Suliman Azab with one of his children outside their collapsed home in Khan Younis, Gaza. The family were displaced three times by the conflict. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah
(UN News)* — Families fleeing from besieged areas of northern Gaza are leaving homes and shelters with just the shirts on their backs, Louise Wateridge, Senior Emergency Coordinator for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told UN News on Saturday [].
Speaking from an UNRWA school in Gaza City, which is in the north of the Strip, Ms. Wateridge said that, for almost 50 days, UN humanitarian missions have attempted to deliver supplies to northern Gaza, including besieged areas such as Jabalia, but access to those in desperate need has been extremely limited.
(UN News)* — The number of children being recruited into armed groups across Haiti has increased by 70 per cent over the past year, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported. The unprecedented spike also reveals the alarming deterioration of child protection amid escalating violence in the Caribbean nation.
According to the latest estimates, children now comprise up to half of all armed group members, with recruitment driven by widespread poverty, lack of education and collapse of essential services.
(UN News)* —Rich nations pledged to contribute at least $300 billion annually to the global fight against climate change as UN climate talks came to a contentious end early Sunday [24 November 2024] morning in Baku.
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UNFCCC/Kiara Worth | Wide shot of the plenary hall at the UN climate conference, COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan.
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Developing nations who had sought over $1 trillion in assistance called the agreement “insulting” and argued it did not give them the vital resources they required to truly address the complexities of the climate crisis.
BAKU, Nov 24 2024 (IPS)* –They say it is taboo to talk about money. But this is exactly what developing countries came for: to haggle and push for the climate finance deal of a lifetime, as the climate crisis is, for them, a matter of life and death.
A delegate reacts during the final negotiations that led to a much-criticized climate finance deal. Credit: UN Climate Change/Kiara Worth
Wealthy nations also came for their own deal of a lifetime—to hoist the climate finance burden on the private sector as they take the bare minimum financial responsibility.
A finance COP was always going to be difficult as, although they can pay, they simply will not pay.
MADRID, 23 November 2024 – Human atrocities seem to have become so ‘normalised’ that more and more major crimes continue to be either nearly ignored, or shortly reported every now and then… or even only once a year.
16 Days of Activism: #NoExcuse. UNiTE to End Violence against Women
(UN News)* — The death toll of humanitarian workers in 2024 has become the “deadliest on record”, with 281 killed globally, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported on Friday [].
The grim milestone has surpassed previous records.
“Humanitarian workers are being killed at an unprecedented rate, their courage and humanity being met with bullets and bombs,”said Tom Fletcher, the new UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
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“This violence is unconscionable and devastating to aid operations,” he added.
Ultimately, this is the story of how the Israel lobby undermined America, wrecked the Middle East, and set a series of international crimes against humanity in motion.
21 November 2024 Common Dreams — It’s official now. America’s closest ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the one accorded more than 50 standing ovations in Congress just months ago, is under indictment by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of the United States Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol March 3, 2015 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
(UN News)* — Children in Myanmar are increasingly caught in the crossfire of intensifying conflict, climate disasters and a collapsing humanitarian system, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported.
UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban issued a stark call for urgent international action on Thursday [], describing the situation as “dire” for children.
(UN News)* — Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), told reporters in Geneva that ground clashes inside Lebanon – some of them very close to UNIFIL positions – have become “more violent”.
Peacekeepers have witnessed the “shocking” destruction of villages in southern Lebanon along the UN-patrolled Blue Line that separates the country from Israel, along with ever-deeper Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ground incursions and continuing Hezbollah attacks, the UN said on Tuesday [].