Landmark South Sudan deal offers hope, but trust ‘still lacking’ between parties – UN envoy
Sep 14, 2018, at 08:46 am
New York, Sept 14 (IBNS): Rebuilding trust and overcoming suspicion will be key to ensure the success of Thursday’s landmark peace agreement between the South Sudanese Government and main political opposition, the top United Nations official in the country has said.
FROM THE FIELD: Rwanda’s Green Villages benefit poorest
Sep 14, 2018, at 08:43 am
New York, Sept 14 (IBNS): An innovative approach to supporting the poorest and most vulnerable in Rwanda, is helping to address environmental problems and achieve ambitious development goals there, according to the UN Development Programme, UNDP.
Scourge of genocide remains a ‘threat and a reality’ today: UN human rights chief
Sep 14, 2018, at 08:41 am
New York, Sept 14 (IBNS): Genocide remains a “threat and a reality” in the 21st century, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Thursday, in an appeal to States to do more to act on the “warning signs” that often precede grave violations of international law.
Sep 14, 2018, at 08:38 am
New York, Sept 14 (IBNS): Like few today, former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, could “bring people together, put them at ease, and unite them towards a common goal”, said the current UN chief, António Guterres on Thursday, speaking at his predecessor’s funeral in Ghana.
Sep 14, 2018, at 08:36 am
New York, Sept 14 (IBNS): Economic sanctions must not be allowed to degenerate into blockades which “expose people to the ravages of economic war in peacetime” said the UN independent expert on the effects of sanctions on human rights.
Sep 13, 2018, at 11:31 am
Naypyidaw, Sept 13 (IBNS): Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has finally broken her silence on the Rohingya crackdown and jailing of Reuters journalists.
South-South Cooperation Day focuses in on sustainable development, a ‘new phase of cooperation’
Sep 13, 2018, at 08:22 am
New York, Sept 13 (IBNS): As part of the 40th anniversary of the International Day for South-South Cooperation, the United Nations drew together on Wednesday, more than 100 best-practices developed in the countries of the Global South, which embody the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Sep 13, 2018, at 08:15 am
New York, Sept 13 (IBNS): The Occupied Palestinian Territory now suffers the highest unemployment rate in the world, with incomes and agricultural production going down, the United Nations trade and development agency said on Wednesday, noting that women and young people were worst affected, as the Israeli occupation continues.
‘Collective endeavour’ needed to strengthen peacekeeping further, says top UN official
Sep 13, 2018, at 08:12 am
New York, Sept 13 (IBNS): Highlighting complex and evolving challenges, the head of UN peacekeeping on Wednesday called for heightened vigilance and a more robust response to existential threats against both peacekeepers and those they strive to defend.
A record one million Syrians displaced over six months, during six key battles: UN investigators
Sep 13, 2018, at 08:06 am
New York, Sept 13 (IBNS): All parties to the seven-year Syria conflict and the States that support them should do “everything in their power” to prevent a full-scale military assault on Idlib, a high-level United Nations-appointed panel of investigators said on Wednesday.
Alarming level of reprisals against activists, human rights defenders, and victims – new UN report
Sep 13, 2018, at 08:03 am
New York, Sept 13 (IBNS): An alarming and “shameful” level of harsh reprisals and intimidation against those who cooperate with the United Nations in an effort to uphold human rights, has been revealed by a new UN report launched on Wednesday.
Iraq: Bomb blast kills 2 in Baghdad
Sep 12, 2018, at 07:09 pm
New Delhi, Sept 12 (IBNS): Two Iraqi civilians were injured in a bomb blast in Baghdad city of Iraq on Wednesday, media reports said.
Million gather at Catalonia national day rally in Barcelona
Sep 12, 2018, at 12:49 pm
Barcelona, Sept 12 (IBNS): Around a million people took to the streets in Barcelona to participate in the Catalonia national day rally and demand independence from Spain.
Former Brazilian President Lula pulls out of presidential election
Sep 12, 2018, at 11:06 am
Brasilia, Sept 12 (IBNS): Tainted Brazilian politician and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pulled out of next month's presidential election, reports said.
Yemen: UN envoy asks Security Council for more support ‘to move back’ to the negotiating table
Sep 12, 2018, at 09:13 am
New York, Sept 12 (IBNS): United Nations Special Envoy Martin Griffith told the Security Council on Tuesday that he never expected an easy mission when he convened Intra-Yemeni Consultations in Geneva last week, for which the Houthis delegation failed to show up.
‘Vague and over-broad’ laws stifling independent journalism in Myanmar – UN rights report
Sep 12, 2018, at 08:52 am
New York, Sept 12 (IBNS): Describing the conviction in Myanmar of two Reuters journalists last week as a “particularly outrageous” example of judicial harassment against the media there, “vague and over-broad” laws have made it impossible for the press to do its job in the country, without fear or favour, a new United Nations report has found.
Hunger reached ‘alarming’ ten-year high in 2017, according to latest UN report
Sep 12, 2018, at 08:45 am
New York, Sept 12 (IBNS): With food deprivation on the rise due to conflict and climate change, more people went hungry in 2017 than at any time in the previous decade, according to the latest edition of the UN’s annual multi-agency flagship report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.
Sep 12, 2018, at 08:41 am
New York, Sept 12 (IBNS): A full-scale battle for Idlib must be avoided at all costs, the United Nations Secretary-General has stressed, warning that failure to do so would unleash “a humanitarian nightmare unlike any seen in the blood-soaked Syrian conflict” so far.
Hungarian government ‘fuels discrimination against migrants’, say UN human rights experts
Sep 12, 2018, at 08:32 am
New York, Sept 12 (IBNS): New laws in Hungary, and Government attacks on civil society in the country, fuel “hostility, xenophobia, and discrimination against migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and all those trying to provide them support”, say a team of independent human rights experts mandated by the UN Human Rights Council.
Sep 11, 2018, at 08:51 am
New York, Sept 11 (IBNS): Corruption is present in all countries, “rich and poor, North and South, developed and developing,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Monday, at a session on tackling corruption for the sake of peace and international security.
New UN rights chief pledges to push back on ‘centuries of prejudice and discrimination’
Sep 11, 2018, at 08:45 am
New York, Sept 11 (IBNS): The UN’s newly appointed High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, intends to push back “centuries of prejudice and discrimination” against vulnerable groups including women and the peoples of the Global South, by pushing for more consensus between Member States, she said on Monday.
Egyptian death sentences a ‘gross miscarriage of justice’: UN human rights chief
Sep 10, 2018, at 03:20 pm
New York, Sept 10 (IBNS): An Egyptian court’s confirmation of 75 death sentences on Saturday has been condemned by Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as being the result of an unfair trial.
Madagascar: UN Secretary-General reaffirms support for electoral process
Sep 10, 2018, at 03:18 pm
New York, Sept 10 (IBNS): The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has welcomed the appointment on 7 September of Rivo Rakotovao, President of the Madagascar Senate, as acting president of the country.
Knife attack leaves seven hurt in Paris
Sep 10, 2018, at 09:08 am
Paris, Sept 10 (IBNS): At least seven people were hurt as a man, who was armed with knife and iron bar, attacked them in French city of Paris on Sunday, media reports said.
Madagascar: UN Secretary-General reaffirms support for electoral process
Sep 09, 2018, at 04:16 pm
New York, Sept 9 (IBNS): The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has welcomed the appointment on 7 September of Rivo Rakotovao, President of the Madagascar Senate, as acting president of the country.
Brazil election: Candidate Jair Bolsonaro not returning to campaign after being stabbed
Sep 08, 2018, at 12:12 pm
Brasilia, Sept 8 (IBNS): Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro will not return to campaign after he was stabbed during a rally on Thursday, his family has confirmed.
144 years on, Universal Postal Union meets to define its 21st Century role
Sep 08, 2018, at 08:45 am
New York, Sept 8 (IBNS):The Universal Postal Union (UPU), one of the world’s oldest international organizations, has met in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to improve its working practices and define its role in the modern world.
UN police investigating killing of displaced people in Central African Republic
Sep 08, 2018, at 08:41 am
New York, Sept 8 (IBNS): Perpetrators behind the killing of a number of people displaced by conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) must be brought to justice, the UN peacekeeping operation in the country said on Friday.
Halt ‘imminent’ executions of Kurdish prisoners, UN experts urge Iran
Sep 08, 2018, at 08:34 am
New York, Sept 8 (IBNS): Two independent United Nations human rights experts have called on the Iranian Government to halt the execution of three prisoners from the Kurdish community, amid concerns that they did not receive a fair trial and allegations that they were tortured while in detention.
‘Sanctity of human civilian life’ in Idlib must win out, urges UN Syria Envoy
Sep 08, 2018, at 08:31 am
New York, Sept 8 (IBNS): With the ingredients for a “perfect storm” brewing in the Syrian province of Idlib, the international community cannot allow civilians there to succumb to such a fate, the UN Envoy for the country told the Security Council on Friday.