(UN News)* — Last October’s terror attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on Israeli communities marked a devastating day for children, and the suffering has continued unabated, a senior UNICEF official said on Thursday [].
Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action, stressed the urgent need for an immediate end to the hostilities and a negotiated political settlement that prioritises the rights and well-being of both Israeli and Palestinian children, now and in the future.
(UN News)* —The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday [] voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution that demands that Israel “brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence” in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider | Result of the General Assembly vote on a draft resolution on the ICJ advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
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With a recorded vote of 124 nations in favour, 14 against, and 43 abstentions, the resolution calls for Israel to comply with international law and withdraw its military forces, immediately cease all new settlement activity, evacuate all settlers from occupied land, and dismantle parts of the separation wall it constructed inside the occupied West Bank.
NAIROBI, Sep 18 2024 (IPS) –A report examining corporate capture of public finance is accusing industries fueling the climate crisis, including fossil fuel ones, of draining public funds in the Global South, singling them out for squeezing out of governments USD 700 billion in public subsidies each year.
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Joseph Loree, who lives in the oil-rich Lokichar area of Turkana in northern Kenya, keeps a few goats due to frequent droughts. Governments in the Global South are spending billions of dollars subsidising industries harming the climate, such as the one in Lokichar. Credit: Maina Waruru/IPS
Washington’s military interventions are not just wars on people — they’re also wars on the planet’s climate.
U.S. combat soldier in the rubble at one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces in Baghdad, 24 Apr 2003. (U.S. Air Force, Cherie A. Thurlby, National Archivers, Public domain)
13 Sep 2024 – This week marks 23 years since George W. Bush declared a U.S.-led “war on terror” and the people of Afghanistan and Iraq are still suffering its consequences.
(UN News)* — Some of the world’s poorest countries spend more on debt repayments than health, education and infrastructure combined, severely hampering their chances of developing their economies.
The UN is calling for an overhaul of the entire international financial system, to reduce inequality and improve people’s lives.
“The international financial architecture, crafted in 1945 after the Second World War, is undergoing a stress test of historic proportions – and it is failing that test”, argues UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a 2023 policy brief.
Joint press release: 15 aid organisations demand international pressure for an immediate ceasefire, arms embargo, and end to Israel’s systematic aid obstruction
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Destruction on Al-Nasser Street, Gaza City. Photo: NRC
16 September 2024 (Norwegian Refugee Council)* — New data has revealed the scale of aid obstruction, and the consequential drastic fall in aid entering Gaza.
(UN News)* —Overcrowded shelters in Gaza, a lack of running water and the constant threat of disease are making conditions worse by the day for people in the enclave, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, warned on Monday [].
In a new alert, UNRWA highlighted how Gazans’ shelters have become a target for insects and rodents after more than 11 months of war – echoing deep concerns among humanitarians about the lack of basic hygiene items that have left families unprotected from communicable diseases.
(UN News)* — A school that once served as a place of learning and play for hundreds of children is now a refuge filled with tents and makeshift shelters for those displaced by the ongoing conflict in Gaza, a senior official from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has reported.
In an exclusive interview last Saturday with UN News, Sam Rose, Deputy Director for UNRWA Affairs in Gaza, provided a harrowing account of the devastation.
(UNEP)* — Air pollution costs the global economy a staggering US$8.1 trillion every year, or 6.1 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product.
Credit: UNEP
Air pollution comes from myriad sources and disproportionately affects the marginalized, including women, children and the elderly. Its impact crosses borders, harming public health, the economy and the environment.
13 September 2024 (WMO)* — The extended streak of extraordinarily high temperatures has continued, and the year so far has been the warmest on record for the globe, according to three leading international datasets.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 