Liz Throssell, spokesperson for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
A special session of the UN Human Rights Council met on Thursday in Geneva, prompted by increasing concern over atrocities against civilians, linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday called on the authorities in Sri Lanka to prevent further violence, and urged restraint and meaningful dialogue to address the grievances of the population amid the country’s severe economic crisis.
At the bi-weekly press briefing on Tuesday, Matilda Bogner, Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, briefed journalists on the violations perpetrated in the past two months in Ukraine.
Nearly 20 million people going hungry in Afghanistan, warns the UN World Food Programme (WFP)
Speakers: • Ahunna Eziakonwa, United Nations Assistant-Secretary General and UNDP’s Assistant Administrator and Regional Bureau for Africa Director • Raymond Gilpin, UNDP Africa Chief Economist and Head of the Strategy, Analysis and Research Team
Ten weeks into the war in Ukraine, UN humanitarians on Friday said that they were urgently ramping up efforts to provide vulnerable children with specialist and psychosocial support, amid “tremendous” mental health needs and ongoing dangers linked to the Russian invasion and sexual and gender-based violence.
UN humanitarians said on Tuesday that they were standing ready to help receive a group of evacuees from the heavily damaged Azovstal steel works complex in the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol, more than two months since the Russian invasion of its neighbour.
Mali Press shutdowns reflect growing regional intolerance: UN rights office Mali’s ban on two major international broadcasters operating inside the country is a worrying development and reflective of a growing regional intolerance towards freedom of expression, the UN rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday.
As UN chief António Guterres travelled to Moscow on Tuesday, insisting that he would do “everything possible to end the war as soon as possible” in Ukraine and minimise suffering, ongoing clashes in the east have continued to increase humanitarian needs, aid agencies have confirmed.
Nearly two months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Friday condemned the “horrors” committed against civilians, while the World Health Organization warned that it feared the worst in devastated areas in the east and south of the country.
UN aid agencies and partners said on Tuesday that they continue to mobilise inside Ukraine in an effort to help the country’s most vulnerable people, amid ongoing devastating Russian shelling and attacks on health care facilities and personnel.
As the focus of the war in Ukraine shifts to the east of the country nearly seven weeks since the Russian invasion, health care facilities have continued to come under attack, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
The threat of famine is very real in Somalia and South Sudan and urgent action is needed to avoid a catastrophe, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
UN humanitarians stress urgent need for ‘localized’ ceasefires in Ukraine – OCHA, UNHCR, FAO
Efforts to help thousands of desperate residents flee the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol continued on Friday, as humanitarians warned that there is “no Plan B”, after weeks of constant shelling since the Russian invasion on 24 February.
Nearly a quarter of all women are effectively forced to have sex and nearly half of all pregnancies are unintended globally, new data from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) indicated on Wednesday.
UNHCR warns of dire impact from floods in South Sudan as new wet season looms South Sudan battles record floods amid changing climate.
Urgently needed aid supplies have reached the embattled Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, amid reports that people are facing “life-and-death decisions” on whether to leave Mariupol and elsewhere, more than a month since the Russian invasion.
Ongoing violence in Ukraine has left millions of people “in constant fear” of indiscriminate shelling, the UN warned on Friday, as efforts continued to push for access to the country’s most vulnerable populations, one month since the Russian invasion.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the “main contributing factor” in a potentially devastating one per cent drop in projected global economic growth this year, UN development economists UNCTAD said on Thursday.
The Small Body of the Constitutional Committee convenes in Geneva from 21 March to 25 March.
Nearly a month since Russia invaded Ukraine, more than 3.5 million refugees have fled the country, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, citing massive needs among the new arrivals.
The first injection to offer long-lasting protection against HIV is being rolled out in South Africa and Brazil, as an alternative to daily medication, UNITAID said on Friday.
After a missile attack near the airport in Lviv in western Ukraine early on Friday, UN humanitarians warned that the situation across the country remains dire, following Russia’s invasion of its neighbour on 24 February.
Counter-terrorism policies are used to target, constrain, and attack civil society across the globe, says human rights expert at UN - Detentions in Guantánamo, Xinjiang, and Northeast Syria highlighted as ongoing egregious violations of human rights.
US$4.3 billion needed to help over 17 million people across Yemen – OCHA Donors convene this Wednesday to pledge support for humanitarian response in war-torn Yemen - Ukraine adds to Yemen’s woes as hunger emergency spreads
Almost one child per second in Ukraine is becoming a refugee of the war, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, as the total number of people who have now fled the country since the Russian invasion began, passed three million.
The UN rights office, OHCHR, reiterated deep concern on Friday at the increasing number of civilian casualties in Ukraine following the Russian invasion on 24 February, before issuing a reminder to Moscow that any targeting of non-combatants could be a war crime.
The global failure to deliver enough COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries “is prolonging the pandemic” and causing tens of thousands of preventable deaths every week, senior UN figures told the Human Rights Council on Thursday.
Top UN-appointed rights investigators on Wednesday urged renewed efforts for a political solution to Syria’s devastating war, which has been marked by an uptick of violence and a deepening humanitarian crisis.
On day 13 of the conflict in Ukraine and amid rising numbers of civilian casualties, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet repeated her ceasefire call, as humanitarians described on Tuesday as “apocalyptic”.
UN humanitarians on Friday described as "unprecedented" the continuing outflow of children and families fleeing Russian military action in Ukraine, while also welcoming as-yet unconfirmed assurances of safe passage for relief teams seeking to provide urgently needed assistance.
Urgent debate on Ukraine continues at the UN Human Rights Council, with statements from Poland, the EU, Germany, Venezuela, the US, China and Great Britain.
An urgent debate on the Ukraine crisis began at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday, as UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet led calls for a ceasefire, while insisting that Russia’s “military attack on Ukraine opened a new and dangerous chapter in world history”.