All posts tagged: United Nations

Palestinians celebrate their return to northern Gaza after 15 months of war

Palestinians celebrate their return to northern Gaza after 15 months of war

WADI GAZA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians streamed into Gaza’s most heavily destroyed area on Monday after Israel opened the north for the first time since the early weeks of the war with Hamas, a dramatic reversal of their exodus 15 months ago. As a fragile ceasefire held into a second week, Israel was told by Hamas that eight of the hostages to be freed during the deal’s first phase are dead. Joyous crowds of Palestinians, some holding babies or pushing wheelchairs, walked along a seaside road all day and into the night, carrying bedrolls, bottles of water and other belongings. Armed and masked Hamas fighters flashed a victory sign. The crowd was watched over by Israeli tanks on a nearby hill. The United Nations said over 200,000 people were observed moving north on Monday morning. Palestinians who have been sheltering in squalid tent camps and former schools are eager to return to their homes — even though they are likely damaged or destroyed. Many had feared that Israel would make …

Rabbinical group calls for stopping offensive military aid to Israel

Rabbinical group calls for stopping offensive military aid to Israel

(RNS) — A rabbinic human rights organization has signed on to a statement calling for an end to offensive military aid to Israel in light of the country’s continued blocking of humanitarian aid to the ravaged Gaza Strip. The group, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, made clear it does not favor an end to all military aid. It still supports defensive military aid to Israel, such as the Iron Dome, the missile shields that intercept short-range rockets. But at this time, it is opposed to further offensive weapons such as those decimating the Gaza Strip, where to date more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed with bombs and munitions that have helped to flatten the enclave and left tens of thousands homeless. “Offensive weapons are keeping the war going, causing horrific damage to Palestinians,” Rabbi Jill Jacobs, T’ruah’s chief executive, told RNS. “It’s not keeping Israelis safe, certainly not getting the hostages back.” On Oct. 13, the Biden administration warned Israel that if it continued blocking humanitarian aid it would constitute violations of …

Ukrainian Allies Rebuke Russia At UN Meeting: ‘Not A Victim’

Ukrainian Allies Rebuke Russia At UN Meeting: ‘Not A Victim’

Russia did not get the sympathy it was hoping for at an informal UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday. Ukraine has managed to humiliate Moscow over the last nine days by breaching Russia’s southern borders, reaching into the Kursk region and taking 100 Russian troops as prisoners of war. Kyiv says it is already occupying 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) – that’s the same amount of Ukrainian land Russia has seized so far this year. Despite often boasting of its military prowess and Vladimir Putin’s promise to “kick the enemy out”, Moscow is struggling to remove the Ukrainian forces. And it’s certainly not getting any help from the West judging from what happened at the informal the UN Security Council. Ukraine’s allies, the US, France and the UK, did not waver in their support for Kyiv during the mini stand-off, and instead chose not mention the Kursk attack at all. Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said: “We haven’t heard a word of condemnation of these actions from the Western sponsors of the Kyiv …

UN chief calls for action to stem ‘extreme heat epidemic’ | United Nations News

UN chief calls for action to stem ‘extreme heat epidemic’ | United Nations News

Antonio Guterres urges countries to shift away from fossil fuels to tackle the climate crisis driving extreme heat. The head of the United Nations has called on countries to take action to address the effects of “crippling heat”, as the world experiences record-high temperatures that have put vulnerable communities at risk. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Antonio Guterres said billions of people around the globe are experiencing “an extreme heat epidemic” fuelled by climate change. “Extreme heat is increasingly tearing through economies, widening inequalities, undermining the Sustainable Development Goals, and killing people,” the UN secretary-general said. “We know what is driving it: fossil fuel-charged, human-induced climate change. And we know it’s going to get worse; extreme heat is the new abnormal.” Guterres’s warning comes a day after the European Union’s climate monitor said the world had experienced its hottest day on record this week. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Wednesday that the global average surface air temperature on July 22 rose to 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.9 degrees Fahrenheit) – or 0.06 degrees …

UN report on Israel, Hamas: Murder, starvation, gender-based violence | Israel-Palestine conflict

UN report on Israel, Hamas: Murder, starvation, gender-based violence | Israel-Palestine conflict

NewsFeed The Israeli government and Palestinian groups including Hamas have committed war crimes during the war on Gaza, according to a report from the UN Commission of Inquiry. It detailed a long list of offences, including the use of extermination, starvation, indiscriminate attacks, siege warfare, and sexual and other gender-based violence. Published On 12 Jun 202412 Jun 2024 Source link

UN chief urges fossil fuel ad ban as heat records pile up

UN chief urges fossil fuel ad ban as heat records pile up

BAN ON OIL ADS “The Godfathers of climate chaos – the fossil fuel industry – rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies,” Guterres said.  “I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies,” he said, likening it to bans on other products harmful to human health like tobacco.  “We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell,” he said as signatories of the Paris Agreement are expected to deliver new emissions targets by early 2025.  Guterres also repeated calls for taxing the fossil fuel industry profits to finance the fight against global warming, specifically pointing to “solidarity levies on sectors such as shipping, aviation and fossil fuel extraction”.  “Even if emissions hit zero tomorrow, a recent study found that climate chaos will still cost at least US$38 trillion a year by 2050,” he said.  That is more than the US$2.4 trillion needed by 2030 for developing countries, excluding China, to get out of fossil fuels and adapt to a warmer planet, as estimated by UN experts.   Guterres said he made his speech now with concerns that the climate crisis has become “a victim of …

UN General Assembly expresses support for Palestinian statehood

UN General Assembly expresses support for Palestinian statehood

united nations —  The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Friday in a show of support for Palestinian statehood, and as a cease-fire remains out of reach in the seven-month war between Israel and Hamas militants that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. “A ‘yes’ vote is a vote for Palestinian existence; it is not against any state,” Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said before the vote in an emotional speech. “But it is against attempts to deprive us of our state.” The General Assembly voted 143 in favor, nine against, with 25 abstentions, for a resolution that “determines that the State of Palestine is qualified” for U.N. membership under the organization’s charter and recommending that the U.N. Security Council “reconsider favorably” its full membership in the United Nations. The 15-nation council must recommend a potential member’s application to the General Assembly for final approval and admission. The United States used its Security Council veto on April 18, to stop the process. It voted “no” again Friday in the General Assembly. Palestinian Ambassador to the U.N. …

Singapore votes in favour of UN resolution supporting full Palestinian membership

Singapore votes in favour of UN resolution supporting full Palestinian membership

The vote also represented Singapore’s “heartfelt desire to see both parties resume direct face-to-face negotiations in good faith”, he said. Reflecting on the “heinous” Oct 7 attacks by Hamas and Israel’s military response, which he reiterated had “gone too far”, Dr Balakrishnan said that the request to consider Palestinian membership had come at a “particularly difficult moment”. However, he said that the status quo was no longer enough, and that a “restart of diplomatic efforts” was needed. “Ideally, Palestine’s UN membership should have been considered when hostilities were ceased, when all civilian hostages were released, and when Israelis and Palestinians were back at the negotiating table,” he said. “But frankly, we are now so far from those conditions that Singapore and many other countries had to consider how our vote today would help lay the groundwork for an end to hostilities that would hopefully lead to an enduring peace. Or at the very least a return to the negotiating table to talk about how to get there. “The only viable solution – difficult as it …

South Sudan removes new taxes that triggered UN aid suspension

South Sudan removes new taxes that triggered UN aid suspension

JUNA, South Sudan —  Following an appeal from the United Nations, South Sudan removed recently imposed taxes and fees that had triggered suspension of U.N. food airdrops. Thousands of people in the country depend on aid from the outside. The U.N. earlier this week urged South Sudanese authorities to remove the new taxes, introduced in February. The measures applied to charges for electronic cargo tracking, security escort fees and fuel. In its announcement Friday, the government said it was keeping charges on services rendered by firms contracted by the U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. “These companies are profiting … (and) are subjected to applicable tax,” Finance Minister Awow Daniel Chuang said. There was no immediate comment from the U.N. on when the airdrops could resume. Earlier, the U.N. Humanitarian Affairs Agency said the pausing of airdrops had deprived 60,000 people who live in areas inaccessible by road of desperately needed food in March, and that their number is expected to rise to 135,000 by the end of May. The U.N. said the new measures …

Invisible plastic: Why banning plastic bags will never be enough | Environment News

Invisible plastic: Why banning plastic bags will never be enough | Environment News

This week, the fourth round of treaty talks by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution concluded in Ottawa, Canada. A major bone of contention between negotiators from 175 countries is whether or not to limit the production of plastic, most of which is made from fossil fuels and chemicals and which causes pollution after use, as it does not fully or easily biodegrade. Despite several rounds of talks, the pervasive plastic problem remains unresolved. A final round of talks is scheduled to be held in South Korea at the end of this year. Amid global struggles to curb plastic pollution, the United Kingdom said last month that it would introduce legislation to ban wet wipes which contain plastic. Wet wipes made with plastic have been shown to leach harmful microplastics into the environment after they have been disposed of. Everyone knows that plastic bags are a blight on the environment, but what other everyday items – also known as “invisible plastics – unexpectedly contain plastic or harmful “microplastics” and is there a solution? What …