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World News in Brief: Aid activities suspended in Yemeni governorate, Gaza humanitarian update, UN welcomes summit on DR Congo crisis
The UN Secretary-General has instructed agencies, funds and programmes to pause all activities in Sa’ada governorate in Yemen for security reasons, the global body said on Monday.
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UN rights office urges humane treatment of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, called on Monday for Israel and Hamas to ensure that all people they are holding are treated humanely.
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Israeli military operation displaces 40,000 in the West Bank
The forced displacement of Palestinian communities in the northern part of the West Bank is escalating at an alarming pace, the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees UNRWA warned on Monday.
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Security Council hears of persistent and evolving Da’esh threat
The terrorist group Da’esh, also known as ISIL, remains a serious global security threat despite years of sustained efforts to dismantle its operations, UN counter-terrorism officials warned during a Security Council meeting on Monday.
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‘We all have someone missing’: Families of the thousands of Syrians ‘disappeared’ by Assad regime share stories of loss
Tens of thousands of people went missing in Syria during the Assad family’s rule, which stretches back to the early 1970s. A UN body set up to discover their whereabouts has been hearing the testimony of family members of the disappeared during a visit to the capital, Damascus, described as a “step on the path to truth.”
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Two mass graves of migrants uncovered in Libya
Two mass graves likely containing the bodies of migrants have been discovered in Libya, highlighting the ongoing, deadly dangers facing vulnerable people fleeing conflict and poverty, the UN migration agency, IOM said on Monday.
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Gaza crisis: Amid winter storms, humanitarians appeal for full aid access
As the Israeli military completed its withdrawal at the weekend from a key security corridor in Gaza that had cut the enclave in two, UN humanitarians issued a fresh appeal for an end to all aid restrictions which continue to prevent the delivery of lifesaving relief.
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Syria: Chemical weapons watchdog hits reset button in Damascus, following productive meetings
In a significant move towards eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons programme, the head of the UN-backed international watchdog dedicated to ending the scourge has been visiting Damascus, together with a high-level delegation.
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After years of conflict, Timor-Leste turns peacemaker
During the turbulent early years of Timor-Leste’s independence, the UN was a constant presence, helping to maintain peace and stability. Twenty-four years on, the country has made the successful transition from a host nation for UN peacekeeping operations, to one that contributes to supporting missions elsewhere.
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DR Congo crisis: Thousands flee clashes in South Kivu
Continued clashes in South Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are triggering mass displacement and causing civilian casualties, UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA said on Friday.
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Sudan: Civilian death toll triples in one week amid escalating hostilities
The civilian death toll in Sudan has surged dramatically, with at least 275 people killed between 31 January and 5 February, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, reported on Friday.
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Global forum suggests fresh ideas for 21st century UN peacekeeping
UN peacekeeping must be fit for purpose as the nature of conflict evolves in the 21st century along with new weapons technology, more than 60 nations heard this week at a global forum on the future of peace operations, taking place in Indonesia.
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First Person: Bodies of children in Haiti have turned into ‘battlegrounds’
Armed groups in Haiti are inflicting “unimaginable horrors” on children, turning their “bodies into battlegrounds”, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
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International Criminal Court condemns US sanctions move
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday condemned an executive order signed by United States President Donald Trump imposing punitive sanctions, countering that the order sought to “harm its independent and impartial judicial work.”
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Palestinians’ rights matter, says UNRWA chief
The head of UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA underscored its commitment to assist a population whose rights “continue to be violated”.
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Bridging the divide: General Assembly President on UN reforms and Africa’s digital future
The landmark year in the life of the UN has prompted introspection and a fresh impetus for change. How can the organization remains relevant in a world that is almost unrecognizable from the post-World War Two consensus into which it was born?
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US aid funding cuts put HIV prevention at risk, warns UNAIDS
The US pause in foreign assistance funding has created “confusion” in the vital work of community HIV prevention, despite a waiver issued for HIV/AIDS programmes, the UN agency to combat the still deadly disease said on Friday.
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DR Congo: Rights chief warns crisis could worsen, without international action
UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Friday expressed profound concerns at the ongoing violent escalation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) caused by the ongoing Rwanda-backed M23 offensive. “If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country’s borders,” he told a Special Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
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Iraq: How the world helped Mosul rise from the rubble of war
Terrorist fighters with ISIL/Da’esh invaded Iraq’s second city of Mosul in 2014, destroying centuries-old landmarks in a bid to erase its history and impose a bleak and repressive future on the nearly two million people who lived there.
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‘She had a syringe, razor blade, and bandages’: Surviving genital mutilation
Some 230 million girls in more than 90 countries – predominantly in Africa and Asia – have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) and can suffer lifelong physical, emotional and psychological scars, an issue that the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency has been tackling with the support of the international community including the United States.
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Gaza: UN health agency urges rapid scale-up of medevacs as thousands remain in critical condition
More than 12,000 critically ill and injured patients, including at least 5,000 children, urgently need to be evacuated from Gaza, amid the crumbling health system, the UN World Health Organization (WHO)’s top official in the region said on Thursday.
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‘Step Up the Pace’ and end female genital mutilation, UN says
As the world marks the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on Thursday, the United Nations is warning that without urgent action, a staggering 27 million more girls could undergo the procedure by 2030.
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Sudan: Top aid official warns against escalating violence in two states
South Kordofan and Blue Nile states in Sudan are on the brink of catastrophe as violence continues to escalate at an alarming rate, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country said on Thursday in a statement.
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Syria: Assad’s armed forces must face accountability, says rights probe
Widespread pillaging and the destruction of property in Syria by all parties to the conflict have largely gone unpunished and likely amount to war crimes, top independent rights investigators reporting to the Human Rights Council maintained on Thursday.
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Toxic air threatens children’s lives across East Asia and the Pacific, UNICEF warns
More than 100 children under the age of five die every day in East Asia and the Pacific due to air pollution, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned in a new analysis released on Thursday, calling for urgent action to tackle the crisis.