News headlines in 2024, page 78

The critical funding gap for mine action in Ukraine, estimated at over $34 billion, holds “tremendous potential” for the nation when connected with sustainability efforts, say the authors of a new demining report released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday.

Nearly six and a half million people in southern Africa are starving because of an “historic drought” linked to last year’s El Niño, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Human rights abuses have increased in the past year in Venezuela, a report by the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the country shows, citing arbitrary detentions, torture and violence against children.

Yemen is at risk of being dragged further into the rising conflict in the Middle East, UN Special Envoy for the country Hans Grundberg warned the Security Council on Tuesday.

With no let-up to the ongoing Israel-Lebanon conflict, the UN human rights office on Tuesday called for an independent probe into an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment block in northern Lebanon a day earlier that left a reported 22 dead.

A UN Women report reveals that policies ranging from cash benefits to healthcare and pensions are not being extended to enough women and girls, leaving them more vulnerable to poverty worldwide.

Oct 15 (IPS) - CIVICUS discusses Afghanistan's system of gender apartheid with Shaharzad Akbar, Executive Director of Rawadari, a human rights organisation founded by Afghans in exile.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 15 (IPS) - As Israel continues its siege on the southern borders of Lebanon, concerns among humanitarian organizations grow as the frequency of attacks rise. Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health reports that approximately 2,169 people have been killed and over 10,212 have been injured in the past year. Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Imran Riza, has described this conflict as one of the deadliest in recent memory.

NEW YORK, Oct 15 (IPS) - The right to abortion is a human rights issue that no government agency, courts, local and state legislators, or anyone else has the right to violate or impede in any shape or form. It is a fundamental right that every woman must be free to exercise with impunity, in consultation with her doctor only, who acts based on his/her professional ethics and responsibility.

BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct 15 (IPS) - Information manipulation and misinformation are not new phenomena, but they have taken on exaggerated importance, especially with the massive use of social media.