General News

It’s almost two years that the crisis in Syria continues, in what started as protests and evolved into an armed confrontation between the government and opposition fighters.

The United Nations estimates that more than 60,000 people have been killed in the ongoing violence.

Veteran diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, the Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the Arab League, is trying to help resolve the conflict through negotiations.

More than $1.5 billion have been pledged to support the global humanitarian effort in Syria.

Countries, international organizations and UN agencies met in Kuwait on Wednesday to shore up assistance to the more than four million Syrians displaced within the country and in neighbouring states.

Dianne Penn reports.

Duration: 2'31"

The indigenous people’s language and culture are being threatened, says Meenakshi Munda, an indigenous youth from the Munda community of Jharkhand, India.

As President of the Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network (APIYN), Meenakshi is attending an expert group meeting on indigenous youth here in New York.

Beng Poblete-Enriquez caught up with her and discussed some issues of concern to the indigenous youth in Asia.

Duration: 4’53”

The first international expert group meeting on indigenous youth has brought young people from around the world to UN headquarters in New York.

During the three-day  meeting, indigenous young people are analyzing how they can benefit from human rights standards and policies.

One of the participants is Niwamanya Rodgers Matuna from the Batwa hunters and gatherers people of western Uganda.

The Philippines ranks third among the top three major disaster-prone countries after the Pacific Island States of Vanuatu and Tonga says IOM, the International Office for Migration.

Typhoon Bopha, which ravaged the Philippines late last year, killed over a thousand people and displaced at least 800,000. IOM says it was the most deadly storm globally in 2012 and the most powerful to hit southern Mindanao in more than 100 years causing massive destruction to homes and basic infrastructure.

Indigenous young people from around the world are at the UN this week for the first international expert group meeting to analyze how human rights standards and policies can benefit them.

Among the participants is Tuomas Aslak Juuso, 27, who has been promoting the rights of the Sámi in Finland over the past decade.

Tuomas is president of the National Finnish Sámi Youths and a co-chair of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus.  He also happens to be the youngest person ever selected to the Sámi parliament.

With the situation in Mali evolving quickly, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says it’s preparing for the possible return of thousands of people to the north of the country.

It’s estimated that nearly 400,000 people have fled northern Mali since Islamist extremists took control a year ago.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed recent support to the government to counter these groups.

Dianne Penn reports.

Duration: 2'44"

Ongoing insecurity, widespread displacement, poor access, remote communities and high exposure to natural disasters: these are just some of the obstacles to providing humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

The Afghan government and its humanitarian partners this week launched a $471 million appeal to assist the country, which consistently ranks low on various development indices.

They hope it will be well received as the last appeal was less than half funded.

Haiti now has updated data on the situation of children and women, enabling analysis of the earthquake response and helping establish where and who the most vulnerable children are.

The preliminary results of this survey mean good news for the situation of children in Haiti particularly in the areas of education and nutrition.

Beng Poblete-Enriquez reports.

Duration:  3'25"

(Source: Unifeed)

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is renewing its appeal for urgent scaling up of aid for hundreds of thousands of people now displaced by the war in Mali.

The agency hopes the aid will prevent the worsening of an already acute, fragile humanitarian situation across the Sahel.

Gerry Adams reports.

Duration: 2'34"