First Person: Japanese town leads the way to a low waste society
UNIC Tokyo/Ichiro Mae Citizens recycling in Osaki, Japan Ms. Fujita moved to Osaki in 2021 to work with the municipality, business sector and local community to help prepare the town for a more sustainable future. Today, Osaki, with a population…
First Person: ‘Courageous’ 12-year-old reports relative after being raped in Madagascar
UN News spoke to Commissioner Aina Randriambelo, who described what efforts her country is making to promote gender equality and a better understanding of what constitutes sexual exploitation and abuse. UN News/Daniel Dickinson Commissioner Aina Randriambelo, Madagascar’s Chief Inspector of…
Bold action needed now to address ‘cataclysmic’ situation in Haiti
Corruption, impunity and poor governance, compounded by increasing levels of gang violence, have eroded the rule of law in the Caribbean country and brought state institutions close to collapse. The impact of generalised insecurity on the population is dire and…
Health system ‘barely surviving’ as OCHA calls for Gaza aid restrictions to end
In a social media post, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that only 10 out of 36 hospitals are now partially functioning in the enclave. Al-Amal Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis closed on Tuesday, Tedros noted, after media reports…
New $1.4 billion plan to support South Sudanese refugees
Since the start of the conflict in South Sudan over 10 years ago, growing humanitarian needs compounded by dire food shortages, continued insecurity, and the impacts of climate change, have kept refugees in exile and prompted new displacement. Four consecutive…
Russia: Rights experts condemn continued imprisonment of Evan Gershkovich
The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested last March in Yekatarinburg on espionage charges and is being held at the infamous Lefortovo prison in Moscow. Mariana Katzarova, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian…
Gaza war: ‘Direct hits’ on more than 200 schools since Israeli bombing began
Satellite imagery pointed to at least 53 schools “totally destroyed” since conflict erupted on 7 October 2023 and a near nine per cent increase in attacks on school premises since mid-February, according to a report by the UN Children’s Fund,…
First Person: ‘We had to avoid stepping on the bodies in the streets’ in Darfur
Sudan, and Darfur in particular, are facing a humanitarian and security crisis after a war broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), although ethnic conflicts in Darfur date back more than two…
DR Congo mission chief says humanitarian disaster ‘unfolding before our very eyes’
Ms. Keita, who also heads the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, sounded the alarm over the humanitarian disaster “unfolding before our very eyes”. More than seven million people in the country are displaced, particularly due to the operations…
ISIL growing stronger in Syria, as war enters its thirteenth year
This was a reminder of the ongoing impact of a conflict which has now dragged on for more than 12 years and rarely makes headlines, even though it continues to have a devastating effect on the civilian population. In early…