Independent UN human rights experts on Thursday condemned a fresh round of US sanctions against Cuba, calling them an attempt to force change on “a sovereign State through threats and coercion.”
Agencies are on high alert amid reports that the rapidly spreading Ebola Bundibugyo virus species in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has infected 19 internally displaced people, killed five of them, according to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR).
Nearly eight million people in South Sudan – more than half the population – face crisis-level hunger, with famine risk now flagged in four counties, as the Security Council meets this morning in New York. A cholera outbreak has killed more than 1,700 people, and some aid workers are being killed and abducted even as they try to reach those most at risk. Follow live coverage below.
Gangs in Haiti continue to terrorize communities with the “wanton, intentional infliction of incredible pain” on people who often are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
At least 300 children in Gaza have been reportedly killed in as many days since a ceasefire agreement came into effect last October to suspend military operations between Hamas fighters and the Israel Defense Forces, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.
Eighty-one years ago on Thursday, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, reducing the city to ruins, killing tens of thousands of people and bringing the world “face to face with the catastrophic power of nuclear war”.
Concluding his first official visit to Cambodia, UN independent human rights expert Tom Andrews said he was encouraged by the government’s cooperation but remained concerned about key human rights issues such as the lack of freedom of expression.
An independent UN human rights expert has welcomed ongoing proceedings in the United States to extradite “manosphere” bloggers Andrew and Tristan Tate to the United Kingdom, calling the case an important step towards accountability for serious allegations of violence against women and girls.
Russian forces hammered Ukraine with ballistic missiles and long-range drones overnight on Tuesday, killing at least 17 civilians – mainly around Kyiv – and injuring another 44, the UN human rights office in Ukraine reported.
The UN rights chief expressed alarm on Wednesday over the sharp increase in executions and death sentences in Iran since the US-Israeli bombing campaign began in late February, warning that capital punishment is being used to intimidate the population and suppress dissent.
The Security Council is meeting on Wednesday to examine the persistent threat posed by the terrorist group ISIL, also known as Dae’sh, to international peace and security. At a conference in June, the acting head of the UN counter-terrorism office stated that Al Qaeda, Da’esh, and their affiliates “remain adaptive and resilient”. Moreover, they are using artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to expand their reach, recruit and mobilise resources. Follow live updates below.
Nearly 50 million more people in highly vulnerable communities globally are set to be pushed into acute hunger because of the strengthening El Niño weather phenomenon, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday.