First Person: Moving from fear to hope after war on drugs in the Philippines
Thousands of people across the Southeast Asian country were reportedly killed during the so-called war on drugs which was promoted by the last Filipino administration. But now a more compassionate and less punitive approach is being taken from the local…
‘World cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza’: Guterres
The situation along the Blue Line, the demarcation between Israeli and Lebanese armed forces, has been deteriorating since Israel launched its offensive in the Gaza Strip following the brutal 7 October attack by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups against…
Gaza is more than two million stories of loss: UN agencies
“The population has been almost entirely dispossessed of the means and capacities to ensure food security, shelter, health, and livelihood,” said Maryse Guimond, UN Women’s Special Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “Women were asking me, ‘When can we go…
Officials highlight massive poverty, humanitarian despair in Afghanistan
Top officials from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) briefed ambassadors at the 15-member Council, describing the impact on civilians since the Taliban took over in August 2021….
First Person: Philippines ‘cyber cops’ tackle explosion of online child abuse
The Southeast Asian country has been identified as one of many trouble spots for online child abuse on the internet, a phenomenon which has grown because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cheng Veniles works with law enforcement, prosecution and court officers…
Gaza today: Scorching heat, visible signs of wasting and heavy fighting
In an alert, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reiterated deep concerns that people uprooted by ongoing hostilities in southern Gaza remain traumatized and are crammed into a narrow area along the beach “in the burning summer heat”. The UN…
Haiti faces record displacement amid escalating gang violence
“Violence, particularly in the capital Port-au-Prince, has reached alarming levels, with armed groups controlling large areas and complicating humanitarian access,” the experts, including the Special Rapporteur on the rights of internally displaced persons, said. The clashes between gangs and the…
Birth in a war zone: Coping amid ongoing attacks in Ukraine
The couple had gone to Maternity Hospital No. 5 in the port city of Odesa in southern Ukraine. The facility is known for its comprehensive maternity care and had earned some local fame as the birthplace of quintuplets. But, just…
Independent rights probe highlights Israeli ‘destruction and dislocation’ tactics in Gaza
“People from the north of Gaza move south and suddenly they get attacked in the south. We read all those contrary instructions as pointing to an attitude of not caring for their lives, destruction and dislocation,” said Navi Pillay, Chair…
Laws of war likely ‘consistently violated’ in Israeli strikes on Gaza: UN rights office
The finding follows investigations by the UN human rights office, OHCHR, into six attacks that it has described as “emblematic” of Israeli tactics in the more than eight-month war, involving the suspected use of bombs weighing up to 2,000lbs (920kg)…