Foreign and local armed groups continue to pose a threat to security in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the head of the UN Mission in the country (MONUSCO).
Ambassador Roger Meece, who is briefing the Security Council on Tuesday on the situation in the country, says the challenge is compounded by the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
The international community will continue to look for a way to end the violence in Syria following the failure to pass a UN Security Council resolution, according to the Moroccan Ambassador to the United Nations
Morocco, with the backing of the regional Arab League groups of nations tabled a draft resolution to end ten months of violence between the government and the opposition, but it was vetoed by both Russia and China on Saturday.
Go to school. Graduate. Get a good job. That is the path young people have been told to follow from their earliest years. But the ongoing financial and economic crisis has changed that.
Today, nearly 76 million young people worldwide are unemployed, according to the World Youth Report released by the UN on Monday.
By-elections scheduled for April to fill parliamentary seats in Myanmar will be a “critical test” for the government as it carries out political reforms in the country.
That’s the assessment of Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN Human Rights expert on Myanmar who has just concluded a six-day visit to the Asian country.
Myanmar held general elections in 2010 and a civilian government was installed last year after many years of military rule.
The UN expert went to Myanmar to assess the country’s human rights situation as a follow-up to his last visit in August 2011.
Women in 15 African countries are working to abandon the deeply rooted traditional practice of female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C).
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates up to three million girls a year undergo the procedure.
Senegal looks set to become the first African country to stamp out FGM/C, according to the agency. UNFPA and local groups have engaged young women there—many of whom have been cut—in grass roots campaigns seeking to end the practice within a generation.
A network of 50,000 women is helping Nepal to make great strides in health care. The Female Community Health Volunteers, or FCHVs as they are known, bring essential health services and medicine to remote areas of the country. They are supported by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). John Brittain, UNICEF’s chief of communications in Nepal, talks about the vital role these women are playing, including in driving down child mortality rates.
Duration: 2'56"
Women at the grassroots in Nepal are being empowered to address all forms of violence against them and their children.
Community-based Paralegal Committee programmes, supported by UNICEF, were created initially to stop the trafficking of persons.
But more recently, the committees are settling domestic disputes, matters relating to property rights, fighting discrimination and also promoting family health rights.
John Britte UNICEF’s Chief Communications officer described to Dianne Penn how these paralegal committees work.
Maternal death rates in Afghanistan are down 22% since 2000 thanks to the growing popularity of midwifery training programmes, according to the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA.
In Afghanistan, the combined total of midwives, nurses and doctors amounts to less than 1 for every 1,000 people.
The lack of health workers trained in maternal care is compounded by the fact that Afghan women on average have just over five children.
Cancer has been targeted as a major killer across South East Asia by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
WHO estimates that 1.1 million people die of the disease each year across eleven countries in the region.
Lung cancer is one of the most widespread cancers.
To mark World Cancer Day on Saturday, Daniel Dickinson spoke to WHO’s Dr Renu Garg, a regional adviser for non-communicable diseases based in New Delhi, India.
Duration: 3'19"
There’s a clear geographical distinction when it comes to cancer and women. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), breast cancer is more common in industrialized countries while cervical cancer overwhelming affects women in the developing world. Cervical cancer is caused by the human papillomavirus or HPV, which is sexually transmitted. It has a low cure rate. February 4 is World Cancer Day and WHO’s Dr. Andreas Ullrich explains why a woman’s access to cancer care makes all the difference.
Duration: 3'07"
