In Timor-Leste, Guterres celebrates past unity and looks to the future
The UN chief was met at the airport by Timorese President José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão with a musical celebration and full military honors. Public welcome Thousands lined the streets of the capital Dili as children greeted Mr….
Afghanistan: Condemnation for new Taliban ‘virtue and vice’ order targeting women
The “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” silences women’s voices and deprives them of their autonomy, “effectively attempting to render them into faceless, voiceless shadows”, said Ravina Shamdasani, OHCHR’s Chief Spokesperson. “This is utterly intolerable,”…
China: UN rights office reiterates need to review national security framework
The 31 August 2022 report stated that violations had taken place in the context of the Government’s assertion that it was targeting terrorists among the Uyghur minority with a counter-extremism strategy, involving the use of so-called Vocational Educational and Training…
Myanmar: UN WFP pushes to reach flood-affected communities
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that initial reports indicated that hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland have been inundated. In the hardest-hit areas, urgent needs include basic food, drinking water, and sanitation. The emergency compounds the dire…
‘The world needs your leadership’, Guterres tells Pacific Islands Forum
Secretary-General António Guterres was addressing the opening of the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga, telling leaders that while much of the world is embroiled in conflict, injustice and socio-economic crisis, the Pacific “is a beacon of solidarity and strength, environmental…
Afghanistan: Meet the midwife who stayed
As foreign troops suddenly withdrew, life for millions of Afghans, especially women and girls descended into chaos. “If I had left, a mother or a baby could have died,” Ms. Ahmadi said. “I was worried, but I couldn’t leave because…
Tears and embraces as murderous 30-year family feud comes to an end in the Philippines
For many years, the western part of Mindanao has been the focus of an armed separatist struggle between the Philippines government and various Muslim insurgent groups. In 2019, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was established as part…
Guterres calls for end to Myanmar violence, persecution of Rohingya
Around one million Rohingya are sheltering in Bangladesh and over 130,000 more have sought safe haven across the region without immediate prospects for return, said António Guterres in a statement issued by his Spokesperson on Friday – just ahead of…
Nepal: New transitional justice law aids wider search for truth
“Eighteen years since the end of the decade-long conflict, and after several previous attempts to finalise such legislation, victims of human rights violations are now closer to knowing the truth, accessing justice, and obtaining reparations,” Mr. Türk said. The amendment…
UN chief urges climate justice for Pacific nations beset by rising oceans
Speaking in Samoa, where he met residents uprooted from their homes by sea level rise and coastal erosion, Mr. Guterres said that Pacific islanders had refused to be victims of climate change. But their ambitious plans to resist this “existential…