UN News

This week we’re bringing you a special programme looking at the growing threat posed by extremist violence in Africa.

Between 2011 and early 2016, some 33,300 people in Africa lost their lives to violent extremism.

According to a new ground-breaking report from the UN Development Programme (UNDP), factors driving the extremists include poverty, marginalization and perceived abuses of power by state authorities.

Rohingya women have  “lived through real horrors:”  UNFPA

Security operations conducted by UN Police (UNPOL) in South Sudan around sites set up to protect civilians are helping to create more security for women according to a senior police officer.

The UN peacekeeping operation, UNMISS, has provided sanctuary to some 213,000 people in Protection of Civilians or POC sites around the conflict-affected country.

On-going violence both against civilians and aid workers trying to protect them, has left the Central African Republic (CAR) “on the brink of a humanitarian crisis”.

That’s the view of Joseph Iganji, who heads the UN Humanitarian Affairs office (OCHA) in the capital, Bangui.

Around 23,000 civilians have fled into the bush in western areas of the country, and the instability and violence has led to the temporary suspension of all relief activities.

The Central African Republic (CAR) is facing a multifaceted array of problems that do not have a single clear solution.

That’s the view of Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, head of the UN Stabilization Mission there (MINUSCA), who took part in a dialogue in New York this week about continuing violence in CAR.

Rebel groups which control large areas of the country have displaced more than half a million people and left hundreds dead.

UN chief: Saudi Arabian women’s right to drive “an important first step”

UN officials have welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to lift a ban prohibiting women from driving. The announcement was made on Tuesday and will come into effect in July 2018. In New York, Saudi Arabia’s UN ambassador broke the news to the General Assembly during a ceremony marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, observed annually on 26 September.

Violence against civilians, aid workers leaves CAR on “brink” of crisis

Citizens in Sudan and South Sudan have to embrace a larger understanding of their common citizenship and common future.

That’s the assessment of the UN Special Envoy for the two countries, Nicholas Haysom, who was in New York for the UN General Assembly.

The UN has long supported peace efforts in Sudan, which has been marked by decades of political instability and armed conflict.

Recent hurricanes in the Caribbean, monsoon flooding in Asia and other weather-related disasters around the globe are an indication that the world needs to do more to address the impact of climate change.

That’s according to Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, which is based in Nairobi.

Mr Solheim was in New York to meet with world leaders participating in the annual debate in the UN General Assembly, which wrapped up on Monday.

The Caribbean can become “an engine for change” in reducing childhood obesity.

That’s according to Trevor Hassel, president of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, speaking about the issue at UN Headquarters in New York, during the General Assembly’s High Level week.

The Caribbean has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity in the world, and the coalition has adopted a multi-stakeholder approach designed to galvanize civil society across the region.