UN News

• Denouncing attacks against Baghdad protesters, UN warns ‘violence risks placing Iraq on dangerous trajectory’
  The top UN official in Iraq has strongly condemned the shooting of unarmed protesters in Baghdad on Friday night, which left a high number of deaths and injuries among innocent citizens, calling for the perpetrators to be “identified and brought to justice without delay”. 
• ‘We all must step up’ collective action on disability inclusion – UN deputy chief
  The international community has agreed truly ground-breaking frameworks to advance the rights of persons with disabilities, including in the context of development, but there remains a significant gap between these ambitions and the reality experienced daily by millions of persons with disabilities, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told a conference in Doha on Saturday. 
• Wednesday’s Daily Brief: Peacekeeping performance, Iranians' rights, Syria, Australia, Haiti updates, Greta Thunberg at COP25
  A recap of Thursday’s top stories: UN evaluates peacekeeping performance; civilians under greater attack in northeast Syria; UN rights chief on Iranian protester clampdown; ending medical evacuation for refugees to Australia; food crisis widens in Haiti; and Greta Thunberg speaks out in Madrid at climate conference.
• UN evaluates progress in improving peacekeeping performance
  The international community on Friday took stock of action to improve UN peacekeeping in line with a Security Council resolution aimed at enhancing performance at all levels, both at Headquarters in New York and in the field. 
• UN agency hails Brazil ‘milestone’ decision over Venezuelan refugees
  Brazil’s move to recognize thousands of refugees from crisis-wracked Venezuela through a new accelerated procedure, has been welcomed by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. 
• UN rights chief ‘extremely concerned’ over deadly crackdown on protesters in Iran
  In the wake of recent protests in Iran, the top United Nations human rights official expressed alarm on Friday over multiple human rights violations which have reportedly taken place across the country.
• Rise in Caribbean children displaced by storms shows climate crisis is a child rights issue: UNICEF
  The number of Caribbean children displaced by storms has risen approximately six-fold in the past five years, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveals in a new report released on Friday. 
• Thursday’s Daily Brief: Samoa measles epidemic, Dozens die off Mauritania, Volunteer Day and Zambia’s food troubles
  A recap of Thursday’s top stories: Dozens of migrants drowned off Mauritanian coast; measles grip Samoa as social media campaigns spread misinformation worldwide; UN chief on lifting landlocked countries from poverty; Guterres lauds volunteer spirit and millions face food insecurity in Zambia.
• UN team aids Samoa response to deadly measles epidemic
  UN teams are on the ground in Samoa as the country combats a deadly measles epidemic. So far, there have been more than 4,200 cases and 62 deaths, mainly babies, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency on 15 November and launch a mass vaccination campaign five days later.
• Measles ‘misinformation campaigns’ through social media, fuel rising toll
  Measles deaths and infections in 2019 are set to “substantially exceed” last year’s toll when more than 142,000 people died from the preventable disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
• Partnerships key to taking landlocked countries out of poverty: UN Chief
  The challenges faced by landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), some of the poorest in the world, can be overcome through more effective partnerships, UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared on Thursday, at a conference held at UN Headquarters in New York.
• Soil erosion must be stopped ‘to save our future’, says UN agriculture agency
  Although soils are essential for human well-being and the sustainability of life on the planet, they are threatened on all continents by natural erosion, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on World Soil Day, calling for their protection.
• Greener tourism: Greater collaboration needed to tackle rising emissions
  The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is calling for enhanced cooperation between the transport and tourism sectors to combat climate change.
• Wednesday’s Daily Brief: 2020 humanitarian plan, malaria latest, greener tourism, people key to SDGs, Fall Armyworm
  A recap of Wednesday’s stories: A record number of people will need humanitarian aid in 2020; WHO calls for more funding to protect women and children from malaria; the transport and tourism sectors are urged to tackle carbon emissions; a group of rights experts want to see more people helping make the SDGs a reality; Fall Armyworm pest sparks new global action plan; and how the UN is helping impoverished landlocked nations develop.
• From landlocked to land-linked: how the UN is helping some of the world’s poorest countries
  How can the international community turn some of the world’s poorest, landlocked countries, into thriving, land-linked nations? On Thursday, at UN Headquarters, Member States will renew commitments they have made, to eradicate poverty in the 32 countries designated as Landlocked Developing Countries, or LLDCs.
• Malaria: Focus on pregnant women and children, stresses UN health agency report
  While more pregnant women and children are being protected against malaria than before, more fast-tracking and greater funding are needed to reinvigorate the global response, according to a new United Nations report launched on Wednesday. 
• A record number of people will need help worldwide during 2020: UN Humanitarian Overview
  A record 168 million people worldwide will need help and protection in crises spanning more than 50 countries in 2020, the UN’s emergency relief chief has said, in an appeal for nearly $29 billion in humanitarian aid from donors.
• South Sudan: UN calls for end to inter-communal clashes, attacks against aid workers
  Peacekeepers have been sent to the northern Lakes region in South Sudan in a bid to deter further violence between communities there, the UN Mission in the country, UNMISS, said on Tuesday.
• Tuesday’s Daily Brief: climate crisis reports, renewal in Iraq, Zimbabwe’s hunger crisis, Disabilities Day
  A recap of Tuesday’s stories: New climate change reports on human health and global warming; Zimbabwe’s ‘worst hunger crisis in a decade’; protests and civil unrest show ‘renewed sense of patriotism’ in Iraq; UN ‘determined to lead by example’ on disability rights.
• Protests and civil unrest show ‘renewed sense of patriotism’ in Iraq, UN envoy tells Security Council
  After decades of sectarian strife and conflict, “a renewed sense of patriotism has taken hold”, the head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) told the Security Council on Tuesday.
• Decade ending 2019 likely to be hottest on record
  Exceptional global heat driven by greenhouse gas emissions mean this decade will most likely go down as the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which released its provisional statement on the State of the Global Climate on Tuesday.
• Only one in five countries has a healthcare strategy to deal with climate change
  Protecting people’s health from climate change dangers such as heat stress, storms and tsunamis has never been more important, yet most countries are doing too little about it, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
• Zimbabwe ‘facing worst hunger crisis in a decade’
  Zimbabwe is facing its worst hunger crisis in a decade with half of the population – 7.7 million people – food insecure, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.
• UN ‘determined to lead by example’ on disability rights: Guterres
  The UN is determined to lead by example when it comes to the rights of people with disabilities, Secretary-General António Guterres said in a message to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which falls on 3 December.
• Plants, the ‘core basis for life on Earth’, under increasing threat, warns UN food agency
  Plants, which make up 80 percent of the food we eat, and produce 98 percent of the oxygen we breathe, are “under constant and increasing threat from pests and diseases”, the UN food agency, FAO, warned on Tuesday, at an event at the agency’s headquarters in Rome, to designate 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health.