UN News

• Israel urged to allow humanitarians to continue working in Palestine
  Allow human rights and humanitarian organizations to continue their work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), UN agencies and other partners have urged Israel.
• WHO expert group recommends second COVID-19 booster for vulnerable groups
  Countries should consider giving a second COVID-19 vaccine booster to older persons, pregnant women, health workers, people with weaker immune systems and those at higher risk of severe disease, experts appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. 
• Grain deal ‘victory for diplomacy,’ UN chief tells journalists in Ukraine
  Positive momentum on the landmark Black Sea Grain Initiative to help vulnerable people access food reflects “a victory for diplomacy” for those caught in a cost-of-living crisis as well as for Ukraine’s hard-working farmers, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters on Thursday in Lviv, Ukraine.
• South Sudan: ‘Urgent collective efforts’ needed in most dangerous humanitarian situation
  On the eve of World Humanitarian Day, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, called on Thursday for joint action to address the aid crisis in the country and end attacks against civilians and humanitarian workers.
• UN deplores deadly attack in Afghanistan, killing scores and injuring many others
  The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned on Thursday, a fatal attack on a Mosque in the capital, Kabul.
• First Person: Heartbroken but hopeful, under Taliban rule in Afghanistan
  Zarina* is a young Afghan woman entrepreneur. Her drive for innovating, and passion for baking made her one of Afghanistan’s youngest entrepreneurs. Her business is still running, but her clients are scarce and her plans for expansion across the country had to be shut down.
• UN chief pays second call on Ukraine, will visit grain-exporting Black Sea Port
  Secretary-General António Guterres arrived on Wednesday to Lviv, the largest city in Western Ukraine.
• WHO warns of disease threat amid Horn of Africa drought
  The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday highlighted the need to support millions facing starvation and disease in the Horn of Africa.
• Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria completes mission to northeast
  The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, Imran Riza, on Wednesday concluded a four-day mission to the northeast, where he visited camps hosting thousands of displaced persons. 
• Monkeypox cases top 35,000: WHO
  Monkeypox infections continue to rise globally, with more than 35,000 cases across 92 countries and territories, and 12 deaths, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday.
• UN agriculture agency helps protect against threat of locusts in Yemen
  Following heavy widespread rains in Yemen, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) remains on high alert as the threat of desert locust emergence looms, the UN agency said on Wednesday.
• The World Health Organization steps up assistance to flood-ravaged Yemen
  The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided emergency assistance, in an urgent response to the needs of communities affected by floods in Yemen, the UN agency said on Wednesday.
• Sri Lanka’s economic crisis pushes health system to brink of collapse
  Sri Lanka is in the midst of the worst socio-economic crisis in its history, and the once robust health-care system is nearing collapse, with patients at risk from power shortages, a lack of medicines, and equipment shortages.
• First Person: ‘We are the hope, we are the power keeping Afghanistan together’
  Mahbouba Sera, one of the world’s most prominent women’s rights activists, chose to stay in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, to witness what was happening to her country, and to work for a society that benefits all of its people.
• UN chief appoints inaugural Internet Governance Forum Leadership Panel
  Ten distinguished persons hailing from all regions of the globe have been appointed to serve on the Secretary-General’s inaugural Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Leadership Panel, the United Nations announced on Tuesday. 
• Rohingya refugees share concerns with UN rights commissioner during visit to Cox’s Bazar
  During her first official visit to Bangladesh, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, met with a host of officials, civil society representatives and Rohingya refugees on Tuesday.
• Millions more children to benefit from world’s first malaria vaccine: UNICEF
  The pharmaceutical company GSK has been awarded a contract to produce the world’s first malaria vaccine so that millions more children will be protected against the killer disease, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced on Tuesday.   
• Amidst military rule, UN envoy travels to Myanmar for first time
  UN special envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer travelled to the country for the first time since taking up her appointment last October. 
• UN HIV/AIDS advocate and ‘proud champion’ of women dies at 92
  Nafis Sadik, who died on Monday at the age 92 was the first woman to ever head one of the UN’s major voluntarily funded programmes and leaves a rich legacy of contributions to women’s health and rights.
• First Person: ‘I realized Afghan women were still fighting. And I chose to be one of them’
  Nasima*, 36, is a peacebuilder and a women’s rights activist in Afghanistan. After the Taliban regained effective control of the country a year ago, she continued to work in Afghanistan, in what would soon become one of the world’s most complex humanitarian emergencies.
• WFP: First Ukrainian humanitarian grain shipment leaves for Horn of Africa
  The first vessel transporting Ukrainian wheat grain to support humanitarian operations run by the World Food Programme (WFP) has left the port of Yuzhny, also known as Pivdennyi, the UN agency reported on Tuesday. 
• Humanitarian funding still needed for ‘pure catastrophe’ situation in Afghanistan
  Although $4.4 billion is required to fund humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, $1.8 billion has been received so far, or roughly 40 per cent, a senior UN official told journalists in New York on Monday, warning of the dire consequences as winter approaches. 
• Conference opens to draft first-ever treaty on ocean’s biological diversity
  The intergovernmental conference to draft the first-ever treaty on the ocean’s biological diversity opened its fifth and likely final session on Monday.
• Mali: Security situation deteriorates, human rights concerns rise
  UN troop rotations in the peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) resumed on Monday with a new approval mechanism one month after they were suspended by the ruling junta, which accused 49 Ivorian soldiers of entering the country without permission. 
• Yemen: UN envoy underscores need to ‘end the conflict, not merely manage it’
  The Security Council has a joint responsibility to help Yemen take the “necessary and decisive steps towards peace,” the country’s UN Special Envoy told the ambassadors on Monday.