News headlines in 2023, page 67

Following reports of continued fighting between government troops and local militias in Ethiopia, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide is sounding the alarm about the heightened risk of genocide and related atrocity crimes in the Tigray, Amhara, Afar and Oromi regions.

Banning new mercury mines is among milestones achieved under the Minamata Convention, which is now 10 years old.

The top UN humanitarian official on Tuesday called for an end to the escalating violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, warning that “the whole region is at a tipping point.”

The United Nations has been working in the Middle East region around the clock to de-escalate the Israeli-Palestinian crisis by engaging key actors and providing emergency assistance to civilians on the ground.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Government of Haiti are appealing for $21 million to ensure better protection and shelter conditions for tens of thousands of newly displaced people in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

The UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected 15 new countries to serve on the Human Rights Council, with Peru and Russia failing to secure a seat.

Nearly 500 people are still missing from the worst-affected area of a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that rocked Herat province in western Afghanistan on Saturday, UN aid coordinators said on Tuesday.

In Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, all parties must stop targeting civilians and Hamas and other armed groups must immediately release their hostages, UN rights chief Volker Türk said on Tuesday.

Teen pregnancy rates have been falling dramatically in Thailand thanks to progressive legislation, but more can be done to drive it lower if the rights of girls and young women are respected, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

QUITO, Oct 09 (IPS) - The decision reached by Ecuadorians to put an end to oil production in Yasuní National Park, in a popular referendum in August, was a triumph for civil society and a global milestone in environmental democracy. But when it comes to implementation, the result is less promising.