May 19, 2024 No comments
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister hopes for high impact conference charting course for small island States
INTERNATIONAL, 19 May 2024, SDGs - The fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) is heading to Antigua and Barbuda later this month with “human survivability and protecting our planet” topping the agenda when it comes to containing climate change, according to the Caribbean nation’s Prime Minister. This year’s conference will focus on “charting the course toward resilient prosperity” by assessing small States’ ability to reach the ambitious 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. In an exclusive interview earlier this month at UN Headquarters, Prime Minister Gaston Browne, told UN News that he hopes the conference will be a game-changer for formulating strategies to mitigate climate change, crushing debt, and other key issues that may be stunting small island development. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. UN...
Read more
May 18, 2024 No comments
Gaza: Nearly 800,000 now displaced from Rafah
INTERNATIONAL, 18 May 2024, Humanitarian Aid - Roughly 800,000 people have been forced to flee Rafah since Israel launched a military operation in the area on 6 May, the head of UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA said on Saturday in a renewed appeal for greater protection of civilians in Gaza, safe humanitarian access and, ultimately, a ceasefire. “Once again, nearly half of the population of Rafah or 800,000 people are on the road,” Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote in post on the social media platform X. formerly Twitter. He said that following evacuation orders demanding people to flee to so-called safe zones, people mainly went to the middle areas in Gaza and Khan Younis, including to destroyed buildings. No safe passage or protection “When people move, they are...
Read more
May 18, 2024 No comments
‘Brand new words’ needed to describe Gaza devastation, UN humanitarian says
INTERNATIONAL, 18 May 2024, Humanitarian Aid - The situation in Gaza is so devastating that no words can adequately describe it, a humanitarian officer working in the besieged enclave has said. “No matter where you look, no matter where you go, there’s destruction, there’s devastation, there’s loss,” said Yasmina Guerda, who recently returned to Gaza for a second deployment with the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA. She spoke to UN News from Rafah, previously a refuge for more than a million Palestinians fleeing hostilities in other parts of Gaza. The start of Israeli military operations there has uprooted more than 600,000 people in just over a week. Ms. Guerda frankly discussed the immense suffering and insecurity in Gaza, the critical lack of aid and basic services, and the difficulties...
Read more
May 17, 2024 No comments
UN rights office urges Sri Lanka to reveal fate of the disappeared
INTERNATIONAL, 17 May 2024, Human Rights - The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday urged the Sri Lankan Government to take decisive action to uncover the fates and locations of tens of thousands of individuals subjected to enforced disappearances over the years and to hold those responsible accountable. The call accompanies the launch of a key report by OHCHR, highlighting also the need for the Government to acknowledge the involvement of State security forces and to issue a public apology. From the 1970s to 2009, Sri Lanka witnessed widespread enforced disappearances, predominantly carried out by the national army and associated paramilitary groups. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also participated in abductions, which, according to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, tantamount to...
Read more
May 17, 2024 No comments
Israel refutes South Africa’s accusations at UN world court
INTERNATIONAL, 17 May 2024, Law and Crime Prevention - The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ), on Friday, heard the response from Israel on the case brought forward by South Africa requesting emergency provisional measures to immediately halt Israeli military operations under way in Rafah, in southern Gaza, where over one million Palestinians were sheltering after having been displaced from elsewhere in the enclave. Linked to South Africa’s ongoing case accusing Israel of violating its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention), the new request, filed on 10 May, asked the ICJ to order Israel to “immediately withdraw and cease its military operations in the Rafah governate”. An ‘obscene exploitation’ Appearing before the Court, Gilad Noam, co-agent of Israel, refuted South Africa’s claims,...
Read more
