of people across the country, a senior United Nations aid official warned today, calling for the parties to the six year conflict to stop targeting of civilians, to allow humanitarian access, and to end the “horrific” practice of besiegement. […]
The scales have tipped for the first time in the fight against AIDS as more than half of all people living with the HIV virus now have access to treatment, while AIDS-related deaths have nearly halved since 2005, according to a new United Nations report. “We met the 2015 target of 15 million people on treatment and […]