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Category: Middle East

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Displacement doubles while funding shrinks, warns UNHCR

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    In December last year, the overthrow of the Assad regime by opposition forces reignited hope that most Syrians could see home again soon. As of May, 500,000 refugees and 1.2 million internally displaced people (IDPs) returned to their areas of origin.

    But that’s not the only reason Syria is no longer the largest displacement crisis in the world.

    Sudan sets a grim record

    More than two years of civil war in Sudan has seen it pass Syria with 14.3 million people displaced since April 2022, 11.6 million of whom are internally displaced – that’s one-third of the entire Sudanese population, representing the largest internal displacement crisis ever recorded.

    The UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) latest report released Wednesday highlights the sheer scale of the problem, noting “untenably high” displacements – but it also contains “rays of hope,” despite the immediate impact of aid cuts in capitals around the world this year.

    “We are living at a time of intense volatility in international relations, with modern warfare creating a fragile, harrowing landscape marked by acute human suffering,” said High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

    A place to live in peace

    By the end of 2024, 123.2 million people worldwide were displaced, representing a decade-high number, largely driven by protracted conflicts in Sudan, Myanmar and Ukraine.

    73.5 million people worldwide have fled within their own countries, and of the 42.7 million refugees living beyond their borders, 73 per cent are hosted in low and middle-income countries, with 67 per cent are hosted in neighbouring countries.

    Sadeqa and her son are refugees who have faced repeated displacement. They fled from Myanmar after Sadeqa’s husband was killed in 2024. In Bangladesh, they lived in a refugee camp for Rohingya Muslims, but the camp was overcrowded, leading them to flee again via boat.

    She got on the boat not knowing where it was going. Ultimately, the vessel was rescued after weeks at sea, and now, she and her son live in Indonesia.

    “We are searching for a place where we can live in peace,” Sadeqa said.

    There are countless stories like hers. However, at the same time, Mr. Grandi said that there were “rays of hope” in the report. This year, 188,800 refugees were permanently resettled into host countries in 2024, the highest number in 40 years.

    Moreover, 9.8 million people returned home in 2024, including 1.6 million refugees and 8.2 million internally displaced people mostly in Afghanistan and Syria.

    ‘Long-lasting solutions’

    While 8.2 million IDPs returning home represents the second-largest single year tally on record, the report noted continuing challenges for returnees.

    For example, many of the Afghan and Haitian refugees who returned home in the past year were deported from their host countries.

    The report emphasized that returns must be voluntary and that the dignity and safety of the returner must be upheld once they reach their area of origin. This requires long-term peace-building and broader sustainable development progress.

    “The search for peace must be at the heart of all efforts to find long-lasting solutions for refugees and others forced to flee their homes,” Mr. Grandi said.

    ‘Brutal’ funding cuts

    In the last decade, the number of people who have been forcibly displaced worldwide has doubled but funding levels for UNHCR remain largely unchanged.

    The report explained that this lack of increased funding endangers already vulnerable displaced communities and further destabilizes regional peace.

    “The situation is untenable, leaving refugees and others fleeing danger even more vulnerable,” UNHCR said. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: World Refugee Day: telling their stories

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    While hotspots include Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Palestine, displacement affects every region of the world.

    In the lead-up to World Refugee Day, Friday, the UN is spotlighting the importance of solidarity with refugees through support, solutions, and the power of storytelling.

    Zahra Nader: Reporting from exile

    Ahead of World Refugee Day, UN News spoke with Zahra Nader, a journalist from Afghanistan.

    At age six, Nader and her family fled to Iran after the Taliban first took power, where she was denied access to education and faced racism.

    Returning to Afghanistan years later, the stark contrast between life in exile and the opportunity to attend school ignited her passion for journalism and advocacy.

    In August 2021, while she was pursuing a PhD in Canada, the Taliban regained control, shattering her dreams of returning home to teach and conduct fieldwork.

    “I felt as a journalist who grew up in Kabul, who became a journalist there, I have a right and responsibility to tell these stories of women in Afghanistan,” she said. “This is really inhuman, for half of the population of a country to be stripped of their basic human rights because they were born female.”

    Channeling that pain into action, she founded Zan Times, an Afghan women-led newsroom in exile documenting human rights abuses in Afghanistan, particularly those affecting women.  

    Despite limited funding and growing risks to her reporters, Nader continues her work to ensure that Afghan women are seen and heard.

    She described the situation in Afghanistan as “the most severe women’s rights crisis of our time”, calling international action insufficient and warning that inaction emboldens the Taliban and its misogynistic ideologies.  

    Despite her trauma and current inability to return, Nader remains optimistic and urges young Afghan women to resist through learning and preparing for a better future.

    “I am hopeful, and I want to be also part of that change, to envision a better future for Afghanistan, and do my part to make that future happen.”  

    Barthelemy Mwanza: From survival to leadership

    On Thursday, UN Video featured the story of Barthelemy Mwanza, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who is now a youth leader and advocate.

    At 18, Mwanza was caught between pressure to join an armed tribal group involved in nationwide conflict and his father’s plea to stay out of the fight, a decision that could have cost him his life.

    To survive, he fled to the Tongogara refugee camp in Zimbabwe.

    Emotionally overwhelmed from being displaced from his home country, “It really made me cry to say ‘Where am I?’” Mwanza said. “Later on, I was like, ‘Till when will I continue to cry? Shouldn’t I look at the future?’”

    He began volunteering with UNHCR, leading more than 5,000 young refugees through initiatives tackling gender-based violence, youth protection, and climate action.

    Now resettled in Ohio, United States, Mwanza continues to collaborate with UNHCR to elevate refugee voices, inspire climate action and share his story.

    Empowering and advocating for refugees on a global stage “was one of my dreams, and now I can really see that it’s coming to life,” he concluded.  

    © UNHCR/Nicolo Filippo Rosso

    Barthelemy Mwanza Ngane is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is currently living in Akron, Ohio, US.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: From Syria, UN refugee chief calls for greater solidarity with displaced people

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, sounded the alarm on Friday, World Refugee Day, in a message from Syria.

    He said the abject failure to end conflicts – including in Sudan, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gaza – continues to create immense suffering. 

    Difficulty seeking shelter

    “Yet the innocent people who run for their lives as the bullets fly and the missiles rain down are unjustly stigmatised, making it harder to escape danger and to find somewhere to recover and rebuild,” he said.

    Their situation is further compounded by brutal cuts to humanitarian aid, affecting millions who desperately need assistance. 

    “At this critical juncture, it is vital that we reaffirm our solidarity with refugees – not just with words but with urgent action,” he said.

    He added that inspiring examples already exists, from countries that continue to welcome and host refugees, to local communities that “open their homes, workplaces and hearts” to them, as well as “the countless individual acts of kindness and compassion that reveal our common humanity.”

    Share the responsibility

    Mr. Grandi said the international community can and must support these countries and communities by sharing the responsibility for protecting refugees, calling in particular for action by wealthier States, development banks, businesses and others.

    The High Commissioner spent the Day in Syria, where some 600,000 people have returned from neighbouring countries after 14 years of war. Overall, more than two million Syrians have gone back to their homes and communities since the fall of the Assad regime last December.

    “In a region that has suffered so much violence – and suffers even now – we are nonetheless presented with an opportunity to help Syrians achieve stability and prosperity. We must not let it pass by,” he said.

    Mr. Grandi met Syrian families who spent more than a decade as refugees, whose deep joy at being among familiar faces and surroundings serve as reminder of refugees’ yearning for home. 

    “Now more than ever, we must stand with refugees to keep alive their hopes of a better future,” he said. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Resettlement changed her life. Now she’s fighting for others to have the same chance

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Today, she’s a qualified refugee and human rights lawyer in New Zealand – but on Tuesday she recalled the ordeal of becoming displaced aged 14 and described the harrowing limbo that followed.

    Invisible and alone

    “I grew up invisible to the world,” she said of her life in Afghanistan. “Without rights, opportunities, or safety.”

    That all changed in 2018, when her family was offered resettlement in New Zealand – a decision she said gave her back dignity, hope, and a future.

    Today, she advocates for others as a legal professional and helps shape global resettlement policy as an advisor to the Core Group on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP) which is supported by UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

    Ms. Changezi’s powerful testimony set the tone for the release of the agency’s Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2026 report.

    Syrians on the move

    UNHCR estimates that 2.5 million refugees will require resettlement next year, a decrease from the 2.9 million estimated for 2025.

    While this marks a shift – mainly due to changed conditions in Syria that are allowing for some voluntary returns – the figure remains historically high.

    The largest groups in need include Afghans, Syrians, South Sudanese, Sudanese, Rohingya and Congolese refugees. Major countries of asylum like Iran, Türkiye, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Uganda continue to host large refugee populations, with many individuals facing urgent needs that resettlement can address.

    “Resettlement offers not only protection, but also a pathway to dignity and inclusion,” said UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo. “It is a demonstration of meaningful international solidarity,” she added.

    Worrisome decline

    Yet the message from UNHCR was also one of concern. Resettlement quotas for 2025 are expected to fall to their lowest level in two decades — below even the disruptions seen during the coronavirus“>COVID-19 pandemic. This decline threatens to undo progress and places vulnerable refugees at greater risk.

    In that context, Ms. Changezi’s story became more than a personal account – it was a rallying call. “Resettlement is more than a humanitarian act,” she told journalists. “It is a strategic investment in our shared future.”

    Contributing to host societies

    Ms. Changezi emphasized that refugees are not defined by their vulnerability. Across the globe, resettled refugees are rebuilding communities, launching businesses, and strengthening social and economic systems in their new homes. “We offer solutions. We drive innovation,” she insisted.

    UNHCR is urging states to not only maintain their existing resettlement programmes but to expand them – swiftly and ambitiously. It is also calling for more flexible and responsive systems that can meet the needs of refugees across different regions and contexts.

    Despite the challenges, over 116,000 refugees were resettled through UNHCR-supported programmes last year.

    The international target for 2026 is to resettle 120,000 individuals – a goal UNHCR says is well within reach if states act decisively.

    Ms. Changezi insists that the promise of resettlement is not an abstract concept. “Multiply my story across millions,” she said. “The long-term impact is extraordinary – not just for refugees, but for the societies that embrace them.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Champions for Change: World football teams up with UN development goals

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    The Football for the Goals Forum brought UN leaders and some of the top voices in the world’s most popular sport to UN Headquarters in New York for the inaugural Champions for Change: Football and the UN Unite for the SDGs event.

    The UN has long recognised the role of sport in advancing the SDGs – promoting peace, gender equality, health, and climate action – as affirmed in a General Assembly Resolution on Sport adopted in December 2022.

    With unparalleled global reach, football holds a unique position to drive progress on these goals. Launched in July 2022, Football for the Goals is a UN initiative engaging the international football community to advocate for the SDGs.

    Wednesday’s forum aimed to mobilise the football community for action across key SDG areas.

    The kick off

    After introductions from football executives, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, UN communications chief Melissa Fleming, and the Qatari Representative to the UN, the opening panel – Bolstering Community Engagement with the SDGs – outlined the origins of Football for the Goals and explored how the football community can deepen its contribution to the SDGs.

    This was followed by a brief discussion on the football sector’s commitment to climate sustainability.

    The programme then shifted to some of the Forum’s most substantive panels, exploring how football both reflects global inequalities – between the Global South and North, and between men and women – and has the potential to help address them.

    North-South divide

    Júlia Pimenta of Street Child United highlighted that football organisations in the Global South, which serve the children who need support most, often lack adequate funding and must compete with well-resourced programmes in the Global North.

    Sarah Van Vooren of Atoot in Nepal similarly noted that grassroots organisations connecting football and sustainable development, frequently lack the resources needed to reach their full potential.

    When these organisations are properly supported, they can provide safe, educational environments for children – often with life-changing results.

    Panellists emphasised that funding such initiatives is key to advancing SDGs related to education and reducing inequality.

    © UNICEF/Truong Viet Hung

    Young girls play football at school in Soc Trang Province, Viet Nam.

    Levelling the gender playing field

    Jayathma Wickramanayake, a policy advisor on sports partnerships at UN Women, noted that the gender equality agency is responsible for most of the targets under SDG 5 related to closing the gender gap.

    She emphasised that progress has been slow – and in some areas, it’s even regressing – largely due to the persistence of rigid social norms, attitudes, and behaviours.

    These norms often manifest in the sports world through unequal pay and incidents of sexual harassment. However, Ms. Wickramanayake and other panellists highlighted how sport can be a powerful tool to challenge stereotypes and empower women and girls to succeed – both on and off the pitch.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: What time is it on the Moon? It’s all relative…

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Surely, you might think, we can just agree that one Earth time zone can be used for “Moon time”? Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), for example. How hard can it be? Unfortunately, this doesn’t work, for several reasons.

    Here on Earth, timekeeping is easy to take for granted: we divide our world into 24 time zones, based on longitude and the planet’s rotation, and can tell the time based on the position of the Sun in the sky.

    But on the Moon, the rules are different: one lunar “day” is approximately 29.5 Earth days long, and the Moon’s equatorial regions can experience up to 14 days of continuous sunlight. On some of the Moon’s tallest mountains, dubbed “peaks of eternal light,” the Sun never sets.

    On top of that, physicists and science fiction fans will know that time isn’t the same on the Moon as it is on Earth. Place two perfectly synchronised clocks – one on Earth and one on the Moon – and, after just one Earth day, the lunar clock would be ahead by about 56 microseconds. That might not sound like much, but for spacecraft navigation, this tiny discrepancy could be critical.

    Uniting efforts to standardize lunar time

    For a Moon time zone to work, aspiring lunar actors will need to agree on a common time standard that is reliable, traceable to Earth-based time, and usable by everyone. The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is helping to lead the charge to make this a reality.

    In 2024, the UN’s International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) established a dedicated working group to focus on lunar positioning, navigation and timing, standardise lunar time and trace it back to UTC that we use on Earth, for the benefit of all future lunar missions.

    Peace on Earth, peace on Moon

    Coordinating seamless timekeeping on the Moon is part of a broader UN mission to ensure that lunar activities, whether public, private, scientific, or commercial, are safe, peaceful and sustainable. To that end, UNOOSA convened the first United Nations Conference on Sustainable Lunar Activities in June 2024, gathering heads of space agencies, legal experts, astronauts, companies, and academics from across the globe to discuss common ground, share concerns, and reaffirm the need for transparent, inclusive lunar governance mechanisms.

    © NASA/Jordan Salkin/Keegan Bar

    View of Earth from the NASA Earth Observatory

    One such mechanism to further international cooperation is the new Action Team on Lunar Activities Consultation (ATLAC), which is designed to help foster dialogue and formulate recommendations on how lunar exploration and activities can be coordinated internationally. ATLAC will work to finalize its workplan for the significant coming years and identify priority topics – such as coordinated lunar timekeeping – to ensure lunar activities proceed in a cooperative and orderly manner.

    Humanity is entering a new era of lunar exploration featuring a record number of spacefaring nations and organizations that could reshape our relationship with our closest celestial neighbours for generations to come.

    Member States will be able to work with UNOOSA to preserve the Moon as a domain of global cooperation, guided by the Outer Space Treaty’s core principle that “the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries.”

    NASA astronaut Harrison Schmitt on the moon (file, 1972)

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Updating journalists in Geneva, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris described another night of terror in the war-torn enclave.

    She said that some of those injured in the attacks had sought help from the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, even though it was now “just a shell” after 19 months of war.  

    “We’ve done our best to bring it back together and they are doing their best to treat everyone, but [medical teams] lack everything needed,” she insisted.

    Rejecting accusations that relief supplies have been handed over to Hamas, the WHO spokesperson said that “in the health sector, we’ve not seen that. All we see is a desperate need at all times.”

    Echoing that message, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, explained that a stringent system of checks and reports to donors meant that all relief supplies were closely tracked in real time, making diversion highly unlikely.  

    Even if it were happening, “it’s not at a scale that justifies closing down an entire life-saving aid operation,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said.

    “If you had been in a coma for the last three years and you woke up and saw this for the first time, anyone with common sense would say this is insane.”

    The development comes more than 10 weeks since the Israeli authorities stopped all food, fuel, medicines and more from reaching Gaza.  

    To date, their proposal for an alternative aid distribution platform bypassing existing UN agencies – widely criticized by the humanitarian community – has not been implemented.

    The result has been rising malnutrition – unknown in Gaza before the war – and looming famine, while thousands of truckloads of essential supplies have had to be stored in Jordan and Egypt, according to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees and the largest aid operation in Gaza.

    In its latest update, OCHA said that the UN and its partners have 9,000 truckloads of vital supplies ready to move into Gaza. More than half contain food assistance which could provide months of food for the enclave’s 2.1 million people.

    An inventory of the relief supplies “waiting just outside the borders to get in” illustrates their humanitarian purpose, Mr. Laerke said.

    Pasta and stationery: Weapons of war?

    “It includes educational supplies, children’s bags, shoes, size three to four years old and up to 10 years old; stationery and toys, rice, wheat flour and beans, eggs, pasta, various sweets, tents, water tanks, cold storage boxes, breastfeeding kits, breastmilk substitutes, energy biscuits, shampoo and hand soap, floor cleaner. I ask you, how much war can you wage with this?”

    Mr. Laerke said that UN officials have held 14 meetings with the Israeli authorities about their proposed aid scheme, which if implemented would restrict aid “to only part of Gaza” and exclude the most vulnerable.

    “It makes starvation a bargaining chip,” he maintained.

    More than 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since war erupted on 7 October 2023 in response to Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, according to the health authorities.  

    WHO said only 255 patients needing specialist care outside the Strip have been evacuated since 18 March leaving more than 10,000 patients – including approximately 4,500 children – who also need urgent medical attention outside Gaza.

    In response to this week’s attack on the European General Hospital in Khan Younis, WHO’s Dr. Harris noted that it had been used as a meeting point for an evacuation. “That first bombing, as you probably know, destroyed two of the buses that we’d assembled to take children,” she added.

    On Tuesday, the Security Council heard the UN’s top aid official Tom Fletcher call for immediate international pressure to stop Gaza’s “21st century atrocity” – a message amplified by OCHA’s Mr. Laerke:

    “The situation as it has developed now is so grotesquely abnormal that some popular pressure on leaders around the world needs to happen,” he said.

    “We know it is happening, I’m not saying that people are silent, because they are not. But it doesn’t appear that their leaders are listening to them.”

    Israel’s Gaza policy now ‘tantamount to ethnic cleansing’: Türk

    UN human rights Chief Volker Türk warned Friday that recent actions taken by Israel in Gaza – specifically Israeli strikes on hospitals and the continued denial of humanitarian aid – are “tantamount to ethnic cleansing.”

    Before strikes on 13 May on the two of the largest hospitals in southern Gaza, there was already widespread devastation, with 53,000 Palestinians killed, according to local authorities, and all remaining civilians facing acute food shortages after multiple displacements.

    Mr. Türk reminded Israel that they are bound by international law which “[ensures] that constant care is taken to spare civilian lives,” something which he said was clearly not the case in the 13 May hospital strikes.

    “The killing of patients or of people visiting their wounded or sick loved ones, or of emergency workers or other civilians just seeking shelter, is as tragic as it is abhorrent,” he said. “These attacks must cease.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Pandemic accord can be a ‘gamechanger’ for marginalised communities, says youth advocate

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Mr. Hassan and his fellow Youth Councillors advise and actively engage with the WHO Director-General and the agency’s senior leadership, designing and expanding the agency’s programmes and strategies.

    In an interview with UN News ahead of the 2025 World Health Assembly – the UN’s highest forum for global health – Mr. Hassan, who was born and raised in Texas, USA,  explains why he started iCure, a global non-profit organisation designed to ensure that all people receive access to preventative medical screening, and how the pandemic treaty could radically improve care for vulnerable communities.

    This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

    Courtesy of Rehman Hassan

    Rehman Hassan: 10 years ago, my grandfather passed away from heart disease. I saw how he was treated differently because of the way that he presented himself, as an immigrant and a person of colour. He was very knowledgeable, but he had limited literacy, and he wasn’t necessarily told what all his options were. I felt that the doctors tried to rush him into surgery and that they forced him to be anaesthetized because they believed he was moving around too much, when in fact he was just in pain and uncomfortable.

    I’m convinced that he didn’t get the care that he deserved and that really resonated with me, because I wanted to make sure that no one else felt that way. I saw that, as a young person, my role could involve working at a community level, mobilising other young people to promote things like good diet or exercise, and advocate for those who need help.

    That’s how iCure started, and it has blossomed into an international movement. We have hosted a youth fellowship programme with around 65 young people from all over the world, from Vietnam to Qatar to Puerto Rico, discussing the health issues they’re seeing and how to address them, as trusted members of their communities, to bridge the kinds of information gaps that are very common in many marginalized communities, especially amongst low income people and immigrants.

    UN News: Tell me about your personal experience during the coronavirus“>COVID-19 pandemic?

    Rehman Hassan: The pandemic was, for many people across the world, a deeply difficult, scary, intense process. I was living with my grandparents who were immunocompromised, and I knew that they were at significant risk. Whilst we had a lot of vaccines in the US, there was a lot of pandemic disinformation and misinformation; presenting it as something that had a low mortality rate and that we could ignore.

    In addition, we had a major winter storm in Texas that froze the state for almost two weeks. We didn’t have access to electricity, gas or water. Our house was flooded and ultimately was destroyed. This combination of the climate crisis and the pandemic meant that many people, especially in my community, were left behind and did not receive the resources that they needed.

    Children in Mexico received food baskets during the COVID-19 pandemic (file, 2022)

    UN News: The WHO says that the pandemic preparedness treaty, if and when it is adopted, will be a breakthrough for health equity and make a real difference on the ground. Do you agree?

    Rehman Hassan: I definitely think it’s a game changer. I got involved with the treaty process through the WHO Youth Council, where I represent an organisation [ACT4FOOD, a global youth-led movement to transform food systems] that primarily focuses on access to food, the social determinants of health and how we can promote change at the community level.

    The text of the treaty spells out the efforts that need to be taken at a community level, and each member state has an obligation to make sure that the most vulnerable get access to support or care, as part of their pandemic response plans.

    There is a commitment to early detection: if we can detect pandemics early, then we can ensure that everyone has access to the care and resources they need.

    UN News: It’s likely that there will be another pandemic in our lifetimes. Will we manage it better than the last one?

    Rehman Hassan: We’re definitely seeing an acceleration of pandemics and extreme events that ultimately undermine equity.

    I think that the World Health Assembly and the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body for the pandemic treaty have done an incredible job of understanding what went wrong during the COVID-19 pandemic, and previous pandemics, and then looking at how we can craft an instrument that will address those inequities or prevent them from happening in the first place.

    If member states deliver a meaningful treaty, I think it would significantly improve and facilitate a much better pandemic response than what we saw during last time.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: World Health Assembly opens amid high-stakes pandemic treaty vote, global funding crisis

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, urged Member States to remain focused on shared goals even amid global instability.

    “We are here to serve not our own interests, but the eight billion people of our world,” he said in his keynote address at the Palais des Nations. “To leave a heritage for those who come after us; for our children and our grandchildren; and to work together for a healthier, more peaceful and more equitable world. It’s possible.”

    The Assembly, WHO’s highest decision-making body, runs through 27 May and brings together delegations from 194 Member States under the theme One World for Health.

    This year’s agenda includes a vote on the intensely negotiated Pandemic Agreement, a  reduced budget proposal, and discussions on climate, conflict, antimicrobial resistance, and digital health.

    Pandemic prevention focus

    A central item on the Assembly’s agenda is the proposed WHO pandemic accord, a global compact aimed at preventing the kind of fragmented response that marked the early stages of coronavirus“>COVID-19.

    The treaty is the result of three years of negotiations between all WHO Member States.

    “This is truly a historic moment,” Dr Tedros said. “Even in the middle of crisis, and in the face of significant opposition, you worked tirelessly, you never gave up, and you reached your goal.”

    A final vote on the agreement is expected on Tuesday.

    If adopted, it would mark only the second time countries have come together to approve a legally binding global health treaty under WHO’s founding rules. The first was the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, adopted in 2003 to curb the global tobacco epidemic.

    2024 health check

    In his address, Tedros presented highlights from WHO’s 2024 Results Report, noting both progress and persistent global health gaps.

    On tobacco control, he cited a global one-third reduction in smoking prevalence since the WHO Framework Convention entered into force two decades ago.

    He praised countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Oman, and Viet Nam for introducing stronger regulations last year, including plain packaging and restrictions on e-cigarettes.

    On nutrition, he pointed to new WHO guidelines on wasting and the expansion of the Tobacco-Free Farms Initiative in Africa, which has supported thousands of farmers in transitioning to food crops.

    He also emphasised WHO’s growing work on air pollution and climate-resilient health systems, including partnerships with Gavi and UNICEF to install solar energy in health facilities across multiple countries.

    On maternal and child health, Tedros noted stalled progress and outlined new national acceleration plans to reduce newborn mortality. Immunisation coverage now reaches 83 per cent of children globally, compared to less than 5 per cent when the Expanded Programme on Immunisation was launched in 1974.

    “We are living in a golden age of disease elimination,” he said, citing the certification of Cabo Verde, Egypt, and Georgia as malaria-free; progress in neglected tropical diseases; and Botswana’s recognition as the first country to reach gold-tier status in eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

    © WHO/Isaac Rudakubana

    WHO has been supporting Universal Health Coverage in Rwanda.

    WHO budget strain

    Turning to WHO’s internal operations, Tedros offered a stark assessment of the organisation’s finances.

    “We are facing a salary gap for the next biennium of more than US$ 500 million,” he said. “A reduced workforce means a reduced scope of work.”

    This week, Member States will vote on a proposed 20 per cent increase in assessed contributions, as well as a reduced Programme Budget of $ 4.2 billion for 2026–2027, down from an earlier proposal of $ 5.3 billion. The cuts reflect an effort to align WHO’s work with current funding levels while preserving core functions.

    Tedros acknowledged that WHO’s long-standing reliance on voluntary earmarked funding from a small group of donors had left it vulnerable. He urged Member States to see the budget shortfall not only as a crisis but also as a potential turning point.

    “Either we must lower our ambitions for what WHO is and does, or we must raise the money,” he said. “I know which I will choose.”

    He drew a sharp contrast between WHO’s budget and global spending priorities: “US$ 2.1 billion is the equivalent of global military expenditure every eight hours; US$ 2.1 billion is the price of one stealth bomber – to kill people; US$ 2.1 billion is one-quarter of what the tobacco industry spends on advertising and promotion every single year. And again, a product that kills people.”

    “It seems somebody switched the price tags on what is truly valuable in our world,” he said.

    Emergencies and appeals

    The Director-General also detailed WHO’s emergency operations in 2024, which spanned 89 countries. These included responses to outbreaks of cholera, Ebola, mpox, and polio, as well as humanitarian interventions in conflict zones such as Sudan, Ukraine, and Gaza.

    In Gaza, he said, WHO had supported more than 7,300 medical evacuations since late 2023, but over 10,000 patients remained in urgent need of care.

    Looking ahead: a transformed WHO?

    The WHO chief closed with a look at the agency’s future direction, shaped by lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. He highlighted new initiatives in pandemic intelligence, vaccine development, and digital health, including expanded work on artificial intelligence and support for mRNA technology transfer to 15 countries.

    WHO has also restructured its headquarters, reducing management layers and streamlining departments.

    “Our current crisis is an opportunity,” Dr Tedros concluded. “Together, we will do it.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN chief calls for major reforms to cut costs and improve efficiency

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Briefing Member States in New York on Monday Mr. Guterres outlined wide-ranging effort to revamp how the UN system operates – cutting costs, streamlining operations, and modernizing its approach to peace and security, development and human rights.

    “These are times of peril,” he said, “but they are also times of profound opportunity and obligation. The mission of the United Nations is more urgent than ever.”

    Three main objectives

    Launched in March, the UN80 Initiative centres on three priorities: enhancing operational efficiency, assessing how mandates – or key tasks – from Member States are implemented, and exploring structural reforms across the UN system.

    The conclusions will be reflected in revised estimates for the 2026 budget in September this year, with additional changes that require more detailed analysis presented in the proposal for the 2027 budget.

    ‘Meaningful’ budget reductions

    Mr. Guterres said the changes are expected to yield “meaningful reductions” in the overall budget. For example, the departments for political and peacekeeping affairs could see a 20 per cent reduction in staff by eliminating duplication.

    This level of reduction, he said, could serve as a benchmark across the UN system – while also considering unique factors for each department.

    Additional examples include consolidating all counter-terrorism work within the main Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), ending building leases and relocating posts away from expensive “duty stations” where cost of living is high.

    “There might be immediate, one-off costs involved in relocating staff and providing potential termination packages,” he said, “but by moving posts from high-cost locations, we can reduce our commercial footprint in those cities and reduce our post and non-post costs.”

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres briefs on the UN80 Initiative.

    Efficiencies and upgrades

    The first workstream focuses on efficiencies and improvements, developing a new model that improves consolidation, looks at centralising services, relocating to cheaper locations, and expanding the use of automation and digital platforms.

    Mr. Guterres said departments the UN’s headquarters in New York and Geneva have been asked to review whether some teams can be relocated to lower-cost duty stations, reduced or abolished.

    Reviewing mandates

    The second workstream involves a review of how existing mandates are being carried out – not the mandates themselves, which are the purview of Member States only.

    A preliminary review identified more than 3,600 unique mandates for the Secretariat alone. A full and more detailed analysis is now underway.

    Mr. Guterres emphasised that the sheer number of mandates – and the bureaucracy needed to implement them – places a particular burden on smaller Member States with limited resources.

    “Based on this work, Member States may wish to consider the opportunity to conduct themselves a review of the mandates,” he added.

    Structural change

    The third workstream – focused on structural reform – is already underway, Mr. Guterres said.

    Nearly 50 initial submissions have already been received from senior UN officials, reflecting what Mr. Guterres described as “a high level of ambition and creativity.”

    Key work areas have been identified for review. These include peace and security, development, human rights, humanitarian, training and research and specialised agencies.

    UN Photo/Manuel Elías

    A wide view of the informal meeting of the General Assembly plenary that heard a briefing by the Secretary-General on the UN80 Initiative.

    Not an answer to liquidity crisis

    Mr. Guterres also touched on the UN dire cashflow situation, noting that the initiative “is not an answer” to the months-long liquidity crisis but by being more cost effective, it should help limit the impact.

    “The liquidity crisis is caused by one simple fact – the arrears,” he said, adding that structural reform is not the answer to a fundamental failure by some Member States to pay what they owe on time to meet running costs.

    Unpaid dues

    According to information provided by the UN Controller to the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), only $1.8 billion has been received against the $3.5 billion regular budget assessments for 2025 – a shortfall of around 50 per cent.

    As of 30 April, unpaid assessments stood at $2.4 billion, with the United States owing about $1.5 billion, China ($597 million), Russia ($72 million), Saudi Arabia ($42 million), Mexico ($38 million), and Venezuela ($38 million). An additional $137 million is yet to be paid by other Member States.

    For the peacekeeping budget (which runs on a July-June cycle), including prior-period arrears, the unpaid amount totals $2.7 billion. For the International Tribunals, total contribution outstanding was $79 million as of 30 April.

    Close consultation

    The Secretary-General told Member States he would be consulting with them  closely and regularly on the cash crisis and needed reforms, seeking guidance  and presenting concrete proposals for countries to act on.

    UN staff members and their representatives are being consulted and listened to, he added: “Our concern is to be humane and professional in dealing with any aspect of the required restructuring.”

    In conclusion, he highlighted that the UN80 Initiative is a “significant opportunity” to strengthen the UN system and deliver for those who depend on it.

    In response to the suggestion that the UN should focus on just the one key pillar of peace and security, he said it would be wrong to ditch development and human rights – all three are essential he underscored.

    “Let us seize this momentum with urgency and determination, and work together to build the strongest and most effective United Nations for today and tomorrow.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Iran-Israel crisis: UN rights office appeals for urgent de-escalation

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Israel began targeting nuclear and military sites across Iran last Friday, prompting a barrage of retaliatory strikes on Israeli cities.

    “The UN human rights office urges de-escalation and urgent diplomatic negotiations to end these attacks and find a way forward,” said Ms. Al-Nashif. “We are following closely and are aware of reports that many thousands of residents are fleeing parts of the capital, Tehran, as a result of warnings covering broad areas.”

    Latest reports from the region indicate that more than 200 people have been killed in Iran and 24 in Israel to date. The violence continued unabated overnight in both countries. 

    Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva at a scheduled meeting to discuss Iran’s rights record, the Deputy High Commissioner highlighted serious concerns that populated areas have been hit in the escalation.

    “It is imperative that both sides fully respect international law, in particular by ensuring the protection of civilians in densely populated areas and of civilian objects,” she said. “We urge all those with influence to engage in negotiation as a matter of priority.”

    Nuclear watchdog update

    In a related development, the UN-backed nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday that two Iranian centrifuge production facilities had suffered major damage after being targeted.

    “The TESA Karaj workshop and the Tehran Research Centre were hit,” it said in an update. “At the Tehran site, one building was hit where advanced centrifuge rotors were manufactured and tested. 

    At Karaj, two buildings were destroyed where different centrifuge components were manufactured,” said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

    Speaking at the Council after the Deputy High Commissioner, Iran’s Permanent Representative of Iran, Ambassador Ali Bahreini, condemned the Israeli strikes: 

    “There has been no violation worse than [the] 13 June act of aggression against Iran,” he said, pointing to “continuous blind attacks on residential areas, bombardment of vital supplies, explosion of drinking water resources and reckless strikes on nuclear facilities are immediately impacting the civilians and people of Iran.”

    Such “deliberate targeting” of his country’s nuclear facilities risked exposing local communities to a “possible hazardous leak”, the Iranian ambassador continued. “This is not an act of war against our country, it is war against humanity.”

    In a short statement to the Council from which Israel announced its withdrawal earlier this year, Mr. Bahreini called for accountability and international condemnation of the Israeli attacks. 

    “This impunity must come to [an] end,” he said. “Israel activities are not just against one or two countries. It is acting against all humanity and their actions target all human rights.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN rights office ‘horrified’ by deadly violence at Gaza food distribution sites

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    The UN human rights office (OHCHR) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on Wednesday called on the Israeli military to cease the use of lethal force near aid convoys and food distribution sites.

    It cited “repeated incidents” of Palestinians being shot or shelled while seeking food, warning that such attacks could constitute war crimes under international law.

    “We are horrified at the repeated incidents, continuously reported in recent days across Gaza, and we call for an immediate end to these senseless killings,” the office said in a statement.

    Hundreds killed

    Since 27 May, when the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an initiative backed by Israel and the United States began food distribution in southern Gaza – bypassing the established UN-led system – hundreds have been killed and many more wounded near four distribution points or while waiting to pick up aid.

    In one of the deadliest recent incidents, Israeli military reportedly shelled a crowd waiting for UN food trucks in southern Gaza on 17 June, killing at least 51 people and injuring some 200 others, according to Gazan health authorities.

    A day earlier, three Palestinians were reportedly killed and several injured in a similar incident in western Beit Lahiya.

    “There is no information to suggest that the people killed or injured were involved in hostilities or posed any threat to the Israeli military or to staff of GHF distribution points,” OHCHR said.

    Protect civilians, aid workers

    The UN World Food Programme (WFP), which has managed to dispatch only 9,000 metric tons of food within Gaza over the past month – a fraction of what is required for the 2.1 million people in need – echoed calls for immediate protection of civilians and aid workers.

    “Far too many people have died while trying to access the trickle of food aid coming in,” the agency said in a separate statement.

    “Any violence resulting in starving people being killed or injured while seeking life-saving assistance is completely unacceptable.”

    Massive scale-up needed

    The UN emergency food relief agency said the fear of starvation and desperate need for food is causing large crowds to gather along well-known transport routes, hoping to intercept and access humanitarian supplies while in transit.

    “Only a massive scale-up in food distributions can stabilize the situation, calm anxieties and rebuild the trust within communities that more food is coming,” it said, calling urgently for safer convoy routes, faster permissions, restored communication channels and additional border openings.

    “The time to act is now. Delays cost lives. We must be allowed to safely do our jobs,” the agency said.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Human Rights Council hears alarming updates on executions in Iran and global civic space crackdown

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    At least 975 people were executed in Iran in 2024, the highest number reported since 2015, according to a report Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, presented to the Geneva-based Council on Wednesday. 

    Of the total executions, just over half were for drug-related offenses, 43 per cent for murder, two per cent for sexual offenses, and three per cent for security-related charges. At least four executions were carried out publicly. 

    “These cases are marked by serious allegations of torture and due process violations, including lack of access to a lawyer,” said Ms. Al-Nashif. 

    Violence and discrimination against women

    At least 31 women were reportedly executed in Iran last year, up from 22 in 2023. Of the 19 women executed for murder, nine had been convicted of killing their husbands in cases involving domestic violence or forced or child marriage, areas in which Iranian women have no legal protections.

    Some executions were reportedly linked to protests that began in September 2022 under the banner “Women, Life, and Freedom.”

    Beyond executions, femicide cases surged, with 179 reported in 2024 compared to 55 the year before. Many stemmed from so-called “honour” crimes or family disputes, often involving women and girls seeking divorce or rejecting marriage proposals.

    Ms. Al-Nashif also warned that the suspended Chastity and Hijab Law, if enacted, would pose a serious threat to women’s rights. Penalties for violations such as improper dress could include heavy fines, travel bans, long-term imprisonment, or even the death penalty.

    In addition, of the 125 journalists prosecuted in 2024, 40 were women, many reporting on human rights and women’s rights issues.

    Religious and ethnic minorities

    “In 2024, the death penalty continued to have a disproportionate impact on minority groups,” Ms. Al-Nashif told the Council.

    At least 108 Baluchi and 84 Kurdish prisoners were executed in 2024, representing 11 and 9 per cent of the total, respectively.

    The report also raised concerns over the lack of official data on the socioeconomic conditions of ethnic and ethno-religious minorities and non-citizens, which hampers efforts to assess their situation and measure the impact of targeted policies and programmes.

    Looking ahead

    While Iran continued engagement with the Office of the UN High Commissioner and other human rights mechanisms, it denied access to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran.

    “Our Office remains ready to continue and build on its engagement with the Iranian authorities on the range of issues highlighted in the report of the Secretary-General for the promotion and protection of all human rights,” Ms. Al-Nashif concluded. 

    Global ‘Super Election’ cycle undermined democratic participation

    In the Council’s afternoon session, Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, presented her report on how the 2023–2025 “super election” cycle has affected civic space around the world.  

    In 2024, half of the world’s population elected their local, national and international representatives. While Ms. Romero’s report on this cycle does not assess the integrity of the elections, it identifies troubling global patterns of systematic repression of the exercise of peaceful assembly and association.

    “The misuse of restrictive laws, smear campaigns, disinformation targeting civil society intensified globally in the super electoral cycle, undermining electoral participation and freedom of association,” she said.  

    Political repression and violence

    As criminal justice systems are used to repress the opposition, leaders and members of political parties faced undue restrictions and political persecution. Civil society activists and election observers have also faced harassment, arbitrary detention, torture and murder.  

    “When political parties, civil society, and peaceful assemblies are suppressed, genuine political pluralism and competition cannot exist,” argued Ms. Romero. “I stress that these conditions are incompatible with free and genuine elections and risk legitimising undemocratic rule.”

    Minority representation

    Ms. Romero also underscored that women’s political leadership remains severely underrepresented, while LGBTIQ individuals and their organizations faced attacks during the super electoral cycle.  

    Both groups experienced physical and online political violence, restricting their electoral participation and accelerating the decline of their rights after the elections.

    Calls to protect freedoms  

    Amid global crises and a rapid democratic decline, Ms. Romero emphasized the urgent need to protect the rights to peaceful assembly and association throughout the entire electoral cycle.  

    She outlined key recommendations, including strengthening legal protections before elections, ensuring accountability afterward, regulating digital technologies and promoting non-discriminatory participation throughout.  

    “Dissent is a fundamental element of democratic societies,” she concluded in Spanish. “Rather than being suppressed, it should be welcomed and permanently protected.” 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Gaza: As last fuel supplies run out, aid teams warn of catastrophe

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Speaking from Gaza City in the north of the occupied territory, Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that water pumps had stopped at one site for displaced people there on Wednesday “because there’s no fuel”.

    “We are really – unless the situation changes – hours away from a catastrophic decline and a shutdown of more facilities if no fuel enters or more fuel isn’t retrieved immediately,” she told UN News.

    In its latest update on the emergency, OCHA said that without the immediate entry of fuel or access to reserves, 80 per cent of Gaza’s critical care units essential for births and medical emergencies will shut down.

    More killed seeking aid

    The development comes as Gaza’s authorities reported that 15 people had been killed near an aid distribution hub in the centre of the Strip on Thursday.

    On Tuesday, unverified videos of another incident circulating on social media showed dead bodies lying in the street near a relief facility in the southern city of Khan Younis, reportedly following artillery fire.

    Finding food is a daily challenge for increasingly desperate Gazans who are “simply waiting for food and hoping to find something in order not to watch their children starve in front of their eyes”, Ms. Cherevko explained.

    She added: “I spoke with a woman a couple of days ago where she told me that she went with a friend of hers who is nine months pregnant in hopes of finding some food.

    Of course, they didn’t manage because they were too afraid to enter areas where there could be incidents like the ones that have been reported over the past few days.”

    Search for shelter

    Back in Gaza City, OCHA’s Ms. Cherevko said that conditions in shelters in Gaza are now “absolutely horrific” and increasingly crowded – “there are people coming from the north constantly,” the veteran aid worker added, while others are also moving back northwards, likely to be closer to the entry points for aid convoys.

    The amount of aid entering Gaza today remains extremely limited and far below the 600 trucks a day that used to reach the enclave before the war began in October 2023. In its latest update, OCHA reported that “starvation and a growing likelihood of famine” are ever-present in the enclave. An estimated 55,000 pregnant women now face miscarriage, stillbirth and undernourished newborns as a result of the food shortages.

    © UNOCHA/Olga Cherevko

    Smoke from explosions rises from the Shujaia neighborhood of Gaza City.

    Starvation diet

    “With the very limited volume of aid that is entering, everyone continues to face starvation and people are constantly risking their lives to try to find something,” Ms. Cherevko continued.

    “You eat or [you’re] left with the choice of starving to death.”

    After more than 20 months of war, sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel, 82 per cent of Gaza’s territory is either an Israeli militarized zone or affected by evacuation orders.

    Three months since hostilities re-escalated on 18 March, more than 680,000 people have been newly displaced. “With no safe place to go, many people have sought refuge in every available space, including overcrowded displacement sites, makeshift shelters, damaged buildings, streets and open areas,” OCHA said.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN warns of mounting humanitarian toll as Israel-Iran hostilities continue

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Thursday called for “maximum restraint” and reiterated that both Israel and Iran are bound by international humanitarian law.

    “The widescale, continuing attacks by Israel across Iran, and the missile and drone strikes launched in response by Iran, are inflicting severe human rights and humanitarian impacts on civilians, and risk setting the whole region ablaze,” he said in a statement.

    “The only way out of this spiralling illogic of escalation is maximum restraint, full respect for international law, and return in good faith to the negotiating table,” he stressed.

    Appalling collateral damage

    The UN rights chief also expressed deep concern over the impact on civilians.

    “It is appalling to see how civilians are treated as collateral damage in the conduct of hostilities,” he said, adding that threats and inflammatory rhetoric by senior officials on both sides suggest a “worrying intention” to inflict harm on civilians.

    The airstrikes, missile and drone attacks – launched by both Israel and Iran since 13 June – have caused heavy damage to civilian infrastructure and claimed hundreds of lives.  

    According to Iranian authorities, at least 224 people have been killed, while human rights groups report significantly higher figures. In Israel, officials report 24 deaths and more than 840 injuries so far.

    Widespread panic

    Warnings from both governments have also prompted widespread panic among civilians.

    Israel’s call for civilians to evacuate on Tuesday triggered panic across Tehran, resulting in heavy traffic jams on highways. Movement has reportedly been hampered across the country by fuel shortages, leading to hours-long queues at petrol stations.

    Concern for refugees

    The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed grave concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, adding that it is monitoring reports that people are on the move within Iran and that some are leaving for neighbouring countries.

    UNHCR Spokesperson Babar Baloch cautioned that the situation remained fluid and hard to verify.

    “Iran has long hosted the largest Afghan refugee population in the world. Now, its own people are experiencing devastation and fear,” Mr. Baloch added.

    He also emphasised the principle of non-refoulement, calling on neighbouring countries to grant protection to anyone fleeing violence, and not turn them back.

    UNHCR Spokesperson Baloch on the crisis.

    Iran hosts an estimated 3.5 million refugees and those in refugee-like situations, including some 750,000 registered Afghans and over 2.6 million undocumented individuals.

    Regional worries

    There is already regional fallout, with missile launches from Yemen towards Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and heightened tensions reportedly involving armed groups in Iraq, according to OCHA.

    “This escalation takes place as the region already grapples with mounting humanitarian needs, sharply reduced funding, and constrained operational space for humanitarian action,” the Office said in a flash update issued on Wednesday.

    “De-escalation is vital to preventing further suffering of civilians and population displacements,” OCHA underscored.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: ‘A fire no one can control’: UN warns of spiralling Iran-Israel war

    Source: United Nations 2

    In an address to the UN Security Council on Friday, Mr. Guterres made an urgent plea for de-escalation, calling the spiralling confrontation a defining moment for the future of global security.

    “We are not drifting toward crisis – we are racing toward it,” he said.

    “This is a moment that could shape the fate of nations…the expansion of this conflict could ignite a fire no one can control,” he warned.

    Widespread panic, destruction

    The Secretary-General’s remarks came amid a mounting civilian toll in both Israel and Iran, and as several nuclear sites in Iran have come under direct military assault.

    Over 100 targets have been struck across Iran, including military and nuclear infrastructure such as the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities and the Khondab heavy water reactor.

    Iranian officials report over 224 civilian deaths, with some estimates twice as high. More than 2,500 have been injured reportedly – while major cities like Tehran have seen mass displacements, fuel shortages and widespread panic.

    Iran has responded with its own barrage of missile strikes on Israel, hitting cities such as Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba. Critical civilian sites, including the Soroka Medical Center and the Weizmann research institute, have been damaged. Twenty-four Israelis are confirmed dead, with more than 900 injured.

    Give peace a chance

    Mr. Guterres urged both parties to give diplomacy a chance, reiterating the need for full Iranian cooperation with the UN nuclear energy watchdog, IAEA, and warning that the “only thing predictable about this conflict is its unpredictability.”

    He also called for unity within the Security Council and adherence to the UN Charter.

    “The Non-Proliferation Treaty is a cornerstone of international security,” he said. “Iran must respect it. But the only way to bridge the trust gap is through diplomacy – not destruction.”

    UN Photo/Manuel Elías

    A wide view of the Security Council meeting on the Israel-Iran crisis.

    Regional fallout expanding

    Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for political affairs, echoed those concerns, providing a grim overview of the violence and rising human toll.

    “The vast majority are civilians,” she said, warning of a “humanitarian crisis in real time.”

    The regional fallout is expanding, with airspace restrictions now spanning Lebanon to Iraq. Missiles from Yemen’s Houthi forces have targeted Israel and occupied Palestinian territory, while armed groups in Iraq are reportedly mobilizing.

    “Any further expansion of the conflict could have enormous consequences for international peace and security,” Ms. DiCarlo cautioned.

    She also highlighted global economic implications, noting that trade through the vital Strait of Hormuz has fallen 15 per cent amid rising tensions.

    Grave warnings on nuclear safety

    The most alarming update, however, came from IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who warned the Council that Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities are degrading critical safety systems and placing millions at potential radiological risk.

    At Natanz, the destruction of electricity infrastructure and direct strikes on enrichment halls have led to internal contamination. While no radiological release has been detected outside the facility, Mr. Grossi warned that uranium compounds now pose significant health hazards within.

    At Isfahan, multiple buildings – including a uranium conversion plant and a metal processing facility – were hit. At Arak’s Khondab reactor site, damage was sustained, though the facility was not operational.

    The greatest risk, however, is the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which remains operational.

    A direct strike, Mr. Grossi warned, “could result in a high release of radioactivity to the environment.”

    Millions at risk

    Even disruption of its external power supply could lead to a core meltdown. In the worst-case scenario, radiation would affect populations hundreds of kilometres away and require mass evacuations.

    Mr. Grossi also warned against any attack on the Tehran Nuclear Research Reactor, which could endanger millions in the capital.

    “Nuclear facilities and material must not be shrouded by the fog of war,” he said. “We must maintain communication, transparency and restraint.”

    Pledge to stay

    Concluding his briefing, Mr. Grossi pledged that the IAEA would continue to monitor and report on nuclear safety conditions in Iran and reiterated his readiness to mediate.

    He stressed the agency “can guarantee, through a watertight inspections system,” that nuclear weapons will not be developed in Iran, urging dialogue.

    “The alternative is a protracted conflict – and a looming nuclear threat that would erode the global non-proliferation regime.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN reiterates call for urgent de-escalation amid Iran-Israel conflict, worsening Gaza crisis

    Source: United Nations 2

    In a joint call to de-escalate, UN agencies have warned that further conflict risks triggering new displacement in a region already strained by decades of war and instability.

    The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) noted military strikes have led people in both Iran and Israel to flee their homes in search of safety from tit-for-tat missile strikes.

    “Movements have been reported from Tehran and other parts of Iran, with some choosing to cross into neighbouring countries,” the agency stated. Meanwhile, “shelling has caused people in Israel to seek shelter elsewhere in the country and in some cases abroad.”

    “This region has already endured more than its share of war, loss, and displacement – we cannot allow another refugee crisis to take root,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “The time to de-escalate is right now. Once people are forced to flee, there’s no quick way back – and all too often, the consequences last for generations.”

    UNHCR urged countries in the region to respect the right to seek asylum and ensure humanitarian access to those affected, while calling on all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.

    Nuclear risks rise as Iran facilities hit

    The conflict escalated sharply following Israeli airstrikes on multiple Iranian nuclear-related sites in the past week, including a centrifuge manufacturing workshop in Esfahan, according to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

    “This is the third such facility that has been targeted over the past week,” Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi confirmed, noting that the facility had been under IAEA surveillance as part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the nuclear deal signed with Iran in 2015, which the United States pulled out of in 2017.

    “We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences,” he said. However, Mr. Grossi warned that continued strikes on nuclear infrastructure are severely undermining nuclear safety and security.

    “Though they have not so far led to a radiological release affecting the public, there is a danger this could occur.”

    The IAEA has been tracking damage to sites in Esfahan, Arak, Karaj, Natanz and Tehran since the Israeli military campaign against Iran began on 13 June.

     The agency has been providing regular updates to the UN Security Council, which has yet to reach consensus on a response. On Friday, ambassadors debating the escalation heard during an emergency meeting in New York UN Secretary-General António Guterres warn that if fighting escalated it could “ignite a fire no one can control.”

    Gaza in ruins, Palestinians face starvation

    The mounting regional crisis is unfolding against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, where humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate.

    On Saturday, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, painted a grim picture of life in the enclave during an address to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul.

    “In Gaza, two million people are being starved,” he said bluntly. “The newly created, so-called ‘aid mechanism’ is an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people. It is a death-trap, costing more lives than it saves.”

    Lazzarini described a territory devastated by nearly two years of conflict, with more than 55,000 reported dead by local authorities in the Strip – the majority of them women and children.

    Survivors, he said, “are shadows of their former selves; their lives forever changed by unspeakable trauma and profound loss.”

    In the occupied West Bank, displacement and destruction of public infrastructure are altering the demography of Palestinian camps, he added, in what he described as an effort to erase the prospect of a Palestinian State under the UN-backed two-State solution and strip Palestinians of refugee status.

    UNRWA in the crosshairs

    “UNRWA has become an objective of this war,” Mr. Lazzarini warned, citing the deaths of at least 318 of the agency’s staff in Gaza since the 7 October terror attacks on Israel by Hamas and other militants, the expulsion of international staff, and a campaign of disinformation aimed at crippling its funding.

    Despite these pressures, UNRWA continues to provide lifesaving services, including over 15,000 health consultations per day, waste management and shelter support.

    UNRWA’s financial situation is now “dire,” the agency chief said. “Without additional funding, I will soon have to take unprecedented decisions affecting our operations across the region.”

    He appealed to Member States to act urgently: “The sudden loss or reduction of UNRWA’s services will only deepen suffering and despair across the occupied Palestinian territory. It might spark unrest in the neighbouring countries. This is something that the region cannot afford, especially now.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN chief ‘gravely alarmed’ by US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites

    Source: United Nations 2

    “I am gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States against Iran today,” said the UN chief, reiterating that there is no military solution.

    “This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security.”

    President Donald Trump delivered a televised address to the nation from the White House at 10pm local time and said that Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan had been “totally obliterated” describing the long-range bombing raid as a “spectacular military success.”

    President Trump called on Iran’s leadership to now “make peace” and return to negotiations over its nuclear programme or suffer a far greater wave of attacks.

    Iranian authorities have yet to confirm the extent of the damage to the three sites in central Iran. Earlier in the day, Iran’s foreign minister reportedly warned the US against any involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict which erupted on 13 June.

    Deadly strikes

    At least 430 Iranians are believed to have been killed during waves of strikes since then with around 3,500 injured, according to figures from the Iranian health ministry.

    In Israel, 24 civilians have died in the retaliatory attacks according to local authorities with more than 400 missiles reportedly fired towards the country.

    B-2 bombers were involved in the US strikes, President Trump confirmed, dropping so-called “bunker buster” bombs on the uranium enrichment site at Fordow which is buried deep inside a mountain south of the capital Tehran.

    ‘Avoid a spiral of chaos’

    In his statement, the Secretary-General reiterated his concerns voiced in the Security Council during Friday’s emergency meeting on the crisis that the conflict “could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world.”

    He called on all Member States to de-escalate the situation which threatens the stability of the Middle East and beyond, calling for everyone to uphold their obligations under the UN Charter and international law.

    “At this perilous hour, it is critical to avoid a spiral of chaos,” he added calling for an immediate return to negotiations between the warring parties.

    “There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy. The only hope is peace.”

    The UN human rights chief Volker Turk echoed the UN chief’s statement on social media early on Sunday saying that it was now “of utmost importance for all parties to exercise the fullest restraint in order to avoid the untold human rights impacts of a widening conflict on civilians across the region.”

    UPDATE: No sign of radiation level increase beyond sites

    Meanwhile, the head of the UN’s atomic energy agency, IAEA, said in a statement on Sunday that there was no sign of any health-impacting radiation resulting from the US strikes beyond the three Iranian sites targeted, citing Iranian nuclear energy authorities.

    Director General Rafael Grossi noted that the sites had all contained enriched uranium verified by IAEA inspectors “to different levels” and confirmed that “radioactive and chemical contamination” may have occurred inside the facilities hit.

    Read our UN News explainer on the role and importance of the IAEA here.

    “In view of the increasingly serious situation in terms of nuclear safety and security, the Board of Governors will meet in an extraordinary session tomorrow, which I will address,” Mr. Grossi said.

    “As of this time, we don’t expect that there will be any health consequences for people or the environment outside the targeted sites,” he added. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites ‘marks perilous turn’: Diplomacy must prevail, says Guterres

    Source: United Nations 2

    After ten days of airstrikes initiated by Israel aimed at crippling Iran’s nuclear programme which have led to deadly daily exchanges of missile fire between Tehran and Tel Aviv, the UN chief said that diplomacy must now prevail.

    “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation,” he said, responding to the US intervention overnight in support of Israel’s military campaign, which targeted three facilities involved in uranium enrichment.

    Return to serious negotiations essential

    “We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear programme,” Mr. Guterres added.

    He told ambassadors the citizens of the wider Middle East region could not endure yet another cycle of destruction. Demanding a ceasefire, he also put Iran on notice that it must “fully respect” the Non-Proliferation Treaty on the development of nuclear weapons as a cornerstone of peace and security worldwide.

    Iran has consistently denied the allegation from Israel and others that its ambitions are to become a nuclear armed State, versus developing atomic energy for purely peaceful purposes.

    Israel, the US and Iran face a stark choice. “One path leads to a wider war,” the UN chief continued, “deeper human suffering and serious damage to the international order. The other leads to de-escalation, diplomacy and dialogue.”

    Grossi warns of major risks following strikes

    The head of the UN’s atomic energy watchdog, the IAEA, warned ambassadors the recent military strikes by Israel and now the US on nuclear sites in Iran have badly compromised safety and could pose serious risks if the situation worsens.

    International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said the attacks had caused “a sharp degradation in nuclear safety and security”, even though there had been no radiation leaks which could potentially impact the public so far.

    The IAEA chief warned ambassadors that if the short window of opportunity to return to dialogue closes then the destruction could be “unthinkable” while the global nuclear non-proliferation regime “as we know it could crumble and fall.”

    Mr. Grossi confirmed that Iran’s main enrichment facility at Natanz had suffered major damage, including to key power infrastructure and underground halls containing uranium materials.

    He said the main concern inside the site was now chemical contamination, which can be dangerous if inhaled or ingested.

    Massive radiation leak still possible

    He also listed damage at other nuclear-related sites across the country, including Esfahan, Arak and Tehran, adding that while radiation levels outside remained normal, the attacks had raised alarm over Iran’s operational nuclear plant at Bushehr.

    Mr. Grossi warned that any strike on Bushehr could trigger a massive radiation release across the region. “The risk is real,” he said. “Military escalation threatens lives and delays the diplomacy that’s needed to resolve this crisis.”

    He urged all sides to show restraint and said the IAEA stood ready to send experts back in to help monitor and protect damaged nuclear sites.

    Senior political affairs official: ‘No military solution’

    Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenča told ambassadors that the world is facing “a dangerous moment” following the US bombing mission, as Iran considers potential retaliation.

    UN Photo/ Evan Schneider

    He warned the council that the region risks being “engulfed in further instability and volatility”, with “no military solution to this conflict”.

    Mr. Jenča confirmed extensive damage at Iranian sites, citing open-source satellite imagery and Iranian reports that tunnels and buildings at the Fordow nuclear facility had been hit. He urged Tehran to grant IAEA inspectors access “as soon as safety conditions allow”.

    Death toll mounting

    Hostilities between Iran and Israel are now into their tenth day, and Mr. Jenča said the humanitarian toll is mounting. “Most [of the 430 killed in Iran] have been civilians,” he noted, while also citing Israeli reports of 25 dead and over 1,300 injured.

    He also flagged growing threats from non-State armed groups, including the Houthis in Yemen, warning that their retaliation could widen the conflict. Iran’s parliament, meanwhile, has voiced support for closing the crucial trading route through the narrow Strait of Hormuz.

    “The world will not be spared from the ramifications of this dangerous conflict,” Mr. Jenča said, urging countries to act in line with international law and the UN Charter.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Russia: Force Will Not Bring True Peace: Chinese Foreign Minister

    Translation. Region: Russian Federal

    Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    PARIS, July 5 (Xinhua) — War is not a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, and preemptive strikes obviously have no legitimacy, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said on Friday, stressing that force will not bring true peace.

    He made the statement here at a joint press conference with his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot.

    Asked about the situation in the Middle East, Wang Yi said the recent military conflict between Israel and Iran should not be repeated. He stressed that the abuse of military force will only lead to new conflicts and the accumulation of more hatred. The United States has set a bad precedent by openly attacking the nuclear facilities of a sovereign state, the Chinese diplomat added.

    He warned that if such actions lead to a nuclear catastrophe, the entire world would suffer the consequences. –0–

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN’s lifesaving programmes under threat as budget crisis hits hard

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Member States had paid just $1.8 billion towards the UN’s $3.7 billion regular budget for 2025, as of 9 May. Including unpaid contributions from previous years, total unpaid assessments stand at approximately $2.4 billion as of 30 April.

    The United States is the largest debtor at about $1.5 billion, as the Trump Administration is withholding funds to cut what it sees as unnecessary spending.

    Other major contributors with unpaid dues include China ($597 million), Russia ($72 million), Saudi Arabia ($42 million), Mexico ($38 million) and Venezuela ($38 million). An additional $137 million is yet to be paid by other Member States.

    The UN’s separate peacekeeping budget faces a similar crisis, with $2.7 billion in unpaid assessments as of 30 April.

    Amidst the fiscal challenges, Secretary-General António Guterres in March launched the UN80 initiative to improve efficiency, streamline operations and reduce costs – including a possible 20 per cent staff cut through eliminating duplication.

    Women, health, refugee support at risk

    The situation is equally concerning at UN agencies and programmes, which have their own budgets and funding channels.  

    The UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, for instance has warned that women and girls in crisis zones – such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Sudan and Afghanistan – are already suffering from shrinking support.

    Cuts have slashed the ability to hire midwives, supply essential medicines, deploy health teams, and provide safe spaces for survivors of sexual violence.

    In Mozambique, nearly 750,000 displaced persons and refugees are in urgent need of protection, but the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warns it may have to suspend essential services, including healthcare, education, and support for survivors of gender-based violence, with only one-third of its funding appeal met.

    HIV/AIDS programs are also at risk. In Tajikistan, UNAIDS Country Director Aziza Hamidova reports that 60 per cent of HIV programme support is in jeopardy. Community health centers have already closed, outreach has been cut, and access to PrEP testing and counseling has dropped sharply.

    Dwindling funds for crisis response

    The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) – which leads UN’s response to crisis – is raising alarms over the cascading impact of funding gaps.

    In Sudan, only 13 per cent of the $4.2 billion needed for 2025 has been received, forcing 250,000 children out of school. In the DRC, gender-based violence cases have surged 38 per cent, but programmes are shutting down. In Haiti, cholera response efforts risk collapse. Meanwhile, just 25 per cent of Ukraine’s 2025 humanitarian appeal has been funded, jeopardizing critical services.

    UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of OCHA, Tom Fletcher, has already announced staff cuts and scaling back of some country programmes.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN calls for ‘immediate and unconditional’ release of aid workers arbitrarily detained in Yemen

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    In a statement on Monday, António Guterres strongly condemned the death in detention of a World Food Programme (WFP) staff member earlier this year.

    The Houthis have yet to provide “an explanation for this deplorable tragedy,” António Guterres said, renewing his call for “an immediate, transparent and thorough investigation and accountability.”

    Profound injustice

    “The UN and its humanitarian partners should never be targeted, arrested or detained while carrying out their mandates for the benefit of the people they serve,” said the UN chief.

    These detentions have further constrained the UN’s ability to operate effectively in Yemen and have “undermined mediation efforts to secure a path toward peace,” he added.

    Safe and immediate release

    Marking the occasion of Eid Al-Adha this Friday, “a time to show compassion,” the Secretary-General urged the Houthis to “immediately release those arbitrarily detained” and “end the ordeal of families who face celebrating yet another holiday without their loved ones.”

    “I renew my call for their immediate and unconditional release, including those held since 2021 and 2023, and most recently this January,” Mr. Guterres said.

    “You are not forgotten,” he added, addressing the detained aid workers, assuring them that the UN will continue to work through all possible channels to secure their safe and immediate release.

    He also welcomed the support of international partners, NGOs and all those working to support the people of Yemen, urging Member States to express solidarity with those detained and “intensify advocacy towards their release.” 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Nations adopt historic pledge to guard against future pandemics

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    The effects of the devastating coronavirus“>COVID-19 pandemic are still being felt. Around seven million people died, health systems were overwhelmed, and the global economy was practically driven to a standstill.

    The global turmoil prompted a stunned international community to pursue an agreement aimed at preventing such a catastrophic event from happening again – and ensuring the world is far better prepared in the future.

    The landmark decision was made at the World Health Assembly, the annual meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO).

    Although the formal adoption was on Tuesday, the WHO’s Member States overwhelmingly approved the agreement on Monday (124 votes in favour, zero objections, 11 abstentions).

    This meant that, rather than a nail-biting vote with last-minute surprises (ahead of the conference, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, only felt able to express “cautious optimism”), the adoption by consensus had a celebratory feel.

    “The agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action,” declared Tedros. “It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats.

    “It is also a recognition by the international community that our citizens, societies and economies must not be left vulnerable to again suffer losses like those endured during COVID-19.”  

    WHO/Christopher Black

    WHO Member States approved the first-ever Pandemic Agreement on 19 May 2025

    ‘Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’

    The pandemic laid bare gross inequities between and within countries, when it came to diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines, and a core aim of the agreement is to plug gaps and treat any future pandemics in a fairer and more efficient way.

    “Now that the Agreement has been brought to life, we must all act with the same urgency to implement its critical elements, including systems to ensure equitable access to life-saving pandemic-related health products,” announced Dr. Teodoro Herbosa, Secretary of the Philippines Department of Health, and President of this year’s World Health Assembly, who presided over the Agreement’s adoption.

    “As COVID was a once-in-a-lifetime emergency, the WHO Pandemic Agreement offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build on lessons learned from that crisis and ensure people worldwide are better protected if a future pandemic emerges.”

    The issue of national sovereignty has been raised several times during the process of negotiating the accord, a reflection of false online claims that WHO is somehow attempting to wrest control away from individual countries.

    The accord is at pains to point out that this is not the case, stating that nothing contained within it gives WHO any authority to change or interfere with national laws, or force nations to take measures such as banning travellers, impose vaccinations or implement lockdowns.

    WHO/ Christopher Black

    WHO Member States approved the first-ever Pandemic Agreement on 19 May 2025

    11 abstentions and a US no-show

    11 countries abstained, including Poland, Israel, Italy, Russia, Slovakia and Iran. Following the vote, the abstaining countries were given the opportunity to explain why they took this decision.

    The Polish delegate explained that they could not support the treaty ahead of a domestic review, whilst Russia raised the issue of sovereignty as a concern. Iran’s representative said that “key concerns of developing countries were not addressed,” and that they regretted the “lack of binding commitments on unhindered access and equitable access to medical countermeasures, technology transfer and knowhow, and continued silence on negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on health systems.”

    During the high-level segment which preceded the vote, a notable intervention came from the United States which has begun the year-long process of withdrawing from the WHO, and did not take part in the vote.

    In a video addressed to the Assembly, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy excoriated the WHO, accusing the UN agency of having “doubled down with the Pandemic Agreement which will lock in all of the dysfunction of the WHO pandemic response…we’re not going to participate in that.”

    Next steps

    The adoption has been hailed as a groundbreaking step, but this is just the beginning of the process.

    The next step is putting the agreement into practice, by launching a process to draft and negotiate a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system (PABS) through an Intergovernmental Working Group.

    The result of this process will be considered at next year’s World Health Assembly.

    Once the Assembly adopts the PABS annex, the agreement will then be open for signature and consideration of ratification, including by national legislative bodies. After 60 ratifications, it will enter into force.

    Other provisions include a new financial mechanism for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, and the creation of a Global Supply Chain and Logistics Network to “enhance, facilitate, and work to remove barriers and ensure equitable, timely, rapid, safe, and affordable access to pandemic-related health products for countries in need during public health emergencies of international concern, including pandemic emergencies, and for prevention of such emergencies.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Public health champions honoured for work ‘beyond the call of normal duty’

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    But this is not universal. Many people worldwide struggle – unable to walk into clinics or explain their symptoms: “[These patients] do not line up on waiting lists. They wait, unknowingly, for inside understanding and the courage to seek care,” said Dr. Merete Nordentoft of Denmark, describing the patients with whom she has worked most closely.

    Dr. Nordentoft was one of six public health champions to receive an award on Friday for “outstanding, innovative work in health development”, at the 78th World Health Assembly.

    Each was honoured for their contributions to treating underserved communities and advancing the goal of healthcare for all.

    “We celebrate the lifelong commitment and the relentless work accomplished by our very own health professionals across member states from every region of the world with one common goal – health for all,” President Teodoro Herbosa who presided over the awards ceremony.

    Reaching vulnerable communities

    Dr. Nordentoft received the Sasakawa Health Prize for her work on suicide prevention and with young patients undergoing their first psychotic episode. She was the first to receive this prize for mental health work, and emphasized the importance of early interventions which prioritize community-based care.

    “With the right support, early enough, recovery is not only possible – it is likely,” Dr. Nordentoft said of her patients.

    Many of the other award recipients have also spent their careers focused on healthcare policies and treatments which foreground integrated, community-based care. 

    The principles for which Nelson Mandela fought urge us to pursue a policy of cooperation and partnership in sharing knowledge, science and resources – Dr. Majed Zemni

    Professor Huali Wang of China and the Geriatric Healthcare Directorate of Kuwait were both awarded the Sheikh Al-Sabah Prize which honours research and policy done to support and advance healthy ageing.

    Professor Wang was recognised in part for her work to integrate professional and family support networks for older adults with dementia. She dedicated her award to these families and everyone living with the complex illness.

    The Kuwaiti Directorate was also honoured for the way in which they promoted high-quality, integrated care for older adults which “[preserves] the dignity, the rights and [recognises] the invaluable experiences of older persons.”

    Dr. Jožica Maučec Zakotnik from Slovenia, who received the United Arab Emirates Foundation Prize, has also worked tirelessly to increase healthcare access and co-developed a new type of free-of-charge health care promotion centre scheme.

    “Growing up in a less developed region in Slovenia, I set myself a task that the most disadvantaged communities would be given greater attention,” she said.

    ‘Force quit button’

    Some of the awardees acknowledged that they were receiving these highly coveted awards during a time when global health is facing unprecedented challenges, specifically financial.

    The proposed budget before the 78th World Health Assembly has been reduced by over $1.1 billion due to currently projected funding cuts.

    “The global health world has just been hit with a ‘force quit’ button and we have been pushed to stop some of the things we really want to do,” said Dr. Helen Rees of South Africa, recipient of the Dr. Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize for her work in HIV prevention and community-based health services. 

    Dr. Majed Zemni of Tunisia received the Nelson Mandela Award for his patient-centred work in forensic medicine and in promoting the integration of medical ethics into policy. In his remarks, he noted the global civil rights icon’s legacy in also fighting for health policies.

    “The principles for which Nelson Mandela fought urge us to pursue a policy of cooperation and partnership in sharing knowledge, science and resources,” Dr. Zemni said. 

    Continuing the work 

    Dr. Rees also emphasized the importance of seizing this moment to reimagine global public health and uphold its sustainability.

    “What we need now is action. We need good science and evidence-based policies so we can address the needs of all people, including the most vulnerable,” she said.

    Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, also urged all of the recipients to continue their work towards a healthier and fairer world.

    “At a time when the world faces many challenges, each of you is an inspiration and a reminder of the progress that can be made to improve health and well-being for all.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Sudan conflict triggers regional health crisis, warns WHO

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    “The ongoing conflict and displacement, in addition to fragile health infrastructure and limited access to affected populations, pose a risk of mass disease transmission,” the UN health agency said in a report issued Tuesday, urging immediate support to sustain surveillance, bolster outbreak response and preserve lifesaving health services.

    Since civil war erupted in April 2023, 14.5 million people have been displaced – 10.5 million internally and four million to neighbouring countries such as Egypt, South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, Libya and the Central African Republic – making this the world’s largest displacement crisis.

    Inside Sudan, conflict has devastated infrastructure and triggered the breakdown of essential services and infrastructure, fuelling the spread of cholera, measles and other communicable diseases.

    At Tuesday’s press briefing in New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric reported that with fighting and shelling intensifying across the country “the cholera outbreak in Khartoum state is worsening at an alarming rate,” with cases rising by 80 per cent over the past two weeks.

    Mr. Dujarric called for “increased, flexible and timely funding to scale-up the humanitarian response, as well as unimpeded access via all necessary routes, so that aid workers can reach people in need wherever they may be.”

    Disease and displacement

    The impact extends well beyond Sudan’s borders. As of 7 May, Egypt has received 1.5 million Sudanese refugees during the two years of fighting. 

    The country has expanded healthcare coverage, but Sudanese face higher costs under the Universal Health Insurance system. WHO Egypt is working with national authorities to strengthen health services and reach the most vulnerable.

    However, as Sudanese refugees arrive at overcrowded refugee camps across the region, the situation is far grimmer.

    © UNHCR/Caitlin Kelly

    Chad. Rapid Influx of Sudanese refugees leaves thousands in desperate need

    In Chad, where over 726,000 have arrived in four crisis-affected eastern provinces already overwhelmed with other refugees, health needs are urgent.

    Refugees face outbreaks of malaria, measles, hepatitis E and severe acute malnutrition. There have been 657,135 cases of malaria alone and 314 deaths across the country this year.

    South Sudan has received over 1.5 million people, including 352,000 Sudanese. But conflict and attacks on health facilities in the host country have severely hindered response efforts and exacerbated disease.

    Hunger and cholera are especially concerning, with 7.7 million people facing severe food insecurity, and more than 54,800 cholera cases and 1,000 deaths since late September.

    Ongoing WHO support

    Despite the growing funding crisis and severe operational challenges, WHO and its partners continue providing support.

    These include support for 136 nutrition stabilisation centres, delivery of medical supplies and consultations, cholera treatment sites, and efforts to rebuild damaged health infrastructure.

    The agency has called for sustained support to prevent the worsening of what is already one of the gravest humanitarian and public health emergencies in the world today.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: In Baghdad, Guterres affirms UN will never forget staff killed in Canal Hotel attack

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    António Guterres was speaking during a wreath-laying ceremony at a memorial in Baghdad to honour the victims of the 19 August 2003 Canal Hotel bombing – the worst terrorist attack in UN history.

    Twenty-two people were killed, including the then UN Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.  More than 100 others were injured, and several survivors attended the ceremony.

    Families still mourning

    Mr. Guterres told the audience that “22 years is a long time, but we will never forget the colleagues who were killed that day in the bombing at the Canal Hotel.”

    These staff members “were sons, daughters, mothers, fathers and friends who are, to this day, mourned by those they knew and loved,” he said.

    “We will always remember their leader, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was also killed in the attack. We will stand with the survivors whose lives were changed forever,” he added.

    “And we will remember the courageous colleagues and others who rushed to help on that terrible day, and in the days and weeks after — showing us the very best of the humanitarian spirit.”

    A tribute and reminder

    Mr. Guterres said the memorial stands as a tribute to their lives and their contributions to the people of Iraq.  It also serves as a reminder of how far the country has come since 2003.

    He noted that the women and men of the United Nations have worked tirelessly together with the brave and resilient people of Iraq to support their quest for stability, development and peace.

    He stressed that above all, the memorial is “a clear reminder of the vital work that our organization does around the world — and the dangers our people face in carrying out that work.”

    Remembering humanitarians worldwide

    Five years after the attack the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 19 August as World Humanitarian Day.

    This date “has been forever transformed from a day of unimaginable horror and tragedy here in Iraq into a global day of solemn remembrance for all humanitarians — inside and outside the organization,” Mr. Guterres said.

    “Their bravery, dedication, and belief that a better future is possible will always inspire us. And like those whose lives were lost on 19 August 2003, their sacrifices and contributions to our world — and to our vital cause of peace — will never be forgotten.”

    The UN Secretary-General meets with H.E. Mr. Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq.

    Meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister

    The Secretary-General was in Baghdad to attend the League of Arab States Summit, held on Saturday.  He also met with senior Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani.

    During talks on Sunday, they discussed developments in Iraq and the region, as well as the remaining period of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

    The Secretary-General reaffirmed that the UN remains fully committed to continuing to support the Government and people of Iraq following the Mission’s departure.

    UNAMI has been in the country since 2003 and is working to conclude its mandate by the end of the year.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: ‘We are at a point of no return’: Grave violations against children surge for third year

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    This number represents a 25 per cent increase from 2023, marking the third consecutive year that violations have increased. 22,495 violations were committed against children themselves while the remaining targeted infrastructure such as schools and humanitarian aid intended for and used by children.

    “The cries of 22,495 innocent children who should be learning to read or play ball — but instead have been forced to learn how to survive gunfire and bombings — should keep all of us awake at night,” said the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba.

    The report only details violations which could be independently verified by the United Nations, meaning the actual number of grave violations and children affected are likely much higher.

    ‘Children should not be a casualty of war’

    The report attributed the increase to indiscriminate attacks — especially urban warfare — in addition to disregard for peace agreements and deepening humanitarian crises worldwide.

    “Children living amidst hostilities are being stripped of their childhood … When we allow this to happen, we are not just failing to protect children – we are taking away their chance to grow up safe, to go to school, and to live a life with dignity and hope,” Ms. Gamba said.

    In addition to the broader increase, the number of children subjected to multiple grave violations increased by 17 per cent.

    The highest number of violations, 8,554, occurred in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories – more than double the number in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which followed.

    Governments ‘blatantly’ ignore international law

    The report noted that while non-State actors played an out-sized role in violations against individual children, government actors were the main forces responsible for killing and maiming children, attacking schools and hospitals, and denying humanitarian access.

    “Instead of recognizing the special protection afforded to children, governments and armed groups around the world blatantly ignore international law that defines a child as anyone under 18,” Ms. Gamba said.

    The report listed eight countries whose government forces violated international law and committed grave violations against children — the DRC, Israel, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Russia.

    ‘A wake-up call’

    In 2024, 16,482 children formerly associated with armed forces or groups received protection or reintegration support, but numbers of violations against children still remain staggeringly high.

    The Secretary-General called on all Member States to adhere to their obligations under international law by upholding the rights and special protections of children while also expanding services to treat children who are victims of conflict.

    Ms. Gamba reiterated this call, saying that the increase in grave violations should be a “wake-up call” and reminding the international community that indifference to such violations will not bring peace.

    “We face a choice that defines who we are: to care, or to turn away …  We all share the duty to act—with urgency, with determination—to bring this suffering to an end. Not tomorrow. Not someday. Today,” she concluded. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: MIDDLE EAST CRISIS LIVE: ‘Give peace a chance’ UN chief urges Israel and Iran

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    One week since the Israel-Iran conflict erupted, diplomatic efforts to end the war are ramping up in Geneva as foreign ministers from France, Germany, the UK and the EU prepare to meet their Iranian counterpart. In New York, meanwhile, the UN Security Council heard the UN Secretary-General warn ambassadors that “we are on course to chaos” if the war widens “which could ignite a fire that no one can can control.” UN News app users can follow here.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Gaza horrors continue as the weakest succumb to injuries and disease

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    “I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza – I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. “That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”

    A recent online video featuring a dying 13-year-old Abed al-Rahman who Mr. Elder met while on mission in Gaza has been seen thousands of times since it was published on 6 June. In the clip, Abed explains that he has been asking for pain relief for his shrapnel wounds, but none is available.

    Speaking to journalists from Amman, Mr. Elder explained that partly destroyed hospitals including Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis continue to treat wounded children, despite a shortage of medicine and medical supplies.

    “Humanitarian aid is so much more than food in a box; it’s oxygen kits, it’s ventilators, it’s hygiene packs; it’s medicines, it’s incubators,” he explained. “It’s all those things the United Nations was doing just a couple of months ago.”

    Mr. Elder added that parents whose children need oxygen have been leaving hospital “because of the fear that Nasser may come under attack again. As the doctors told me, if you have a child who needs oxygen and they leave without the oxygen, they will, over a matter of time, die in a tent.”

    Desperation, starvation

    The dire shortage of the most basic life-sustaining aid linked to Israeli restrictions continues to create desperation and starvation across Gaza.

    “I spoke to a grandmother in tears saying, how am I possibly to get to these sites?” Mr. Elder explained. “I’ve met young men who’ve been seven times and never returned with anything. So, there’s a complete lack of equity. There’s a complete lack of sites. You cannot distribute aid in a militarised zone, in a combat zone, by one party to the conflict.”

    Those most susceptible to the lack of fresh drinking water, food and fuel are the weakest Gazans: the young, pregnant women, the elderly and amputees, Mr. Elder said. 

    It would be impossible for them to walk the long distances required to fetch scant supplies from controversial non-UN aid hubs.

    Lethal choice

    “You have half a million people facing starvation with a lethal choice of being forced into very small pockets where most people can’t access into what are officially known as combat sites,” the UNICEF spokesperson explained. “We know children [who have been] killed at these sites.”

    Meanwhile, malnutrition and the impact of it on people’s weakened immune systems continues to take its toll, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned.

    “The latest reports say 610 patients have been admitted due to severe malnutrition complications,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier. “But what does that mean? That means these are the lucky ones who made it so far to get to a place. 

    “This does not count the many who were too weak to reach any point, who are too weak, who cannot be transported because the roads are blocked, because there are no ambulances, or because the hospitals, some of the health emergency centres have been shelled and bombed and are being constantly shelled and bombed.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Human Rights Council hears concerns over displacement, genocide risks and migrant trafficking

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Of the record 83 million people internally displaced worldwide, at least 1.2 million were displaced by crime-related violence in 2024 – more than double the 2023 figure – amid a global decline in support for international norms, human rights and the rule of law.

    The growing reach of organised crime in driving displacement and rights violations was the focus of a report delivered Monday morning by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Paula Gaviria Betancur.

    Driving displacement

    As violent conflicts worsen globally, displacement is increasingly driven by the threat of violence or the desire of criminal groups to control territory, resources and illicit economies.

    Additionally, in places like Sudan, Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), occupying powers and criminal groups are systematically uprooting communities to alter demographics, treating IDPs as military targets.

    “Displacement is no longer just a consequence of conflict – it is increasingly its deliberate objective,” Ms. Betancur warned.

    In these regions, either the State enables impunity for violent groups or national security operations worsen the crisis by punishing victims and fuelling further displacement, eroding state legitimacy.

    IDPs in these contexts “face grave violations of their human rights,” including “murder, violent assault, kidnapping, forced labour, child recruitment and sexual exploitation,” she said.

    “The rise in global displacement is the result of systemic failure – the failure of States and the international community to tackle its root causes,” Ms. Betancur concluded, calling for stronger support for the UN and accountability for criminal groups.

    Genocide risks in conflict areas

    Virginia Gamba, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, briefed the council on escalating risks in Sudan, Gaza, the DRC and beyond during Monday’s session.

    In Sudan, where over 10.5 million have been displaced since fighting erupted in April 2023, both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are committing grave rights violations.

    Ethnically motivated attacks by the RSF in certain regions mean “the risk of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan remains very high,” Ms. Gamba underscored.

    Turning to Gaza, she called the scale of civilian suffering and destruction “staggering and unacceptable,” noting the conflict has also fuelled rising antisemitism and Islamophobia worldwide.

    Hate speech fuelling violence

    As attacks on civilians and ethnic violence continue in the DRC, hate speech and discrimination have surged.

    But this surge is also occurring worldwide, further exacerbating the risk of genocide.

    “Hate speech – which has been a precursor for genocide in the past – is present in far too many situations, often targeting the most vulnerable,” said Ms. Gamba, highlighting refugees, Indigenous peoples and religious minorities.

    For genocide prevention, she urged greater efforts to monitor hate speech, expand education efforts, and strengthen partnerships with regional organizations.

    “The task of preventing genocide remains critical and urgent—the moment to act is now,” she stressed.

    Trafficking of migrant domestic workers

    Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, Siobhán Mullally, presented her report on the trafficking risks faced by migrant domestic workers.

    “The specific nature of domestic work, and weak regulatory responses by States, produce a structural vulnerability to exploitation,” Ms. Mullally said.

    The crisis disproportionately affects women, as they make up the majority of domestic workers and 61 per cent of trafficking victims detected globally in 2022.

    Conditions of domestic work

    Many women from disadvantaged communities are promised jobs abroad, but upon arrival, realise they have been conned. They endure violence, labour abuses and sexual exploitation but are unable to pay the exorbitant penalty for terminating their work contracts.

    Ms. Mullally cited the legacy of slavery, gendered and racialised views of domestic work and intersecting discrimination as key factors behind poor conditions and trafficking risks.

    Most States lack the political will to enforce labour laws in the domestic work sector, reinforcing this crisis, she said, calling for stronger labour laws, safe migration pathways, bilateral agreements grounded in human rights and an end to the criminalisation of trafficking victims.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –