Health equity

Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran – a group of Council-appointed independent experts - said that Ms. Amini’s death in September 2022 was “unlawful and caused by physical…

“Famine is projected to occur anytime between now and May 2024 in the northern governorates,” the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said, upon publication of a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report on…

The incident occurred in the vicinity of Sake, just 20 kilometers from Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu. The wounded peacekeepers, who were part of Operation Springbok initiated last November to safeguard civilians in the…

In a fresh alert about the disastrous humanitarian emergency still unfolding in the enclave, the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said on Friday that it will “take years” before the Strip is made safe again. The lives of more than two…

Latest graphic findings from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine - created by the Human Rights Council two years ago – highlight the ongoing grave impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24…

In his message to the opening of the 67th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, Secretary-General António Guterres said the proliferation of powerful street drugs and pharmaceutical misuse needs to be addressed through balanced…

Briefing ambassadors at the UN Security Council, Hans Grundberg voiced his disappointment at the failure to achieve key milestones that ordinary Yemenis have been demanding, by Ramadan.“As I briefed last month, the mediation space has…

Six Palestinians are believed to have died in the Gaza City incident and 83 more were wounded as they waited for aid trucks to arrive at Kuwait Roundabout, according to news reports.The development came after relief chief Martin…

Ms. Boucly spoke to Khaled Mohamed from UN News as news emerged of fresh Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, and an UNRWA report that more children have been killed there in recent months than in four years of conflict worldwide. On Wednesday,…

“This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, who described as “staggering” the latest Gaza health authority data indicating that at least 12,300…

“Any food and other emergency aid that comes into Gaza, as we all know, is desperately needed; there is no question about it,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN aid coordination office, OCHA. “So it's highly appreciated…But it's not…

3:06 PMMs. Patten is briefing ambassadors, and said the Council was meeting more than 150 days after the coordinated Hamas-led attack, the deadliest in Israeli history.She also reminded that more than 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women…

The UN Syria Commission of Inquiry, which reports to the Human Rights Council, warned that fighting escalated on 5 October last year, when consecutive explosions at a military academy graduation ceremony in government-controlled Homs…

“Even though Ramadan has begun, the killing, bombing and bloodshed continue in Gaza...My strongest appeal today is to honour the spirit of Ramadan by silencing the guns and removing all obstacles to ensure the delivery of lifesaving aid…

March marks the thirteenth anniversary of the conflict in Syria, with systematic atrocities and untold suffering of civilians.According to UN estimates, 16.7 million people, equivalent to 70 per cent of the total population, will require…

Speaking before a panel of experts at the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, Volker Türk underscored the importance of strengthening social cohesion and increasing respect, with a particular focus on the role of social…

In resolution 2724 (2024), adopted with 14 votes in favour and one abstention (Russia), the Council also called on all parties to the conflict to seek a sustainable resolution to the fighting through dialogue. The conflict between the…

The report to the Human Rights Council said violations and crimes under international law committed in the protests sparked by the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in September 2022 include extra-judicial and unlawful killings and murder,…

Spokesperson for Volker Türk in Geneva, Jeremy Laurence, told journalists that an already catastrophic situation could “slide deeper into the abyss” in the coming days if Israeli forces make their move on the southern border city,…

In a statement, Tor Wennesland reminded that all Israeli settlements the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal under international law.Permits for the new dwellings were approved by Israeli authorities on Wednesday, the first since…

The war between rival militaries Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), now in its eleventh month, has not only claimed thousands of lives but has created a massive internal displacement crisis.More than six…

For months, the UN has been warning of a looming famine, particularly in northern Gaza as everything needed to sustain life has either been destroyed or simply run out. This is now being translated into , not as a result of shells and…

In a hard-hitting report to the Human Rights Council, Special Rapporteur David Boyd underscored that current business practices, particularly large coporations, pose a severe threat to the planet’s ecological integrity.‘Colossal impacts’…

These are “children who survived bombardment but may not survive a famine,” the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros said on X, formerly Twitter.  Accompanying the WHO chief’s warning, video testimony from Kamal Adwan…

The northeast African country is already in the grip of the world's largest displacement crisis, the UN World Food Programme, WFP, noted. Fighting between the Sudanese Army and a rival group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has…

Briefing ambassadors at the Security Council, Jean-Pierre Lacroix said that if the parties display greater political will and invest adequate resources, credible elections can still take place before the end of the transition…

“The sexual abuse and the exploitation of children within the entertainment industry resulting from unethical systems, structures, practices or abuse of power and authority is widespread,” said Mama Fatima Singhateh, the UN Special…

“WHO and partners managed to access (Al) Shifa (hospital) in the north and deliver fuel, some lifesaving supplies for 150 patients and treatment of 50 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition and also bring it vaccines,” said…

On a mission to the Horn of Africa nation, Executive Director Waly underscored on Friday that “Somalia faces daunting challenges that range from terrorism to resurgent piracy, poverty and the consequences of climate change.”A complicated…

In an update to the UN Human Rights Council, Mr. Türk described 2024 as a “mega election year” with more than 60 countries slated to hold elections involving nearly half of the world's people.“Every election – even an imperfect one –…

10:22 AMPalestine: Israeli atrocities are ‘unchecked, unhinged’Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, stated that there is no greater to international peace and security than the…

“I am deeply concerned that in this powder keg, any spark could lead to a much broader conflagration,” Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council, the UN’s top rights forum. In a scheduled update on global crises to the Council’s 47…

“The child deaths we feared are here,” Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement issued on Sunday.At least 10 children have died from dehydration and malnutrition at Kamal Adwan…

UN Women estimated that 9,000 women have been reportedly killed by Israeli forces since the war erupted nearly five months ago. However, the figure is likely to be higher as many more are reported dead under the rubble.“While this war…

Droughts, partly caused by climate change and the resulting lack of water, have driven many communities to the brink as they have been unable to grow the crops they rely on for survival. Many are forced to rely on humanitarian aid.But…

In a scheduled update to the UN’s top rights forum, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights explained that the humanitarian emergency there linked to the 2021 coup had worsened in recent months. “Three years of military rule have…

At Beabo Primary School in Ambovombe in the south of Madagascar, teams of students are in competition to cook the tastiest and most nutritional meal using locally available products which hopefully will encourage their parents and others…

“The official records yesterday or this morning said there was a tenth child officially registered in a hospital as having starved to death,” said UN health agency spokesperson Christian Lindmeier. “A very sad threshold…(but) the…

“The war in Gaza must end,” Mr. Türk said, insisting that it was “well past time” for peace, accountability and investigations into the “clear” violations of international humanitarian law and possible war crimes by both sides.Horrors of…

Civil aviation organization ICAO said that the numbers for the first quarter of 2024 indicate that airlines will sustain the return to profitability recorded in 2023.“The commitment of Member States to aligning their pandemic responses…

“We are appalled by the public executions of three people at sports stadiums in Afghanistan in the past week, said OHCHR spokesperson Jeremy Laurence in a statement.“Public executions are a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment…

In his latest report on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory scheduled to be delivered to the Human Rights Council later on Wednesday, Mr. Türk repeats his condemnation of the Hamas-led massacres in Israel on 7 October…

2:30 PM - The UN humanitarian affairs coordination office, OCHA, said in information formally submitted on 22 February to ambassadors – known as a white note – that at least 576,000 people were “facing catastrophic levels of deprivation…

“Regional spillover is only the latest accelerant to a conflict that is growing in complexity and with each passing year. The situation is worsening on almost all indicators and the status quo is unsustainable and unmanageable,” he…

“This is not an isolated incident. Aid convoys have come under fire and are systematically denied access to people in need,” said the UN Humanitarian Country Team in Palestine, after the mission to evacuate 24 patients from Al Amal…

Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva at the start of its first high-level session of the year, the UN chief insisted that any further extension of Israel’s ground operation in the south of Gaza “would not only be terrifying for…

UN News’s Daniel Dickinson travelled to Madagascar ahead of the United Nations Environment Assembly, which is taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 26 February, to ask people how they are coping.Life is becoming increasingly challenging…

Filed before the ongoing four-month-old war in Gaza began, the case has triggered heated commentary even before the court's president, Judge Nawaf Salam, opened the hearings. This recap provides snapshots of the first days of hearings,…

In a new report, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) noted a broad range of concerns, including unlawful killings, hostage-taking, destruction of civilian property, collective punishment, forced displacement,…

“For nearly a year now, accounts coming out of Sudan have been of death, suffering and despair, as the senseless conflict and human rights violations and abuses have persisted with no end in sight,” said UN High Commissioner for Human…