The Security Council met on Wednesday to discuss political and humanitarian developments exactly a month on from the collapse of the Assad regime. The transitional authorities also outlined their vision for the country’s future for the first time in a major international forum.
The launch of yet another ballistic missile by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is of serious concern, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday, highlighting the persistent threat to global efforts towards disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.
UN independent human rights experts have called for the immediate release of Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, known as Abu Zubaydah, who has been detained without charge by US authorities at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility for almost 20 years.
Russian forces continue to subject Ukraine’s people to “relentless attacks” by aerial glide bombs, long-range missiles and drones, in a bid to capture further territory in the east of the country, the UN’s deputy human rights chief said on Wednesday.
While the war in Gaza grinds on with dozens of civilians already reportedly killed and injured so far this year – and as the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon largely holds – hopes are still high for a successful transition of power in Damascus following the overthrow of the Assad regime, although needs and challenges are immense. On Wednesday, ambassadors are poised in New York to hold their first meeting of the year on Syria, with all eyes on a potential lifting of sanctions. The UN’s relief chief and the top envoy to Syria are due to brief. App users can follow live here.
UN teams in Gaza have carried out a rapid needs assessment in two makeshift sites in Deir Al-Balah following a recent airstrike, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, has urged restraint in Syria, amid reports that some individuals from the country’s Alawite community and other minority groups have been targeted and killed.
The UN and the Government of Lebanon unveiled a $371.4 million extension of the Lebanon Flash Appeal on Tuesday aiming to provide life-saving assistance to civilians affected by the recent conflict and ongoing humanitarian crisis.
At least 5,601 people were killed in gang violence in Haiti last year, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday, appealing for greater efforts by the authorities and the international community to address the root causes.
A day after the United States reported its first human death from avian flu, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) insisted on Tuesday that the risk to the wider population remains “low”.
“We saw dead bodies scattered to the left and right, decomposing in the sun”, recounts Jonathan Dumont, Head of Emergency Communications at the World Food Programme (WFP). A veteran of conflict zones around the world, he says that the destruction and suffering he witnessed in Gaza is on a “different scale”.
Communal violence remains the primary driver of conflict in South Sudan and continues to exact a heavy toll on civilians across the country, UN peacekeepers said on Monday.