May 25, 2022 No comments
UNICEF urges leaders to keep schools safe following deadly Texas shooting
INTERNATIONAL, 25 May 2022, Peace and Security - Governments must take greater action to ensure school remains a safe place for boys and girls, the head of the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said on Wednesday, following the latest deadly school shooting in the United States. At least 19 children and two teachers were killed on Tuesday when 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary School in the small city of Uvalde, Texas, located near the border with Mexico. How many more? Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s Executive Director, said there have already been “horrific attacks” this year on schools in Afghanistan, Ukraine, the US, West Africa and beyond. “Tragedy after tragedy, shooting after shooting, young life after young life: how many more children will die before government leaders act to keep...
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May 25, 2022 No comments
‘Grim reality’ of war’s deadly toll on civilians laid bare in Security Council
INTERNATIONAL, 25 May 2022, Peace and Security - Conflict continues to inflict “widespread civilian death and injury” a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday, outlining the “grim reality” for those caught up in the crossfire of war. Updating the ambassadors on the latest UN report on protecting civilians in armed conflict, Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of the Coordination Division of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that hostilities in densely populated areas, “sharply” increased the risks of death and injury for civilians. “When explosive weapons were used in populated areas, about 90 per cent of casualties were civilians, compared to 10 per cent in other areas”. Catalogue of destruction War damages and erodes critical infrastructure, by disrupting vital water, sanitation, electricity and health services,...
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May 25, 2022 No comments
UN rights chief Bachelet holds ‘valuable’ meeting with China’s President Xi
INTERNATIONAL, 25 May 2022, Human Rights - On day three of her official mission to China, top UN rights official Michelle Bachelet described having a “valuable opportunity” to highlight rights issues and concerns with President Xi Jinping and other senior officials, the first such visit by a UN rights chief since 2005. In a tweet on Wednesday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Bachelet, indicated that she had been able to “discuss directly” important issues via videolink with the country’s premier, without providing further information about her talking points. Personal mission “I have been committed to undertaking this visit, the first visit by a UN Human Rights High Commissioner to China in 17 years, because for me, it is a priority to engage with the Government of China directly…on human rights issues, domestic,...
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May 25, 2022 No comments
Disaster prevention, risk reduction, critical to sustainable future: UN deputy chief
INTERNATIONAL, 25 May 2022, Climate and Environment - The world will experience 1.5 medium to large-scale disasters every day through the end of the decade, unless countries ramp up action on prevention and risk reduction, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said in Bali, Indonesia, on Wednesday. Ms. Mohammed was speaking at the opening of the Seventh Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction - the first international forum on the issue since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic - bringing together governments, the UN and key stakeholders. During the three-day meeting, participants will take stock of implementation of a 2015 agreement known as the Sendai Framework, which aims to protect development gains from the risk of disaster. Resilient future The UN deputy chief told participants that the world is looking to the forum for leadership,...
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May 25, 2022 No comments
Cultural destruction in Ukraine by Russian forces will reverberate for years, UN rights expert warns
INTERNATIONAL, 25 May 2022, Culture and Education - The attempted destruction of Ukraine’s historic culture by invading Russian forces, will have a devastating impact on the pace of recovery in the post-war era, an independent UN human rights expert warned on Wednesday. “As in other conflicts, we currently witness the unfolding of suffering in Ukraine that does not seem to end and we cannot stop,” said Alexandra Xanthaki, Special Rapporteur on cultural rights. “The questioning and denial of the Ukrainian identity and history as a justification for war, is a violation of the Ukrainians’ right to self-determination and their cultural rights. “Self-identification is the paramount expression of these rights and all discussions, by States and in social media, should respect this.” She said that the considerable loss of cultural...
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