For the first time in 22 years, the International AIDS Conference is taking place in the United States. At the opening ceremony, speakers praised the US for lifting the travel ban on people living with AIDS and hailed the progress that has been made during the 30 year epidemic. Having AIDS, said one speaker, has [...]
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has strongly condemned a wave of deadly attacks which have killed scores of people and injured many more. Gyorgy Busztin, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Political Affairs, called the scale of violence and bloodshed "appalling." Charles Appel reports. In a statement, Gyorgy Busztin strongly condemned [...]
The impact of climate change on the right to water and sanitation was the focus of Catarina de Albuquerque's visit to Tuvalu, located in the Pacific between Hawaii and Australia. In her first visit to the South Pacific island, Special Rapporteur de Albuquerque found that the country is faced with tremendous challenges when it comes [...]
More than 20,000 scientists, policy makers and people living with HIV are meeting this week in Washington, DC, for the XIX International AIDS conference. They will focus on mobilizing governments and communities to achieve zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. Michel Sidibé, head of the Joint United Nations Programme on [...]
Nearly nine million lives have been saved over the past decade through programmes supported by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund on Monday reported that as a result, more than three million people worldwide now receive anti-retroviral treatment (ARVs) compared with 600,000 two years ago. The XIX International AIDS [...]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in Serbia on Monday, the latest stop on his visit to China and South-eastern Europe. Prior to this, Mr. Ban made his first official visit to Montenegro where he said the future is "full of promise." "The decision by the European Union Council to open accession negotiations illustrates Montenegro's [...]
The UN agency assisting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is concerned about the increasingly grave situation in Syria, where half a million Palestinians have been living. UNRWA is also worried about the safety of its staff and the security of its facilities, particularly in parts of the capital, Damascus. Agency spokesman Chris Gunness said insecurity has [...]
