News headlines in August 2024, page 7

The rights of women in Poland are currently being violated due to restrictive abortion laws that have contributed to “several preventable deaths,” according to independent rights experts on Monday.

Seventy-five years since the ratification of the Geneva Conventions, a former child soldier-turned foreign minister of Sierra Leone has urged greater international support for the key accords, highlighting their importance in rehabilitating him and tens of thousands of his fellow compatriots following the country’s bitter civil war.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced on Monday the arrival of 1.2 million doses of vital polio vaccines in Gaza, amid urgent calls for humanitarian pauses to reach hundreds of thousands of at-risk children.

A new update from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reveals that millions of internally displaced families across Yemen are in critical need of more humanitarian assistance.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine has condemned deadly Russian missile and drone strikes that began overnight and reportedly targeted 15 regions of the country.

In flood-hit Myanmar, UN humanitarians said on Monday that aid teams have begun distributing emergency relief to families affected by monsoon rains in the Ayeyarwady Delta. Some 500,000 people in the key rice-growing region could be affected.

The island nations of the Pacific are “showing the way” to protect the planet from the ravages of climate change and now the rest of the world needs to step up with more support, the UN chief said on Monday.

Against the backdrop of another major escalation across the Blue Line dividing southern Lebanon and Israel on Sunday, the UN’s top Middle East envoy said on Sunday “there is no time to lose” for a ceasefire in Gaza and release of all hostages.

Mariza Ahmadi made a difficult choice three years ago. She had been working as a midwife at the Ahangaran family health house in Bamyan province for just one year when the Taliban seized control of the country in August 2021.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 24 (IPS) - The latest Israeli evacuation order on August 17 led to the displacement of over 13,000 individuals, Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric told a press conference at the UN headquarters.