“Houses burned. Neighbours killed. Hope vanishing.” With those stark words, General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock opened a high-level UN conference on Tuesday, as alarm rises over the impact of Myanmar’s deepening crisis which threatens to destabilise the wider region.
Doctors in Gaza are warning of a surge in respiratory illnesses as families – cut off from basic supplies – burn plastic and cardboard to cook and keep warm. They say the outbreak will worsen unless life-saving medicines, fuel and food are allowed into the devastated territory.
Faced with a deadly outbreak of cholera and a lack of sanitation infrastructure, one Haitian mother sparked a community movement that has transformed her neighbourhood – and saved multiple lives.
UN agencies reiterated calls for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday to help alleviate Palestinian suffering, as a new US 20-point plan raised hopes of a halt to the fighting.
The United Nations remains “the house of diplomacy and dialogue” in a divided world, General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said as she closed the 80th session’s general debate, urging nations to convert the week’s momentum into concrete action on peace, climate change and institutional reform.
Addressing the UN General Assembly on Monday, the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea gave a muscular defence of his country’s stance on nuclear weapons, also highlighting strides towards economic development.
The humanitarian situation in the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, is growing more dire by the day, according to UN aid coordinators.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Monday, Danish Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen warned that the “collective inability” of the international community to address crises in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, “must not prompt us to submit to a world ruled by brute force.”
As Israeli military operations continue in Gaza City, deadly strikes on displaced Palestinians – including people collecting firewood for cooking – raise further concerns about attacks on civilians, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said in a statement on Monday.
The past three months have seen an increase in Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank alongside threats of annexation and mounting violence there and in the besieged Gaza Strip, the Security Council heard on Monday.
Nepal’s UN Ambassador Lok Bahadur Thapa delivered a comprehensive address to the General Assembly’s high-level debate on Monday, emphasising both domestic reforms and the urgent need for international solidarity to tackle global crises.
The UN Security Council is meeting to discuss the Middle East crisis and protection of civilians in conflict, as speculation grows of a potential deal to end the war in Gaza with US President Donald Trump and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu meeting in the White House for talks on Monday. Follow live coverage from the council chamber in New York below; UN News app users can go here.