UNITED NATIONS,, United States (AFP) – The United Nations will give “material” aid to cholera victims in Haiti and their families, the secretary general’s spokesman said Friday, citing the international body’s “moral responsibility.” UN chief Ban Ki-moon, in a statement by a spokesman, also noted that a decision Thursday by a US federal appeals court “upheld the immunity of the organization from legal proceedings” brought against it over the cholera crisis. US courts have consistently found […]
Tag: UN
Philippines to UN: Duterte not committing crime
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The Philippine government on Friday criticized as “baseless and reckless” a UN statement that President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs amounted to a crime under international law. Duterte’s chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo told AFP the administration was not behind the extra-judicial killings targeting alleged criminal suspects, challenging UN human rights experts to visit the Philippines and investigate. Two UN rights experts said Thursday that Duterte’s directives calling on law enforcers and […]
Haiti cholera victims welcome UN recognizing role in outbreak
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) – by Amelie BARON The United Nations’ belated acknowledgement it played a role in a cholera epidemic in Haiti that has killed nearly 10,000 people was hailed by victims’ advocates Thursday as vindication of their efforts to hold the world body accountable. The epidemic broke out in 2010 in the vicinity of a base housing UN peacekeepers, in an impoverished Caribbean country that previously had been considered cholera-free. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s […]
South Sudan army slams UN report alleging killings, rape
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) – South Sudan’s army on Friday described a UN report alleging its troops carried out ethnically targeted killings and rapes as “baseless”, saying not one victim had lodged a complaint. The UN’s top human rights official on Thursday blamed Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) troops loyal to President Salva Kiir for deadly attacks on the Nuer people during a bout of unrest in the capital in early July. Kiir is from the Dinka […]
Quest to end AIDS epidemic at risk: UN
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) – by Nina LARSON Efforts to end the global AIDS pandemic by 2030 are lagging, the UN warned Tuesday, decrying rising numbers of new HIV infections among adults in many regions, with Russia especially hard-hit. In a new report, UNAIDS cautioned that while new HIV infections had fallen dramatically in the past two decades, especially among children, the trend among adults has stalled and even risen in a number of places over the […]
UN seeks to raise $952 mln in aid for Sudan
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) – The United Nations Tuesday launched a global appeal for $952 million to fund Sudan’s humanitarian needs in 2016, most of it to help people affected by the deadly conflict in Darfur. The much delayed appeal expects to address the humanitarian needs of up to 4.6 million people, including tens of thousands of South Sudanese refugees who have entered Sudan to escape the violence and food shortages in their country. “Women, men, refugees […]
Key Findings of UN Tribunal’s ruling vs. China
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — A United Nations-backed tribunal issued a damning ruling against China on its long-running dispute with the Philippines in the South China Sea. Here are some of the key findings of the ruling: China’s ‘nine-dash-line’ is invalid — The five member panel found that Chinese fishermen, amongst others, had historically made use of the islands in the South China Sea but “there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control […]
Facts on Philippines vs China
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — A UN-backed tribunal is on Tuesday expected to deliver a verdict on a Philippine challenge to China’s claims to most of the South China Sea. Spanning three years, two hearings, and nearly 4,000 pages of evidence, the arbitration case at The Hague is complex. In essence, China claims most of the sea, even waters approaching neighboring countries, based on a vaguely defined “nine-dash” Chinese map dating back to the 1940s. The […]
Ban says he expects EU to remain ‘solid partner’ for United Nations
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Friday he expects the European Union to remain a solid partner for the UN after Britain’s decision to leave the bloc. “The Secretary-General expects…the (EU) to continue to be a solid partner for the (UN) on development and humanitarian issues, as well as peace and security, including migration,” Ban said in a statement. © 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse
Record 65 million people displaced worldwide: UN
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The number of people displaced worldwide has hit a new record, with 65.3 million people forced from their home as of the end of 2015, the UN said Monday. “This is the first time that the threshold of 60 million has been crossed,” the UN refugee agency said. The figures, released on World Refugee Day, underscore twin pressures fuelling an unprecedented global displacement crisis. As conflict and persecution force growing numbers […]
80 percent of world’s city dwellers breathing bad air: UN
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Over 80 percent of the world’s city dwellers breathe poor quality air, increasing their risk of lung cancer and other life-threatening diseases, a new World Health Organization (WHO) report warned Thursday. Urban residents in poor countries are by far the worst affected, WHO said, noting that nearly every city (98 percent) in low- and middle-income countries has air which fails to meet the UN body’s standards. That number falls to 56 […]
UN Security Council demands protection of hospitals in war zones
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) by Carole LANDRY The UN Security Council on Tuesday demanded that hospitals and clinics be protected in war zones, in a resolution that draws attention to the rise in attacks on medical workers in conflicts worldwide. Less than a week after air strikes on a hospital in the Syrian battleground city of Aleppo killed at least 30 people, the council unanimously adopted the measure that strongly condemned the targeting of […]
