UNRWA’s communications director Juliette Touma described catastrophic scenes at the camp, where some 100 buildings had been “destroyed or heavily damaged” by the detonations at the weekend. The camp’s residents had “endured the impossible”, she said, after nearly two months of “unceasing and escalating violence” linked to the Israeli military …
Four years after the coup, Myanmar remains on the brink — Global Issues
Myanmar’s Enduring Polycrisis: Four Years into a Tumultuous Journey, launched on Wednesday, points to the bleak picture of a nation in freefall, with nearly half the population living below the poverty line, essential services crumbling and the economy in disarray. With no political resolution in sight, the crisis is expected …
Live updates as Security Council holds emergency meeting — Global Issues
© UNICEF/Jospin Benekire Fighting has displaced thousands of people in eastern DR Congo, with many fleeing to camps near Goma. (file) Sunday, January 26, 2025 UN News Spiralling violence and killings in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo triggered an emergency Security Council meeting Sunday morning on the heels …
UN officials call for ceasefire compliance after 15 people killed in Lebanon — Global Issues
The timelines envisaged in the November ceasefire agreement “have not been met”, according to a joint statement by UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and head of the UN peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, and force commander Aroldo Lázaro. The agreement between Israel and armed group Hezbollah had been reached after …
What’s UNDOF? Why UN peacekeepers patrol the Israel-Syria border — Global Issues
One of the UN’s longest-standing peacekeeping missions – the UN Disengagement Observer Force, known by its acronym UNDOF – began more than a half century ago when the 1973 Middle East crisis erupted. The Agreement on Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian forces was concluded which provided for an area of …
UN relocates non-critical staff from North Kivu, DR Congo — Global Issues
The UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, is relocating administrative staff and others in North Kivu that can continue performing their duties from elsewhere in response to the deteriorating security situation and intensifying hostilities involving the non-State armed group M23, a Rwandan-backed movement fighting against the Congolese Government. “This precautionary …
Guterres welcomes start of ceasefire in Gaza as UN ramps up food deliveries — Global Issues
“We stand ready to support this implementation and scale up the delivery of sustained humanitarian relief to the countless Palestinians who continue to suffer,” the UN chief said in a social media post. He added: “It is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering …
Security Council briefed on challenges to peacekeeping in Lebanon, Syria — Global Issues
Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix was joined by Major General Patrick Gauchat, Head of the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) who is temporarily in charge of the UN force in the Golan, UNDOF. Mr. Lacroix is currently in Lebanon, where the UN Interim Force in the country UNIFIL, monitors …
Ceasefire is the start, not the solution — Global Issues
Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Lazzarini emphasised that the agreement is only the first step in addressing the region’s overwhelming humanitarian challenges. He joined UN Secretary-General António Guterres in urging all parties to fully implement the ceasefire and ensure unrestricted humanitarian access to meet urgent …
More than 125,000 refugees return to Syria in desperate conditions — Global Issues
Leading calls for the international community to “move from words to action” to help the country’s most vulnerable returnees urgently, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said that many families have little shelter and few economic prospects. “In recent weeks, there has been talk in high-level international circles of the need …
Gaza’s health system on brink of collapse — Global Issues
In a Security Councilmeeting on Friday, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) representative for the West Bank and Gaza, painted a grim picture of the situation, emphasising that over 25 per cent of the 105,000 injured civilians now face life-changing injuries. “At the current rate, it would take five …
UN continues to call for timely Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon — Global Issues
This includes movements further north reported in Sector East, while a redeployment by the Lebanese Armed Forces was conducted this week in Shama, in Sector West. Both Israel and Lebanon have recommitted to full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said during the daily media …
Top rights expert decries attacks on hospitals — Global Issues
William O’Neill, who reports to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, highlighted an attack on the Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince on 17 December and the killing of several journalists and a police officer at the General Hospital on 24 December. The victims were attending the hospital’s official reopening. …
Security Council holds emergency meeting on collapse of Gaza health system — Global Issues
© UNRWA Patients are teated at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza (file photo). Friday, January 03, 2025 UN News The UN Security Council is meeting in emergency session at 10am in New York on the collapse of health services in Gaza. The meeting was called by Algeria, the …
Israel attacks push Gaza healthcare ‘to brink of collapse’ — Global Issues
A report published by the Office documents attacks carried out between 12 October 2023 and 30 June 2024, raises serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law. Medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit – or are not used to commit, …
‘It will take years to help people deal with the invisible consequences of war” — Global Issues
“I am continually inspired by the strength and courage of the Ukrainian people. As I have travelled to Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, and most recently to Kramatorsk and Lyman, I have seen for myself how the disruption of essential services such as electricity, water and heating affects people. I …
UNRWA chief renews call for probe into attacks on humanitarians in Gaza — Global Issues
Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini made the appeal in a statement posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. He noted that 15 months after the war began in Gaza, “horrors continue unabated under the world’s watch”. 258 UNRWA staff killed Citing latest information from his teams, Mr. Lazzarini said that …
UN official warns against further escalation amid attacks in Yemen, Israel and the Red Sea — Global Issues
Briefing the Security Council in New York, Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Khaled Khiari, warned the Middle East was witnessing another dangerous escalation. He said that attacks in Israel and Yemen, as well as in the Red Sea, are of grave concern, and warned that further …
UN chief hails ‘peacemaker, human rights champion’, former President Jimmy Carter — Global Issues
The Democratic Party icon lived longer than any president in US history, serving one term between 1977 and 1981, going on burnish his reputation on the international stage by being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and establishing a major hub for diplomacy and conflict resolution in the form of the …
‘Hunger is everywhere’, babies die from the cold, airstrike on unarmed journalists condemned — Global Issues
In Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes are sheltering in tents, the temperatures are expected to drop further in the coming days. Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, reported in a statement on Friday that, according to the Palestinian …