This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

In Afghanistan, women take their lives out of desperation, Human Rights Council hears

The situation for women is so desperate in Afghanistan that they are committing suicide at a rate of one or two every day, the Human Rights Council has heard.

It comes as the top UN rights forum in Geneva agreed to Member States’ request for a rare Urgent Debate on the issue this  Friday.

Addressing the Council, here’s Fawzia Koofi, former deputy speaker of the Afghan Parliament:

“Every day, there is at least one or two women who commit suicide, for the lack of opportunity, the mental health, the pressure they receive. The fact that girls as young as nine years old are being sold, not only because of economic pressure, but because of the fact that there is no hope for them, for their family, it is not normal.”

Echoing widespread international concern for ordinary Afghans, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet condemned the massive unemployment of women, the restrictions placed on the way they dress, and their access on basic services.

Women-owned and operated businesses have been shut down, Ms. Bachelet added, saying that 1.2 million girls no longer have access to secondary education, in line with a decision by the de facto authorities who took power in August 2021.

Lebanon’s deepening crisis is affecting ‘everyone, everywhere’

UN aid coordinator Najat Rochdi has signalled grave concerns about rising humanitarian needs affecting “everyone, everywhere”, across Lebanon, linked to the global food and fuel crisis.

Since last year, the number of people in urgent need of support has risen by 46 per cent, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon said:

“2.2 million vulnerable Lebanese, 86,000 migrants and 200,000 Palestine refugees in Lebanon currently require emergency aid; in addition to 1.5 million Syrian refugees that are unable to afford or even access health, food, electricity, water, education and waste-water management, not to mention lifesaving protection services.”

Since 2019, Lebanon has endured a complex economic and financial crisis – deepened by political deadlock – which has offset development gains and increased humanitarian needs for the most vulnerable populations in severely deprived areas.

Even hospitals have been affected, faced with an “acute shortage in medical supplies and power shortages, at a time when over 40 per cent of Lebanon’s doctors and 30 per cent of nurses have left country, since the beginning of the economic meltdown”, Ms. Rochdi said.

US abortion debate: Rights experts urge lawmakers to sign Convention

A week since the US Supreme Court overturned a landmark, 50-year-old judgement guaranteeing access to abortion, top UN-appointed independent experts urged United States lawmakers to adhere to international law that protects women’s right to sexual and reproductive health.

The UN women’s rights committee, CEDAW, said in a statement that the US had signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1980, but never ratified it.

With nearly 190 States parties, the Convention is the only near-universal treaty that comprehensively protects women’s human rights, including the right to end pregnancies. The US is one of seven States worldwide that have not yet become party to the Convention.

Specifically, article 16 “protects women’s rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children”, the UN-appointed panel said, adding that unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal mortality.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.