October 05, 2022 No comments
Ten years of Afghan economic growth, reversed in just 12 months: UNDP
INTERNATIONAL, 5 October 2022, Economic Development - A year on from the Taliban takeover in Kabul, Afghanistan is gripped by “cascading crises”, including a crippled economy that humanitarian aid alone cannot address, according to a new report from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) on Wednesday. It says that the already-declining regular economy, as opposed to the black market, lost nearly $5 billion after August 2021 and is reversing “in 12 months what had taken 10 years to accumulate.” Soaring prices The cost of a basket of essentials needed to avoid food poverty has meanwhile risen 35 percent, forcing poorer households to go deeper into debt or sell off assets, just to survive. Nearly 700,000 jobs have vanished, said UNDP, further threatening a population reeling from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict, drought,...
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October 05, 2022 No comments
Guterres says Central African Republic must ‘spare no effort’ to help bring killers of UN peacekeepers to justice
INTERNATIONAL, 5 October 2022, Peace and Security - The UN Secretary-General has expressed his deep sadness over the death of three peacekeepers from Bangladesh who were killed on Monday in the Central African Republic (CAR), following a roadside bomb explosion near the border with Cameroon. Others were injured, and one remains in a critical condition. The ‘blue helmets’ from the UN Stabilization Mission in CAR, MINUSCA, were travelling on night patrol, near the village of Kaita, when their vehicle detonated an explosive device. The injured were evacuated to Bouar, where they are receiving treatment at a MINUSCA hospital, the mission said in a statement. MINUSCA said it had launched an immediate investigation “in order to shed light on the facts and circumstances” of the attack. In a statement released on Tuesday night in...
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October 05, 2022 No comments
World Teachers’ Day highlights need to transform education
INTERNATIONAL, 5 October 2022, Culture and Education - Teachers are at the heart of education, and their valuable work must also lead to better salaries and working conditions, the heads of three UN agencies and a partner organization said on Wednesday. The statement comes in their joint message to mark World Teachers’ Day, celebrated annually on 5 October. The international community has committed to transform education - a process that must be led by teachers. A critical partner That’s the firm belief expressed by Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UN educational and cultural agency, UNESCO; Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO); Catherine Russell, Executive Director at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and David Edwards, General Secretary of Education International. “Today, on World Teachers’ Day, we celebrate...
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October 05, 2022 No comments
‘Worrying upsurge’ in deadly cholera, warns Tedros, in wide-ranging global health update
INTERNATIONAL, 5 October 2022, Health - The UN health agency is working diligently in Uganda to support the government in responding to an Ebola outbreak in four districts, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) told journalists on Wednesday, in a wide-ranging briefing which included the latest on a worrying increase in COVID-19 cases across Europe. So far, 63 confirmed and probable cases of Ebola Virus infection have been reported, including 29 deaths; 10 infected health workers, four of whom have died; and four people who have recovered and are receiving follow-up care. “WHO has released $2 million from our Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE), and we’re…sending additional specialists, supplies, and resources,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the press briefing in Geneva. Although the inoculations that curbed Ebola outbreaks in the...
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October 05, 2022 No comments
Torture is ‘widespread’ and likely underestimated in DR Congo: UN report
INTERNATIONAL, 5 October 2022, Human Rights - Torture is “widespread” and underestimated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the abuse involves armed groups and State forces, UN investigators said on Wednesday. In findings issued in a report by the UN Joint Human Rights Office in DRC (UNJHRO) and the UN Stabilization Mission in DRC (MONUSCO), the authors indicated that 93 per cent of the 3,618 registered cases of “torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment” affecting 4,946 victims had happened in areas experiencing conflict. Of that total, covering the period between 1 April 2019 and 30 April 2022, there were 492 cases of sexual violence, affecting 761 victims. “Torture can never be justified, no matter the circumstances or the context. The DRC authorities must act with urgency and...
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