( UN News)* — Some 230 million girls in more than 90 countries – predominantly in Africa and Asia – have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) and can suffer lifelong physical, emotional and psychological scars, an issue that the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency has been tackling with the support of the international community including the United States.
Zeinaba Mahr Aouad, a 24-year-old woman from Djibouti, remembers the day when, as a ten-year-old, an unexpected visitor came to her house: “She had a syringe, a razor blade and bandages.”
The woman was there to carry out a brutal, unnecessary and – since 1995 in the Horn of Africa country – illegal operation known as female genital mutilation, which involves sewing up a girl’s vagina and cutting out her clitoris.
Two weeks after Goma was captured by the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, many families who lost their loved ones are begging for peace. Some of them have had no news of their loved ones, while others have already identified their relatives, civilians and soldiers, who died during the fighting in the city.
M23 fighters at border between Rwanda and DRC. At least 2,800 people have died in renewed hostilities. Credit: Ajabu Adolphe/IPS
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Feb 6 2025 (IPS)* – Zawadi Delphine is a soldier’s wife and mother of three. She and her family live in Camp Katindo, east of the city of Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu.
(Washington, DC) – US President Donald Trump’s statement on February 4, 2025, that the United States would “take over” the Gaza Strip and that the Palestinian population there would need to be moved out would, if implemented, amount to an alarming escalation of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza, Human Rights Watch on 5 February 2025 said.
(UN News)* —UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the international community to continue pushing for a full ceasefire and the release of all hostages in Gaza, and “to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing” in the enclave, in a speech in New York on Wednesday [].
UN News | Children in Gaza stand on debris from a destroyed building.
The UN chief spoke in the wake of comments made by United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday night in the White House, who suggested the US could “take over” the Gaza Strip, calling on Palestinians living there to leave.
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 6 2025 (IPS)* –A new executive order from the United States White House calls for withdrawing support from major UN entities and a review of all international intergovernmental organizations which the United States is a member of.
Coly Seck (at microphone), Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Senegal to the United Nations, briefs reporters with Members of the newly-elected Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP Bureau). At fourth from right is Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations. Credit: UN Photo: Manuel Elías
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 4 2025 (IPS)* – US President Donald Trump’s ominous threat to take over the Panama Canal and Greenland sets the stage for a new political battle with the United Nations.
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In Greenland, the melting of ice sheets is accelerating. Credit: WMO/Karolin Eichier / UN News
But judging by UN’s track record of failures—including the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine — the world body may lose again while battling a veto-wielding superpower.
(UN News)* — Escalating hostilities in the occupied West Bank are putting the fragile ceasefire in Gaza at risk, the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, warned in a statement on Monday [].
It comes a day after Israeli Security Forces (ISF) carried out a series of controlled detonations at the Jenin refugee camp, located in the northern West Bank, destroying large areas there “in a split second”.
(UN News)* — The worsening security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has forced many mpox patients to flee treatment centres, increasing the risk of transmission, the UN health agency (WHO) warned on Monday [].
UN News | Internally displaced persons (IPDs) sheltering at a camp in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fighting escalated sharply in late January, as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized control of parts of North Kivu, including areas near the regional capital Goma, and advanced towards South Kivu.
29 Jan 2025 – The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains one of the most volatile regions in the world, plagued by persistent conflict, exploitation, and foreign interference.
Raïs Neza Boneza
The ongoing offensive by the M23 rebel group in the eastern part of the Congo, backed by Rwanda, highlights the complex web of geopolitics and resource exploitation that fuels instability in the region.
This conflict is more than a localized struggle; it represents a broader pattern of global economic interests undermining the sovereignty and well-being of African nations.
(UN News)* —Four years after the military coup which plunged Myanmar into turmoil, the country is facing an unprecedented “polycrisis,” marked by economic collapse, intensifying conflict, complex climate hazards and deepening poverty, according to a new report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 