Category: Peace and Security

Libya: Crimes against humanity committed since 2016 – rights probe

27 March 2023 UN-appointed independent human rights investigators on Monday said there are grounds to believe that Libyan authorities and armed militia groups have been responsible for “a wide array” of war crimes, and crimes against humanity in recent years. In the case of State security forces, human rights violations were committed to quash dissent and exploit […]

UN aid convoys deliver lifesaving relief to Ukraine’s war-ravaged east

OCHA Ukraine | A convoy delivers aid to Dobropillia village in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region Humanitarian Aid Two UN aid convoys have reached communities with acute needs near the contact line in Ukraine’s war-shattered east this week, relief coordinators reported on Friday. Medicines, roofing repair kits, bottled water and solar lamps were offloaded, highlighting the desperate […]

International Court orders Russia to ‘immediately suspend’ military operations in Ukraine

© ICJ/Frank van BeekThe Ukrainian delegation on the first day of hearings at the Peace Palace in the Hague, Netherlands. (file)    16 March 2022 Peace and Security Russia must immediately suspend military operations in Ukraine, the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Wednesday, in The Hague. By a vote of 13 to two, with Vice-President Kirill Gevorgian […]

The natural environment is also a casualty of war, Guterres warns

UNEP/GRID-Arendal/Tim Freccia An orphaned gorilla released in its new habitat, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Healthy gorilla populations are becoming increasingly isolated due to habitat loss and conflict across the region.   The UN Secretary-General has called for better management of natural resources and ecosystems, highlighting that doing so could pave a path towards peace in war-torn […]

Amid COVID-19, UN commitment to peace ‘more urgent than ever’

UNIFIL Since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, UNIFIL and its peacekeeping troops have maintained their daily operational activities along the Blue Line in South Lebanon.     COVID-19 threatens not only hard-won development and peacebuilding gains, but also “risks exacerbating conflicts or fomenting new ones”, the UN chief reminded the Security Council on Wednesday, during a briefing […]

Hong Kong urged to drop prosecutions of leading activists, not to silence peaceful protest

UN NewsThe skyline of Hong Kong harbour, seen at night.     Independent UN human rights experts urged Hong Kong authorities on Wednesday to immediately drop the criminal prosecution of 15 pro-democracy activists who participated in peaceful protests across the Special Administrative Region of China last year. “Nobody should be subjected to administrative or criminal sanctions for taking […]