Edited News , Press Conferences | OHCHR , WFP
More than 59 million people were internally displaced in 2021 as a consequence mainly related due to climate events. To investigate the plight of people displaced by the impacts of climate change, and to fight for legal protection for them is one of the key tasks of Ian Fry, the first UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change.
“There is a huge number of people, a sort of an intolerable tide of people, moving as a consequence of climate change”, Mr. Fry said when speaking today at a briefing at the United Nations in Geneva. “This is an enormous number of people, and this is higher than the number of people displaced as a consequence of conflict”, he added.
The Special Rapporteur presented yesterday the first-ever report on human rights and climate change at the 50th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. In his report Mr. Fry outlined a six-point plan to address the human rights harms resulting from climate-induced loss and damage.
Mr. Fry mainly expressed worries about people displaced across international borders due to climate change as millions of them have no grounds for seeking asylum under international law. “I am certainly particularly concerned about this issue of people displaced across international borders that are not defined as refugees under the Refugee Convention and therefore fall through the cracks as far as legal protection is concerned”, he said.
The international environmental lawyer whose mandate started last month, also highlighted the many non-economic losses stemming from climate change and its consequences. “Where I come from in the Pacific, people are losing graves as a result of the seas washing away their loved ones”, he said.
Mr. Fry, who fought for least developed countries at the 2015 Paris climate conference, will also look into legislation, litigation and corporate responsibilities during his new mandate over the next three years.
“There are a number of cases being held questioning the role of governments setting targets for climate change, there are court cases against companies so there’ s a variety of litigation that’s before the court at the moment”, he said.
Ian Fry will also look at the fossil fuel industry, itself a major producer of greenhouse gases. He aims to look at their connection on what they are doing on human rights. “This is where businesses, financial institutions are investing in the fossil fuel industry. So, I want to pursue the issue of disclosure around disclosing investments in fossil fuel industry”, he said.
Another important point of his action plan is to address and involve the youth in the discussion around human rights and climate change.
“For our young people who now have an uncertain future, we want to guarantee their future”.
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Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza, are unconscionable. For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured,” Jeremy Laurence UN Human Rights spokesperson said at the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
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Press Conferences | FAO , ILO , OHCHR , UNDP , UNHCR , WHO
Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the International Labour Organization, the UN Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.
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Edited News | OCHA
Gaza ‘hungriest place on earth’ with aid stymied – UN humanitarians
Starving Gazans continue to be deprived of aid as international relief efforts are being severely constrained by the Israeli authorities, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said on Friday.
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Press Conferences | IFRC , OCHA , UNCTAD , WMO
Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by spokespersons and representatives of the International Federation of the Red Cross, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Trade and Development, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Humanitarian Aid in Gaza
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Press Conferences | WHO , OCHA , UNRWA
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the World Health Organization, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the International Telecommunication Union.
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Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA
As a controversial United States and Israel-backed aid distribution plan gets underway in Gaza, the UN called on Tuesday for an “immediate surge” of its own pre-positioned supplies to help prevent starvation.
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Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject a bill that was recently endorsed by parliament allowing trials of civilians in military courts. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Amendment Bill 2025, which was passed on 20 May and now awaits presidential signature to become law, among others broadens the jurisdiction of military courts, authorising them to try a wide range of offences against civilians.
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Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today warned of a further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan at the bi-weekly briefing in Geneva.
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Press Conferences | WHO , WMO , OCHA , UNHCR , OHCHR , UNDRR
Michele Zaccheo, Chief, UNTV, Radio and Webcast Section, United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
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Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Syria: ‘Staggering’ needs amid insecurity, health care crisis - UN humanitarians
Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and urgent support is required, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
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Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
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Press Conferences | WHO , UNRWA , UNHCR
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Health Organization.