Human rights through the eyes of Andy Vermaut

At least one in eight people on Earth are living with obesity, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, citing a newly released global medical study. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1147107?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

As the devastating war in Gaza continues, UN investigators examining Israeli accusations against a dozen employees of the beleaguered UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, have arrived in Jordan and are planning to visit Israel, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Thursday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1147102?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The world urgently needs 44 million teachers by 2030 in order to make the Sustainable Development Goals a reality, a new report from UNESCO, the UN agency championing education, announced this week.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1147067?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The “carnage” in Gaza has left more than 30,000 dead and must end immediately, UN rights chief Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council on Thursday, after almost five months of constant Israeli bombardment and mass displacement in the enclave, prompted by Hamas-led attacks.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1147052?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The UN aviation agency on Wednesday announced that air traffic levels are operating at around two per cent above their high in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic grounded much of the world’s population in lockdown. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1147042?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

No communications, no medicine and little hope. That’s what operating a hospital in a war zone has become in Gaza, according to a team of doctors trapped for weeks inside the besieged Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1147037?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Humanitarians are hoping that donors will robustly support a $674 million plan for Haiti, where armed gangs continue to terrorize the population, a senior UN official said on Wednesday during a briefing to journalists in New York.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1147032?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

More than 7,000 tonnes of wheat donated by war-ravaged Ukraine will help to feed one million conflict-affected people in Sudan for a month, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1147012?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

All parties to the Gaza conflict have been responsible for “clear violations of international humanitarian law including possible war crimes”, according to the UN’s top human rights official, Volker Türk. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1147007?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

People caught up in humanitarian emergencies are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), UN agencies and partners warned on Tuesday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1147002?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Fallout from conflict in the Middle East and ongoing fighting in Syria are having a devastating impact on civilians inside the country, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Tuesday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146992?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The mobile phone industry has pledged over $9 billion towards the goal of connecting the world, said the chief of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Monday, addressing the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146987?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

UN relief agencies operating in wartorn Gaza voiced deep frustration on Tuesday over continuing aid access restrictions placed on them by the Israeli military, after ambulances carrying patients away from a stricken hospital at the weekend were stopped for several hours while health workers were searched and detained. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146977?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

War crimes, racism, arbitrary detention and rape as a weapon of war: these just a few of the pressing international issues over which the UN Human Rights Council deliberates. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146957?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Amid geopolitical divides, arms competition, increasingly dangerous new technologies and an elevated nuclear risk, the Secretary-General on Monday highlighted his concern that the UN Conference on Disarmament is consistently failing to deliver. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146962?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Very little humanitarian aid has entered besieged Gaza this month, with a 50 per cent reduction compared to January, the head of the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Monday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146947?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

An all-out Israeli offensive on Rafah would spell the end for UN-led humanitarian relief to the people of Gaza, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Monday, in a wide-ranging call to the international community to fulfil its “primary responsibility” of promoting and protecting human rights everywhere and for everyone. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146942?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Communities in some of the most climate-change-affected areas in southern Madagascar are finding ways to thrive in increasingly challenging environments by becoming more resilient and adapting to unpredictable weather patterns. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146937?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Every two years, all 193 UN Member States have an opportunity to collectively address critical environmental issues facing the planet. This moment is the United Nations Environment Assembly, or UNEA, the sixth edition of which will be held from 26 February to 1 March, in Nairobi, Kenya. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146932?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

“Here are the choices: ethnic cleansing, apartheid or genocide,” said Palestine’s foreign minister at the opening of public hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) this week, with a record 52 States and three international organizations providing comments and presentations on a case based on the UN General Assembly’s request for an advisory opinion on legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in Occupied Palestinian Territory. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146927?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The top UN aid official in Ukraine deplored new attacks on the cities of Odesa and Dnipro on Friday, as the full-scale Russian invasion of the country enters a third year.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146917?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

After a year of hype surrounding the latest version of ChatGPT and other new AI tools, governments are starting to make concerted efforts to bring in effective regulations on the use of this powerful technology, with the support of the UN science agency, UNESCO.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2028/02/1146727?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Cybercrime is a multi-trillion-dollar business. Drugs and weapons are being bought on the “dark web”, fraudsters are fleecing members of the public in elaborate online scams, and terrorists are grooming supporters and recruiting fighters.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2028/01/1146742?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The UN agency serving Palestine refugees (UNRWA) has reached breaking point due to Israeli calls for its abolition and the associated funding freeze, just when it is needed most, said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146867?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea coupled with wider geopolitical and climate-related crises, are upending international trade, inflating costs and causing major delays, the UN’s trade and development body said on Thursday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146862?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Researchers have been deployed to the Middle East and requests issued to meet with Israel officials, said the head of an independent team reviewing the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, briefing reporters at UN Headquarters on Thursday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146857?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

In a collective appeal, heads of UN humanitarian entities and global NGOs implored world leaders to help prevent further deterioration of the crisis in Gaza that has left tens of thousands of Palestinians – mostly women and children – dead. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146837?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) on Wednesday urged greater support for the country’s efforts to build a professional national army, as part of a security overhaul, and stem the proliferation of deadly illicit weapons. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146827?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Today’s multilateral arrangements – global and regional organizations and major development banks – are “not up to the job” of helping countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the deputy UN chief said on Tuesday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146822?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Myanmar’s military government is becoming an even greater threat to civilians following the imposition of a mandatory draft this month, the UN independent expert on human rights in the country said on Wednesday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146802?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

An “inhumane” health and humanitarian situation now prevails across Gaza with conditions continuing to deteriorate, the head of the UN World Health Organization warned on Wednesday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146792?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

People living in Madagascar are learning to adapt to rapidly altering climatic conditions in what is said to be the fourth most climate change affected country worldwide; that’s according to the UN Resident Coordinator, the most senior UN official in the Indian Ocean island nation. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146737?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), fighting between the M23 armed group and national forces has further compounded the dire humanitarian situation in the east, the head of the UN Mission in the country, MONUSCO, said on Tuesday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146782?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The UN’s top relief official on Tuesday released $100 million from the Organization’s core humanitarian emergency fund to support underfunded aid operations in seven countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146747?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The Government of Papua New Guinea must effectively address escalating tribal violence, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146712?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The Security Council is due to meet at 10:00 AM in New York to vote on a resolution on Gaza calling for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that must be respected by all parties”. Following all our live coverage here of another day of high stakes diplomacy. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146697?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Somalia remains resilient and strongly committed to state-building but more is needed to sustain the gains made in the fight against terrorist insurgency, the UN Special Representative in the country told the Security Council on Monday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146682?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

An extension of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, where over a million internally displaced Palestinians have been forced to shelter, will have “dire humanitarian consequences”, the UN Senior Humanitarian Coordinator for Gaza said on Monday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146672?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Alleged rights violations against Palestinian women and girls in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank must be investigated, a group of experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Monday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146667?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The United Kingdom’s legislative moves to facilitate the prompt removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda run contrary to the basic principles of the rule of law and risk delivering a “serious blow” to human rights, the UN rights chief warned on Monday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146662?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The UN Secretary-General on Monday highlighted the urgent need for an end to restrictions imposed by the Taliban de facto authorities on women and girls in Afghanistan. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146657?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Ongoing humanitarian crises in southern Madagascar have worsened the situation for people with mental health disorders, but the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) has been supporting patients by providing more psychiatric consultations. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146577?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Zero energy light bulbs and sturdy bricks for schools and homes. Some innovative communities in South Sudan are reusing waste in new ways as the world rallies to ban plastic pollution by the year’s end, with help from a small team of experts led by climate and environmental scientist Shazneen Cyrus Gazdar at theUN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146592?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Reports from Russian authorities on Friday that imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died are absolutely shocking, said Mariana Katzarova, the first ever UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent expert on Russia, prompting her to ask a simple question: “Who is next?” https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146647?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Afghan women fear arrest, harassment and further punishment whenever a new Taliban decree is announced, according to a new multi-agency UN report issued on Friday based on an extensive survey of women across the country. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146642?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday said it was “appalled” over the death announced by Russian authorities of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison, calling for an impartial and transparent independent investigation. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146627?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

International cooperation is vital to confront the multi-faceted challenges resulting from terrorism, the head of the UN Office dedicated to confronting the scourge worldwide said on Thursday, calling for decisive multilateral action. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146607?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

In the battle to slow global warming, January was the hottest month on record according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Thursday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146602?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

An independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Thursday that Israel’s decision to ban her from entering the country is nothing new and must not distract from atrocities being committed in Gaza.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146587?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Progress towards credible elections in Libya is impossible without an agreement between the key political players, the UN’s top envoy to the north African country said on Thursday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2024/02/1146582?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger