China hails human rights progress amid calls to close detention camps
Nov 07, 2018, at 09:13 am
New York, Nov 7 (IBNS): China has pledged to eradicate poverty in rural areas by 2020 during a scheduled United Nations review of the country’s human rights record, amid concerns over the alleged arbitrary detention of religious and ethnic minorities there.
Caravan of Mothers of Missing Migrants kick off a global migration search movement
Nov 07, 2018, at 09:10 am
As mothers searching for the whereabouts of their migrant children amassed last weekend in Mexico City, a historic nine countries were represented, as well as the United Nations International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Missing Migrants Project.
‘Time is of the essence’ for refugees on Greek islands – UN agency
Nov 07, 2018, at 09:05 am
New York, Nov 7 (IBNS): in Greece must take urgent steps to address the “abhorrent” humanitarian situation for around 11,000 asylum-seekers on the islands of Samos and Lesvos, the UN refugee agency warned on Tuesday.
ISIL’s ‘legacy of terror’ in Iraq: UN verifies over 200 mass graves
Nov 07, 2018, at 08:57 am
New York, Nov 7 (IBNS): Investigators have uncovered more than 200 mass graves containing thousands of bodies in areas of Iraq formerly controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), according to a United Nations human rights report out on Tuesday.
‘Warp speed’ technology must be ‘force for good’ UN chief tells web leaders
Nov 06, 2018, at 08:33 am
New York, Nov 6 (IBNS): Technological advances are happening “at a warp speed,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday in Lisbon, Portugal, as a major three-day Web Summit got underway.
UN recorded 64 new allegations of sexual exploitation or abuse in the past three months
Nov 06, 2018, at 08:30 am
New York, Nov 6 (IBNS): Across its various offices, agencies, and partner organisations implementing its programmes, the United Nations received 64 new allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), involving 77 victims, between July and September, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday.
Nov 06, 2018, at 08:28 am
New York, Nov 6 (IBNS): The planned prosecution of Supreme Court judges who acquitted 11 peasant farmers jailed over the death of police officers during a violent land eviction in 2012, known as the Curuguaty Massacre”, could undermine the rule of law, a UN expert said on Monday.
Ending use of chemical weapons in Syria: ‘still work to be done’, says UN disarmament chief
Nov 06, 2018, at 08:25 am
New York, Nov 6 (IBNS): As inspections and investigations continue into several reported instances of chemical weapons use against civilians in Syria, the United Nations High Representative on Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, told the Security Council on Monday that much remains to be done to end their use, and called for international unity.
Saudi Arabia expresses ‘regret and pain’ over Khashoggi killing, during UN rights review
Nov 06, 2018, at 08:22 am
New York, Nov 6 (IBNS): Saudi Arabia expressed “regret and pain” for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, during a scheduled review session at the UN in Geneva on Monday, while asserting its commitment to achieving the “highest possible standards” in human rights in the country, including for women and migrants
Nov 06, 2018, at 08:17 am
New York, Nov 6 (IBNS): United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called for greater preparedness to offset the disastrous impact of tsunamis, which are causing increasing human, economic and development losses, illustrated most recently by the destruction across the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
Saudi Arabia, China, among 14 nations under UN human rights spotlight: what you need to know
Nov 06, 2018, at 08:11 am
New York, Nov 6 (IBNS): The United Nation’s highest human rights body, the Human Rights Council (HRC), will start reviewing on Monday the track records of 14 countries, including Saudi Arabia and China. Here’s our UN News guide to how it works and why it matters.
Apple iPhones to get 5G in 2020: Reports
Nov 04, 2018, at 07:56 pm
New York, Nov 4 (IBNS): Tech giant Apple might launch 5G iPhone in the market in 2020, media reports said.
UN agency assists Central American caravan migrants, voices concern for receiving countries
Nov 04, 2018, at 05:47 pm
New York, Nov 4 (IBNS): The United Nations Migration Agency, IOM, is providing support and assistance to migrants on caravans crossing Central America while expressing concern over “the stress and demands” they are placing on host countries.
Nov 04, 2018, at 05:21 pm
New York, Nov 4 (IBNS): The United Nations and Syrian Arabic Red Crescent (SARC) kicked off a joint aid operation on Saturday, delivering vital humanitarian assistance to 50,000 people in south-east Syria’s Rukban camp, near the Jordanian border.
International court rejects Saif Gaddafi call to drop arrest warrant
Nov 03, 2018, at 08:29 am
New York, Nov 3 (IBNS): A call by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi – son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and de facto Prime Minister of the country during the time of his father’s rule – for an international arrest warrant against him to be ruled inadmissible, was rejected by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), on Friday.
Yemen: UN chief hails ‘signs of hope’ in world’s worst man-made humanitarian disaster
Nov 03, 2018, at 08:26 am
New York, Nov 3 (IBNS): Welcoming recent indications that peace talks could resume soon to end Yemen’s brutal civil conflict, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday there is “no room for complacency,” and called on the warring parties and the international community to “halt the senseless cycle of violence” and “reach a political settlement”.
More countries partner to target ‘zero hunger’ in global south
Nov 03, 2018, at 08:24 am
New York, Nov 3 (IBNS): More than 20 countries committed to a new declaration on agricultural and rural development on Friday, in a bid to stamp out poverty and hunger. The commitment came at the end of a forum on international development cooperation in Changsha, China.
Nov 03, 2018, at 08:21 am
New York, Nov 3 (IBNS): The United Nations human rights chief has warned that an official campaign in and around the capital of Tanzania to identify and detain anyone suspected of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) “could turn into a witch-hunt.”
‘Colossal human loss’ threatens Asia, Pacific as hunger fight stalls – UN agencies
Nov 03, 2018, at 08:18 am
New York, Nov 3 (IBNS): Well over half the world’s undernourished people live in the Asia-Pacific region, making it a critical part of the global push to end extreme hunger and malnutrition in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs), cautioned a new United Nations report on Friday.
UN urges more protection for Nigeria’s most vulnerable after deadly attack on camp
Nov 03, 2018, at 08:15 am
New York, Nov 3 (IBNS): Hundreds of people already forced to flee their homes by violence in Nigeria’s troubled north-east have been uprooted once again after deadly attacks in and around a camp where they were sheltering, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, said on Friday.
Sony Music stabbing: Two injured
Nov 02, 2018, at 07:39 pm
London, Nov 2 (IBNS): Two people were stabbed at Sony Music's headquarters in London city on Friday, officials said.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev says export a priority area of country's foreign economic policy
Nov 02, 2018, at 11:59 am
Tashkent, Nov 2 (IBNS): Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has said that export will be a priority area in his country's economic policy.
Death penalty concerns highlighted in Sudan, Belarus, by UN Human Rights Committee
Nov 02, 2018, at 09:05 am
New York, Nov 2 (IBNS): Countries should heed the “clear pro-abolitionist spirit” towards the death penalty of one of the world’s most important treaties, a key UN independent human rights panel said on Thursday, while highlighting concerns about right-to-life violations in Belarus and Sudan.
As South Sudan celebrates, UN envoy cites trust as future ‘key ingredient’
Nov 02, 2018, at 09:02 am
New York, Nov 2 (IBNS): Thousands of elated citizens gathered in South Sudan’s capital of Juba on Wednesday to celebrate an agreement signed in September between the President and his former deputy, which it is hoped will finally end years of brutal conflict across the world’s youngest country.
Killing of journalists ‘outrageous’ and should not be ‘new normal’
Nov 02, 2018, at 09:00 am
New York, Nov 2 (IBNS): The killing of journalists around the world for doing their job is “outrageous” and should not become the “new normal” according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
UN General Assembly renews long-standing call for end to US embargo against Cuba
Nov 02, 2018, at 08:51 am
New York, Nov 2 (IBNS): The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted in favour of condemning the United States economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba - a call it has made every year since 1992.
Looming famine in Yemen could put two million mothers at risk of death – UN agency
Nov 02, 2018, at 08:47 am
New York, Nov 2 (IBNS): The critical difficulties in accessing food in Yemen, and other hardships caused by the ongoing conflict, could lead to the world’s worst famine ever, and place up to two million malnourished, pregnant and lactating women at risk of death, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, said on Thursday.
Fighting ‘existential crisis’ of encroaching desert sands
Nov 02, 2018, at 08:45 am
New York, Nov 2 (IBNS): In a move described as a landmark decision, the Group of Earth Observations (GEO) – a UN-backed partnership set up to improve Earth observation data-sharing and availability, to benefit all life – has launched a global initiative to reverse the “existential crisis” created by desertification and land degradation.
Nov 02, 2018, at 08:38 am
New York, Nov 2 (IBNS): Ongoing tensions between the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and the country’s state authorities were centre stage, as the United Nations top envoy for the country visited the country’s South West State on Wednesday.
Guinean peacekeepers walk a fine line in Mali
Nov 01, 2018, at 12:28 pm
New York, Nov 1 (IBNS): A team of Guinean peacekeepers deployed to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, (MINUSMA) is playing a key role in removing explosives from areas in which the mission is operating.