Haitians are enduring a “perfect storm of suffering” the UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Thursday as gang violence continues to paralyse daily life across the island. Around 1.3 million people – half of them children – have fled their homes and six million are relying on humanitarian assistance. Follow our live Meetings Coverage as the latest crisis debate unfolds.
That’s how much sand and dust enters the atmosphere on an annual basis according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)’s annual report on the storms which scatter such particles across borders worldwide.
The UN weather agency’s reports warns that while the amount of dust decreased marginally in 2024, the impact on humans and economies is increasing.
WMO estimates that over 330 million people across 150 countries are affected by sand and dust storms, leading to premature deaths and other health consequences in addition to steep economic costs.
“Sand and dust storms do not just mean dirty windows and hazy skies. They harm the health and quality of life of millions of people and cost many millions of dollars,” said Celeste Saulo, the Secretary-General of WMO.
While the movement of sand and dust is a natural weather process, increased land degradation and water mismanagement have, in the past few decades, exacerbated the prevalence and geographic spread.
Dust and sand particles – 80 per cent of which come from North Africa and the Middle East – can be transported thousands of kilometres across borders and oceans.
“What begins in a storm in the Sahara, can darken skies in Europe. What is lifted in Central Asia, can alter air quality in China. The atmosphere does not recognize borders,” said Sara Basart, WMO Scientific Officer, at a briefing in Geneva.
And this is precisely what happened in 2024. Dust and sand from the Western Sahara travelled all the way to Spain’s Canary Islands. And fierce winds and drought in Mongolia brought dust to Beijing and northern China.
“These extreme weather events are not local anomalies. Sand and dust storms are fast becoming one of the most overlooked yet far-reaching global challenges of our time,” said a senior official on Thursday morning speaking on behalf of Philémon Yang, President of the General Assembly.
The storms can obscure sunlight, altering ecosystems on land and in the ocean. In addition to environmental impacts, these weather occurrences have profound impacts on humans and their economies.
“Once considered seasonal or localised, sand and dust storms have escalated into a persistent and intensifying global hazard,” said Rola Dashti, the co-chair of the UN Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms.
Between 2018-2022, over 3.8 billion people were exposed to dust particles, with the worst-affected regions experiencing dust exposure 87 per cent of the time during that same period.
These particles exacerbate cardiovascular diseases and have other adverse health effects, leading to 7 million premature deaths each year especially among already vulnerable populations.
Mr. Yang referred to this as the “staggering human toll”: from an economic perspective, storms can lead to a 20 per cent reduction in crop production among rural communities, pushing them towards hunger and poverty.
In the Middle East and North Africa alone, economic losses in 2024 as a result of sand and dust storms accounted for 2.5 per cent of the regional GDP.
WMO is calling on the international community to invest more in early warning systems and data tracking.
“No country, no matter how prepared, can face this challenge alone. Sand and dust storms are a trans-boundary threat that demands coordinated, multisectoral and multilateral action,” said Ms. Dashti.
With 2025-2034 declared the Decade on Combating Sand and Dust Storms, Mr. Yang said this should prove a turning point. He urged Member States to move from awareness to action – and fragmentation to coordination.
Tom Fletcher noted that over 30 million people require humanitarian assistance. Moreover, with famine declared in multiple places and over 14.6 million people displaced, Sudan represents the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.
“Again and again, the international community has said that we will protect the people of Sudan. The people of Sudan should ask us if, when and how we will start to deliver on that promise,” the relief chief said.
When will the international community fully fund aid efforts in Sudan?
When will accountability for the violence in Sudan happen?
He called on the international community to stop acting with ‘indifference and impunity’ towards Sudan,
Since the conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2022, civilian infrastructure across the country has been damaged or destroyed, including health facilities and water and sanitation systems.
The health system in particular has been “smashed to pieces,” according to Mr. Fletcher, leading to increasingly dire measles and cholera outbreaks.
The cholera outbreak, which began in July 2024 and is now confirmed in 13 of Sudan’s 18 states, has infected more than 74,000 people in total and killed 1,826.
“I have seen first-hand the devastation caused by the cholera outbreak in Khartoum, where the health system has been devastated by conflict and is struggling to cope with the tremendous demand on health facilities,” Dr. Shible Sahbni, WHO representative in Sudan.
The World Health Organization (WHO), in partnership with the Sudanese Ministry of Health, is launching a 10-day cholera vaccination campaign in Khartoum State.
The campaign will aim to reach 2.6 million people in an effort to contain the cholera outbreak in the state.
“The vaccines will help stop cholera in its tracks as we strengthen other response interventions,” said Dr. Sahbni.
Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) expressed solidarity with their colleagues who have recently been sanctioned by the United States Government, describing the move as “coercive measures aimed at undermining the independence of the judiciary.”
“The Judges stand united and will continue to exercise their functions independently, impartially and conscientiously, fulfilling the demands of the rule of law,” they said in a statement on Thursday.
The US announced sanctions on 6 June against four judges from Benin, Peru, Slovenia and Uganda. The justices are currently overseeing a 2020 case which alleges war crimes in Afghanistan committed by the US and Afghan armies and the 2024 ICC arrest warrants issued for sitting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
The International Court of Justice
The UN Human Rights Chief Volter Türk previously said that he was “deeply disturbed” by these sanctions, arguing that they corroded international governance and justice.
The ICC is an independent judicial body established under the Rome Statute, adopted in 1998. Although not part of the United Nations, the ICC works closely with it under a cooperative framework.
In the statement, the Judges said that they decide, and will continue to decide, cases based on facts and without regard to threats, restrictions or improper influence issued “from any quarter or for any reason.”
“The Judges reaffirm that they are equal in the performance of their functions and that they will always uphold the principle of equality before the law.”
Chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma are vastly underestimated, underdiagnosed and poorly managed in Europe – affecting 80 million people and costing $21 billion a year, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
A new report by WHO Europe and the European Respiratory Society highlights how smoking and air pollution are driving the growing crisis.
“We take 22,000 breaths a day, yet respiratory health remains one of the most neglected areas in global health,” said Professor Silke Ryan, President of the European Respiratory Society.
Data analysis shows that chronic respiratory illnesses are the sixth leading cause of death in Europe. They are often misdiagnosed owing to weak diagnostic systems, limited training and inadequate health data.
Although effective treatments are available, asthma-related deaths remain high among young people, while chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is responsible for eight in 10 respiratory disease deaths.
As preparations begin for the 2025 UN High-Level Meeting on non-communicable diseases, WHO Europe urged governments to prioritize chronic respiratory disease, set measurable targets and tackle root causes like tobacco and air pollution.
