Marking international day, UN experts call for urgent action to end racial discrimination, in wake of New Zealand anti-Muslim attack

21 March 2019
Human Rights
UNICEF/Claudio Versiani

States must take urgent action, to “stem the tide of hate and discrimination” and ramping up of “ethno-nationalist populism”, which helped fuel the deadly shootings in two New Zealand mosques last Friday by a self-declared white supremacist, several top UN officials and human rights experts have stressed, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

‘Massive and protracted’ humanitarian crisis in DR Congo can be ‘beaten back’ if donors step up

Service and Sacrifice: Malaysian peacekeepers in Lebanon proud to serve their homeland and the United Nations

Idai disaster: Stranded victims still need rescue from heavy rains as UN scales up response

‘Growing alarm’ over Fall Armyworm advance, with cash crops ‘under attack’ across Asia

Global South cooperation ‘vital’ to climate change fight, development, Guterres tells historic Buenos Aires summit

WFP/Hugo du Plessis

UN allocates $20 million in emergency funding, as Cyclone Idai disaster unfolds

Humanitarian Aid

As the full scale of the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai in southern Africa continues to be assessed, the UN and humanitarian partners are ramping up the provision of emergency food, shelter, water and health care supplies to hundreds-of-thousands who have been affected across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

© UNHCR/Siegfried Modola

Venezuela: ‘A worrying destabilizing factor in the region’, Bachelet tells Human Rights Council

Human Rights

Expressing deep concern at the “magnitude and gravity of the human rights impact” of Venezuela’s current crisis, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Wednesday that the country had become “a worrying destabilizing factor in the region.”

UN-IRMCT/Leslie Hondebrink-Hermer

UN court increases sentence of former Bosnian-Serb leader to life imprisonment

Peace and Security

A United Nations appeals court on Wednesday increased the 40-year sentence initially imposed on Radovan Karadžić, former leader of the Republika Srpksa region of Bosnia and head of the Bosnian-Serb Army, to life imprisonment.

UNOCHA/Giles Clarke

Libya stands at a ‘critical juncture’, UN mission head tells Security Council

Peace and Security

Predicting that the “days ahead will prove foundational to the years ahead for Libyans and the region”, the top United Nations official in the country told the Security Council on Wednesday, that it was no exaggeration to describe the oil-rich nation as having reached “a crucial juncture”.

Laura Quinones/UN News

UN launches ‘South-South Galaxy’ knowledge-sharing platform in Buenos Aires

Economic Development

When countries of the Global South forged an historic technical cooperation deal among themselves 40 years ago, digital technology was a thing of the future, but developing nations have come a long way since then.

Headlines at a glance

Cyclone Idai: emergency getting ‘bigger by the hour’, warns UN food agency

Safe drinking water, sanitation, are ‘basic human rights’: new UN Water Development report

First peaceful transfer of power in DR Congo ‘an extraordinary opportunity’ for advancing rights

What is ‘South-South cooperation’ and why does it matter?

UN will do ‘utmost to prevent and mitigate any risk of violence’ in DR Congo, pledges Mission chief

Encouraging progress made in 2018, in ‘zero tolerance’ effort to end sexual exploitation and abuse across UN

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