Category Archives: United Nations

First UN aid convoy reaches area close to Soledar in Ukraine

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Spokesperson says three trucks carrying supplies for 800 people have headed to scene of intense fighting

A UN humanitarian convoy has reached an area close to the town of Soledar in east Ukraine, where some of the fiercest fighting in the country has taken place in recent weeks.

“Our colleagues in Ukraine have just reached government-controlled areas close to Soledar in eastern Donetsk oblast,” Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters in Geneva. “This is the first interagency convoy to reach this area since the war began.”

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Australian researchers identify genes that cause sarcomas – as it happened

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First genetic map to identify important genes that cause one of most common cancers in children. This blog is now closed

Five-year $41m maintenance contract extension for army’s fleet of Chinook helicopters

The government has announced a $41m extension to an army helicopter maintenance contract.

The CH-47F Chinook fleet is an important capability for Defence, providing critical lift capability on several domestic and regional operations, including Bushfire Assist in 2020, and Tonga and Flood Assist in 2022. This contract extension will expand the maintenance and training support for our Chinook fleet, while boosting opportunities for defence industry in Queensland.

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Colombia defends minister who led Guatemala corruption inquiry as row deepens

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Country says accusations against Iván Velásquez attempt by Guatemala to ‘persecute’ those investigating high-level corruption

A growing diplomatic row has broken out after Guatemala’s government accused Colombia’s defence minister of breaking the law during his time as the head of a UN-backed anti-corruption mission in Guatemala.

This week, Guatemala announced that Iván Velásquez was being investigated for “illegal, arbitrary and abusive acts” stemming from his inquiry into corruption allegations involving the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht.

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Sea ‘a graveyard’ as number of Rohingya fleeing Bangladesh by boat soars

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UN figures show number of those attempting to escape horrendous conditions in refugee camps increased from 700 in 2021 to over 3,500 in 2022

The number of Rohingya refugees taking dangerous sea journeys in the hope of reaching Malaysia or Indonesia has surged by 360%, the UN has announced after hundreds of refugees were left stranded at the end of last year.

Rohingya in Bangladesh refugee camps have warned that human smugglers have ramped up operations and are constantly searching for people to fill boats from Myanmar and Bangladesh headed for Malaysia, where people believe they can live more freely.

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UN agency and US labour secretary deny backing UK anti-strike bill

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Remarks at odds with government claims that new minimum service law has ‘international seal of approval’

The UN agency for workers’ rights and the US labour secretary have distanced themselves from the UK government’s claims that its strikes bill has the “international seal of approval”.

The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the business secretary, Grant Shapps, have repeatedly justified rolling out the anti-strike legislation claiming the International Labour Organization (ILO) backs minimum service levels being provided during stoppages by workers, a key plank of the proposed new measures.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: UK to send tanks to Ukraine as Russian missiles hit multiple cities – as it happened

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UK says it will send Challenger 2 tanks and more artillery support defence of Ukraine

The governor of the central Cherkasy region warned Ukrainians that Russia could launch a massive missile strike later on Saturday and urged residents to take shelter during air raid sirens.

Separately, Vitaly Kim, regional governor of the southern Mykolaiv region, said that 17 Russian Tupolev bombers had taken off from their airbases. His statement came shortly after air attacks in Kyiv and Kharkiv hit critical infrastructure.

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Libyan politicians’ pay goes up 40% as election impasse continues

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UN special envoys to meet in Washington as figures show Libyan politicians’ salaries rose by more than 40% in 2022

Western leaders are losing patience with an entrenched Libyan political elite that has collectively failed to agree on the basis of elections for more than a year but has boosted politicians’ salaries by more than 40%, according to official figures.

Special envoys from the US, France, Germany, Italy and the UK are due to meet in Washington on 13 January to discuss their next steps after two rival Libyan factions last week failed to reach a final agreement in Cairo on the constitutional basis for national elections.

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Five million children worldwide die before fifth birthday, says UN

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Almost half of deaths occur in babies’ first month and most could be prevented with better healthcare according to campaigners

Five million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday in 2021, with almost half (47%) dying during their first month, according to new UN figures.

Most of the deaths could have been prevented with better healthcare, say campaigners, adding that deaths among newborn babies haven’t reduced significantly since 2017.

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Banks and countries pledge $10bn to rebuild Pakistan after catastrophic floods

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International funders join Pakistan PM and UN secretary general in Geneva to agree recovery plan following ‘monsoon on steroids’

The international community has promised $10.5bn (£8.77bn) to help Pakistan rebuild after last summer’s catastrophic floods, described by UN secretary general António Guterres as a “monsoon on steroids.”

The pledges were made on Monday at the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted by Pakistan’s prime minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Guterres.

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UN rights chief urges rapid inquiry after 28 die in Burkina Faso town

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Volker Türk says investigation launched by government into deaths in mainly Fulani and Muslim area should be rapid and open

The head of the United Nations human rights office has called for a prompt, transparent investigation into the deaths of at least 28 people whose bodies were found in north-west Burkina Faso last month.

Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said it was encouraging that authorities had announced an investigation into the incident in Nouna town, a predominately ethnic Fulani and Muslim community.

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Afghan aid at risk from Taliban ban on women, warns United Nations

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Standoff between UN and Taliban may lead loss of billions in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan

The UN’s lead humanitarian coordinator has said UN-supplied aid cannot continue if the Taliban do not lift their ban on women working for humanitarian aid agencies in Afghanistan.

Martin Griffiths, the head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is due to visit Kabul shortly to discuss the impasse.

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UN suspends some Afghanistan programs after ban on female aid workers

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Many humanitarian activities ‘paused’ as Taliban decision to bar women NGO workers prevents vital services across the country

The United Nations said that some “time-critical” programs in Afghanistan have temporarily stopped and warned many other activities will also likely need to be paused because of a ban by the Taliban-led administration on women aid workers.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, the heads of UN agencies and several aid groups said in a joint statement on Wednesday that women’s “participation in aid delivery is not negotiable and must continue”, calling on authorities to reverse the decision.

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Faint hopes that Taliban will relax ban on NGO women after UN condemnation

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Security council’s rare display of unity adds pressure after most aid groups in Afghanistan suspend services

Faint hopes exist that the Taliban may relax its ban on all women working for the non-governmental aid agencies in Afghanistan after the UN security council condemned the ban in a rare show of unanimity.

Almost all the large NGO aid agencies operating in Afghanistan have suspended almost all their work while talks continue to persuade the Taliban to rescind or clarify their decision. Tens of thousands of aid workers – many of them the chief breadwinners for the household – have been told to stay at home during the suspension, as the UN seeks to persuade the Taliban of the consequences for ordinary people in Afghanistan.

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Ukraine aims for UN-backed peace summit in February

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Russia can only be invited if it has faced a war crimes tribunal first, says foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba

Ukraine is aiming to hold a peace summit by the end of February – preferably at the United Nations with its secretary general, António Guterres, as a possible mediator – according to its foreign minister.

But Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia could only be invited if the country faced a war crimes tribunal first.

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UN Afghanistan head meets Taliban over ban on female aid workers

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At least seven international NGOs have suspended aid, saying they cannot work without female staff

The acting head of the UN mission in Afghanistan met Taliban leaders on Monday in a bid to persuade them to withdraw their ban on all women working for aid agencies.

Ramiz Alakbarov met the Taliban’s economy minister, Din Mohammad Hanif, in Kabul, telling him that millions of Afghans need “humanitarian assistance and removing barriers is vital”.

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Irish soldier killed on UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon

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Convoy of two armoured utility vehicles travelling to Beirut came under small arms fire, Ireland’s defence forces said

An Irish peacekeeper has been killed and another seriously wounded in a gun attack after a hostile crowd surrounded Irish members of the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.

The incident happened on Wednesday night when a convoy of two armoured utility vehicles with UN markings passed near the village of al-Aqbieh, just outside the force’s area of operations in a strip along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.

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Iran ousted from UN body tasked with empowering women

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Twenty-nine of 54 members vote to expel country over regime’s bloody crackdown on protests calling for gender equality

Iran has been ousted from a UN body tasked with empowering women after​​​ world powers voted​ in favour of a motion submitted by the US, which said the Islamic Republic’s membership was an “ugly stain” on the group’s credibility.

Activists and rights groups have said Tehran’s role in the 45-member commission on the status of women was a farce, considering the regime’s forces have beaten and killed women peacefully calling for gender equality.

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UN to investigate use of ‘parental alienation’ tactic in custody cases

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Fears an increase in allegations, particularly against mothers, of deliberately alienating a child against the other parent in domestic abuse cases may put victims at further risk

The UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls is to investigate how family courts around the world approach “parental alienation” (PA) and how this may lead to the double victimisation of those who have suffered domestic abuse.

There is no single agreed definition of parental alienation but a generally accepted description is a child’s rejection of one parent as a result of psychological manipulation by their preferred parent.

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Cop15 half-time report: China prompts fears of new ‘Copenhagen moment’

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Negotiators say divisions mean risk is growing of a weak final agreement similar to Denmark summit in 2009

Talks to halt the destruction of nature “very much hang in the balance”, sources have said, as environment ministers from around the world begin to arrive in Montreal amid concerns about a lack of Chinese leadership of the Cop15 talks.

At the halfway stage of the summit in Canada, negotiators at the UN biodiversity summit have said divisions are contributing to the growing risk of a “Copenhagen moment”, referring to the 2009 UN climate summit when talks ended with a weak final agreement in the Danish capital, not the “Paris moment for nature” leading environmental figures had been calling for.

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Humanity has become ‘weapon of mass extinction’, UN head tells Cop15 launch

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António Guterres calls for end to destruction of nature as Canada pushes proposal to protect 30% of Earth

Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction and governments must end the “orgy of destruction”, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said at the beginning of the biodiversity Cop15.

“We are out of harmony with nature. In fact, we are playing an entirely different song. Around the world, for hundreds of years, we have conducted a cacophony of chaos, played with instruments of destruction. Deforestation and desertification are creating wastelands of once-thriving ecosystems,” he said.

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