Tag: UN Africa News

Period poverty, or the inability to afford menstrual products, is a serious issue especially in developing countries, an issue menstruating girls and women grapple with monthly and a spotlight topic on Menstrual Hygiene Day, observed annually on 28 May. “I’m happy to come work here because I meet and work with other people,” said Ms. Fatty, who operates a special… Read More

This feature, which focuses on the illegal trade in substandard and fake medicines, is part of a UN News series exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel. From ineffective hand sanitizer to fake antimalarial pills, an illicit trade that grew during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is being meticulously dismantled by the UN and partner countries in Africa’s Sahel… Read More

Less than 10 per cent of schools and universities follow formal guidance on using wildly popular artificial intelligence (AI) tools, like the chatbot software ChatGPT, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which hosted more than 40 ministers at an groundbreaking online meeting on Thursday. The ministers exchanged policy approaches and plans while considering the agency’s new… Read More

Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday 31 May, WHO deplored that 3.2 million hectares of fertile land across 124 countries are being used to grow deadly tobacco – even in places where people are starving. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that governments across the world “spend millions supporting tobacco farms”, and that choosing to grow food instead of… Read More

Briefing ambassadors on Africa Day, Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo presented the latest UN report on securing predictable, sustainable and flexible resources for AU-led peace support operations mandated by the Council. The changing nature of conflict in Africa has forced the partners to adapt their operations in response to new and evolving challenges. Secure funding stream “The case for adequately financing AU-led… Read More

Stéphane Dujarric told correspondents at the regular noon briefing that the opportunity to provide services and support to the millions of Sudanese who are suffering due to the six weeks of fighting between national army forces and their powerful rival militia, the RSF, was only feasible in areas where the ceasefire holds. Relative calm has prevailed since the truce was… Read More

Fulgence Kayishema is alleged to have orchestrated the killing of approximately 2,000 Tutsi refugees at Nyange Catholic Church during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) said in a statement. He was arrested in South Africa on Wednesday in a joint operation between the IRMCT Office of the Prosecutor and the authorities. Finally facing justice Kayishema… Read More

He said the men and women that serve, from 125 countries, across 12 operations, were working to support security, stability and the rule of law. “They represent the beating heart of the United Nations’ commitment to peace”, said Secretary-General António Guterres. “By bringing peacekeepers together from around the world, peacekeeping has also become an inspiring symbol of multilateralism in action”, he added, just ahead… Read More

In Myanmar, the UN appealed on Tuesday for $333 million to assist 1.6 million of the most vulnerable people, many of whom have lost their homes as the cyclone hit the west of the country over a week ago. The UN’s top aid official in the country, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, told reporters in Geneva that the disaster had left hundreds of… Read More

This is the highest rate of mental health need ever recorded, across UNRWA’s medical system. UNRWA’s health programmes support some two million Palestine refugees across Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory composed of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza, as well as in Syria. Immensely challenging year Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Dr. Akihiro Seita, UNRWA’s Director of… Read More