UN chief Guterres condemns reported firing of multiple ballistic missiles by DPR Korea
Mar 07, 2017, at 01:20 pm
New York, Mar 7 (Just Earth News): United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the reported firing of ballistic missiles on Monday by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), three of which landed in Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
UN-backed forum in Montreal set to agree region-wide disaster risk reduction plan
Mar 07, 2017, at 01:12 pm
New York, Mar 7 (Just Earth News): More than 1,000 delegates from across the Americas will meet this week at a United Nations-backed conference in the Canadian city of Montreal to agree a Regional Action Plan designed to reduce the loss of life due to disasters, both natural and man-made.
UN agency concerned new US refugee plan may 'compound the anguish' of people fleeing conflict
Mar 07, 2017, at 01:11 pm
New York, Mar 7 (Just Earth News): Refugees are ordinary people forced to flee war, violence and persecution in their home countries and who remain in urgent need of life-saving assistance and protection, the United Nations refugee agency underscored on Monday in the wake of the latest Executive Order signed by the President of the United States on refugee resettlement.
At first ‘playable’ UN conference, tech experts, gamers drive new thinking on global development
Mar 04, 2017, at 01:39 pm
New York, Mar 4 (Just Earth News): Hands-free gardening for a greener future, video gamers using their skills to help achieve the United Nations-led Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – these were just a few of the innovative and forward-looking ideas in the spotlight at the world body’s first ever ‘playable’ policy conference, held in the German city of Bonn.
UN migration agency launches $24.6 million appeal for drought-hit Somalia
Mar 04, 2017, at 01:36 pm
New York, Mar 4 (Just Earth News): To meet the emergency needs of over a million Somalis affected by drought, the United Nations migration agency is appealing to international donors for $24.6 million in funding.
UN expert urges greater protection of people with albinism from witch doctors
Mar 04, 2017, at 05:27 am
New York, Mar 3 (Just Earth News): In the wake of a high-profile conviction of a mastermind who murdered and dismembered a woman with albinism, a United Nations independent expert is calling for additional oversight of traditional healers who use body parts in witchcraft rituals and so-called medicines.
UN-backed narcotics control body calls for more policies to address drug dependence among women
Mar 03, 2017, at 06:27 am
New York, Mar 3 (Just Earth News): Citing a significant rise over the past year in the number of women dying from drug overdoses globally, the independent expert body which monitors Governments’ compliance with the United Nations international drug control treaties is on Thursday calling for the implementation of gender-sensitive drug policies and programmes.
UN envoy condemns firing of rocket from Gaza towards Israel
Mar 03, 2017, at 06:24 am
New York, Mar 3 (Just Earth News): Condemning a rocket fired from Gaza towards Israel, a senior United Nations envoy has called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and avoid escalation of the situation.
UN rights office disappointed with Thai Government’s refusal to criminalize enforced disappearance
Mar 01, 2017, at 02:06 pm
New York, Mar 1 (Just Earth News): The United Nations human rights office on Tuesday urged the Government of Thailand to criminalize enforced or voluntary disappearance and torture.
UN migration agency reports surge in displacement from Mosul as fighting intensifies
Mar 01, 2017, at 06:08 am
New York, Mar 1 (Just Earth News): The United Nations migration agency today reported thousands of new arrivals at Iraqi sites for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) fleeing Mosul’s western sector where fighting is taking place between the Government forces and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) terrorists.
Yemen: UN verifies nearly 1,500 boys recruited for use in armed conflict
Mar 01, 2017, at 06:05 am
New York, Mar 1 (Just Earth News): The United Nations human rights office on Tuesday urged all warring parties in Yemen to immediately release child soldiers, noting that the UN has verified the recruitment of 1,476 children, all boys, between 26 March 2015 and 31 January 2017.
UN health agency lists antibiotic-resistant bacteria which pose human threat
Feb 28, 2017, at 01:15 pm
New York, Feb 28 (Just Earth News): The United Nations health agency on Monday published its first-ever catalogue of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health.
UN rights expert calls on Myanmar authorities to protect Rohingya population
Feb 28, 2017, at 04:52 am
New York, Feb 27 (Just Earth News): Concluding a four-day visit to parts of Bangladesh where she met with members of Myanmar's Rohingya community who fled the violence there following attacks on a border post in early October and the ensuing military operations, a United Nations expert called for urgent action by the Government of Myanmar to end the suffering of the Rohingya population in the country.
UN rights experts urge action to curb 'invisible threat' of toxic air
Feb 25, 2017, at 05:00 am
New York, Feb 24 (Just Earth News): United Nations human rights experts are calling for strong, urgent action by States to ensure that people around the world can enjoy the human right to live in environments free from contamination.
UN health agency reports depression now ‘leading cause of disability worldwide’
Feb 24, 2017, at 02:09 pm
New York, Feb 24 (Just Earth News): Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, the United Nations health agency on Thursday reported, estimating that it affects more than 300 million people worldwide – the majority of them women, young people and the elderly.
'Time lost means lives lost,' warns UN aid chief, releasing funds to tackle drought in Ethiopia
Feb 22, 2017, at 07:39 am
New York, Feb 22 (Just Earth News): The top United Nations humanitarian official on Tuesday released $18.5 million from the organization's Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to enable critical aid for more than 785,000 people suffering from hunger, malnutrition and severe water shortages in Ethiopia's Somali region – the worst drought-stricken part of the country.
A decade on, UN urges all Governments to endorse convention on enforced disappearance
Feb 18, 2017, at 05:44 pm
New York, Feb 18 (Just Earth News): Marking the tenth anniversary of an historic treaty to keep people from suffering enforced disappearance or secret detentions, the United Nations on Friday urged all Governments that have not done so to ratify it, as the world body honoured victims separated from their loved ones.
PODCAST: The power of bearing witness – how rape became an ‘act of genocide’
Feb 16, 2017, at 03:33 pm
New York, Feb 16 (Just Earth News): Shame and stigma prevent many rape survivors in conflict zones from reporting the horrific abuses they endure at the hands of war but the criminals whose sole aim in carrying out these horrific deeds is to torture and humiliate their enemy.
UN kicks off preparations for upcoming summit on oceans, launches voluntary commitment website
Feb 16, 2017, at 03:32 pm
New York, Feb 16 (Just Earth News): The world dumps the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute, the United Nations heard on Wednesday at the start of a two-day meeting to prepare for this June's Ocean Conference that will aim to help safeguard the planet's oceans and help them recover from human-induced proble
Nine countries join UN-supported network to halve maternal, newborn deaths in clinics
Feb 15, 2017, at 07:00 pm
New York, Feb 15 (Just Earth News): A health network is being created, with support of United Nations agencies, in nine countries – Bangladesh, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda – whose Governments have pledged to halve maternal and newborn deaths in health facilities by 2022.
Synthetic drugs are making headway in Afghanistan, UN agency reports
Feb 15, 2017, at 06:43 pm
New York, Feb 15 (Just Earth News): Methamphetamine is increasingly being seized by law enforcement in Afghanistan, and there is also evidence that it is being produced in the country, according to the first of its kind assessment on synthetic drugs released on Tuesday by the United Nations drug and crime agency.
Drought drives food price spike in East Africa, UN warns
Feb 15, 2017, at 06:37 pm
New York, Feb 15 (Just Earth News): East Africa’s ongoing drought has sharply curbed harvests and drive up the prices of cereals and other staple foods to unusually high levels, posing a heavy burden to households and special risks for pastoralists in the region, the United Nations agricultural agency said on Tuesday.
Guinea-Bissau: Sustaining economic growth requires political stability, says UN envoy
Feb 15, 2017, at 06:33 pm
New York, Feb 15 (Just Earth News): In the face of continued political crisis in Guinea-Bissau, a more sustained and well-coordinated approach is required to sustain economic gains, said the United Nations envoy for the country, calling for “faithful†implementation of a regionally-brokered road-map.
UN food relief agency working with Sri Lanka to end hunger and malnutrition
Feb 15, 2017, at 06:11 pm
New York, Feb 15 (Just Earth News): Sri Lanka is making efforts to achieve zero hunger and zero under-nutrition, having launched a national review of food security and nutrition with the United Nations emergency food relief agency.
Guterres announces steps towards reforming Organization’s peace and security architecture
Feb 15, 2017, at 06:06 pm
New York, Feb 15 (Just Earth News): United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday announced the establishment of an internal review team that will take forward the reforms to the UN Secretariat peace and security strategy, functioning and architecture, which he outlined when he was appointed the Secretary-General last year.
Ukraine: UN warns of civilian casualties in ‘face to face’ fighting in country's east
Feb 15, 2017, at 06:03 pm
New York, Feb 15 (Just Earth News): Intensified fighting between Government and non-Government forces near densely populated areas in eastern Ukraine is endangering civilians, the senior United Nations humanitarian representative in the country told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
Feb 14, 2017, at 03:43 pm
New York, Feb 14 (Just Earth News): A senior United Nations relief official has on Monday called on all parties to come to an agreement and allow immediate and unfettered humanitarian access to more than 60,000 civilians trapped in four Syrian towns of Al-Zabadani, Al-Fu’ah, Kafraya and Madaya.
In Dubai, UN chief addresses deficit of trust between governments, citizens and institutions
Feb 14, 2017, at 03:38 pm
New York, Feb 14 (Just Earth News): The world faces a “terrible lack of trust,†United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday addressing the World Government Summit in the Emirati city of Dubai, and called for reconciliation between people, their governments and global multilateral institutions.
UN strongly condemns DPR Korea's ballistic missile launch
Feb 14, 2017, at 03:31 pm
New York, Feb 14 (Just Earth News): Secretary-General António Guterres and the United Nations Security Council on Monday voiced strong opposition to the latest ballistic missile launch by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, calling on Pyongyang to fully comply with its international obligations to denuclearize.
UN and partners launch muliti-year appeal for DR Congo
Feb 14, 2017, at 03:21 pm
New York, Feb 14 (Just Earth News): The United Nations and humanitarian partners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have appealed for nearly $750 million to aid 6.7 million people this year.