Humanitarian Emergencies

Lives Hang in the Balance as Kenya’s ASAL Region Ravaged by Severe Prolonged Drought

By Joyce Chimbi
The sight of children begging for water from motorists along the Garissa highway in the northeastern part of Kenya signals that all is not well. Unable to go to school on an empty stomach, drought-affected children wait for good Samaritans along the road, begging for water and food.

Why The Global South Should Support UN Action on Sri Lanka

By Meenakshi Ganguly
The economic, political, and human rights calamity gripping Sri Lanka has made news around the world, but its roots go back years – or even decades. In September, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, underscored in her report on Sri Lanka that “impunity for serious human rights violations [has] created an environment for corruption and the abuse of power.”

Annexation of a State’s Territory is a Violation of the Charter & International Law, Warns UN Chief

By Antonio Guterres
The Kremlin has announced that a ceremony will take place Friday in Moscow that will launch a process of annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Poverty Impacts on Efforts to End Child Marriage, say Parliamentarians

By Cecilia Russell
Child marriage continues to be a scourge in many African countries – despite legislation and efforts of many, including parliamentarians, to keep girls in school and create brighter futures for them. This was the view of participants in a recent webinar held under the auspices of the African Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (FPA) and UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO).

Climate Action Plans Could Help Address Injustice, Inequity in African Cities

By Gina Ziervogel
Equity and justice feature prominently in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th (IPCC) Assessment Report Working Group II, published in 2022. The report focuses on the impacts of climate change, as well as vulnerability and adaptation.

Sindh’s Faulty Drain Cannot Cope With Climate-Induced Deluge

By Zofeen Ebrahim
Last week, for at least six days, hundreds of flood-affected villagers from around the outskirts of Pangrio, a sleepy town in the Sindh province, blocked the main artery – the Thar Coal Road – connecting Badin to neighbouring district of Tharparkar – not allowing any traffic to pass.

Women Advocates for Harvesting Rainwater in Salinity-Affected Coastal Bangladesh

By Rafiqul Islam
Like many other women in Bangladesh's salinity-prone coastal region, Lalita Roy had to travel a long distance every day to collect drinking water as there was no fresh water source nearby her locality.

UN Agencies Call to Commit to Transforming Education in Crises

By Naureen Hossain
Refugee youth advocate, Mary Maker, called on UN member states to honor their commitments to transform education from the foundation up to the top, starting with those living in the direst and fraught circumstances.

Killings, Abductions Fuel Fear of Taliban Return in North-West Pakistan

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
The killing of eight people by the outlawed Tehreek Taliban Pakistan on September 13 has given credence to the fear of a new wave of terrorism in the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Unsettled Lives in a Troubled World

By Lorraine Farquharson
Cross-continent vacations seem to be the norm once again with the lessening of COVID-19 while new cities are being built with skyscraping $4M condos shooting up in a matter of months, and just-out-of-University millennials launching into their careers with minimum start-off salaries of $75K.

Building Leadership for Teachers in the Developing World

By Simone Galimberti
If we truly want to re-imagine the role education can play in the decades to come, it is going to be indispensable to take drastic measures to elevate the role of teachers in developing countries.

As New Covid Boosters Move Forward, Better Outreach is Needed to Save US Lives

By Lily Meyersohn
This week––nearly ten months after the emergence of the Omicron variant––the United States is rolling out Covid-19 booster vaccines that specifically target newer, now-dominant strains of the virus.

Inequitable Global Health Responses Underscore Need for More Self-Sufficiency in Developing Countries

By Juliet Morrison
With the outbreak of Monkeypox in non-endemic countries leading to a scramble for vaccines, global health advocates are again calling for equity to be prioritized in the international response.

Pakistan’s Climate Catastrophe: Lessons for the World

By Robert Sandford
Monsoon flooding has occurred often in Pakistan but never to the catastrophic extent presently happening. A distinguishing feature of this disaster is that no one blames the flooding’s unprecedented intensity and destructiveness on anything but climate heating. The clear link between the warming atmosphere and the frequency and duration of extreme weather events of this scale should not be lost on the rest of the world.

Education Cannot Wait Interviews Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator


 

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres appointed Martin Griffiths of the United Kingdom as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator in May 2021.

Mental Health as a Human Right Left Behind for Children in Fragile and Humanitarian Settings

By Joyce Chimbi
Hiding in basements during bombings, fleeing their homes, going hungry, and facing the devastating and life-transformative traumas of losing their loved ones as their childhoods go up in flames of war. These are the lived experiences of crisis-impacted children and adolescents.

Humanitarian Crisis Unfolds With Pakistan in the Eye of Fiercest Climate Change Storm

By Zofeen Ebrahim
The heavy and incessant monsoon downpours across Pakistan in the last two months have triggered floods wreaking havoc across the country, submerging entire villages and vast tracts of land and entrapping people. Anything coming in the way of the relentless water is being destroyed, including roads, bridges, and standing crops.

The World Owes the Rohingyas their Right to Human Dignity

By Sania Farooqui
It has been five years since the forced exodus of the Rohingyas from Myanmar, and their plea for justice and accountability continues.

Keeping Hope Afloat in a Sea of Uncertainty

By Toby Fricker
“I think I’m making a difference. I’m really helping,” Hanadi tells me, as she reflects on her work in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan.

UN Labour Report Highlights Employment Challenges for Youth

By Juliet Morrison
When COVID-19 prompted economic shutdowns across the globe, many analysts predicted that youth would be especially at risk. This is because young people tend to have fewer economic assets and limited experience in the labor market.

A Stress Test for Nuclear Deterrence

By Caroline Fehl, Maren Vieluf and Sascha Hach
This month, the Tenth Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is taking place in New York (and scheduled to conclude August 26). The meeting of states parties, postponed four times because of the Covid-19 pandemic, had originally been scheduled for April 2020.
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