Monday’s Daily Brief: US formally announces climate accord withdrawal, young foreigners stranded in Syria, India toxic smog crisis, Ebola worker death shows frontline risks

4 November 2019
Peace and Security
© UNICEF/Masoud Hasan

A recap of stories this Monday: UN reaction to US Paris Agreement withdrawal; UNICEF urges repatriation of children stranded in Syria; Public health emergency in India’s New Delhi; Ebola health worker death in DR Congo shows deadly risks; Guinea Bissau crisis, Security Council update; UNEP campaign targets ocean microplastics.

UNICEF urges governments to repatriate thousands of foreign children stranded in northeast Syria

Ebola emergency chief decries new attacks on frontline staff, after DR Congo worker death

Unity, regional cooperation and international support needed for Horn of Africa to develop sustainably 

Microplastics, microbeads and single-use plastics poisoning sea life and affecting humans

Far more needed to ‘confront the world’s climate emergency’, Guterres tells ASEAN-UN Summit 

ESCAP/Suwat Chancharoensuk

Coal addiction ‘must be overcome’ to ease climate change, UN chief says in Bangkok

Climate Change

In Thailand for the ASEAN Summit, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visited a climate mitigation project in Bangkok's new Centenary Park on Saturday where he told journalists that “coal addiction must be overcome”.

UN Photo/Violaine Martin

Top UN Syria envoy hails ‘impressive’ start to historic talks in Geneva

Peace and Security

UN-brokered face-to-face talks between the Syrian Government and opposition – the first to take place in nearly nine years of fighting – to draft a new constitution for the country, will continue into next week, the UN’s Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said on Friday.

UNAMA/Fardin Waezi

Friday's Daily Brief: When journalists are targets, landslides in Cameroon, UN Female Police Officer of the Year award

Human Rights

A recap of stories in brief this Friday: Societies 'pay a price' when journalists are killed; Guterres saddened by Cameroon landslide deaths; Senegalese woman officer receives top UN award; IOM urges release of volunteers held captive in South Sudan; 'All actors' must support Haiti amidst crisis; UN expert warning over health of Julian Assange.

UN Photo/Albert González Farran

New UN Female Police Officer of the Year prioritizes ‘preventing sexual exploitation and abuse’

Peace and Security

“An inspiration to all of us” is how top Police Adviser Luis Carrilho, described this year’s winner of the UN Female Police Officer of the Year Award, which was announced on Friday.

© UNESCO

‘When journalists are targeted, societies as a whole, pay a price’: UN chief

Human Rights

“Without journalists able to do their jobs in safety, we face the prospect of a world of confusion and disinformation”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned in a statement released ahead of the International Day to End Impunity Against Journalists, which falls on 2 November.

Headlines at a glance

Guterres in Turkey: UN to study ‘new settlement areas’ plan for Syrian refugees

‘All actors’ must lend support as humanitarian crisis continues in Haiti, UN rights chief urges

Education and inclusion should be human rights priorities, UN Assembly hears

UN migration agency appeals to South Sudan group to free volunteer worker and child

Syria’s groundbreaking constitutional talks: ‘a clear success of mediation’ says Guterres in Turkey

Thursday’s Daily Brief: The power of mediation, Southern Africa food crisis, urban deaths, climate meeting update and Iraq protest latest

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