News headlines in 2023, page 162

Refugees deserve support and solidarity, not closed borders and pushbacks. That’s a reminder from UN chief António Guterres on Tuesday’s World Refugee Day, regarding the international community’s duty to assist and protect refugees.

UN humanitarians issued an urgent appeal on Tuesday to help millions of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where chronic violence and displacement continue to fuel a dramatic hunger crisis.

At a home in the British countryside, two retired UN staff members have hosted a Ukrainian mother and son for more than a year. Ahead of World Refugee Day, the housemates shared their stories and the impact the experience has had on their lives.

BULAWAYO, Jun 19 (IPS) - Vulnerable countries, banking on robust climate negotiations, want an inclusive funding package to help them with the devastating impacts of climate change.

MADRID, Jun 19 (IPS) - Make no mistake: European States are complicit in the death of thousands and thousands of human beings on their shores, land borders and at home. The massive drowning of hundreds of migrants close to Greece shores on 14 June is just a new chapter in Europe's long series of continued violations of all international human rights laws.

ROME, Jun 19 (IPS) - A new catastrophe in the Mediterranean, this time off the coast of Greece. The number of drowned still to be determined — barely 100 survivors speak of more than 700 passengers on board— will be added to almost 30,000 lost at sea since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migrations.

NAIROBI, Jun 19 (IPS) - In 1974, Yohei Sasakawa accompanied his father to a leprosy hospital he had funded. He saw leprosy patients inside the hospital still and expressionless. The smell of leprosy filled the air, the smell of pus from open sores.

Libyan political leaders who are being encouraged to set aside their differences for the sake of a new democratic future, must put the interests of the people “above all else”, said the UN’s Special Representative for the country on Monday.

With terrorism posing a complex, constantly evolving and multi-faceted threat, law-enforcement agencies gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday in search of a comprehensive, inclusive, and effective multilateral response.

Twenty-two percent of households in Ukraine are spending over a quarter of their monthly income on healthcare, according to a report issued on Monday by 12 UN agencies in the country.