News headlines in March 2023, page 11

BANGKOK, Thailand, Mar 20 (IPS) - As we reach the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the Asia-Pacific region’s progress and accelerate efforts to achieve our goals.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 20 (IPS) - Come April 1, a post-Ukraine Russia, will preside over the UN Security Council in a month-long presidency on the basis of alphabetical rotation.

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen announced on Monday the planned release of 887 conflict-related detainees from all sides along with other gains after concluding 10 days of negotiations to address the devastating eight-year-old conflict.

The parties to a watershed political agreement in Sudan – signed in December 2022 – have launched a fresh round of consultations on key challenges facing the country, the senior UN official in Khartoum told the Security Council on Monday, citing several important breakthroughs that have already emerged from that process. 

The head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has underlined on Monday the importance of addressing immediate humanitarian needs in earthquake-affected Syria and Türkiye, and efforts to promote recovery.

Raising alarms that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is heading in the “wrong direction”, a senior UN official appealed to the UN Security Council for unity on Monday, following a spate of missile launches in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

UN agencies on Monday were scrambling to reach millions affected by the deadly tropical cyclone Freddy, which has worsened cholera outbreaks in Malawi and Mozambique as communities recover from devastating damages caused by storms, massive flooding, and mudslides.

Humanitarians have strongly condemned the latest deadly assault on aid workers in South Sudan, urging the Government to step up security and bring those responsible to justice. 

Humanitarians have strongly condemned the latest deadly assault on aid workers in South Sudan, urging the Government to step up security and bring those responsible to justice.

“The most serious human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran over the past four decades” have been committed since the death in police custody of Jina Mahsa Amini on 16 September 2022, Javaid Rehman,the UNSpecial Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran said on Monday.