Category Archives: United Nations

‘Climate apartheid’: UN expert says human rights may not survive

Posted on by

Right to life is likely to be undermined alongside the rule of law, special rapporteur says

The world is increasingly at risk of “climate apartheid”, where the rich pay to escape heat and hunger caused by the escalating climate crisis while the rest of the world suffers, a report from a UN human rights expert has said.

Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said the impacts of global heating are likely to undermine not only basic rights to life, water, food, and housing for hundreds of millions of people, but also democracy and the rule of law.

Continue reading...

Trump dismisses UN request for FBI to investigate Jamal Khashoggi’s murder

Posted on by

Donald Trump has dismissed a United Nations request for the FBI to investigate the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, suggesting it would jeopardise American weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

Related: 'We are coming to get you': recordings reveal Saudi plan for Khashoggi murder

Continue reading...

Refugees Got Talent: UN-backed show aims to change perceptions

Posted on by

Poet, dancer and a reggae singer were among those displaying their skills in Sicily

A teenage poet from Nigeria, a reggae singer from Sierra Leona and a Colombian dancer were among those competing in Sicily this weekend in a UN-backed talent show aimed at reshaping the narrative around migrants.

Refugees Got Talent, the first event of its kind to be held on an international level, featured dozens of people seeking shelter from war-torn countries, as well as victims of human trafficking. This weekend, 13 finalists showed off their skills in Catania, performing songs, music, art and theatre in front of a judging panel that included the British actor Douglas Booth.

Continue reading...

Trump’s UN pick under fire for spending 300 days away from current post

Posted on by

Democrat finds Kelly Craft’s ‘staggering time’ away from her current post as ambassador to Canada ‘very troubling’

The Trump administration’s nominee to be the next US envoy to the United Nations has come under congressional scrutiny for absenteeism after spending more than half her time as ambassador to Canada away from her post.

Kelly Craft was asked why she spent more than 300 days outside Canada since she took the position in Ottawa in October 2017. In one two-month period between March and May in 2018, Craft was absent from her post 45 out of 54 days, according to Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee.

Continue reading...

Canada took in more refugees than any other country in 2018, UN says

Posted on by

Canada resettled 28,100 refugees last year, overtaking the US for the first time since the 1980 Refugee Act, UN report found

Canada took in more refugees than any other country in the world in 2018, according to a United Nations report, knocking the US from its position as global leader in resettling people fleeing war, persecution and conflict.

Canada resettled 28,1000 refugees in 2018, overtaking the US for the first time since the 1980 Refugee Act, said the report from the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

The Guardian view on Jamal Khashoggi’s murder: Saudi Arabia and its friends | Editorial

Posted on by
One way to honour Khashoggi is to celebrate his life. Another is to recognise the lessons of his death

The UN report into October’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul is the fullest account yet of events and as horrifying as one would expect. Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur, describes a “deliberate, premeditated execution”; secretly recorded conversations before his visit discussed the arrival of the “sacrificial animal” and dismemberment of a body. She concludes that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia should be investigated because there is “credible evidence” that he and other senior officials are liable for the killing – a conclusion also reached by the CIA – despite the kingdom’s insistence that it was a rogue operation.

No reminder should be needed of the brutality of the killing of Khashoggi, a widely respected journalist living in Washington. Even Saudi Arabia’s business and diplomatic allies blanched, or at least felt obliged to put some distance between themselves and the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom, after repeated lies about what happened, announced that it would try 11 suspects for his murder.

Continue reading...

‘Credible evidence’ Saudi crown prince liable for Khashoggi killing – UN report

Posted on by

Mohammed bin Salman should be investigated over journalist’s murder, says report

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia should be investigated over the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi because there is “credible evidence” that he and other senior officials are liable for the killing, according to a damning and forensic UN report.

In an excoriating 100-page analysis published on Wednesday of what happened to Khashoggi last October, Agnes Callamard, the UN’s special rapporteur, says the death of the journalist was “an international crime”.

Continue reading...

More than 70 million people now fleeing conflict and oppression worldwide

Posted on by

One in every 108 people were displaced in 2018, yet offers of resettlement were half level of previous year

The number of people forced to flee their homes across the world has exceeded 70 million for the first time since records began, the UN’s refugee agency has warned.

About 70.8 million – one in every 108 people worldwide – were displaced in 2018. This includes people who were forced to flee their homes last year, as well as people who have been unable to return home for years.

Continue reading...

Yemen’s Houthi rebels accused of diverting food aid from hungry

Posted on by

Head of UN’s World Food Programme threatens suspension of food aid if safe delivery not assured

The head of the United Nations food agency has accused Yemen’s Houthi rebels of diverting food from the country’s hungriest people and threatened to suspend food aid.

David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said the agency had found “serious evidence” that food supplies had been diverted in the capital, Sana’a and other Houthi-controlled areas in the country, which is in the midst of a four-year civil war. He called on the Houthis to implement agreements that would allow the UN agency to operate independently.

Continue reading...

UN report condemns its conduct in Myanmar as systemic failure

Posted on by

Exclusive: ‘Serious errors’ found in agencies’ approach to Rohingya crisis in Rakhine

A damning report by the UN on its own conduct in Myanmar has condemned the organisation’s “obviously dysfunctional performance” over the past decade and concluded there was a systemic failure.

The report, seen by the Guardian before publication, was commissioned by the secretary general, António Guterres, after accusations that the UN system ignored warning signs of escalating violence before an alleged genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority.

Continue reading...

Myanmar: UN threatens to withdraw aid over ‘policy of apartheid’ against Rohingya

Posted on by

Exclusive: Body says it will withhold support ‘beyond life-saving assistance’ in internally displaced persons camps deemed “closed” by the Myanmar government

The United Nations in Myanmar has warned it will withdraw support in Rakhine state to avoid complicity in a government “policy of apartheid” for Rohingya Muslims.

A letter seen by the Guardian, sent from UN resident coordinator, Knut Ostby, to the Myanmar government, relayed a decision by the UN and its humanitarian partners to withhold support “beyond life-saving assistance” in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps deemed “closed” by the government, unless fundamental changes occur.

Continue reading...

UN counter-terror tsar visits Xinjiang where Uighurs held in huge numbers

Posted on by

Activists say official visit risks affirming China’s narrative that camps thought to hold a million people are not an abuse of human rights

The UN’s counter-terrorism tsar is on a visit this week to China’s Xinjiang region, where Beijing insists the estimated 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims it is detaining constitute a potential terrorist threat.

Vladimir Voronkov, the under-secretary general for counter-terrorism, is the highest level UN official to visit Xinjiang, which activists have described as an open-air prison where people are deprived of religious freedom.

Continue reading...

Aid groups need a major shake-up to meet the challenges of a fractured world | Simon O’Connell

Posted on by

Humanitarian assistance is too siloed, inefficient and expensive to achieve lasting impact for billions of people in need

It is just over three years since the “Grand Bargain” was struck.

It was signed by the world’s major donors and aid providers, promising structural reform and committed to getting more money directly through to local and national organisations. But the deal has seen little change. The system remains dominated by a familiar group of UN agencies and international NGOs. Progress is at a glacial pace.

Continue reading...

It’s not just girls – one in 30 young men were married as children

Posted on by

Central African Republic has the highest rate of boy grooms, followed by Nicaragua, Madagascar, Nauru and Honduras

One in 30 young men were married as children, according to the first UN analysis of child marriage rates among boys.

Around 115 million boys and men around the world were married before they turned 18, according to Unicef, which warned the issue is often overlooked.

Continue reading...

Inquiry into oil tanker attacks stops short of blaming Iran

Posted on by

UN security council hears unidentified state was behind explosions in Gulf last month

An unidentified state actor has been blamed for attacks on four oil tankers in the Gulf last month, according to an inconclusive inquiry that stopped short of explicitly pointing the finger at Iran.

The UAE along with Saudi Arabia and Norway presented the preliminary findings during a private briefing to members of the UN security council, which will also receive the final results of the inquiry and consider a possible response.

Continue reading...

DRC Ebola cases pass 2,000, prompting call for ‘total reset’

Posted on by

Violence by armed groups and community mistrust hamper attempts to halt epidemic

More than 2,000 people have been infected with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the health ministry has said, and aid agencies expressed concern over the accelerating spread of the disease.

So far there have been 1914 confirmed and 94 probable cases of infection with the virus, making the outbreak, which was declared in August last year, the second largest in history. New cases are being reported at a rate of around 10 every day. Some 1,346 people have died

Continue reading...

US abortion policy is ‘extremist hate’ and ‘torture’, says UN commissioner

Posted on by

Trump administration’s ban on terminations is a crisis directed at women, warns Kate Gilmore

The US policy on abortion is a form of extremist hate that amounts to the torture of women, the UN deputy high commissioner for human rights told the Guardian.

The attack on women’s rights was a “crisis”, organised and well-resourced by very extremist groups.

Continue reading...

Science institute that advised EU and UN ‘actually industry lobby group’

Posted on by

International Life Sciences Institute used by corporate backers to counter public health policies, says study

An institute whose experts have occupied key positions on EU and UN regulatory panels is, in reality, an industry lobby group that masquerades as a scientific health charity, according to a peer-reviewed study.

The Washington-based International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) describes its mission as “pursuing objectivity, clarity and reproducibility” to “benefit the public good”.

Continue reading...

Candidate to run global food body will ‘not defend’ EU stance on GM

Posted on by

Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle tells US she would be more open to its interests in UN role

Europe’s candidate to run the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which guides policymakers around the world, has promised the US she will “not defend the EU position” in resisting the global spread of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

In a bid for US support, Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle told senior US officials at a meeting in Washington on 15 May that under her leadership the FAO would be more open to American interests and accepting of GMOs and gene editing, according to a US official record of the meeting seen by the Guardian.

Continue reading...

UN report proves Catalan separatists ‘political prisoners’, says Puigdemont

Posted on by

Trio arrested over alleged role in failed independence bid should be freed, panel says

The fugitive Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has welcomed a UN report on the detention of three fellow separatists, which he said confirmed they were “political prisoners”.

The former Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras and the Catalan civil society group chiefs, Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez, arrested over their alleged role in the failed regional independence bid, have been in custody since late 2017 and are among 12 regional leaders currently on trial in Madrid.

Continue reading...