News headlines in March 2022

Nataliia Vladimirova fled her home in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on the first day of the Russian invasion, on 24 February, with her four-year-old daughter Oleksandra and mother-in-law. They are amongst the thousands of Ukrainian refugees with temporary protection status in Portugal. She shares her heart-wrenching story of family separation and loss, with UN News.

Women and children increasingly bear the brunt of climate change, which deepens the inequalities and vulnerabilities they already face, such as poverty, violence, lack of opportunities and basic human rights. Yet women are not victims; they are survivors, innovators and solution-multipliers who deserve a real seat at the table. Two Colombian activists tell us why this is true.

UN humanitarian agencies and partners on the ground in Ukraine, were able to reach the town of Sumy, in the country’s northeast on Thursday, but access to the besieged and stricken city of Mariupol, where thousands of civilians are believed to have died amidst the brutal Russian bombardment, has yet to be given.

ZÁRATE, Argentina, Mar 31 (IPS) - Three giant concrete cylinders with inflated membrane roofs are a strange sight in the industrial park of Zárate, a world of factories 90 kilometers from Buenos Aires that heavy trucks drive in and out of all day long. They are the heart of a plant that is about to start producing energy from agro-industrial waste, for the first time in Argentina.

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Mar 31 (IPS) - Activity in the streets of Zimbabwe’s second city is testimony to a thriving informal sector where thousands of people eke out a living selling all sorts of wares.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday urged private investors businesses, cities, states and regions, to do more to cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions, launching a new group of experts to help with realizing a net-zero future.

The UN and partners on Thursday launched a $1.7 billion Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for South Sudan, to meet the needs of some 6.8 million vulnerable people this year. 

Tokyo, Mar 31 (IPS) - Women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region were adversely impacted due to COVID-19 pandemic responses – with marginalized women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) and gender-based violence (GBV) services profoundly affected.

A new UN initiative aims to promote greater inclusion and acceptance of transgender children, and to advocate for their rights.

“Arboviruses” might not be something most of us are familiar with, but for almost four billion people, they’re a deadly threat – which is why the UN health agency on Thursday, launched a plan to prevent them from causing a new pandemic.