Decisive global action needed to combat climate change, say top UN officials
Top United Nations officials joined leading experts today in urging decisive action on a global scale to combat the challenges posed by climate change.
With fires ravaging Mediterranean, UN agency urges preventive education programmes
With record summer temperatures and hot dry winds turning parts of the Mediterranean into a tinder box, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for education programmes to reduce the risk of wildfires, up to 95 per cent of which are caused by people through arson and negligence.
Sierra Leone: UN, partners voice ‘utmost concern’ at electoral violence
The United Nations and its international partners have voiced renewed concern at widely reported cases of intimidation and violence ahead of elections in Sierra Leone next month, calling on all concerned to avoid incitement and provocation in the small West African country that is still recovering from a disastrous decade-long civil war.
UN launches flash appeal for drought-stricken Lesotho
With one of the worst droughts in 30 years ravaging Lesotho, the United Nations has launched a $18.9 million flash appeal for the small Southern African kingdom where it is estimated that up to 553,000 people – one in four of the population – could face severe hunger.
Top UN envoy congratulates Iraq on capturing football’s Asian Cup
Congratulating Iraq’s football team on its victory in the Asian Cup, the senior United Nations envoy in Baghdad today urged the people of the war-torn country to realize this potential for victory in other aspects of their national life.
Security Council extends UN mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea
The Security Council today agreed to extend the mandate by six months of the United Nations peacekeeping mission monitoring the ceasefire that ended the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 2000, voicing concern about the ongoing tensions between the two African neighbours.
In first plenary on climate change, General Assembly to seek speedy action
The United Nations General Assembly tomorrow opens its first-ever plenary session devoted exclusively to climate change, seeking to translate the growing scientific consensus on the problem into a broad political consensus for action following alarming UN reports earlier this year on its potentially devastating effects.
Women’s advocate, Qatari ambassador chosen to head UN regional bodies
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named a leading women’s rights advocate from Singapore and the former Qatari ambassador to the United States to head up the world body’s regional arms working to advance economic and social development in Asia.
Attacks against Afghan schools continue to disrupt education – UN
Security incidents in schools and threats against students and teachers in Afghanistan have spiked in recent months, disrupting education in the country, which this year has seen some of the worst violence since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, according to the United Nations mission there.
UN welcomes start of disarmament process in Côte d’Ivoire
United Nations officials in Côte d’Ivoire welcomed a “flame of peace” ceremony held there today to officially launch the disarmament process by setting fire to weapons handed over by rebels.