Sudan’s continuing military showdown has had “massive humanitarian consequences” including allegations that some fighters from the powerful and long-standing RSF militia have been using rape systematically to terrorise communities they control, said a group of independent human rights experts on Thursday.

Continuing ‘severe, widespread and long-standing” violations against citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) by their own Government, must not be viewed in isolation from wider peace and security issues on the Peninsula, said the UN human rights chief on Thursday.

The first global Traditional Medicine Summit convened by UN health agency WHO, got underway this week in the Indian city of Gandhinagar focused on sharing evidence and best practices in this field.

Conflict and insecurity in countries such as South Sudan and its neighbour to the north are set to make 2023 another year of high death tolls and and injuries for aid workers in the field, the UN warned on Thursday.

The widow of a UN staff member who died in the terrorist attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq has been describing how “a piece of me also died on that tragic day.”

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Aug 16 (IPS) - When representatives from dozens of countries gathered recently at the UN High Level Political Forum in New York to share progress on their efforts to achieve the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this disturbing reality was clear: the world is not even close to meeting the goals by 2030 as intended.

NAIROBI, Aug 16 (IPS) - Kenya’s fight for food security may have just gone ‘Old School’ as Egerton University dons win a grant to help bring back a pre-colonial delicacy that was gradually sliding its way off consumers’ plates.

BERLIN, Aug 16 (IPS) - Reintegration assistance for migrants returning to their countries of origin is becoming increasingly salient. Germany and the EU cooperate closely with countries of origin to support local reintegration.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug 16 (IPS) - The World Bank plans to use public funds to subsidize private finance, ostensibly to mobilize much more capital to address the climate crisis. But the new plan is likely to be a distraction, not the solution it purports to be. Rich nations have contributed most to the current climate crisis. They are primarily responsible for the historical emissions and greenhouse gas (GHG) accumulation of the last two centuries.

There must be “rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for all civilians in need” via the Lachin Corridor, the UN Security Council heard on Wednesday.