Mexico: Boom in organised crime making femicide invisible, local activist says

Local activist Norma Andrade, who was recently at the UN Office in Geneva to raise awareness about femicide, knows the issue first-hand. Her own daughter, Lilia Alejandra, was murdered in that same city in 2001. “As my granddaughter would sum it up: we are worth a peanut – which in other words means that a woman […]

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More than 5,600 killed in Haiti gang violence in 2024

These deaths represent an increase of over 1,000 on the total killings for 2023, according to figures verified by OHCHR.  A further 2,212 people were injured and 1,494 kidnapped. “These figures alone cannot capture the absolute horrors being perpetrated in Haiti but they show the unremitting violence to which people are being subjected,” said the […]

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General Assembly approves $3.72 billion UN budget for 2025

The approved $3.72 billion regular budget (RB) for 2025 represents an increase of about $1 million over the Secretary-General’s October proposal to the Assembly’s Fifth Committee, which oversees administrative and budgetary matters. It also includes technical adjustments following the adoption of other resolutions and decisions by UN intergovernmental bodies since the proposed budget was submitted. […]

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Ukraine in grip of third winter of escalating Russian attacks

In a scheduled update mandated by the Council in Geneva, Nada Al-Nashif said that these attacks had led to the deaths of 574 civilians – an increase of 30 per cent over the previous year. She noted that Russian bombardment had also damaged key infrastructure such as water, heating and transport services, with several major […]

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Israel attacks push Gaza healthcare ‘to brink of collapse’

A report published by the Office documents attacks carried out between 12 October 2023 and 30 June 2024, raises serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law. Medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit – or are not used to commit, outside their humanitarian function – acts harmful […]

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$1.4 billion needed for sexual and reproductive health services in crisis-hit countries

The funding will be used to deliver life-saving reproductive health services and vital gender-based violence prevention programmes to more than 45 million people. The appeal comes as an estimated 11 million pregnant women will require urgent support in 2025. Record displacement and devastation UNFPA recalled that global crises displaced a record 122.6 million people this year.  […]

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Rights experts call for immediate release of Abu Zubaydah from Guantánamo

On Monday the United States military sent 11 long-term detainees from the facility to Oman after reaching agreement with the Government there on relocation and resettlement.  Only 15 detainees now remain, according to news reports. The prison opened in 2002 and at its peak it held more than 600 prisoners overseen by over 2,000 military […]

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In New Year’s Message, Guterres urges countries to drastically slash emissions and ‘exit this road to ruin’

Reflecting on 2024, he stated that “hope has been hard to find”, with wars causing enormous pain, suffering and displacement, and inequalities and divisions fuelling tensions and mistrust. “And today I can officially report that we have just endured a decade of deadly heat,” he said. ‘No time to lose’ The Secretary-General noted that the […]

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Resilience of Ukrainians remains high, as UN maps aid and reconstruction needs for 2025

It has been almost three years since the 24 February 2022 full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has killed thousands of civilians and destroyed vital infrastructure, putting the economy under enormous strain. The UN has recorded more than 28,000 civilian casualties and over 10,000 deaths, but acknowledges that the actual toll is very likely to […]

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Syria: UN teams support cholera vaccination in northeastern camps

The cholera outbreak was detected in the camp in early October and subsequently confirmed by laboratory tests. Because Al Hol does not have a specialist treatment centre for acute watery diarrhoea, it is crucial that as many people are vaccinated as quickly as possible, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, insists.  “For the first time we […]

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