November 15, 2024
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J. Tuyet Nguyen, a journalist with years of experience, has covered major stories in New York City and the United Nations for United Press International, the German Press Agency dpa and various newspapers. His reports focused mostly on topics with international interests for readers worldwide. He was president of the United Nations Correspondents Association (2007 and 2008), which is composed of more than 250 journalists representing world media with influence over policy decision makers. He has chaired the organization of the annual UNCA Awards, which seeks to reward journalists around the world who have done the best broadcasts and written reports on the UN and its specialized agencies. He has traveled the world to cover events and write stories, from politics to the environment as well cultures of different regions. But his most important reporting work has been with the United Nations since the early 1980s. He was bureau chief of United Press International office at the UN headquarters before joining dpa in 1997. Prior to working at the UN, he was an editor on the International Desk of UPI World Headquarters in New York. He worked in Los Angeles and covered the final months of war in Vietnam for UPI.

Game-changer finance facility launched to keep children in classrooms

Leave a Comment / Education /

New York, September 18 – The recent massive floods in Pakistan have destroyed 23,700 schools and damaged 22,000 others and the impact on the lives and education of millions of children in the country will take years to repair, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the United Nations Transforming Education Summit.

Sharif announced the shocking news of climate disasters at the three-day summit ending on September 19 to launch the International Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd). But war, economic woes and the Covid-19 pandemic in the past 2-1/2 years have closed schools and universities worldwide and interrupted education of hundreds of millions of youths.

“The impact on the lives and minds of millions of our children and youth will be felt for years to come,” Sharif said. “As we work to rebuild from this catastrophe, the new stream of affordable education financing from IFFEd will be crucial to help meet our financing needs to provide an inclusive and quality education for our most vulnerable children and youth.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the UN special envoy on education, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, launched IFFEd during the summit at the UN General Assembly session in New York in partnership with the governments of Sweden, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank.

The facility has $2 billion to spend on education projects in Asia and Africa starting in 2023. The UN said it could unlock an extra $10 billion of additional financing for education and skills by 2030.

“Education is the building block for peaceful, prosperous, stable societies,” Guterres said, urging rich countries to support the program on education. “Reducing investment virtually guarantees more serious crises further down the line. We need to get more, not less, money into education systems.”

The UN said the finance facility is the first of its kind to support education in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs), home to 700 million children and youths and where one in five children is out of school.

“Global education is in crisis” – World leaders signed an open letter to support IFFEd.

The open letter said the global education is in crisis and 80 per cent of the nearly 300 million children out of school live in low-income countries. It said 800 million young people will leave school without any qualifications.

“Recent data shows that global learning poverty in low- and middle-income countries is estimated to have risen to 70 per cent, with more than half of the world’s children unable to read or write a simple text at the age of 10 and no accredited skills for the workplace when they leave school.”

 “Coupled with the ‘violation’ of children’s right to education evidenced by these high levels of learning poverty, the latter is bound to have a devastating impact on future productivity, earnings, and well-being for this generation of children and youth, their families, and the world’s economy.”

Education is Sustainable Development Goal 4

There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which the UN hopes but fears that many of them could not be achieved by the year 2030. Goal 4 calls for ensuring “inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all.”

Read more in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4

(By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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WHO: Covid-19 is a manageable disease and nearing the finish line

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Geneva/New York, September 14 – The World Health Organization said Covid-19 has become a manageable disease and its end may be in sight as weekly reports have shown that deaths are at their lowest level since March 2020.

“We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, said in a press conference in Geneva. But he warned also that “the world is not there yet.”

“A marathon runner does not stop when the finish line comes into view,” he said. “She runs harder, with all the energy she has left. So must we. We can see the finish line. We’re in a winning position. But now is the worst time to stop running.”

Tedros warned that Covid-19 still cause new infections and deaths and he urged governments to continue to fight the disease.

The WHO weekly report on the pandemic showed that deaths dropped 22 per cent last week to just over 11,000 worldwide and there were 3.1 million new Covid-19 cases, a drop of 28 per cent.

More than 6.4 million deaths

WHO said that globally as of September 13, 2022 that there have been 606,459,140 confirmed cases of Covid-19, including 6,495,110 deaths. More than 12 billion of vaccine doses have been administered.

Policy Briefs

Tedros said WHO has released six short policy briefs outlining key actions that all governments must take now to “finish the race.”

“We can end this pandemic together, but only if all countries, manufacturers, communities and individuals step up and seize this opportunity,” he said.

The briefs constitute “an urgent call for governments to take a hard look at their policies and strengthen them for COVID-19 and future pathogens with pandemic potential,” Tedros said.

See the briefs, which are available online.

One of the briefs said the first Covid-19 cases were reported more than two and a half years ago, but the pandemic “remains an acute global emergency.”

“At the present time, there continue to be millions of people infected each week with SARS- CoV-2, and in the first eight months of 2022, more than one million people were reported to have died from COVID-19 (WHO COVID-19 Dashboard). With access to and appropriate use of existing life-saving tools, COVID-19 can become a manageable disease with significantly reduced morbidity and mortality. Lives and livelihoods can be saved, but there is still work to be done.”

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UPDATE: United Nations annual meetings to seek solutions to interlocking crises

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New York, September 13 – The United Nations General Assembly has opened its 77th session while urging its 193 member states to work out global solutions for the series of crises threatening the world, from the war in Ukraine and climate disasters to high inflation and famine.

The annual session expects more than 90 presidents, over 50 prime ministers and dozens of ministers to attend the political debate on September 20-26. The number of top politicians to be present in New York will be known later as many of them have to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London on September 19. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak in person on September 21.

The UN Security Council planned to hold a debate on the war in Ukraine on September 22 to be attended by national leaders of the council’s 15 countries.

The assembly session under the theme – A watershed moment: Transformative solutions to interlocking challenges – reflects the intense and critical time the world went through since the Covid-19 pandemic struck beginning of 2020. While the pandemic was raging, the Russian war in Ukraine and subsequently the humanitarian and economic challenges worsened.

“It is therefore necessary to find and focus on joint solutions to these crises and build a more sustainable and resilient world for all and for the generations to come,” the UN said as an overview of the annual session.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an opening address to the assembly that many of last year’s challenges are still festering in the current session.

“We face a world in peril across our work to advance peace, human rights and sustainable development,” he said. “From conflicts and climate change. To a broken global financial system that is failing developing countries.To poverty, inequality and hunger. To divisions and mistrust.” But he said, “The United Nations is the home of co-operation.”

The president of the 77th session, Csaba Kőrösi of Hungary, said, “The world is looking to the United Nations for answers. As the Organization’s chief deliberative body, the General Assembly bears a special responsibility.”

“My team and I will do our best to push for “solutions through solidarity, sustainability and science” – the motto I have chosen for this presidency.

“It is my intention to stand firm on the principles of the United Nations Charter, which brought us together 77 years ago – and which hold us together today. Anchored in international law, they provide us with a solid foundation from which to build.

From here, I wish to pursue integrated approaches and enhance the role of science in our decision-shaping.”

Summit on Transforming Education

World leaders are called to make ambitious commitments to transform education during a summit (September 16, 17 and 19) as the pandemic, lockdowns and other situations like inequalities in some countries have kept millions of children out of school.

The UN chief convened government leaders, youths and non-governmental organizations to attend the Summit on Transforming Education to step up efforts to achieve goal 4 (education), one of the 17 the Sustainable Development Goals.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said inequalities in access to education have kept some 244 million children out of the classroom. It said that number includes 98 million children in sub-Saharan Africa and 85 million in Central and Southern Asia region.

“No one can accept this situation,” said Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Director-General, underlining the need to respect every child’s right to education. “In view of these results, the objective of quality education for all by 2030, set by the United Nations, risks not being achieved. We need a global mobilization to place education at the top of the international agenda.”

(By J. Tuyet Nguyen)

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New survey supports increased UN authority over security, environment and economy

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London/New York, September 8 – A new survey conducted by prominent academic schools showed public support for more United Nations authority on its member states over issues of security, and climate and economic challenges.

Academics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the University of Oxford, Lund University in Sweden and Griffith University in Australia conducted the survey (March-June 2019) in Argentina, China, India, Russia, Spain and the United States.

Of the six countries, China, Russia and the US are permanent members of the UN Security Council; China and India are the world’s most populous countries and the US and China are the world’s top economies.

Dr Mathias Koenig-Archibugi from LSE, who co-authored the paper on the survey’s findings, said,  “Publics around the world are often portrayed as hostile to international institutions and keen to loosen constraints on national leaders. Our survey disproves that perception. Far from supporting attempts to weaken and undermine the U.N,. they want this global organisation to have more power to address today’s security, environmental, and economic challenges. But they also want to choose who represents them at the centre of the U.N. rather than relying entirely on their governments for that.”

The United Nations is currently composed of 193 countries and its most important body is the UN Security Council, which has authority over global issues of peace and security and has 15 members: the US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France, which are permanent members, and 10 countries elected for two-year term each. The five permanent members, in addition to being nuclear powers, have veto power over decisions by the council that can affect all UN members. The other body is the UN General Assembly, composed of 193 members, holds legislative power.

Talks to reform the UN have been going on in over the last two decades. They have mainly focused, unsuccessfully, on expanding the size of the council membership and on curbing the veto power of the permanent members.

Following is a media release from the researchers: (see key findings from a new survey) 

“There is widespread public support for increasing, or at least maintaining, United Nations (UN) authority over member states and for making its structures more directly representative of member state citizens.

“With the UN facing long-standing calls for structural and procedural reform and with the U.N. General Assembly due to discuss the reform of its institutions at its next plenary session on 13-27 September, this is a pressing issue.

“To gather public views on UN reform, the researchers conducted an international survey in six countries, representative of the general populations in terms of age, gender, and region.

“Respondents in Argentina, China, India, Russia, Spain, and the United States were asked to choose between different combinations of UN design features including decision procedures, the bindingness of decisions, enforcement capabilities, and sources of revenue. Survey options included design features expanding powers, limiting them, and maintaining the status quo.

“Overall, the researchers found that respondents supported strengthening or maintaining the current authority level of the UN, and making its structures more representative of the world population.

“For example, at the moment, UN decisions are binding on every UN member state only on matters of international peace and security. The survey showed respondents were supportive of making decisions binding on more areas including important security, environmental, and economic matters. In contrast, the option of making decisions binding only on those states that voluntarily accept them was the most unpopular proposal across all survey countries.

“On the issue of delegates, the researchers posed two reform proposals: a second chamber composed of directly elected representatives and one composed of national parliamentarians. Both proposals were received more positively by the public than the status quo where the highest decision-making bodies of the UN include only representatives from national executives. However, people clearly preferred a second chamber with directly elected representatives to one with national parliamentarians.

“The researchers found diverging views on reforms to be associated with home country characteristics such as membership status in the Security Council and personal political values such as cultural libertarianism versus traditionalism.

“In the paper, the researchers note: “Often the most popular option is not the one represented by the current UN.” On the whole, they find public opinion to lean toward the positions of those reformers who have advocated for the UN and related global institutions to move closer to supernationalist and cosmopolitan ideals.

They add: “Our findings are consistent with recent research that highlights the importance of institutional design features to public perceptions of the legitimacy of international institutions.”

For an Open Access copy of the article, please visit: https://academic.oup.com/isq/article/66/3/sqac027/6649353

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UN calls for security zone at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine

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New York, September 6 – Nuclear experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency told the UN Security Council that a security zone should be immediately established at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to protect the site against shelling by warring Russian and Ukrainian armies.

IAEA’s Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi briefed the council on the situation at Zaporizhzhia after he led a group of 13 nuclear experts of the Vienna-based agency to inspect conditions at the nuclear plant.

“While the ongoing shelling has not yet triggered a nuclear emergency, it continues to represent a constant threat to nuclear safety and security with potential impact on critical safety functions that may lead to radiological consequences with great safety significance,” the report said. It said the Ukrainian personnel working at the plant are under constant stress and pressure because of the war. The nuclear plant was seized by Russia in March but Ukrainian engineers continue to manage the site.

Grossi said on September 1 following the inspection of the nuclear plant, which is the largest in Europe, that the site was violated several times.

“It’s obvious that the plant, and the physical integrity of the plant has been violated, several times. [Whether] by chance [or deliberately], we don’t have the elements to assess that. But this is a reality that we have to recognize, and this is something that cannot continue to happen,” he told journalists, as reported by UN News. 

“Wherever you stay, wherever you stand, whatever you think about this war, this is something that cannot happen, and this is why we’re trying to put in place certain mechanisms and the presence of our people there, to try to be in a better place.”

UN chief urges steps to protect nuclear power plant

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who attended the council meeting to discuss the situation at Zaporizhzhia, said he remained “gravely concerned” about the situation in and around the Zaporizhzhia plant, including reports of recent shelling.

“Let’s tell it like it is: Any damage, whether intentional or not, to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia – or to any other nuclear facility in Ukraine — could spell catastrophe, not only for the immediate vicinity, but for the region and beyond,” he said.

All steps must be taken to avoid such a scenario. Common sense and cooperation must guide the way forward. 1 Any action that might endanger the physical integrity, safety or security of the nuclear plant is unacceptable. All efforts to re-establish the plant as purely civilian infrastructure are vital.

He said Russian and Ukrainian forces, as a first step, must commit not to engage in any military activity towards the plant site or from the plant site and the Zaporizhzhia facility and its surroundings must not be a target or a platform for military operations.

He called for a demilitarized perimeter at the site and for the withdrawal of all military personnel and equipment from that perimeter and a “commitment by Ukrainian forces not to move into it.”

“Operators at the plant must be able to carry out their responsibilities, and communications must be maintained. Now is the time to urgently agree on concrete measures to ensure the safety of the area,” he said.

NPT was victim of the Ukraine war

Guterres deplored the failure by the 10th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to adopt an outcome document at the end of their month-long session in August, saying that the review session “fell victim to the war in Ukraine.”

“The outcome document sought to address the issue of the safety and security of nuclear power plants in armed conflict zones, including in Ukraine,” he said. “But the conference failed to reach consensus to utilize the opportunity to strengthen the Treaty. I appeal to all states to use every avenue of dialogue and diplomacy to make progress on these critical issues.”

The Russian delegation to the review session blocked the adoption of the outcome document because it criticized the takeover of the nuclear plant by Russian troops after their invasion of Ukraine on February 24 this year.

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Donors urged to prevent famine in Somalia

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Geneva/New York, September 6 – Humanitarian organizations are jointly urging donors to step up life-saving assistance in Somalia, saying that the window of opportunity to prevent famine is closing in the country which saw over 250,000 people, at least half of them children, died during the last famine in 2011.

A group of 20 Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, from the World Food Program and World Health Organization to Save the Children United States and CARE International, issued a warning that famine is unfolding in Baidoa and Burhakaba districts in the Bay region in South-Central Somalia, and will likely last until March 2023 “if humanitarian aid is not significantly and immediately scaled up.”

“Starvation and death are likely already occurring,” said the warning.

“Somalia has reached a tipping point,” it said. “The lives of hundreds of thousands of people are at immediate risk, according to the latest food security and nutrition analysis. Millions more face extreme levels of acute hunger. Women, particularly pregnant and lactating women, and children under the age of five are among the most vulnerable. They require urgent assistance to avert a worst-case scenario.

“In total, across the Horn of Africa, 20.5 million people are facing a dire and entirely avoidable hunger crisis. This is unacceptable.”

“We appeal to donors to provide immediate, flexible funding to enable humanitarian agencies on the ground, particularly local and international NGOs, to rapidly scale up and prevent more deaths, protect livelihoods and avert a deepening catastrophe. Getting aid to rural communities before they are forced to abandon their homes in search of food is critical.”

(Definition of famine provided by WFP: Famine is a technical definition based on specific thresholds: that at least 20 per cent of the population is affected, with about one out of three children being acutely malnourished and two people dying per day for every 10,000 inhabitants due to outright starvation or to the interaction of malnutrition and disease.}

WFP said its life-saving humanitarian assistance in Somalia has reached 3.7 million people but “famine is now an imminent reality unless immediate and drastic action is taken.”

“We know from experience that we cannot wait for a formal declaration of famine to act. Even before we first warned of the risk of famine, we were working to scale up our life-saving support in Somalia as far as resources have allowed. Since April, we have more than doubled the number of people we are supporting with humanitarian assistance, reaching record numbers in Somalia,” said Margot van der Velden, WFP Director of Emergencies, speaking from Mogadishu. ”But the drought crisis is still deteriorating and famine is closer than ever. The world must respond now, while we still have a chance to prevent catastrophe.”

List of Signatories:

Mr. Martin Griffiths, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Mr. Qu Dongyu, Director General, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Ms. Shahin Ashraf, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) Chair a.i. (Head of Global Advocacy – Islamic Relief Worldwide)

Mr. Ignacio Packer, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)

Mr. Samuel Worthington, Chief Executive Officer, InterAction

Ms. Janti Soeripto, President and Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children United States

Ms. Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer, Mercy Corps

Mr. António Vitorino, Director General, International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Ms. Nada Al-Nashif, United Nations Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Mr. Andrew Morley, Chair, Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR) (President and World Vision International)

Ms. Sofia Sprechmann Sineiro, Vice Chair SCHR (Secretary General of CARE International)

Mr. Gareth Price-Jones, Executive Secretary, Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR)

Ms. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (SR on HR of IDPs)

Mr. Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat)

Mr. Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Ms. Catherine Russell, Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

Mr. David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP)

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO)

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UN makes it official: China “responsible” for serious human rights violations in Xinjiang

Leave a Comment / Human Rights /

New York, September 1 – The United Nations has made it official in its media that China has committed “serious human rights violations” against the Uyghur people and “other predominantly Muslim communities” in Xinjiang province.

UN News and the main website of the world organization at UN headquarters in New York wasted no time in publishing overnight the report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva. The report was kept secret by Michelle Bachelet, the commissioner, during most of her four-year term. She released it just before ending her job on Wednesday August 31.

See the full report and China’s state response to the assessment here

UN Human Rights Office issues assessment of human rights concern in #Xinjiang #Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Read more: https://t.co/F2wpHFpIoy pic.twitter.com/f83bmfY7bZ

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) August 31, 2022

UN News said the report stipulated that “allegations of patterns of torture, or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, are credible, as are allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence.”

It said the strongly worded assessment at the end of the report showed that the extent of arbitrary detentions against Uyghur and others, in context of “restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights, enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”

The report was “based on a rigorous review of documentary material currently available to the Office, with its credibility assessed in accordance with standard human rights methodology.”

“Particular attention was given to the Government’s own laws, policies, data and statements. The Office also requested information and engaged in dialogue and technical exchanges with China throughout the process.”

The report said that the violations have taken place in the context of the Chinese Government’s assertion that it is targeting terrorists among the Uyghur minority with a counter-extremism strategy that involves the use of so-called Vocational Educational and Training Centres (VETCs), or re-education camps, “ UN News said.

UN News published a rebuttal by the Chinese government, which said that its authorities in the Xinjiang region operate on the principle that everyone is equal before the law, “and the accusation that its policy is ‘based on discrimination’ is groundless.” China said that its counter-terrorism and “de-radicalization efforts” in the region, had been conducted according to “the rule of law” and by no means add up to “suppression of ethnic minorities.”

On the issue of the camps, Beijing responded that the VETCs are “learning facilities established in accordance with law intended for de-radicalization” and not “concentration camps”.

“The lawful rights and interests of workers of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are protected and there is no such thing as ‘forced labor’”, China’s statement said, adding that there had been no “massive violation of rights”.

The statement calls on the international community to be “clear-eyed about the truth” of its counter-terrorism campaign in the region, and “see through the clumsy performances and malicious motives of anti-China forces in the US and the West, who attempt to use Xinjiang to contain China.”

It calls instead, for the UN and other international organizations, to investigate “the human rights disasters caused, and numerous crimes committed, by the US and some other Western countries, both at home and abroad.” (from UN News)

Read more News on Human Rights here

Read more News here

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UN: Millions of Afghan people face malnutrition, which could kill one million children

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New York, August 29 – Afghanistan’s people continue to face extreme hardship and uncertainty but among the 19 million people facing acute levels of food security are 3 million children with one million of them suffering a form of malnutrition that could kill them, the top UN humanitarian coordinator told the UN Security Council.

Martin Griffiths, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said the UN humanitarian team, NGOs and other organizations working in Afghanistan have found it challenging and “labor intensive” to deal with the de facto Taliban authorities in Kabul.

“An estimated 3 million children are acutely malnourished,” Griffiths told the 15-nation council convened to discuss the dire living conditions in the country. “They include over 1 million children estimated to be suffering from the most severe, life-threatening form of malnutrition. Without specialized treatment, they could die.”

He said close to 19 million are suffering acute levels of malnutrition caused by recurrent drought, including the worst in three decades in 2021, and 6 million of them are at risks of famine. Griffiths said 8 out of 10 Afghans drink contaminated water, which caused repeated bouts of acute watery diarrhoea.

Griffiths provided alarming facts regarding the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. He said around 25 million people, or about half of the country’s population, are now living in poverty who spend three quarters of their income on food. The number of Afghans receiving remittances have dropped 50 per cent and unemployment grew to 40 per cent while inflation has risen due to increased global prices, import constraints and currency depreciation.

Afghanistan was hit in June by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake that affected 362,000 people living in high-intensity impact areas and heavy rains since July caused massive flash floods across the country, killing and injuring hundreds of people, and destroying hundreds of homes as well as thousands of acres of crops. An estimated 5.8 million people remain in protracted internal displacement requiring long term solutions.

“All these figures are devastating and difficult to comprehend,” Griffiths said. “We worry that they will soon become worse. Once the cold weather sets in, food and fuel prices – already high – will skyrocket, and families will have to choose between feeding their children, sending them to school, taking them to a doctor when they fall sick, or keeping them warm. Large-scale development assistance has been halted for a year.”

“The operating environment is exceptionally challenging.” “Engaging with the de facto authorities at national and sub-national levels is laborintensive,” Griffiths said, adding that there is “no confidence” in the domestic banking sector, which led to a severe liquidity crisis and international financial transactions “are extremely hard due to de-risking and overcompliance of global banks.” He cited the case in which humanitarian organizations brought in over US$1 billion in cash to sustain program delivery, “but the liquidity and banking crisis continues to impact the delivery of assistance and Afghans’ daily lives.”

 “The Humanitarian Exchange Facility, meant to temporarily and partially alleviate this, is still under deliberation with the de facto authorities.”

Women and girls have been pushed to the sidelines.  “The meagre gains the country made to protect women’s rights have been quickly reversed. It’s been more than a year since adolescent girls in Afghanistan last set foot inside a classroom. In the 21st century, we should not need to explain why girls’ education and women’s empowerment are important to them, to their communities, to their countries and indeed to the world.”

Gap in funding

Griffiths said the Humanitarian Response Plan for Afghanistan has a gap of $3.14 billion, with $614 million urgently required to support priority winter preparedness activities, such as upgrades and repairs to shelter, and providing warm clothes and blankets. “But we are up against time. These activities must be implemented in the next three months,” he said.

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UN warns Ukraine war is exceedingly dangerous, affecting all people

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New York, August 24 – United Nations officials warned that Russia’s six months of war in Ukraine, which has inflicted over 13,000 civilian casualties in Ukraine, is sparing no one in the world and causing severe human sufferings and material damages.

At a briefing in the 15-nation UN Security Council convened to appraise the on-going war that flared up on February 24 this year when Russian military invaded Ukraine, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo led the discussion with UN efforts to meet humanitarian demands around the world affected by the war. They pointed out that civilians are prime targets and paying a heavy price in the war.

They said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 13,560 civilian casualties:  5,614 killed and 7,946 injured and the figures are based on verified incidents but the actual numbers are considerably higher.

“The world has seen grave violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed with little to no accountability,” Guterres said. “We are seeing new vulnerabilities emerge in a global environment already worn out by conflicts, inequality, pandemic-induced economic and health crises, and climate change – with a disproportionate impact on developing countries.”

The UN said most civilian casualties were caused by explosive weapons with wide area effects and the use of these weapons in and around populated areas has predictable and devastating consequences.

“The indiscriminate shelling and bombing of populated areas, killing civilians and wrecking hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, are actions that may amount to war crimes,” DiCarlo said. “We continue to receive reports of human rights violations.  The arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of civilians, including local authorities, journalists, civil society activists and other civilians, continues.”

She said humanitarian needs continue to rise rapidly as at least 17.7 million people in Ukraine, or 40 percent of the population, need humanitarian assistance and protection, including 3.3 million children.  More than 6.6 million Ukrainians are internally displaced and 6.7 million people have taken refuge in other countries mainly in Europe.

In her address, DiCarlo said crucial humanitarian assistance for those in needs ahead of winter while the war continues to rage has become a major issue. She said the UN has revised a flash appeal that would requires $4.3 billion to support 17.7 million people in need of assistance through December 2022.  She said donors have generously provided $2.4 billion as of August 19.

“The humanitarian response has scaled-up to 500 humanitarian organization partners reaching over 11.8 million people with at least one form of assistance,” she said.

“The war has severely impacted agriculture in Ukraine, leaving thousands of farmers without income, destroying grain storage facilities, and exacerbating food insecurity among vulnerable groups. According to the World Food Program, 20 per cent of the people of Ukraine have insufficient food.”

Estimates provided by WFP said 345 million people, including an increase of 47 million due to the Ukraine war, will suffer acute food insecurity in 82 countries with a WFP operational presence.

“The global financial situation remains volatile, with concerns about potential stagflation scenarios in the latter part of 2022 and 2023. Energy markets remain under stress, a serious concern as the winter season in the northern hemisphere approaches,” she said

“This war is not only senseless, but exceedingly dangerous, and it touches all of us. It must end,” she said.

By J. Tuyet Nguyen

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UN: “Victory for diplomacy” as Ukraine’s grain exports stabilize food prices

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Lviv, Ukraine/New York, August 18 – Under war conditions, over 560,000 metric tons of Ukraine’s grain and other food stapples are being shipped abroad and the global food market has begun to stabilize, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a meeting with the presidents of Turkey and Ukraine.

“The positive momentum on the food front reflects a victory for diplomacy – for multilateralism – for people caught in the grips of a cost-of-living crisis – and for the hard-working farmers of Ukraine. But it is only the beginning. I urge all parties to ensure continued success.” Guterres said in a meeting with Turkeye’s President Recept Tayyip Erdogan and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Lviv, Ukraine.

The trilateral meeting took place for the first time since the launch in July of the Black Sea Initiative to resume shipments of Ukraine’s wheat grain, food products and Russia’s fertilizers that had been stuck in Black Sea ports since Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 this year.

Guterres said there are critical signs that the global food markets are beginning to stabilize with wheat prices dropping by as much as 8 per cent following the signing of the agreements. He said the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Price Index fell by 9 per cent in July – the biggest decline since 2008.

“Most food commodities are now trading at prices below pre-war levels. But let’s have no illusions – there is a long way to go before this will be translated into the daily life of people at their local bakery and in their markets,” he said, adding that supply chains are still disrupted and energy and transportation costs remain “unacceptably high.”

 Since the Joint Coordination Center was established in Istanbul on July 27 to oversee the food shipping operations, a total 21 outbound and 15 inbound ships through what is known as a maritime humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea, which allows safe exports of Ukraine’s grains and Russian fertilizers. Countries that have received those commercial shipments so far included Türkiye, South Korea, China, Ireland, Italy, Djibouti and Romania.

A ship chartered by the World Food Program (WFP) left a a port in Odessa on August 16 with the first humanitarian cargo of 23,000 metric tons of Ukraine’s wheat grain to Ethiopia.

Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant zone should be demilitarized

Guterres said he discussed “efforts to advance the cause of peace” with the presidents of Turkey and Ukraine and he remains “gravely concerned” about the fighting in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is the largest in Europe.

“We must spare no effort to ensure that plant’s facilities or surroundings are not a target of military operations. Military equipment and personnel should be withdrawn from the plant. Further deployment of forces or equipment to the site must be avoided. The area needs to be demilitarized,” he said.

“We must tell it like it is – any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide. “

Fact-finding mission

Guterres said he has decided to set up a fact-finding mission to investigate the explosion in a facility in Olenivka on July 29 which reportedly killed dozens of detained Ukrainian soldiers.

He said he intended to appoint General Carlos dos Santos Cruz of Brazil to lead the mission, the Terms of Reference of which have been shared with Ukraine and Russia as well as the make-up of the team.

“What happened there is unacceptable. All prisoners of war are protected under International Humanitarian Law. The International Committee of the Red Cross must have access to them..” he said. “The team must be able to gather and analyze necessary information. Above all, that means safe, secure and unfettered access to people, places and evidence without any interference from any party,” he said.“We will continue to do all we can to advance this and other efforts. “

By J. Tuyet Nguyen

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