(UN News)* — The UN General Assembly on Thursday [] voted by a large margin against the United States’ economic and trade embargo against Cuba, first imposed in 1960. A total of 187 States voted for the resolution put forward each year against the embargo with only the US and Israel voting against and Ukraine abstaining.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider | The UN General Assembly votes on the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba.
The number of people killed in Gaza is nearing the 9,000 mark amid mounting concerns over the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes on a densely-populated refugee camp near Gaza City, while a key hospital has stopped operations and UN humanitarians are unable to deliver aid to the north as the ground war intensifies.
2 November 2023 — The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) are warning of the rapidly rising numbers of Afghans returning from Pakistan and urging international donors to mobilise additional humanitarian funding to address their needs and avoid a new crisis.
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Loaded trucks in Torkham as thousands of Afghan returnees make their way back to Afghanistan from Pakistan. Credit: Maisam Shafiey/NRC
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Furthermore, the three organisations call upon neighbouring countries to continue offering protection and refuge to all vulnerable Afghan refugees until conditions in their home country are conducive to a safe, sustainable and voluntary return.
WFP-FAO report highlights 22 countries or territories needing urgent attention as funding shortfall hampers support
, Paul Anthem
The Democratic Republic of the Congo: A woman collects food for her family in Bulengo displacement camp in the east. A total of 2.9 million people are expected to face Emergency levels of acute food insecurity in the country between January and June 2024. Photo: WFP/Benjamin Anguandia
(WFP)* — The latest Hunger Hotspots report provides a telling reminder of critical humanitarian emergencies that risk falling under the radar while the world’s attention is on the conflict in Israel and Palestine.
(UN News)* — More than 820 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have been displaced amid settler violence and increased movement restrictions since the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October and the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza, the UN relief wing said on Wednesday [].
OCHA | Palestinians being displaced amid threats by Israeli settlers in Nablus area. (October 2023)
Israeli settler violence has increased significantly, from an already high average of three incidents per day in 2023 to seven a day now, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA).
During this period, OCHA recorded 171 settler attacks against Palestinians, resulting in 26 different casualty incidents, damage to 115 Palestinian properties, and some 30 reported incidents of both property damage and casualties.
(UN News)* — Gaza has become a “graveyard” for children with thousands now killed under Israeli bombardment, while more than a million face dire shortages of essentials and a lifetime of trauma ahead, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday [].
UN relief chief Martin Griffiths, who has been visiting Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, spoke to families in Gaza over the phone from east Jerusalem on Tuesday and said that what they have endured since the start of Israel’s retaliation for Hamas’ deadly 7 October attacks is “beyond devastating”.
“When an eight-year-old tells you that she doesn’t want to die, it’s hard not to feel helpless,” he wrote on social platform X.
“…If you wanna make the world a better place Take a look at yourself and then make a change…” — Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard
Tucked into a corner of a tiny apartment on the 8th floor of a block of flats not far from the Douro River in Porto, Portugal, are a small desk, two laptops and an orthopedic chair. “This,” proclaimed Antonio with a flourish, “isTMS!”
Antonio C.S. Rosa, Porto Oct 2023 | Photo by Marilyn Langlois
(UN News)* — UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday [] called on the world to “stop the madness” of climate change as he visited the Everest region in Nepal where melting glaciers are putting entire communities at risk of extinction.
UN Photo/Narendra Shrestha | UN Secretary-General António Guterres visits Syangbpoche in Solukhumbu district, Nepal.
Nepal has lost almost a third of its ice volume in 30 years, with glaciers melting 65 per cent faster in the last decade than in the previous one.
“The rooftops of the world are caving in,” the UN chief said, warning that the “disappearance of glaciers altogether” looms even larger.
For peace, an immediate ceasefire, dialogue and negotiations in Gaza.
The Israeli government is committing war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. They are breaking international law, which prohibits the collective punishment of civilian populations.
Mairead Corrigan Maguire
Governments like the USA and United Kingdom that support Israel’s genocidal policies must also be held legally responsible.
These governments are supporting the deaths of Palestinians, many of which are children, and the destruction of their land.
All of this is exacerbated by the US sending warships to support the Israeli siege of Gaza, with obscene bombing.
These war crimes have rightly shaken all peoples in the world who value human rights, dignity, equality and freedom.
28 October 2023 — Médecins Sans Frontières [Doctors without Borders] calls for an immediate ceasefire to prevent more deaths in Gaza and allow desperately needed humanitarian supplies in.
War in Gaza: find out how we’re responding
Since Friday 27 October, the bombing by the Israeli forces has intensified to a degree not seen until now: northern Gaza is being razed to the ground, while the whole Strip is being hit and civilians have no place to take shelter.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 