World News in Brief: IOM warning for Sudan returnees, Nipah virus alert for India, food security in Afghanistan

They did so despite extensive damage to housing, basic services, vital infrastructure, and an uncertain future.  The highest number of returns were recorded in Khartoum State, where more than 1.3 million people have made the journey home, followed by nearby Aj Jazirah State, according to IOM’s latest data. Pockets of security IOM says the number […]

Afghanistan: Lifesaving services cut as Taliban bars women aid workers

Afghanistan: Lifesaving services cut as Taliban bars women aid workers

“All of us at the United Nations are suffering from a reinforcement of the ban on females working with us…We are simply unable to operate without females,” said Arafat Jamal, UN refugee agency (UNHCR) Representative to Afghanistan, a day after agencies warned that the de facto authorities’ measures have impacted life-saving assistance for hundreds of […]

Afghanistan: New restrictions on women nationals working for UN, put aid efforts at risk

Afghanistan: New restrictions on women nationals working for UN, put aid efforts at risk

These measures are putting life-saving humanitarian assistance and other essential services for hundreds of thousands of people affected by a recent deadly earthquake at risk, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) warned in a statement. On Sunday, the de facto security forces prevented women Afghan staff members and contractors from entering UN compounds in […]

Afghanistan quake: ‘Communities are struggling with basic survival’

Afghanistan quake: ‘Communities are struggling with basic survival’

Briefing correspondents in New York via video link, Shannon O’Hara spoke from Jalalabad on the conditions in Afghanistan just days after the magnitude 6 earthquake and its devastating aftershocks. “We saw families whose lives had been shattered just within a few minutes,” the head of strategy for OCHA in Afghanistan said. Left with nothing “The […]

World News in Brief: Afghanistan quake update, Guterres in Papua New Guinea, Ebola returns to DR Congo, UN condemns attack on peacekeepers in South Sudan

World News in Brief: Afghanistan quake update, Guterres in Papua New Guinea, Ebola returns to DR Congo, UN condemns attack on peacekeepers in South Sudan

Since the initial earthquake on Sunday in eastern Nangarhar province, landslides and several strong aftershocks have disrupted the work of rescue teams. In an update, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that access routes remain blocked in various locations including the districts of Chawkay and Nurgal, both in Kunar province, although the authorities have deployed earth-moving […]

Afghanistan quake: Rescuers arrive on foot, survivors need everything

Afghanistan quake: Rescuers arrive on foot, survivors need everything

Latest updates from UN assessment teams who reached affected communities in mountainous Ghazi Abad district on foot on Tuesday underscored the urgent need to press on with the humanitarian response. “The issue of getting people out from under the rubble is urgent,” said Salam Al-Jabani from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in Kabul. “People are […]

Afghanistan quake: Aid teams still scrambling to reach survivors

Afghanistan quake: Aid teams still scrambling to reach survivors

The magnitude six quake has already left more than 800 dead and at least 2,000 injured, but the total impact could be in the “hundreds of thousands”, according to the UN’s top aid official in the country, Indrika Ratwatte. Speaking from Kabul, Mr. Ratwatte said that mud and wooden roof structures were predominant in the […]

Aid effort underway after Afghanistan quake ‘wipes out’ villages

Aid effort underway after Afghanistan quake ‘wipes out’ villages

“I stand in full solidarity with the people of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake that hit the country earlier today,” the Secretary-General said in an online message. “I extend my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured. The @UN team in Afghanistan is mobilized and will […]

World News in Brief: Uganda’s refugee funding crisis, academic freedom tested in Serbia, rural resilience in Afghanistan

World News in Brief: Uganda’s refugee funding crisis, academic freedom tested in Serbia, rural resilience in Afghanistan

Uganda has a progressive refugee policy which enables refugees to work and access public services. This coupled with its geographic proximity to crises has made it the continent’s largest refugee-hosting country. “Emergency funding runs out in September. More children will die of malnutrition, more girls will fall victim to sexual violence, and families will be […]

Global collaboration grows to address crises in Gaza, Sudan, Afghanistan

Global collaboration grows to address crises in Gaza, Sudan, Afghanistan

Briefing the Security Council on Thursday, Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, said the OIC remains an “indispensable” partner in efforts to promote peace, uphold international law and deliver durable political solutions in a range of crisis contexts. Headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the OIC has 57 member states and five observers, representing […]

Senior envoy warns Iran-Israel conflict is deepening crisis in Afghanistan

Senior envoy warns Iran-Israel conflict is deepening crisis in Afghanistan

Roza Otunbayeva, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said the ongoing missile attacks between Iran and Israel are already having a tangible impact. “This conflict is already having an effect in Afghanistan, disrupting trade and increasing the prices of basic goods and fuel, and prompting the return […]

Funding cuts in Afghanistan mean ‘lives lost and lives less lived’

Funding cuts in Afghanistan mean ‘lives lost and lives less lived’

Many women came to the clinic who had walked multiple hours to receive maternal care – some of them with their newborns and some heavily pregnant. And then there were the health workers themselves, committed to serving those in need in hard-to-reach areas of the impoverished Taliban-controlled nation. ‘Off the radar’ These were some of […]

Afghanistan: Taliban restrictions on women’s rights intensify

Afghanistan: Taliban restrictions on women’s rights intensify

The mission continued to receive reports that Afghan women are being denied the opportunity to join the workforce, are unable to access services without a male relative while girls are still deprived of their right to education. Since the Taliban took over the country from the democratically-elected Government in August 2021, women and girls have […]

CAA comes into effect, Minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan to get India Citizenship

CAA comes into effect, Minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan to get India Citizenship

The Union Home Ministry on Monday, March 11, 2024, notified the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), providing for granting citizenship to people of certain faiths facing persecution in neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and it applies to those who moved to India before 2015. An MHA spokesperson announced that immigrants eligible […]

Africa declared free from wild polio; Will South Asia be Next?

Africa declared free from wild polio; Will South Asia be Next?

The World Health Organization has declared Africa free of wild polio as no new cases of wild poliovirus have been recorded on the continent since 2016, but other types of the virus persist The continent’s last case of wild polio was recorded four years ago in northeast Nigeria. There are now just just two countries […]

India Signed Air Services Agreements or Drafts with 114 Countries So Far

India Signed Air Services Agreements or Drafts with 114 Countries So Far

India has so far signed and initiated Air Services Agreement with 114 countries and latest one was with Rwanda, signed on 20th February 2017 at Kigali, informed Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Air Services Agreements between India and other countries […]