Category Archives: United Nations

‘Put learners first’: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

Posted on by

Major UN report issues warning over excessive use, with one in six countries already banning the devices

Smartphones should be banned from schools to tackle classroom disruption, improve learning and help protect children from cyberbullying, a UN report has recommended.

Unesco, the UN’s education, science and culture agency, said there was evidence that excessive mobile phone use was linked to reduced educational performance and that high levels of screen time had a negative effect on children’s emotional stability.

Continue reading...

UK must label Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as terror group, says thinktank

Posted on by

Report from rightwing thinktank calls for tougher sanctions on Iran as October expiry of UN sanctions looms

The October expiry of UN sanctions limiting Iran’s missile programme must become a hard deadline for the UK to adopt a tougher policy that includes proscription of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a rightwing thinktank has warned.

The report from the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) is the second from a right-of-centre thinktank in two days demanding tougher action on Iran, and suggests that the UK ministers’ preferred strategy of introducing an Iran-specific sanctions regime that could lead to sanctions for activities outside Iran has fallen flat with Tory hawks.

Continue reading...

Russian veto on aid lifeline to Syria could bring ‘catastrophe’ for millions

Posted on by

Fears rise that UN could be forced into compromise with Damascus to keep vital corridor open from Turkey to rebel-held Idlib

Aid groups and their backers at the United Nations are pushing to revive an aid corridor into rebel-held Syria after Russia vetoed the renewal of the cross-border lifeline that has been getting food and medicines into Syria for almost a decade.

Moscow has repeatedly attempted to stymie deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey into Idlib, a strip of land controlled by the de facto opposition known as the National Salvation government, which is linked to the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham militant group. At least nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on a vegetable market in rural Idlib last month.

Continue reading...

US soldier detained by North Korea after crossing border during visit to DMZ

Posted on by

US and UN officials working to ‘resolve incident’ after private crossed border at truce village without authorisation

An American soldier being sent back to the US to face possible disciplinary action crossed in to North Korea during a tour of the demilitarised zone, US officials have said, becoming the first American detained in the North in nearly five years.

Private 2nd Class Travis King had served nearly two months in a South Korean prison for assault before being released to be sent home to Fort Bliss, Texas, on Monday, where he potentially faced additional military disciplinary actions and discharge from the service.

Continue reading...

UN unable to feed 100,000 Haitians this month amid ‘catastrophic’ conditions

Posted on by

The World Food Programme’s Haiti response is only 16% funded with more than half of the country’s population regularly hungry

The World Food Programme (WFP) will be unable to feed 100,000 Haitians this month as the UN agency has insufficient funding to meet burgeoning humanitarian needs in the embattled Caribbean nation.

Haitians grappling with dire malnutrition will have to endure the absence of vital food and financial support amid the worst hunger crisis the country has ever witnessed, the WFP announced on Monday.

Continue reading...

Russia says decision not to extend Black Sea grain deal is final

Posted on by

No more talks planned, says official, despite Turkish leader expressing hope of progress at UN meeting

The UN secretary general, António Guterres has said he deeply regrets Russia’s decision to terminate the Black Sea grain deal, saying hundreds of millions of people facing hunger as well as hard-pressed consumers will pay the price for the Kremlin’s move.

The deal was designed to alleviate a food crisis sparked by a Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports that had frozen millions of tonnes of grain exports around the world, much of it to developing countries.

Continue reading...

Syria reopens key aid corridor after Russian veto of UN deal

Posted on by

British UN security council chair fears lack of monitoring will ‘hand control’ of aid to Assad

Syria will let humanitarian aid flow through its main border crossing into rebel-held areas, reopening a conduit that had closed after a stalemate on the United Nations security council, the country’s UN ambassador has said.

Damascus had made a “sovereign decision” to let aid move overland from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing in north-west Syria for six months starting on Thursday, ambassador Bassam Sabbagh told reporters.

Continue reading...

Cross-border aid to Syria blocked in ‘act of utter cruelty’ by Russia at UN vote

Posted on by

Use of veto threatens operations on route from Turkey that supports millions of people in north-west

Russia has been accused of “an act of utter cruelty” after it used its veto at the UN security council to block a nine-month renewal of cross-border aid designed to help 4 million people living in rebel-held north-west Syria.

The vote throws into doubt the continued existence of the key aid route into Syria from Turkey, and represents another hammer blow to a population still reeling from the devastating earthquake that struck the region in February.

Continue reading...

Sudan on brink of all-out civil war, UN chief warns, after airstrike kills at least 22

Posted on by

António Guterres decries conflict’s ‘utter disregard’ for human rights law as clashes reported in multiple states

Sudan is on the brink of a “full-scale civil war” that could destabilise the entire region, the United Nations has warned, after an airstrike on a residential area killed about two dozen civilians.

The health ministry reported “22 dead and a large number of wounded among the civilians” from the strike on Khartoum’s sister city Omdurman, in the district of Dar al-Salam.

Continue reading...

UN report on Japan’s Fukushima water plans fails to placate opponents

Posted on by

While South Korea offers official support, China and other voices in region continue to express concerns over discharge from nuclear plant

The publication this week of the UN nuclear watchdog’s positive assessment of Japanese plans to pump more than 1m tonnes of water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean has failed to placate opponents.

China is fiercely opposed to the plans, despite a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) backing the scheme, while the support of the government of South Korea has failed to quell widespread public opposition to the idea in the country.

Continue reading...

UN condemns Israel’s use of excessive force in attack on Palestine

Posted on by

The secretary general, António Guterres, called on Israel to abide by international law after its attack on Jenin in the West Bank

In a rare condemnation of Israel, the UN has denounced the country’s excessive use of force in its largest military operation in two decades targeting a refugee camp in the West Bank.

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, clearly angered by the impact of the Israeli attack on the Jenin refugee camp, said it had left over 100 civilians injured, forced thousands to flee, damaged schools and hospitals and disrupted water and electricity networks.

Continue reading...

‘Safe and effective’: first malaria vaccine to be rolled out in 12 African countries

Posted on by

An initial 18m doses will be delivered over the next two years to combat a disease that kills nearly half a million children annually

A long-awaited vaccine for malaria has been announced for rollout across 12 African countries over the next two years, potentially saving tens of thousands of lives.

An initial 18m doses of the world’s first malaria vaccine have been assigned to the countries where the risk of children falling ill and dying from malaria is highest, according to a statement from the global vaccine alliance Gavi, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef.

Continue reading...

US set to rejoin Unesco after leaving during Trump presidency

Posted on by

Biden committed to rejoining body to ‘counter Chinese influence’ after Trump administration pulled out over ‘anti-Israeli bias’

The US is set to rejoin Unesco this month after a four-year absence from the global cultural and educational body that the country abandoned during the Donald Trump presidency over what his administration called “anti-Israeli bias”.

The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s reunion with the US came after a two-day special session held at the body’s headquarters in Paris.

Continue reading...

UK foreign secretary calls for expansion of UN security council

Posted on by

James Cleverly says global south deserves more powerful voice at top table and review needed into five permanent members’ veto

The global south deserves a more powerful voice at the world’s top table by expanding the UN security council, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said.

Cleverly also called for a review of the use of the veto by the council’s five permanent members, adding that the world’s poorest countries feel their voice is not heard even on issues of direct concern to them.

Continue reading...

UN expert calls for arms embargo on Haiti amid gang violence

Posted on by

William O’Neill says ‘survival of a nation’ is at stake and also calls for deployment of an international force

A UN official has called for an immediate arms embargo for Haiti and an intervention force to combat endemic gang violence in the Caribbean state, after the killings of more than 200 gang members in recent months.

William O’Neill, who was appointed in April as an expert on human rights in Haiti, added his voice to growing calls for an international intervention in the country, which has descended into crime-fuelled anarchy since the murder of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

Continue reading...

Amazon facing ‘urgent’ drug crisis after gutting of protections, says narcotics chief

Posted on by

Brazilian government warning comes as UN report says that flourishing organized crime groups are driving a boom in environmental devastation

The Brazilian government’s drug policy chief has admitted that the rapid advance of drug factions into the Amazon rainforest has produced a “a very difficult situation” in the region, as a UN report warned that flourishing organized crime groups were driving a boom in environmental devastation.

Marta Machado, the national secretary for drug affairs, said the previous administration’s intentional dismantling of Brazil’s environmental and Indigenous protection agencies had created a dangerous vacuum in the Amazon which had been occupied by powerful crime syndicates from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

Continue reading...

US subjects Guantánamo Bay detainees to ‘cruel’ treatment, UN says after visit

Posted on by

First UN human rights investigator allowed to visit since camp was set up says men subjected to ‘inhuman and degrading’ treatment

The US government continues to subject the 30 men held at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”, the first UN human rights investigator allowed to visit the camp since it was set up 20 years ago has concluded.

Fionnuala Ní Aoláin was granted unprecedented access as an independent UN monitor, spending four days at Guantánamo in February and meeting a range of the 34 prisoners who were then detained. The number held has now fallen to 30, including the five prisoners accused of plotting the attacks on New York and Washington on 9/11.

Continue reading...

UN says Russian forces have tortured and executed civilians in Ukraine

Posted on by

Report details widespread and systematic torture with summary executions of more than 70 people

Russian forces have carried out widespread and systematic torture of civilians detained in connection with their attack on Ukraine, summarily executing more than 70 of them, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

It interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses for a report detailing more than 900 cases of civilians, including children and elderly people, being arbitrarily detained in the conflict, most of them by Russia. The vast majority of those interviewed said they were tortured and in some cases subjected to sexual violence during detention by Russian forces, the head of the UN human rights office in Ukraine said.

Continue reading...

Nature at risk of breakdown if Cop15 pledges not met, world leaders warned

Posted on by

Author of landmark UK review into the economic value of nature joins UN environment chief in calls for ‘action, not just words’ on biodiversity goals

Humans are exploiting nature beyond its limits, the University of Cambridge economist Prof Sir Partha Dasgupta has warned, as the UN’s environment chief calls on governments to make good on a global deal for biodiversity, six months after it was agreed.

Dasgupta, the author of a landmark review into the economic importance of nature commissioned by the UK Treasury in 2021, said it was a mistake to continue basing economic policies on the postwar boom that did not account for damage to the planet.

Continue reading...

UK strikes laws must conform with international rules, says UN agency

Posted on by

Intervention by International Labour Organization ‘hugely embarrassing’ for government, says TUC

The UN’s labour standards body has told the UK government it must make changes to highly controversial new strikes laws, which critics say threaten the fundamental rights of British workers.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), a UN agency, said the UK needed to “ensure that existing and prospective legislation is in conformity” with international rules on freedom of association, and added that the government must seek technical assistance from the agency’s experts.

Continue reading...