General News

Activists are hailing the appointment of a UN Independent Expert on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people as a milestone.

The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva passed a resolution on Thursday establishing the mandate.

It represents an important step towards stamping out homophobia and transphobia, say those fighting hatred and discrimination against the LGBT community.

Dianne Penn reports.

Duration: 3'28"

Some 3.6 million children in Iraq are at serious risk of death, injury, sexual violence, abduction and recruitment into armed groups.

That’s the shocking conclusion of a new report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

A Heavy Price for Children reveals that one in five young people in the country are affected, a number that continues to grow.

Iraq is suffering instability and conflict caused largely by the terrorist group ISIL.

Colombia is addressing its biggest challenge ever: ending more than five decades of armed conflict.

That’s according to the Special Adviser to the nation’s President on Humanitarian Affairs, Paula Gaviria.

The Colombian government and the rebel group FARC this month signed an agreement to bring an end to fighting which began in 1964 that has killed 600,000 people.

Jorge Miyares caught up with Ms Gaviria who was at the UN to attend a meeting on increasing global solidarity for humanitarian needs.

How can the world’s neediest people be best served?

That's what humanitarians and diplomats have been discussing at a meeting at the UN in New York, organized by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Reem Abaza spoke to Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP).

He explained how the ECOSOC meeting and the recent World Humanitarian Summit in Turkey will influence their work, particularly in the Arab region.

More than one-third of the population in South Sudan, or 4.8 million people, will face severe food shortages over the coming months.

The warning comes from three UN agencies who say this figure represents the highest level of hunger in the country since the start of a conflict there in December 2013.

Peace between the people of Israel and Palestine is possible and everything should be done to achieve it, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday.

His message was for all those participating in a conference at the UN in Geneva, which is exploring how to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The focus of any future agreement is the creation of a Palestinian state in territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war, the so-called two-state Solution.

Conflict in Ukraine has claimed the lives of nearly 9,500 people since fighting erupted two years ago, and more than one in four were civilians, the Human Rights Council heard Wednesday.

Speaking at the assembly in Geneva, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic warned that there is “a high risk” of hostilities re-escalating between government forces and armed groups.

Syria has become the global “epicentre” for the displacement of people according to a UN independent expert who focuses on human rights issues.

Internally displaced people, or IDPs, are distinct from refugees in that they have fled their homes but remain in their own country.

The UN estimates that there are currently over 40 million IDPs across the world.

Chaloka Beyani is the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons.

Politicians have a responsibility in the wake of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union not to play on people’s fears over migration, causing racist and xenophobic sentiment and hate crimes.

That’s the view of UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Mutuma Ruteere, who’s attending the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The Sahel region of Africa suffers “terrible” poverty compounded by climate change and further “ravaged” by violent extremism.

That’s according to the UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, including Lake Chad and Mali.

He is at UN Headquarters in New York for a meeting organized by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to call for more solidarity and funding to meet the growing humanitarian needs.