United Nations - The African Mirror

Sep

13

2024

UN probe unveils shocking sexual abuse in deadly Congo prison break

NEWS

A United Nations investigation has revealed a horrifying scale of sexual violence during one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's largest prison breaks, which also resulted in 139 deaths. Reuters reports that the probe found that 269 women were subjected to sexual abuse during the chaotic incident at Kinshasa's Makala Central Prison. According to an internal UN report reviewed by Reuters, 268 out of 348 female inmates at Makala were victims of sexual violence, including rape, as chaos engulfed the facility. Shockingly, 17 of these victims were under the age of 19. The scale of the abuse became apparent as…

Sep

05

2024

By The African Mirror

UN demands release of staff held in Yemen as detention reaches three years

WORLD

THE United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued a forceful demand for the immediate and unconditional release of UN staff members who have been detained in Yemen, some for as long as three years. The call comes as the situation for humanitarian workers in the country grows increasingly precarious. According to UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, a total of 17 UN personnel are currently being held by the Ansar Allah de facto authorities, also known as the Houthis. The detainees include staff from various UN agencies, with six UN Human…

Jul

31

2024

By ELLEN FUNGISAI CHIPANGO and LONG SENG TO

Green energy for all: Zimbabwe will need a new social contract to roll out projects like solar power

ENVIRONMENT

THE Zimbabwean government is racing against time to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 7: affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. However, the race towards green energy is top-down and mostly privatised. New technology is being introduced or sold to individuals or small families, but renewable energy is not being made part of a decent life for the entire community. Sustainable transitions researchers Ellen Fungisai Chipango and Long Seng To have researched ways to use the communal ethic of African ubuntu, expressed as “a person is a person through other persons”, in the rollout of…

Jul

10

2024

By The African Mirror

UN deplores Russia attack on hospitals for women and children which left over 40 dead

WORLD

UNITED Nations Human Rights Commission has deplored Russia's attack on two Ukraine hospitals which have left 41 dead. Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence made the following comment on the latest attacks in Ukraine, specifically on the children’s hospitals in Kyiv. “Last night, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk described as abominable the deadly blasts at two Kyiv hospitals that treat children and women,” Jeremy Laurence said. The Russian Federation launched a wave of strikes on densely populated areas of Ukraine, including the cities of Kryvi Rih, Pokrovsk and Dnipro. As well as the hospitals, we have received reports that key energy…

Jun

13

2024

By MICHELLE NICHOLS

Israel, Hamas, Sudan rivals added to UN list for killing children

WORLD

UNITED Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres named and shamed Israel's armed and security forces, Palestinian militants Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and Sudan's warring parties for killing and maiming children in 2023, adding them to an annual global list of offenders for violations against children. In a report to the U.N. Security Council - seen by Reuters - Guterres also called out the armed forces of Israel and Sudan for attacking schools and hospitals and Hamas and Islamic Jihad for abducting children. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who have been fighting the Sudanese armed forces since April last year, was also named…

May

11

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI

UN sounds alarm over aid as Israel pushes assault into Rafah

WORLD

THE United Nations warned that aid for the Gaza Strip could grind to a halt in days, as Israeli troops took their ground war with Palestinian fighters into the crowded city of Rafah, a key aid corridor for the famine-threatened strip. Israeli tanks captured the main road dividing the eastern and western sections of Rafah, effectively encircling the eastern part of the city in an assault that has caused Washington to block some military aid to its ally. Residents described almost constant explosions and gunfire east and northeast of the city on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip on…

May

04

2024

By The African Mirror

NEW UNITED NATIONS REFORMS MUST FAVOUR THE GLOBAL SOUTH

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ABBEY MAKOE THE rise of the Majority World, or global south, in world politics has triggered pertinent issues in relation to the archaic nature and form of the UN system. And, Secretary-General of the UN Antonio Guterres summed it absolutely spot-on when he recently delivered a frank appraisal of the UN in this day and age. “We cannot solve 21st century problems with 20th century tools,” he said. The UN system has been grossly undermined by the stranglehold of the Western-led unipolar international world order. The UN Charter effected at the end of WW11 in 1945 sought to create a world that…

Apr

24

2024

By The African Mirror

Top UN officials call on UK to reconsider plan to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda

NEWS

TWO United Nations top officials called on the UK to reconsider its plan to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda, warning the move would have a harmful impact on human rights and refugee protection. In a joint statement, Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, and Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on the UK to instead take practical measures to address irregular flows of migrants and refugees. "The new legislation marks a further step away from the UK's long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the Refugee Convention," said Grandi.…

Mar

31

2024

By MICHELLE NICHOLS

Sudan needs ‘immediate action’ on hunger to avert widespread death

NEWS

IMMEDIATE action is needed to "prevent widespread death and total collapse of livelihoods and avert a catastrophic hunger crisis in Sudan," a United Nations-backed global authority on food security warned. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) had been due to issue an update to its December analysis that found nearly 5 million were on the verge of catastrophic hunger. However, it was unable to do so due to the war. Instead, the IPC said it reviewed the latest evidence available and published the alert on Friday "to express major concern" about the deteriorating situation and to push for immediate…

Mar

27

2024

By MATT SPETALNICK

Biden, Netanyahu on collision course after Gaza UN vote

WORLD

RELATIONS between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sank to a wartime low with the U.S. allowing passage of a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations and drawing a sharp rebuke from the Israeli leader. Netanyahu abruptly scrapped a visit to Washington this week by a senior delegation to discuss Israel’s threatened offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the U.S. abstained in a Security Council vote that demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the release of all hostages held by the Palestinian militants. The suspension of that meeting puts a major…