With the United Nations Rio+20 conference on sustainable development fast approaching, non-governmental organizations want to make sure their voices are heard. Negotiations for a final document ahead of the 18-21 June conference are in the final stages at UN headquarters in New York. Civil Society has been pushing to make sure that the document contains [...]
Authorities in Pakistan are being urged to investigate the killings of two journalists last month. The call has come from the head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova who has condemned the murders of the journalists. Charles Appel reports. About 20 gunmen reportedly attacked the office of Aurangzeb Tunio, a [...]
Non-governmental organizations are urging states to make progress in negotiations for a final agreement on how to promote economic development while protecting the environment. The call comes as delegates continue to negotiate an outcome document for the UN conference on sustainable development known as Rio+20 to be held in Brazil later this month. Rajiv Joshi [...]
The United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted a resolution to condemn Syria over the killing of 108 civilians, 49 of them children, last week in the Houla region. The resolution passed on Friday with 41 in favor, 3 against including Russia, China and Cuba, 2 abstentions and one member did not vote. The [...]
The United Nations-Arab League Special envoy Kofi Annan has urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to take bold steps to implement his six-point plan to resolve the crisis in the country. Kofi Annan spoke in Lebanon, where he met with the country's leaders in his ongoing effort to end the crisis in Syria. The envoy said [...]
The United Nations Human Rights Council has condemned last week's massacre of more than 100 people in Houla, a cluster of villages in central Syria and ordered an independent probe. The Geneva based Council passed the resolution Friday with 41 in favor, 3 against including Russia, China and Cuba and 2 abstentions. The UN High [...]
Governments, business leaders and trade unions around the world are being urged by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to take urgent action to stop forced labour. In its latest report, the ILO says that nearly 21 million people are victims of forced labour. The agency is warning that the number may increase during the current [...]
Thousands of people in Italy have been displaced by two earthquakes that struck the northern part of the country on 20 and 29 May. According to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), 17 people have been confirmed dead and 350 others injured. IFRC spokesperson, Jessica Sallabank says that many [...]
Somalia needs long-term assistance as it works to meet the deadline of August 20 for moving from a transitional government. That's what United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told an international conference meeting to discuss Somalia in Istanbul, Turkey on Friday. Mr. Ban said the Horn of Africa country needs its own strong and trustworthy security [...]
Cigarette makers are now using the court system to undermine public health policies that protect people from the harmful effects of tobacco. That's the opinion of the World Health Organization (WHO) which says these companies are threatening governments with litigation or discrediting evidence proving the dangers of tobacco. For example, Australia now requires cigarettes to [...]
The United Kingdom's decision to establish a special rapid deployment unit that will collect evidence of rape and other sexual violence in conflict areas has been welcomed by a senior UN official. Margot Wallström, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict, said measures like this will help build a strong [...]
About 20,000 Sudanese refugees have crossed into South Sudan after fleeing fighting in the Blue Nile State, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR). The agency says thousands of the refugees have been moved to new camps and now they are in a race against time and bad weather to relocate the rest. Many [...]
The United Nations is taking steps to make sure its blue helmets are going green. With roughly 120,000 peacekeepers deployed to the UN's 16 peacekeeping operations, the missions are investigating ways to minimize their impact on the natural environment in the countries where they work. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) recently released a report called [...]
Nearly 21 million people are victims of forced labour across the world, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). The Asia-Pacific region accounts for the largest number of forced labourers in the world with 11.7 million people trapped in jobs which they were coerced or deceived into and which they cannot leave. The agency says [...]
The United Nations Human Rights Council is holding an emergency special session on the on-going violence and deteriorating human rights situation in Syria. The session comes after the recent massacre of 108 civilians including 49 children, and 34 women in the village of El-Houleh. The Syrian government has blamed armed rebel groups for the killings. In a [...]
