World News in Brief: Deaths on the Mediterranean, rights in Venezuela, new Security Council...
Regina De Dominicis – who also heads the agency’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office – issued her plea for action after another small...
Gaza: ‘Every day without a ceasefire will bring more tragedy’
Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stressed that no place and no one in Gaza has been safe since the war began in October 2023.
“As the year...
UNRWA chief renews call for probe into attacks on humanitarians in Gaza
Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini made the appeal in a statement posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.He noted that 15 months after the war...
Major step forward for child protection in Colombia, as politicians ban underage marriage
In November, following several failed attempts, politicians of all stripes approved a bill to overhaul legislation that has been in effect since 1887, reflecting...
Gaza: Hospitals closed, aid denied, civilians trapped
A stark example of this escalation was highlighted by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who confirmed that the...
UN support continues in Syria and Lebanon
Geir Pedersen has been meeting with French, German and Russian authorities, the UN reported on Monday, which includes engagement with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister...
UN chief hails ‘peacemaker, human rights champion’, former President Jimmy Carter
The Democratic Party icon lived longer than any president in US history, serving one term between 1977 and 1981, going on burnish his reputation...
Gaza: ‘Hunger is everywhere’, babies die from the cold, airstrike on unarmed journalists condemned
In Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes are sheltering in tents, the temperatures are expected to drop further in...
Haiti’s destiny ‘bright’ despite terrifying escalation of violence
Haiti is faced with a multifaceted crisis including rising gang violence, political instability, the displacement of over 700,000 people as well as widespread hunger.UNICEF has...
Indian Ocean tsunami anniversary: A call to safeguard future generations
On Boxing Day – 26 December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia, unleashing a massive tsunami that swept across the...
Only 3 per cent of UN emergency food aid getting to desperate Gazans
At the end of December, a joint UN convoy of nine trucks successfully reached people in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, who had been cut...
Syria: Rights investigators call for protection of evidence, including mass grave sites
A team from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Syria visited former prisons and detention centres, including the notorious Sednaya and the...
Sudan’s El Fasher siege: UN humanitarians killed as refugee crisis intensifies
In a new report, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) has detailed the catastrophic humanitarian situation unfolding in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s...
Reconstruction and vital repairs underway in Syria, as ‘security conditions’ permit
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters at the daily briefing on Thursday that bakeries in Aleppo are at near full capacity – “but partners report that...
‘Dying hungry and in pain’: An increasingly likely outcome in Gaza
Speaking to correspondents via video link on Thursday, the senior OCHA official underscored the grim reality facing over two million people trapped in Gaza,...
World News in Brief: Migrants Day, hunger in the Arab world, arbitrary arrests in...
Tragically, the year also saw the highest death toll of migrants in transit.
“These challenges are made worse by the rising tide of mis- and...
Syria crisis: ‘Key priority’ is preserving evidence of crimes, say UN investigators
The head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism Investigating Serious Crimes in Syria (IIIM), Robert Petit, told reporters in Geneva that with an...
Middle East crisis: Live updates from Gaza, Syria and Security Council
Senior UN officials remain in Syria on Tuesday where they have been meeting representatives of the new caretaker government, following the ousting of former...
UN rights chief urges accountability for post-electoral violence in Venezuela
Hundreds more were reportedly injured in clashes following the disputed elections and around 2,000 arrested, including teenagers, young adults, opposition members, human rights defenders,...
Gaza: ‘Sickening normalisation’ of suffering, amid attacks on people and aid convoys
According to local media reports, 30 Palestinians were killed in the central Gaza area overnight on Friday due to airstrikes, said Louise Wateridge, Senior...
At least 68 journalist killings in 2024, UNESCO reports
More than 60 per cent of these killings occurred in countries experiencing conflict – the highest percentage in over a decade.
"Reliable information is vital in...
Diplomatic engagement still the key to peace in Yemen: UN envoy
Delivering his final briefing for the year, Hans Grundberg noted that 2024 was marked by immense turmoil and tragedy across the Middle East region,...
Uprooted Syrians mulling return mustn’t be pushed, says UNHCR
For those forced to flee the country’s 13-year war, “they are considering how safe Syria is to return to, and how far their rights will...
Live: Human Rights Day around the world
Human Rights Day, marked annually on 10 December, will focus on the theme Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now, and we will bring you...
