Category Archives: United Nations

Just £12,000 of £40m fund for displaced Chagos islanders has been spent

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MP representing most of UK’s Chagossians says failure to use compensation money to help those facing hardship is outrageous

Less than £12,000 of a £40m fund set up to compensate Chagos islanders who were forcibly evicted from their homeland by the British government has reached those living in the UK.

Four years after it was announced, the Foreign Office fund has distributed less than 1% of its budget in direct support to islanders forced from their homes in the Indian Ocean.

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Biden move to refund UN population agency is ‘ray of hope for millions’

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‘Women’s bodies are not political bargaining chips’ says UNFPA director, as US funding restored after Trump era

The decision by US president Joe Biden to refund the UN population fund, UNFPA, offers “a ray of hope for millions of people around the world”, said the agency’s executive director.

Dr Natalia Kanem said the announcement on Thursday would have an “enormous” impact on the agency’s work, particularly as the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

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EU ‘not fit for purpose’ to reduce poverty in Europe, says UN envoy

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Brexit risks exacerbating poverty issues, says human rights envoy after two-month investigation

The European Union is “not fit for purpose” in the task of reducing poverty in Europe and Brexit risks exacerbating the problem, the UN’s special envoy on human rights has said after a two-month investigation.

Prof Olivier De Schutter, who was given access to senior officials across the bloc’s institutions, said the EU’s “constitutional framework” was driving a race to the bottom in corporation and income tax and salary levels.

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Refugee rights ‘under attack’ at Europe’s borders, UN warns

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Agency says violent pushback policies are continuing despite number of arrivals falling by nearly a quarter last year

The right to asylum is coming under increasing attack at Europe’s borders, the UN’s refugee body is warning.

UNHCR says it is alarmed by mounting expulsions and pushbacks of refugees and asylum-seekers and is calling for states to urgently investigate and halt increasing violence against people at Europe’s land and sea borders.

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UN global climate poll: ‘The people’s voice is clear – they want action’

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Biggest ever survey finds two-thirds of people think climate change is a global emergency

The biggest ever opinion poll on climate change has found two-thirds of people think it is a “global emergency”.

The survey shows people across the world support climate action and gives politicians a clear mandate to take the major action needed, according to the UN organisation that carried out the poll.

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UN warns most will live downstream of ageing large dams by 2050

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Global study calls on governments to step up maintenance efforts to prevent failures, overtopping or leaks

By 2050 most people will live downstream of a large dam built in the 20th century, many of which are approaching the limits of the useful lifetime they were designed for, according to global research.

To avoid the potential for dam failures, overtopping or leaks, the dams will require increasing maintenance, and some may have to be taken out of service. Many governments have not prepared for these needs, warn the authors of a study by the United Nations University.

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Northern Mozambique in crisis as thousands flee escalating conflict

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UN calls for help as cholera breaks out with the arrival of rainy season, compounding ‘dire’ situation in Cabo Delgado

Northern Mozambique has lurched into a humanitarian crisis as growing numbers of people have lost their homes amid escalating conflict.

Fighting in the northern province of Cabo Delgado displaced more than 500,000 people last year and on Wednesday UN agencies said they were deeply worried about the current situation and called for the international community to do more to help.

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Fiji warned on failings at home after winning UN human rights council role

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Fiji won a fierce contest to head the global rights group, but coalition of NGOs says repression and abuses domestically must be addressed

Fiji has won an intense and secretive geo-political battle to become the first Pacific island nation to win presidency of the United Nations Human Rights Council, but its ascension has come with demands from critics for it to address systemic rights abuses at home.

Overcoming last-minute challenges from Bahrain and Uzbekistan, both backed by China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, Fiji decisively won 29 out of 47 votes to take control of the powerful and influential global body.

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China in darkest period for human rights since Tiananmen, says rights group

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Human Rights Watch lists persecutions in Xinjiang, Mongolia, Tibet and Hong Kong but notes new willingness to condemn Beijing

China is in the midst of its darkest period for human rights since the Tiananmen Square massacre, Human Rights Watch has said in its annual report.

Worsening persecutions of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Tibet, targeting of whistleblowers, the crackdown on Hong Kong and attempts to cover up the coronavirus outbreak were all part of the deteriorating situation under President Xi Jinping, the organisation said.

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Kenya faces $62bn bill to mitigate climate-linked hunger, drought and conflict

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Country accounts for less than 0.1% of global emissions but suffers disproportionately from related disasters, say new report

Kenya needs $62bn (£46bn) to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis in the next 10 years, according to a government document sent to the UN framework convention on climate change. It equates to almost 67% of Kenya’s GDP.

The report illustrates the scale of the challenge as the country aims to cut greenhouse gases by 32% within the next decade. It will rely on international sources to fund close to 90% of the expenditure. Securing such a colossal amount of often contentious climate financing from rich countries yet to honour their commitments to the $100bn target pledged during the 2015 Paris agreement will be a tall order.

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Congolese people have been brutalised since 1996. Why isn’t the west helping?

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Despite accusations of war crimes in the central African country, the international community seems unmoved

On New Year’s Eve, a gang of militia left its jungle base and swept across Beni, a forested north-eastern corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, looking for Nande people to kill.

Locals alerted the Congolese army but they were ignored. In small farms in Tingwe, a few kilometres from a DRC army base, the gang found 25 people – men, women and children – out harvesting food. One by one they hacked them to death with machetes and axes.

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Iran seizes South Korean tanker as tensions with US mount

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Move comes as Iran resumes enriching uranium to up to 20% purity in significant breach of 2015 nuclear accord

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have seized a South Korean vessel “for polluting the Persian Gulf with chemicals” amid rising tensions between Iran and the US during the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Iranian news agencies published photos showing Revolutionary Guards speedboats escorting the tanker MT Hankuk Chemi and said the vessel’s crewmembers, including nationals of South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar, had been detained. The tanker is being held at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port city.

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Sir Brian Urquhart, who helped establish the United Nations, dies aged 101

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Former army major was UN’s second staff member after its founding in 1945 and worked as principal adviser to five secretaries general

Sir Brian Urquhart, the British diplomat who played a role in the establishment of the United Nations, has died aged 101.

Urquhart was the second staff member hired by the UN following its founding in 1945 and worked as a principal adviser to five UN secretaries general in his 41-year career.

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UK pledges an extra £47m in aid as agencies warn of ‘catastrophic hunger’

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Coronavirus, conflict and cuts to UN funding are increasing the risks of food insecurity and acute malnutrition in 2021

The government has promised £47m in extra emergency aid for 2021 as it becomes clear that the coming year will see a dramatic rise in people struggling for food.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said on Wednesday it will provide more aid for food, water, hygiene and shelter in 11 countries, including £8m to Africa’s Sahel region, where the UN has warned of catastrophic hunger.

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At least 102 killed in massacre in western Ethiopia after Abiy visit

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Witnesses report knife and gun attacks and children shot by armed men after PM warning over continuing ethnic conflicts

More than 100 people have been killed in Ethiopia’s western region of Benishangul-Gumuz, in the latest massacre along ethnic lines in the country.

Witnesses and officials said that at least 102 people were killed in the attack early on Wednesday in the Metekel zone.

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‘Shoved aside’: Fiji set to lose top job on UN rights body in global power struggle

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Country’s expected ascension to human rights council presidency is being challenged by a China-backed bid by Bahrain

For a small country in the South Pacific that joined the UN’s powerful human rights council for the first time in 2019, Fiji has made giant strides within the organisation: right to the very top ... almost.

By consensus, Fiji’s chief diplomat in Geneva, ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan, was set to assume the presidency of the council for 2021, a historic first not only for Fiji, but for a Pacific region consistently under-represented on the global stage.

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Tackling sexual harassment at UN ‘on the back burner’, says former executive

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Purna Sen says survivors of sexual assault and discrimination struggle to be heard at global organisation

The former executive in charge of tackling sexual harassment at the UN has said she fears the issue has now been “put on the back burner”.

Purna Sen was appointed at UN Women in 2018 to address harassment, assault and discrimination at work, including within the organisation. But after being told the role would not be renewed, she left in August.

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South Sudan faces ‘catastrophic’ famine unless conflict ended

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UN agencies say millions at risk if aid can’t reach areas of country stricken by floods, violence and Covid-19

Parts of South Sudan are facing a “catastrophic” conflict-fuelled famine, humanitarian groups warned on Friday.

Three UN agencies have called for a halt to violence to allow urgent access to parts of Jonglei state, where they said people have already run out of food because of insecurity, flooding and the coronavirus pandemic.

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Unicef to feed hungry children in UK for first time in 70-year history

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UN agency will help fund food parcels for those affected by coronavirus crisis in Southwark, south London

Unicef has launched a domestic emergency response in the UK for the first time in its more than 70-year history to help feed children hit by the Covid-19 crisis.

The UN agency, which is responsible for providing humanitarian aid to children worldwide, said the coronavirus pandemic was the most urgent crisis affecting children since the second world war.

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Wear masks when you see family for Christmas, WHO urges Europeans

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UN body also suggests gatherings should be ‘outside where possible’ to reduce Covid transmission risk

Europeans gathering for Christmas with their friends or families should try to celebrate outside or wear masks indoors in a well-ventilated space, according to an advisory issued by the World Health Organization.

The advice, posted by the UN health body’s European region on its website, covers a variety of issues relating to winter recreation and holidays, including whether to take a skiing break and seasonal celebrations.

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