News headlines in July 2023, page 3

Humanitarian operations, development support and peace programmes in Niger continue in the wake of the military coup this week, the top UN official in the country said on Friday in a briefing to journalists in New York.

The Assistant High Commissioner for Protection with the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, Gillian Triggs, concluded a four-day visit to Greece on Friday, where she addressed several critical issues concerning refugees and asylum-seekers in the country.

Five prisoners were executed in Kuwait and two in Singapore this week, including the first Singaporean woman to be executed in nearly 20 years, prompting the UN human rights office (OHCHR) to issue a renewed condemnation of the death penalty, urging all Member States to end its use.

An independent UN human rights expert on Friday appealed for Russia to immediately release detained journalist and prominent opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, whose life is at risk due to deteriorating health.

Civilians fleeing attacks by extremist groups in Burkina Faso must be allowed to shelter in neighbouring countries and not sent back, amid a spike in violence and horrifying rights abuses, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.

BUENOS AIRES, Jul 27 (IPS) - Remi Cáceres experienced gender-based violence firsthand. She struggled, got out and today helps other women in Argentina to find an escape valve. But because she is in a wheelchair and is a foreign national, she says the process was even more painful and arduous: "Being a migrant with a disability, it's two or three times harder. You have to empower yourself and it's very difficult."

WASHINGTON DC, Jul 27 (IPS) - When war broke out in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, in April 2023, those of us who know the region well feared what would happen to the west, in Darfur. In 2003, former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir called on the Janjaweed Arab militia to quell an uprising in Darfur.

KAMPALA, Jul 27 (IPS) - Every July, the disability community honors its history, accomplishments, and experiences during Disability Pride Month. One such group is the deaf community in Uganda, which makes up 3.4% of the population.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 27 (IPS) - The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the creature of—and subservient to -- the 193 member states who largely reign supreme in the world body.

But, in reality, Antonio Guterres has been defiant and openly challenged one of the five permanent members of the Security Council lambasting Russia for its 17-month-old invasion of Ukraine.

A South African man who started smoking cannabis when he was 14 years old has been talking about how contracting the hepatitis C virus after graduating to heroin “shocked” him into seeking treatment.