General News

Two months after Typhoon Haiyan tore through the Philippines, relief operations are in “normal mode,” according to the UN Humanitarian Affairs agency (OCHA).

However, Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson in Geneva, says housing remains a serious concern as approximately 100,000 people are still living in evacuation centres, many in tents.

He tells UN Radio’s Patrick Maigua that funding is critical to ensure that these people can rebuild their homes ahead of the next typhoon season.

Duration: 4'01"

The World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up food distribution to more than one million people in the Central African Republic.

The UN agency says it urgently needs $107 million to support its work through August 2014.

Despite the ongoing conflict in the country, WFP and its partners have reached more than 230,000 displaced people in the past weeks, including in the capital, Bangui, and the northwestern city of Bossangoa.

It's six years now since the UN–backed Cambodia tribunal was established to bring to trial senior leaders and those most responsible for genocide and war crimes committed during the Khmer rouge regime which lasted from 1975 to 1979.

During that period an estimated 1.7 million people are believed to have died from starvation, torture, execution and forced labour.

A remote and volatile region in the south-eastern part of Chad has become a place of safety for 50,000 refugees.

Most of them have fled ethnic violence in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region and the Central African Republic.

United Nations agencies are doing all they can to help the refugees and their children in Chad.

Derrick Mbatha reports.

Duration: 3'51"

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has expressed concern about the Anti-Homosexuality Bill passed by the Ugandan Parliament on Friday, 20 December.

It warns that if the bill becomes law, it would have a detrimental effect not only on the fundamental rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members of Ugandan society but also on the work of human rights defenders.

The UN human rights office is urging President Yoweri Museveni not to sign the bill into law.

The UN children’s agency (UNICEF) is appealing for $835 million to help Syrian children affected by the ongoing conflict in their country in next year.

The agency says this is the largest amount it has ever sought from donors in its 67 year history.

It is part of a broader appeal launched by the United Nations and its partners in Geneva on Wednesday.

UNICEF’s Regional spokesperson, Juliette Touma tells UN Radio’s Florence Westergard about the appeal and what the money will be used for.

Duration: 5'13"

The international community is being asked to disburse $166 million to provide life-saving aid to people displaced from the fighting in South Sudan, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

OCHA estimates that at least 90,000 people have been displaced in the past ten days, including some 58,000 who are sheltering in UN peacekeeping bases.

Hello. This is Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations.

I want to assure you that the United Nations stands with the people of South Sudan at this difficult time.

We know many of you are suffering from horrific attacks. Families are fleeing their homes. Many of you have lost loved ones and are grieving.

Innocent civilians are being targeted because of their ethnicity. This is a grave violation of human rights.

South Sudan is under threat – but South Sudan is not alone.

The value of data collection and coordination in food security goes far beyond the numbers, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Improving the quality, availability and relevance of data on food and agriculture has become a key priority as Africa strives to develop more effective policies to tackle its persistent food security problems.

But what role do these statistics play in food security and how are they relevant to farmers?

In an effort to defuse the crisis in South Sudan, the Secretary-General has called for more boots on the ground to boost the UN mission’s protection capacity.

The request for reinforcements includes aviation assets and force multipliers. The crisis is reported to have started on 15 December and has now spread to several other states.

Members of the Security Council on Tuesday held an emergency, closed-door session to study a draft resolution circulated by the United States.