UNITED NATIONS & NAIROBI, Feb 06 (IPS) - It is a race against time to form a new global partnership to secure a better future for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable nations by 2030 in line with the UN’s SDGs. All 46 countries classified as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are pressed for time in a bid to deliver critical development goals.

Roughly one million Tibetan minority children in China have been separated from their families and placed into Government-run boarding schools, forcing their assimilation into the dominant culture, three independent UN human rights experts said on Monday. 

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday called on Malian authorities to rescind their expulsion order for his top representative in the country.

Addressing the opening of the Commission for Social Development’s latest session, the president of the UN Economic and Social Council on Monday said it was imperative to put people first, if the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to be realized by the 2030 deadline.

Time is running out as the world inches closer to meltdown and countries must change course before it is too late, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Monday, presenting his priorities for the year. 

The UN’s humanitarian affairs chief warned the Security Council on Monday that efforts must improve to reach nearly 18 million in need in war-torn Ukraine, since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year.

Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM, is an “abhorrent violation of fundamental human rights” said the UN Secretary-General on Monday, marking the International Day of Zero Tolerance against the scourge, which remains a threat for a staggering 4.2 million girls this year.

After a massive earthquake hit southern Türkiye and northern Syria in the early hours of Monday, prompting fears of a humanitarian crisis, UN aid agencies have scrambled to help many thousands of reported victims, including those still believed to be buried under the rubble. The initial 7.8 magnitude quake struck close to Gaziantep, followed by another 7.5 magnitude earthquake several hours later. 

A UN peacekeeper was killed on Sunday in the restive eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after the helicopter he was travelling in came under fire after taking off from the city of Beni.

A UN-supported refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who was left for dead after being attacked by armed men, has baked his way back to a new life off the breadline, in Burundi.