News headlines in 2023, page 150

Women and girls are primarily responsible for water collection in seven out of 10 households that lack supply, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a new report published on Thursday.

The Myanmar regime’s brutal violence against civilians and its denial of life-saving humanitarian aid, reflect “utter contempt for humanity”, UN rights chief Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council on Thursday.

The development of artificial intelligence, or AI, “for the good of all” requires guardrails grounded in human rights, transparency and accountability, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday.

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jul 05 (IPS) - When Guatemalans went to the polls on 25 June, distrust and disillusionment were rife. First place in the presidential contest was claimed by none of the candidates: it went to invalid votes, at 17 per cent. Many didn’t bother, resulting in an abstention rate over 40 per cent.

DORDRECHT, NETHERLANDS, Jul 05 (IPS) - They have high-paying jobs, a high standard of living, and almost everything they need, but for Zimbabweans abroad, all that glitters is not gold.

DUBLIN, Ireland, Jul 05 (IPS) - In recent years, the global landscape for human rights defenders (HRDs) has become more difficult and complex, with both new and heightened challenges. With hundreds of defenders killed every year, the scale and magnitude of threats faced by HRDs is unprecedented.

The UN’s top humanitarian officials on Wednesday voiced shock and condemnation over increasing reports of gender-based violence in Sudan as the military power struggle there continues.

Funding constraints mean that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to limit emergency aid to only 6.2 million of the most vulnerable people in need across West Africa, scaling back from an initial target of assisting 11.6 million, the agency announced on Wednesday.

The UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect launched a new policy paper on Wednesday aimed at countering and addressing hate speech online.

Iran faced calls on Wednesday from top UN-appointed rights investigators to halt the executions of people sentenced to death in connection with anti-Government demonstrations that have continued since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini last September.