Latest news with #UNOffice
Yahoo
09-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK announces more aid for Gaza as Israel proposes expansion of conflict
The UK has announced another £8.5 million for UN aid to Gaza after Israel unveiled plans to expand its military operations in the territory. Development minister Baroness Jenny Chapman said the money would 'help address urgent need' in Gaza, but only if Israel allowed the region to be 'flooded with aid'. She said: 'It is unacceptable that so much aid is waiting at the border – the UK is ready to provide more through our partners, and we demand that the government of Israel allows more aid in safely and securely. 'The insufficient amount of supplies getting through is causing appalling and chaotic scenes as desperate civilians try to access tiny amounts of aid.' The money, to be delivered through the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), is part of a £101 million UK commitment to the Occupied Palestinian Territories this year. OCHA has warned of widespread hunger among Gaza's 2.1 million people, along with difficulties accessing water amid a severe heatwave and 'significant impediments and other delays' to UN efforts to provide aid. The UK's announcement comes after Foreign Secretary David Lammy joined his counterparts from Australia, Italy, Germany and New Zealand to condemn Israeli plans to escalate the conflict by taking over Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday that Israel would seek 'the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip', as well as 'Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip' and 'the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority'. In their joint statement, the foreign ministers said the plans 'risk violating international law' and 'any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.' They added: 'We are united in our commitment to the implementation of a negotiated two-state solution as the only way to guarantee that both Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace, security, and dignity. 'A political resolution based on a negotiated two-state solution requires the total demilitarisation of Hamas and its complete exclusion from any form of governance in the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian Authority must have a central role.' Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described Israel's plans as 'wrong' and called for 'a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution'. A UN Security Council meeting to discuss Israel's plan had been due to take place on Saturday, but has been rescheduled to Sunday at about 3pm UK time.
Qatar Tribune
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Education is a transformative tool for women & girls: Al Muftah
QNA Geneva Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the UN Office in Geneva HE Dr Hend Abdulrahman Al Muftah has renewed the call for immediate action to accelerate international efforts to enhance the enjoyment of human rights by women and girls, foremost among them the right to quality, comprehensive, effective, and unrestricted education. She emphasized that education is a transformative tool for women and girls, equipping them with knowledge, skills, and confidence to actively participate in society, improve their health and living conditions, and contribute to economic development. This came as the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar in Geneva, in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Bahrain in Geneva, the Qatar Debate Center, and the Geneva Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, organised a side event titled 'Unlearning Discrimination: Education for Empowering Women and Girls,' on the sidelines of the 59th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. In her opening remarks, Dr Al Muftah emphasized that education is a fundamental and pivotal human right. It enables individuals to develop essential skills and provides a platform through which other rights can be claimed, enjoyed, and protected. She noted that women's empowerment is directly linked to education, as it opens doors to employment, enhances their ability to make sound health decisions, participate in public life and decision-making, and advocate for their rights and interests. page 2
Yemen Online
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yemen Online
Yemen : UN Envoy Arrives in Aden to Revive Peace Talks
Aden — The United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, arrived on Monday in the southern port city of Aden, the interim capital of the internationally recognized government, as part of a renewed diplomatic effort to revive stalled peace negotiations and address the deepening humanitarian crisis. Grundberg's visit comes at a critical time, with escalating Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, rising displacement, and worsening food insecurity across several governorates. According to a statement from the UN Office of the Special Envoy, Grundberg will hold meetings in Aden with government officials, civil society leaders, and humanitarian actors to discuss steps toward a comprehensive ceasefire and inclusive political process. The envoy is also expected to travel to Sana'a in the coming days to engage with Houthi representatives, focusing on confidence-building measures such as the release of detainees, reopening of key roads, and resumption of public sector salary payments. In a brief statement upon arrival, Grundberg stressed that 'the opportunity for peace still exists, but it requires courage, compromise, and a genuine commitment to the Yemeni people's future.' He also called for unimpeded humanitarian access and greater international support to stabilize Yemen's collapsing economy. This visit marks Grundberg's first to Aden since the breakdown of indirect negotiations earlier this year and is seen as a pivotal moment in the UN's efforts to prevent a return to full-scale conflict and lay the groundwork for a lasting political solution.
South China Morning Post
06-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Can Southeast Asia contain growing threat of cyber scams?
As Southeast Asian leaders focus on navigating trade tariffs and the US-China rivalry, a growing threat to the region's economic resilience is being largely overlooked: the rise of billion-dollar cyber scam centres operating with impunity. These operations not only endanger financial stability and investor confidence, but are also eroding national sovereignty – all while exploiting the region's young, tech-savvy populations who are increasingly dependent on digital services. The scale of the problem was laid bare earlier when US authorities imposed financial restrictions on entities in Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines accused of enabling large-scale cyber scams. Officials alleged that billions of dollars had been laundered through loosely regulated digital payment networks and bulk IP infrastructure, facilitating schemes ranging from crypto investment fraud to hacks attributed to sanctioned state-linked groups. While the moves were hailed as a regulatory breakthrough, analysts warn it is a temporary win at best as the criminal networks behind these scams are highly mobile and adaptable, often resurfacing under different guises after enforcement actions. 08:49 The Chinese criminal gangs behind Southeast Asia's scam centres The Chinese criminal gangs behind Southeast Asia's scam centres According to an April report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, 'it is now increasingly clear that a potentially irreversible spillover has taken place in Southeast Asia, leaving criminal groups free to pick, choose, and move jurisdictions, operations, and value as needed.'
Qatar Tribune
21-05-2025
- Health
- Qatar Tribune
Qatar stresses Palestinian people suffer tragic, serious health conditions
GENEVA: The State of Qatar has stressed that the fraternal Palestinian people are suffering from tragic and serious health conditions that cannot and should not be ignored or tolerated, specifically highlighting the situation in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to an unjust blockade since 2006 and to a brutal aggression, massacres, and genocide since Oct 7, 2023, which has led to a near-total collapse of the health system, amid unprecedented destruction and widespread devastation of health facilities. This came in a speech delivered by Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Delegation of the State of Qatar in the UN Office in Geneva Jawhara bint Abdulaziz Al Suwaidi, during the discussion session of the draft resolution entitled: 'Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan', during the 78th World Health Assembly. Jawhara bint Abdulaziz Al Suwaidi indicated that the main reason behind the deterioration of the health situation is primarily due to the aggression, policies and measures practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities - represented by repeated attacks and assaults on Palestinians, the deliberate targeting of hospitals, health facilities and their staff, and food production and distribution sites, depriving them of water, medicine, electricity and fuel, imposing a starvation policy, and preventing the arrival of humanitarian and medical aid. She pointed to discriminatory restrictions on access to health services, the denial of freedom of movement, the closure of crossings, the establishment of settlements, severe restrictions on the movement of ambulances, health workers, patients, and the wounded, and the failure to provide adequate health care to Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli prisons. She also strongly condemned all Israeli policies that violate all international laws, including human rights law and international humanitarian law, and reflect a disregard for the lives of Palestinians, the sick, and the wounded, who are in dire need of treatment and healthcare. She emphasized the Palestinian people's right to access healthcare services that guarantee their dignity and right to life. She added that what is deeply worrying is Israel's, the occupying power, cynical treatment of resolutions issued by international organizations and UN bodies. Instead of respecting, abiding by, and implementing these resolutions, its response has been to continue its genocide of the Palestinian people and commit the most heinous crimes and violations. She urged the international community to shoulder its moral and legal responsibilities, exert greater pressure, and take all necessary measures and actions to put an end to the violations. It also called on the international community to ensure adequate funding to support the immediate and future needs of WHO health programs in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and to rebuild the Palestinian health system, in full cooperation with the WHO and relevant United Nations agencies. The Deputy Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to Geneva urged all countries to support the draft resolution entitled 'Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan'.
