UN Photo/Mark Garten Secretary-General António Guterres (left) briefs the General Assembly meeting on his Priorities for 2020 and the Work of the Organization. The start of the New Year finds the world facing four looming threats to human progress: surging geopolitical tensions, the climate crisis, global mistrust and the downsides of technology, UN Secretary-General António […]
Category: Humanitarian Crisis
Syrian conflict has ‘erased’ children’s dreams: new UN report
©UNICEF/Bakr Alkasem Children stand in the courtyard of a school-turned shelter in Ar-Raqqa, in Syria. Nearly nine years of conflict in Syria have robbed boys and girls of their childhood and subjected them to “unabated violations of their rights”, including being killed, maimed, displaced, forced to fight or subjected to torture, rape and sexual slavery. The findings come in the latest report by the UN […]
ICC gives greenlight for probe into violent crimes against Rohingya
Judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday authorized an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity, namely deportation, which have forced between 600,000 and one million Rohingya refugees out of Myanmar, into neighboring Bangladesh since 2016. The pre-trial judges “accepted that there exists a reasonable basis to believe widespread and/or systematic acts of violence may have been committed that could qualify as crimes against humanity […]
Syria war: executions condemned as violence continues ‘on both sides’ of border with Turkey
Amid ongoing fighting in northern Syria and disturbing reports that extrajudicial killings have been streamed online, the United Nations and their partners are continuing to deliver humanitarian supplies to tens of thousands of people displaced by the violence, UN agencies stressed on Tuesday. Briefing journalists in Geneva, Jens Laerke from the Office for the Coordination […]
UN chief urges ‘maximum restraint’ following policy shift over northeastern Syria
The UN chief on Tuesday expressed “great concern” over recent policy statements made regarding northeastern Syria, following the announcement from the United States at the start of the week, that it would withdraw troops from the area close to the border with Turkey. Secretary-General António Guterres, “has called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint,” said a statement released by his Spokesperson, emphasizing his concern for the risks posed to civilians by potential military actions in […]
Attack on Saudi facilities risks dragging Yemen into ‘regional conflagration’: UN Envoy
Attacks against oil facilities in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, claimed by rebel fighters in Yemen, are a sign that the war-torn country could be drawn into even greater conflict, the top United Nations official there told the Security Council on Monday. Special Envoy Martin Griffiths said there is “no time to waste” in ending […]