The women of earthquake and war-ravaged northwest Syria all have the same message for the international community: help establish peace and restore some sense of hope for the future.
That’s according to Laila Baker from the UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA, who has been telling UN News what she’s seen and heard on the ground in Syria, in the past nine days of frantic relief efforts to save lives following the disaster.
Ceasefire urgently needed in South Sudan, says UN special envoy
Women activists from war-torn Syria have been a “glimmer of hope” in a peace process that has been very “challenging and depressing”, the head of UN Women’s Arab States Section has said.
Hiba Qasas was speaking ahead of a meeting with members of the Syrian Women’s Advisory Board to the UN Special Envoy for the country.
While women and girls have been disproportionately affected by the 6-year civil war in the country, she noted, they are not only victims but leaders and a strong advocates for peace.
One mother from South Sudan has been speaking of her “dream and hope” of a peaceful nation at last, five years on from the country’s independence.
The world’s newest nation has begun the process of recovery from a brutal civil war that killed tens of thousands; has left nearly 5 million without enough food and displaced more than two million.
More than 700,000 are refugees in neighbouring countries.
One mother who hopes to return home now, has been living under UN protection for more than two years.
South Sudan “scorched earth” policy revealed in UN probe
All the warring parties in Syria are carrying out “indiscriminate attacks” on civilians according to an independent commission set up by the UN to look into alleged violations of international human rights law in the country.
Five years of civil war in Syria has led to the deaths of over 250,000 people and the widespread destruction of infrastructure.
Millions of Syrians have also fled as refugees.
Daniel Dickinson reports.
Duration: 2'50"
An all-female UN Indian police unit is leaving Liberia on Sunday after nine years of helping to stabilize the country.
It was the first force of its kind in the history of the United Nations peacekeeping operations.
A civil war in the country that began in late 1989 has claimed the lives of over 150,000 people, mostly civilians.
Daniel Dickinson has the story.
Duration: 3’36”
World leaders are gathering in London for a conference which aims to raise US$9 billion for Syrian civilians as their homeland enters its sixth year of brutal civil war.
Billed as a donor conference, the agenda will also focus on wider political and humanitarian crises in the Middle East region fuelled by the civil war, where nearly 5 million Syrians are living as refugees.
The conference has been organized by the United Kingdom, Germany, Kuwait, Norway and the United Nations.