UN News - Global perspective Human stories

• Shock and devastation remain, a day after Himalayan flood disaster
  Amid reports that hundreds of people are still missing in Nepal and China after a floodwater surge slammed into towns and villages on Wednesday, aid teams have been working to reach communities cut off by the disaster.
• Land models sprout as degradation threatens billions of livelihoods
  Promising efforts to restore degraded land are now in the spotlight at a time when 40 per cent of the world’s land currently faces degradation and drought, threatening the livelihoods of over three billion people, the head of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) said Wednesday, announcing three winners of its World Restoration Flagships awards.
• Red Sea nations step up maritime cooperation as regional threats grow
  From piracy and migrant smuggling to disruptions affecting global shipping routes, countries bordering one of the world’s busiest waterways are seeking closer cooperation to stay ahead of fast-evolving maritime threats.
• Explainer: UN peace operations work to create, preserve peace
  Supporting the first democratic elections after brutal civil wars in Mozambique and Cambodia. Disarming thousands of child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Helping to secure Namibia’s independence from South Africa. These are some of the contributions of UN operations around the world to help countries transition from conflict to lasting peace.
• Deadly floods cause widespread destruction in China, Nepal
  Severe flooding in the Tibet autonomous region of China and Nepal caused widespread destruction and mounting death tolls, UN agencies reported on Wednesday as aid efforts deployed to help provide emergency assistance.
• More health workers, stronger systems: Africa’s new ambitious goal
  Facing a projected shortage of more than six million health professionals by 2035, African countries are stepping up efforts to strengthen their workforce, with a new decade-long plan announced on Wednesday during a meeting of health ministers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• Security Council LIVE: Rising tensions in Gaza, West Bank
  Amid illegal Israeli settlement surges, continued attacks in Gaza and the West Bank alongside tensions throughout Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Security Council discussed the latest developments on Wednesday, with the UN Special Envoy stressing that “human dignity must be at the centre of all efforts” to overcome the current fragile ceasefire and continued suffering. UN News app users can follow here.
• Haiti ramps up the fight against gangs in the capital, but violence spreads elsewhere
  The killings in Kenscoff began late Sunday, when armed men descended on the farming community in the hills overlooking Haiti’s capital, setting homes ablaze and attacking residents. By Monday, bodies lay in the streets and survivors were searching for missing relatives.
• One million children in Afghanistan face deadly malnutrition
  Some 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are suffering from wasting, one of the most dangerous forms of malnutrition, with around one million currently battling the most severe, life-threatening form of the condition.
• As wars spread, the global food system unravels
  A family with four children abandoned its farm in Somalia after armed groups arrived and demanded payments for the right to continue cultivating the land. They walked roughly 100 kilometers to a displacement camp. One of the children died along the way.
• Rohingyas in Myanmar suffering ‘heartbreaking’ misery and cruelty
  Members of the minority ethnic Rohingya Muslim group in Myanmar are “suffering, misery, and cruelty on multiple levels and across the country that is heartbreaking,” according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• Land degradation is costing far more than restoring: UN deputy chief
  Countries are spending too little to restore degraded land even as the economic cost of doing nothing climbs towards $1 trillion a year, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed warned at a major UN land conference in Mongolia. 
• Japan’s ‘2050 Weather Forecast’ highlights extreme heat in the future
  As extreme heat becomes an increasingly visible reality across Japan, meteorologists, scientists, businesses and professional footballers are joining forces to encourage stronger climate action and raise awareness of the risks posed by global warming.
• UN chief, Red Cross renew call for rules on lethal autonomous weapons
  Amid unconfirmed reports that fully autonomous and AI-guided drones are now being used on the battlefield, UN chief António Guterres and the President of the Red Cross on Tuesday renewed their urgent call for stricter global controls, before it is too late.
• Can restoring land create jobs? These young entrepreneurs are proving it
  From Ecuador to Bangladesh, a new generation of entrepreneurs is turning land restoration into economic opportunity. Whether repurposing agricultural waste, building greenhouses or deploying AI-powered sensors, they are showing, with support from a United Nations-backed initiative, that restoring land can also generate income and improve livelihoods.
• 100 days of Ebola and the race to stop the spread
  A hundred days after the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak was declared, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is facing an epidemic of an unprecedented scale and efforts must grow to contain the spread in the eastern region and across borders, UN agencies warned on Monday.
• Gaza: Children still at risk despite drop in acute hunger
  Among tent cities pitched on the rubble of destroyed homes in Gaza, children are, by one measure, finally getting enough to eat. By another, however, many of them may never fully recover, according to a new study by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released on Monday.
• Two UN peacekeepers killed in South Sudan ambush
  Two UN peacekeepers have been killed and a total of seven people injured after unidentified gunmen ambushed a patrol in South Sudan’s eastern Jonglei state on Monday.
• Security Council LIVE: Civilian suffering grows in Russia-Ukraine war
  As spiralling drone and missile attacks on civilians in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war continue, top UN officials told the Security Council on Monday that every diplomatic effort must work towards a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire. UN News app users can follow our live coverage here.
• Global food supply has become ‘collateral damage’ in conflicts: Secretary-General
  The disruption of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, Black Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait has worsened hunger crises and must immediately end, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.
• Security Council LIVE: War, hunger, flooding escalates in Sudan
  Suffering in Sudan continues to grow in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis amid brutal mass killings, abductions and rape, top UN officials warned the Security Council on Monday, calling for action to end the four-year-long war. UN News app users can follow our coverage here.
• Sudan war: $22 million education boost to help 200,000 children
  For millions of children in Sudan, the classroom remains out of reach as the country’s civil war continues to disrupt their education. To help tackle this huge problem, the UN global education fund on Monday announced a $22 million initiative to help 200,000 youngsters return to learning.
• Breaking the silence over sexual violence against men and boys in war
  Conflicts can expose civilians and detainees to grave abuses; the challenge is not only to document these crimes, but also to ensure all survivors are recognised, protected and able to access justice and care.
• AI for Good: How the UN uses AI to advance human rights
  For Ari, a six-year-old boy with learning difficulties in Jamaica, artificial intelligence (AI) opened the door to something many children take for granted: reading a book in his own language. Thousands of miles away, gold miners in Ethiopia are being screened more quickly for tuberculosis, while communities around the world are breathing cleaner air thanks to faster detection of methane leaks.
• New initiative launched to shield terrorism victims from online harm
  The UN has launched a new initiative to protect victims of terrorist attacks from online harm and re-traumatisation, drawing on harrowing survivor accounts, from the Nova Music Festival in Israel to an attack on a FIFA World Cup final viewing party in Uganda.