General News

More than 50% of children in South-East Europe have experienced some form of psychological or physical punishment by family members.

That’s according to Dr. Bertrand Desmoulins, a representative of the UN fund for children (UNICEF) in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Furthermore, the prejudices against disabled children in some of these countries are still strong, he notes.

Young people in the Darfur region of Sudan are being encouraged to work for peace, no matter how impossible that might seem.

That’s the message from the Deputy Joint Special Representative of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), Jeremiah Nyamane Kingsley Mamabolo.

Mr Mamabolo recently travelled to Tawilla in North Darfur state where he met with youth uprooted by conflict.

Timely medical attention as well as the availability of services, is crucial for victims of sexual violence in South Sudan.

That’s according to Dr Abraham Thubo, from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which provides post-rape intervention services in the country.

The UN documented more than 200 cases of sexual violence during clashes between government and opposition forces in and around the capital, Juba, in July.

Every month, thousands of children from Central America flee to the United States to escape gang violence and poverty, a new report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has found.

Some are kidnapped, trafficked, raped or killed along the way.

They are from countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras which have some of the world’s highest murder rates.

Jocelyne Sambira has more.

The number of people in need of urgent food assistance in north-eastern Nigeria has doubled to 4.5 million according to the UN World Food Programme or WFP.

The region has been badly affected by the ongoing insurgency by militants belonging to the Boko Haram group.

And there are fears that a million more people will join the ranks of the hungry in the West African country.

Daniel Dickinson reports.

The world’s youngest nation, South Sudan, needs teachers, doctors, lawyers and engineers, not soldiers.

That’s according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which is working to remove children from the ranks of armed groups in the country.

South Sudan gained independence five years ago but roughly half that period has been marred by conflict.

UNICEF estimates at least 16,000 children have participated in the fighting.

Testimony from the survivors of atrocities committed by the ISIL terrorist group in Iraq has been described as “heart-wrenching” by the United Nations.

Over 300,000 people from the Yezidi community escaped from the city of Sinjar following an attack in 2014.

Many have detailed systematic and widespread killings, sexual violence and sexual slavery.

Alpha Diallo has been speaking to Ravina Shamdasani, from the UN Human Rights office (OHCHR).

Duration: 4'27"

Efforts are being made by African countries to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

The first-ever WHO global health strategy aimed at preventing and treating the disease is being implemented on the continent.

Hepatitis B, a viral infection that attacks the liver and is spread through contact with blood and bodily fluids, is highly endemic in Africa and affects an estimated 100 million people.

Madagascar is planning to triple investment spending in order to boost the economy of the Indian Ocean island.

It follows a three-year US$ 310 million commitment by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in Africa; its economy is built on subsistence farming but also increasingly nickel and cobalt mining.

An Islamist militant has plead guilty to war crimes for ordering the destruction of Timbuktu’s religious and cultural monuments, a spokesperson for the International Criminal Court (ICC) has confirmed.

Mali’s intellectual and spiritual capital is inscribed on the UN World Heritage Site. Fourteen mausoleums of the site were destroyed by armed groups in 2012.

Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, a member of the Ansare Dine rebel group, could be jailed for 30 years for the crime.