UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday welcomed the announcement of a peace agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The Framework Peace Agreement is aimed at ending decades of fighting in Mindanao, South Philippines. Charles Appel reports. The Secretary-General commended President Benigno Aquino for his [...]
A new strain of wheat rust – known as Ug99 – is decimating African wheat fields. Ug99 was first detected in Eastern Africa in 1998 and has since spread around the continent but help could be at hand in the form of nuclear science. The Joint Division of the IAEA and the UN's Food and [...]
A senior UN official has met with Lebanon's Prime Minister to discuss international and financial arrangements for the growing number of Syrian refugees as winter approaches. Derek Plumbly, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, met with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut on Monday. Gerry Adams reports. Derek Plumbly thanked Lebanon for honouring its [...]
A landmark 235 page report analysing the conflict that occurred in Nepal from 1996 to 2006 was released on Monday. The report, released by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is accompanied by a database of some 30,000 documents. Hanny Megally, an official at the High Commissioner's Office, says it is designed as [...]
More than two decades after independence, in Namibia, poverty wears a woman's face, according to Magdalena Sepúlveda, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. Gerry Adams reports. Women continue to be economically marginalized, have unequal access to land and are disproportionately affected by unemployment and HIV-AIDS, says Magdalena Sepúlveda. Ms. Sepúlveda has just [...]
The situation in Syria has dramatically worsened and is posing a serious risk to the stability of the country's neighbours and the entire region. That warning has come from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who addressed the World Forum on Democracy held in Strasbourg, France on Monday. Derrick Mbatha reports. Duration: 2’40″
It's been about a week since Al Shabaab militants retreated from the Somali port city of Kismayo, and Kenyan soldiers on duty there are working to make sure a potentially explosive situation is kept under control. The troops are locating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by the militants. Kismayo, the third largest city in Somalia, [...]
The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman from Yemen has called for support for the Syrian people and for the United Nations to act whenever injustice is found. Ms. Karman made the appeal on Monday during the World Forum for Democracy taking place in Strasbourg, France. She said democratic and civil rights for all citizens [...]
The International Labour Organization (ILO) says it is time to promote employment for older people in the same way youth employment is being promoted. The ILO says that's because young and older workers face the same problems of unemployment. Beng Poblete Enriquez reports. The ILO says many of the countries that are suffering from [...]
The crisis in Syria has dramatically worsened and is threatening to engulf neighbouring countries and the entire region, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned. Mr Ban said the escalation of hostilities along the Turkish Syrian border and the impact of the crisis on Lebanon had shaken stability in the region. Speaking at the opening of the [...]
