At least eight people are feared dead and 22 others are missing after smugglers stopped a boat carrying around 150 passengers likely bound for Yemen on 5 June. “These young people were forced into impossible choices by smugglers who show no regard for human life,” said Celestine Frantz, the UN migration agency’s Regional Director for […]
Growth is projected to weaken to 2.3 per cent, or nearly half a percentage point lower than expected at the start of the year, according to the Global Economic Prospects report. “The global outlook is predicated on tariff rates close to those of late May prevailing,” it said. “Accordingly, pauses to previously announced tariff hikes […]
Since then, “there has been no end to the violence, even though thousands have been killed and thousands more injured,” said UN Special Envoy to Myanmar, Julie Bishop, on Tuesday, briefing the General Assembly. “I have stressed consistently that without a ceasefire, a de-escalation of violence and a focus on the needs of the people, […]
“The message is stark: persons with disabilities face higher poverty, greater unemployment, deeper food and health insecurity and more limited access to education, jobs, and digital technologies,” said Amina Mohammed. But action is underway. The 18th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP18) will […]
“Iraq is a nation of profound history, strength, potential, and pride. By working together, Iraqis can continue to make meaningful strides towards stability, prosperity and human rights for all,” said Special Representative Mohamed Al Hassan, who also heads the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). He provided updates on political, human rights and other developments […]
The UN Human Rights Council-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) report found that Israeli forces have used airstrikes, shelling, burning, and controlled demolitions to damage or destroy more than 90 per cent of schools and university buildings across Gaza. This destruction in the wake of the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel […]
As global trade surges, so does the underwater noise generated by commercial shipping. From the Arctic to the Great Barrier Reef, scientists have documented how this constant mechanical hum can disorient whales, disrupt migration routes, and drown out the acoustic cues that many marine species rely on to survive. As the issue intensifies, the United […]
Mr. Guterres’ stark assessment came during a press conference on the second day of the weeklong UN Ocean summit, known as UNOC3, where hundreds of government leaders, scientists and civil society representatives are gathered on France’s Côte D’Azur. Their mission: to confront the escalating emergency facing the world’s oceans. Greed is a ‘clear enemy’ “We are […]
“Over the past six months, WFP scaled up assistance and we are now reaching nearly one million Sudanese in Khartoum with food and nutrition support,” said Laurent Bukera, WFP Country Director in Sudan. “This momentum must continue; several areas in the south are at risk of famine.” In an update from Port Sudan, Mr. Bukera reported […]
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) unveiled its flagship State of World Population report on Tuesday, warning that a rising number of people are being denied the freedom to start families due to skyrocketing living costs, persistent gender inequality, and deepening uncertainty about the future. Titled The real fertility crisis: The pursuit of reproductive agency in […]
Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Monday that Iran’s growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium and unresolved questions about its programme remain serious issues. “Unless and until Iran assists the agency in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues, the Agency will not be in a position to provide assurance that […]
Since the end of May, aid distribution in Gaza has been carried out by a mechanism backed by Israel and the United States bypassing UN agencies and their established partners, which has been plagued by deadly incidents and chaos. On Monday, UN partner the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported that 29 casualties […]
In the old town of Nice, the 98-meter-long, three-masted barque arrived last week at Port Lympia, where UNOC3 is now under way. Built in 1914 and owned by Norway since 1921, the Statsraad Lehmkuhl – named for former Norwegian minister Kristofer Lehmkuhl – was refitted last year with state-of-the-art ocean science instruments, transforming it into […]
With violence worsening in both the Lake Chad Basin and the Great Lakes, the Security Council met on Monday to examine the threats confronting the wider region. “Central Africa remains rich in potential, but the challenges are still significant,” said Abdou Abarry, Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA). Some progress While […]
“The ocean is the ultimate shared resource,” he told delegates gathered at the port of Nice. “But we are failing it.” Oceans, he warned, are absorbing 90 per cent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions and buckling under the strain: overfishing, rising temperatures, plastic pollution, acidification. Coral reefs are dying. Fish stocks are […]
On a sun-drenched morning off the coast of Villefranche-sur-Mer, the Sagitta III cuts through the cobalt waters of the Mediterranean, past the quiet marinas and pine-fringed terraces of France’s Côte d’Azur. The 40-foot scientific vessel – named after a fearsome zooplankton with hook-lined jaws – rumbles toward a lonely yellow buoy bobbing offshore. In the […]
Globally, 1.8 billion people menstruate, yet for many, especially in crises zones, it’s far more than an inconvenience. In war-torn Gaza, around 700,000 women and girls of menstruating age, including thousands experiencing their first period, face this challenge under relentless bombardment and in cramped, unsanitary conditions with little privacy. A human rights issue The United Nations’ sexual […]
“I always had the painful experience of seeing the other children go to school with their rucksacks,” says 14-year-old Zénabou. “It was tormenting because even though I was burning with a desire to find out what happened in the schools where these children went every morning, I realised very early on that it was a […]
Mr. Türk was responding to an announcement by Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, on Thursday, of measures targeting the judges, who are overseeing a 2020 case of alleged war crime committed in Afghanistan by US and Afghan military forces, and the 2024 ICC arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and […]
Lesconil, a salt-bitten fishing port tucked into the coast of Brittany, in northern France, stirs slowly under the pale Atlantic dawn. Tide pools shimmer, breathing with the sea — undisturbed but for the cries of seabirds and a lone figure in yellow waders, knee-deep in a forest of seaweed. The man, Vincent Doumeizel, gently lifts […]