Russia’s invasion of Ukraine compels Member States of the United Nations to unite in “cooperation and solidarity” to support all those impacted “and to overcome this violation of international law” said Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday, addressing the General Assembly in New York.
The global failure to deliver enough COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries “is prolonging the pandemic” and causing tens of thousands of preventable deaths every week, senior UN figures told the Human Rights Council on Thursday.
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), an independent, UN-backed body, is calling on governments to do more to regulate social media platforms that glamourize drug-related negative behaviour and boost sales of controlled substances.
At least two-thirds of households with children have lost income since the COVID-19 pandemic hit two years ago, according to a joint report published on Wednesday by the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) and World Bank.
The exodus of millions of Ukrainians from their country following the Russian invasion could overwhelm neighbouring countries, UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday, as the head of the UN Children’s Fund, expressed her horror over the reported destruction of a maternity hospital in the stricken coastal city of Mariupol, which has been under heavy bombardment for days.
Almost 500 million people have been infected with the coronavirus since March 2020 and new variants are still a threat. This Friday marks two years since the World Health Organization (WHO) characterised the global spread of COVID-19 as a pandemic.
New guidelines on abortion are now available from the World Health Organization (WHO), in a bid to prevent more than 25 million unsafe terminations that happen each year.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, has said that it is taking measures as best it can, to try and protect some of Ukraine’s priceless heritage from destruction in the face of the Russian invasion, noting that the international community also has a duty to help protect and preserve the country’s historic buildings, and other treasures.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has praised European countries welcoming people fleeing the war in Ukraine, whose numbers now surpass two million.
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process on Tuesday expressed deep concern over the “deteriorating security situation” this week in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where daily violence has claimed the lives of six Palestinians, including a child.
On day 13 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and amid rising numbers of civilian casualties, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday repeated her ceasefire call, with humanitarians on the ground describing conditions as increasingly “apocalyptic”.
Mariia Shostak, a 25-year-old woman living in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, started having contractions on 24 February, the day the Russian Federation launched a military offensive in Ukraine, and gave birth amid the sounds of air raid sirens.
Allowing civilians to safely leave areas under fire in Ukraine, and delivering desperately needed aid to these locations, are among immediate priorities for humanitarians, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, told the Security Council on Monday.
New York, 8 March 2022
On International Women’s Day, we celebrate women and girls everywhere.
We celebrate their contributions to ending the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their ideas, innovations and activism that are changing our world for the better.
And their leadership across all walks of life.
But we also recognize that in too many areas, the clock on women’s rights is moving backwards.
The pandemic has kept girls and...
South Sudan’s unity government marked its two-year anniversary against a backdrop of stalled constitutional progress and ongoing cycles of community violence – often fuelled by political groups and armed militias – the senior UN official in the country told the Security Council on Monday.
Unaccompanied and separated children fleeing the conflict in Ukraine must be protected, two senior UN officials said in a joint statement on Monday.
A convoy from the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) hit an improvised explosive device north of Mopti on Monday, killing at least two ‘blue helmets’, from Egypt, and wounding four others.
Ukraine addressed the UN’s highest court on Monday to reject as a “grotesque lie” Russia’s claims that genocide has been committed in eastern Ukrainian oblasts, or regions, before calling for emergency measures to halt Russian aggression.
Reports that Ukraine’s, and Europe’s, largest nuclear power plant is under the control of Russian forces is a cause for grave concern, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, said on Sunday.
UN chief António Guterres called on Sunday for a pause in fighting to allow civilians to escape conflict zones in Ukraine, as the UN rights body (OHCHR) announced it had recorded 1,123 civilian casualties since the beginning of Russia’s armed attack on the country.
Tropical Storm Ana left a trail of destruction in its wake in Malawi, particularly in hardest-hit southern districts, after it struck the country in late January. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has been at the forefront of efforts to help pregnant women and mothers by providing medical supplies, and reproductive services.
Amin Awad, the United Nations Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine, called on Saturday for an “immediate humanitarian pause” in fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, as UN aid supplies arrive in the country.
Amin Awad, the United Nations Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine, called on Saturday for an “immediate humanitarian pause” in fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, as UN aid supplies arrive in the country.
“Slave” tattoos, electric shock devices, and plastic bracelets. These are examples of the kinds of objects and physical abuses deployed by human traffickers to control, torture, and brand their victims, and which are crucial to securing a conviction.
This Week in DPPA is a brief roundup of political and peacebuilding events and developments at UNHQ and around the world.
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Amid reports of dwindling food supplies in embattled areas in Ukraine, the World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday began ramping up operations, warning that the conflict could have consequences beyond the country.
UN humanitarians on Friday described as “unprecedented,” the continuing outflow of children and families fleeing the “relentless shelling” of Russian military action in Ukraine – as they await assurances for the safe passage of relief teams to provide urgently needed assistance.
Madam President,
The Secretary-General is gravely concerned by the escalating fighting throughout Ukraine. Ukrainian cities are today under siege and facing repeated attacks.
Over one million Ukrainians have already crossed Ukraine’s borders and have been welcomed by their European neighbours. We applaud such solidarity and support. Everyone seeking refuge should be afforded protection without any form of discrimination.
Millions of Ukrainians who remain in the country are being subjected to heavy, often indiscriminate, bombardment and shelling. There are thousands of casualties and their number is growing.
The UN is significantly increasing its humanitarian assistance in Ukraine to respond to the escalating crisis.
Madam President,
The Secretary-General has followed with great alarm reports of heavy fighting around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. We understand that the fire affected a training facility and not the cooling system or power center.
Military operations around nuclear sites and other critical civilian infrastructure are not only unacceptable but highly irresponsible.
Ukraine knows only too well the devastation of a major nuclear accident. The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 stands as a lasting example of why it is vital to ensure all nuclear power plants have the highest standards of safety and security.
Every effort should be taken to avoid a catastrophic nuclear incident.
The persistence and bravery of the Ukrainian personnel who continue to keep power plants safely operational during this crisis are to be applauded.
Madam President,
Attacks on nuclear power facilities are contrary to international humanitarian law. Specifically, Article 56 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention, states that: “Works or installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.”
The Secretary-General welcomes the statements and actions by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on this issue and is ready to assist however he can.
It is vital that all parties work with the IAEA to establish an appropriate framework that will ensure the safe, secure and reliable operation of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.
Urgent and safe passage should be granted to IAEA personnel should they need to travel to Ukraine to work with regulators.
Madam President,
We welcome the reported agreement between the Ukrainian and Russian negotiators during their second round of talks in Belarus yesterday. We understand the discussion focused on the establishment of humanitarian corridors to allow safe passage for civilians and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
We hope that this reported agreement is implemented without delay and that a full and unconditional ceasefire is quickly agreed and enacted.
We urge the sides to continue negotiations and to make urgent progress on security, humanitarian and other issues.
Madam President,
As the Secretary-General has emphatically stated, the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders, must be respected, in line with General Assembly resolutions.
What we are witnessing in Ukraine today is inconsistent with the principles of the UN Charter.
Only diplomacy and negotiations can achieve a truly lasting solution to the current conflict.
The fighting in Ukraine must stop. And it must stop now.
Thank you, Madam President.
On World Obesity Day, marked on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged countries to do more to reverse what is a preventable health crisis.
After Russian forces took control overnight of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in south-eastern Ukraine, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief said on Friday that it there was “no release of radioactive material” and that it continued to be operated by its regular staff.
Heavy fighting reported overnight at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power is both unacceptable and “highly irresponsible,” the UN’s senior political affairs official told the Security Council during an emergency meeting on Friday, while assuring members that radiation levels are normal and the facility’s cooling system was not affected.
Russia’s military attack on Ukraine has “opened a new and dangerous chapter in world history,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet told an urgent debate on Thursday, leading calls for a ceasefire.
The World Health Organization (WHO), for the first time, included an oral antiviral drug in its COVID-19 treatment guidance.
The “senseless war” in Ukraine has forced one million people to flee the country in just seven days, while countless others have been displaced within its borders, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Thursday.
The “senseless war” in Ukraine has forced one million people to flee the country in just seven days, while countless others have been displaced within its borders, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Thursday.
Six months after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, it is time for concerned countries to deepen their engagement with the country’s new authorities and take action to prevent an irreversible economic collapse, the top UN official in Kabul told the Security Council on Wednesday.
The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution on Wednesday demanding that Russia immediately end its military operations in Ukraine.
