UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — A senior UN official warned Tuesday that recent rapprochement on the Korean peninsula, as well as between North Korea and the United States had not been accompanied by an improvement in human rights in the reclusive country. Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the North, urged Pyongyang to show willingness to start addressing the issue following key summits with both South Korea and the […]
Tag: UN
Koreas and UN Command begin talks on demilitarizing border
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The two Koreas and the US-led United Nations Command began talks Tuesday on demilitarising a section of the heavily fortified border dividing the peninsula, as a diplomatic thaw gathers pace. “The first meeting between the South, North and the UNC on disarming the Joint Security Area (JSA) will take place at 10am today at Panmunjom,” Seoul’s defense ministry said in a message sent to reporters. The JSA, also known as […]
PHL among nations elected to UN Human Rights Council sparking criticism from rights groups
(Eagle News) — The Philippines was elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday, October 12, along with Cameroon and Bahrain, drawing criticism and rebuke from various rights groups in Europe and North America, and even from former US Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley. The Philippines was represented by incoming foreign affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., who is currently the country’s permanent representative to the UN. The Department of Foreign Affairs announced […]
Myanmar ‘unwilling’ to probe Rohingya abuse, UN must act: rights envoy
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar is “unable and unwilling” to investigate its abuses against Rohingya Muslims, a UN rights envoy has said, bolstering calls for the country’s generals to be hauled before an international court. A UN fact-finding mission has called for Myanmar’s top brass to be investigated for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes over a brutal crackdown against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state that forced more than 720,000 of the beleaguered minority […]
UN warns paradigm shift needed to avert global climate chaos
INCHEON, South Korea (AFP) — Avoiding global climate chaos will require a major transformation of society and the world economy that is “unprecedented in scale,” the UN says in a landmark report that warns time is running out to avert disaster. https://youtu.be/f97yGa9fznU
UN warns Indonesia quake needs ‘vast’ as toll nears 1,400
by Harry PEARL Agence France Presse PALU, Indonesia (AFP) — Nearly 1,400 people are now known to have died in the quake-tsunami that smashed into Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, with UN officials warning needs are “vast” for both desperate survivors and rescue teams still searching for victims. Almost 200,000 people want urgent help, the UN’s humanitarian office said, among them tens of thousands of children, with an estimated 66,000 homes destroyed or damaged by the 7.5-magnitude […]
President Duterte instituting reforms to protect rights of law-abiding Filipinos, Cayetano tells UN assembly
(Eagle News) — Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano told the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York of the Philippine government’s efforts in instituting reforms to protect law-abiding Filipinos in the country, as he defended the Duterte administration’s war on drugs and criminality. Cayetano said that the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte is trying to “salvage” the Philippines, and preventing it from becoming a narco-state. “As a sovereign and democratic country led […]
Merkel warns Trump against ‘destroying’ UN
FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday warned US President Donald Trump against “destroying” the United Nations. “I believe that destroying something without having developed something new is extremely dangerous,” Merkel said at a regional election campaign event in Bavaria. The veteran leader — a close ally of Trump’s bugbear Barack Obama while he was president — added that she believed multilateralism was the solution to many of the world’s problems. Trump […]
In UN meet, Cayetano reiterates PHL’s respect for human rights
(Eagle News)–Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano emphasized the Philippines’ respect for human rights before the international community during the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “The Philippines and President Duterte are instituting all these reforms to be able to protect the rights of every single Filipino and every single human being living in the Philippines,” Cayetano said. According to Cayetano, the country, however, will always choose to protect the rights […]
Duterte says Jordan’s King called former UN rights chief a “fake”
(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, Sept. 27, said Jordan’s King Abdullah II has said he does not like his cousin, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. President Duterte himself slammed Zeid earlier after he urged the Philippines’ chief executive to undergo a psychiatric evaluation following his rants against rights officials he said interfered in the affairs of the country. Duterte reined in the criticisms at the request of National […]
South Korea at UN urges world to ‘respond positively’ to N.Korea
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday urged world governments to encourage North Korea to advance toward denuclearization by “responding positively” to leader Kim Jong Un’s “new choices”. Addressing the UN General Assembly, Moon praised his North Korean counterpart — with whom he has held three summits — saying he had “changed the direction of the political situation” on the Korean peninsula. “North Korea moved out of longstanding isolation […]
Trump takes anti-Iran campaign to UN Security Council
by Carole Landry Agence FRance Presse US President Donald Trump takes his campaign to isolate Iran to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, chairing for the first time a meeting that will lay bare divisions between Washington and key allies. Trump will be wielding the gavel at the top UN body, where the United States this month holds the agenda-setting presidency of the 15-nation council that deals with the world’s most pressing security […]





