This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

‘Crushing’ debt crisis spells development disaster for billions: UN chief

With half of humanity living in countries forced to spend more on servicing their debt than on health and education, poorer nations need urgent fiscal relief, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday.

According to a new report by the UN Global Crisis Response Group, titled “A World of Debt”, a total of 52 countries – almost 40 percent of the developing world – are in “serious debt trouble”, Mr. Guterres said.

He warned that 3.3 billion people suffer because their governments have to prioritize debt interest payments over “essential investments” in the Sustainable Development Goals or the energy transition.

Mr. Guterres insisted that the catastrophic levels of public debt in developing countries are a “systemic failure”, resulting from colonial-era inequality that is built into “our outdated financial system”. 

The new UN report proposes a number of urgent remedies, including an “effective debt workout mechanism” that supports payment suspensions, longer lending terms and lower rates. It also calls for a “massive” scale-up of affordable long-term financing, by transforming the way that Multilateral Development Banks function, re-engineering them to support sustainable development and leveraging private resources. 

Türk: Accountability needed for ‘shocking’ violations by Russian forces in Ukraine

The continuing lack of accountability for the violations and abuses committed by Russian forces in Ukraine is deeply concerning, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Wednesday. 

Mr. Türk told the Human Rights Council that his office documented the arbitrary detention of more than 900 civilians between 24 February 2022 and 23 May 2023.

He added that Russia gave no access to places of detention, “which leads inevitably to undercounting”. The summary executions of 77 civilians in detention were also documented, along with widespread torture and ill-treatment including sexual violence by Russian security personnel.

Here is Mr. Türk commenting on his office’s report:

“These findings are shocking. They call for concrete measures by the Russian Federation to instruct and ensure their Russian personnel comply with international human rights and humanitarian law.” 

The UN rights chief also presented a report on human rights violations in Crimea, occupied by Russia since 2014, as well as Russian-occupied areas of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

In addition to arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and torture, the findings included forced population transfers of civilians and “extensive” violations of the freedom of opinion and expression. 

Sand and dust storms know no borders: global action needed, says UN

Disruptive and dangerous sand and dust storms mainly occur in the desert, but can be carried over long distances, impacting regions much further away.

That’s the UN’s message on the first-ever International Day of Combating Sand and Dust Storms, observed on Wednesday.

Some two million tonnes of sand and dust enter the atmosphere annually, and in some areas, desert dust has doubled in the 20^th century – due in part to human activity such as agriculture.

The UN says that sand and dust storms can cause respiratory diseases, heart disorders as well as eye and skin irritation, and can also spread meningitis.

They can disrupt air and ground transport, accelerate desertification and threaten food security.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for sustainable agricultural practices, including environmentally-friendly land and water management and reforestation programmes, to help reduce sand and dust storm threats. FAO is leading a coalition of 19 UN agencies and non-UN organizations driving global action against sand and dust storms, assisting countries in identifying risks and developing adequate policies. 

Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer, UN News.