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With no let-up in the Israeli military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah into Friday, UN humanitarians issued renewed calls for a ceasefire as “the only hope” to avert further bloodshed and restore desperately needed aid deliveries.
Two arson attacks and growing protests forced UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA to temporarily close its office in East Jerusalem this week, but its vital work will continue as war rages in Gaza and violence rises in the West Bank, Senior Communications Manager Jonathan Fowler told UN News on Friday.
With the situation in Rafah “on a knife’s edge”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appealed again on Friday for Israeli and Hamas leaders “to demonstrate political courage and spare no effort” in reaching an agreement to end the war in Gaza and free all hostages.
The UN General Assembly convened again in New York on Friday for an emergency special session on the Gaza crisis and overwhelmingly passed a resolution which upgrades Palestine’s rights at the world body as an Observer State, without offering full membership. It urged the Security Council to give “favourable consideration” to Palestine’s request.
Some 80,000 people have left Rafah since Monday amid continuing Israeli bombardment in and around Gaza’s southernmost city overnight and into Thursday, UN humanitarians reported.
The head of the UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) has temporarily closed its headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem after an arson attack on Thursday following weeks of protests.
Youth from Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Niue, Cook Islands, as well as the Republic of Korea, Japan and China, co-organized the workshop. Gathering in Samoa, participants used strategic foresight tools to think about issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable development.
The young peacebuilders were able to establish cross-regional networks and engage in intergenerational policy discussions, while connecting global efforts like the Paris Agreement to regional frameworks, including the Pacific Islands Forum’s Boe Declaration (2018) and the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.
Participants were encouraged to use foresight to consider various alternative versions of the future and describe elements they believed should be changed or retained in the current system.
Alesana Malo, a PhD student at the University of the South Pacific, said that thinking about the future was not new: “We do it every day when we think about our career, education, or even the next meal, and have been doing it for generations. Strategic foresight is simply a way of system thinking to perceive events of the future: Potential events that can happen, events that are more likely to happen, and finally preferred events.”
Aloma Black, a youth environmentalist and conservationist from Samoa, highlighted that she “learned through the workshop that we share the same vision for our preferred future, but our pathways to get there differs because our contexts differ”.
During the training, the young peacebuilders also engaged in discussions with Government officials from the Samoan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development and the Speaker of the Tongan Parliament, as well as UN staff. They highlighted that it was challenging to articulate the complexities of climate change because of the lack of relevant vocabulary in local languages. Participants also emphasized the relevance of traditional knowledge and proposed the establishment of a central repository for Pacific knowledge, to record and encourage the sharing of Pacific research, cultural values, and traditional knowledge.
Innovative technology was identified as a key factor, facilitating new approaches to foster accelerated green transitions and sustainable development. The youth examined the possibility of expanding the implementation of “smart grids” — an electrical grid that uses digital communications technology to detect and react to local changes in usage — to enhance energy resilience in Pacific communities.
Peter Due, Director of the Asia and the Pacific Division in DPPA, said the workshop contributed to “building peer-to-peer networks and empowering youth leadership and engagement in both regions on pressing issues globally but also regionally”.
Despite already feeling the impact of sea-level rise, extreme weather events, and other evidence of climate change, many remained hopeful that Pacific Islanders would be thriving in their home countries in the future, and one participant, Aloma Black, shared a particularly vivid description of her preferred future: She would like to hear the Manumea — a Samoan bird currently listed as endangered — sing again.
United Nations Resident Coordinator Themba Kaula highlighted that “Young people are not just beneficiaries of development agendas. They are active agents of change, catalysts for progress, and architects of peace and justice”.
With that in mind, participants emphasized the need for more dedicated spaces for meaningful youth participation. Among the points made by participants were that Pacific governments should include youth in government decision-making processes, such as Parliamentarian mentorship programs and paid internships; create Youth Councils; and support young negotiators as part of government delegations to international, regional, and national fora such as the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP).
Nicc Moeano, a PhD student from Samoa at the University of Waikato, stressed that “one of the main things that I learned is that there are no limits for youth to be involved — they can participate in parliaments, they can participate in decision-making processes”. Adding to this, Aloma Black expressed hope that youth at the workshop would “take what they had learned and share it with other youth in their networks” and be “empowered to continue engaging in this work not only at the advocacy level but on the ground with rural youth as well”.
After the workshop the young peacebuilders produced a “Call to Action” containing that will be brought to relevant regional and global stakeholders at events such as COP29, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting CHOGM, the 4th International Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Conference, the Summit of the Future, and other major events. Malo said the youth will “put forward our actionable ideas to Parliamentarians and leaders in the Pacific as well as the whole world, for them to hear our voice and to do something about the impacts of climate change on us — the younger generation and future generations to come”.
Israeli military manoeuvres and shelling continued in and around eastern Rafah in southern Gaza on Wednesday morning as UN humanitarians stressed that “no fuel or aid” is getting into the enclave.
Mr. President,
Distinguished Members of the Security Council,
Mr. President,
Mr. President,
Thank you, Mr. President.
Amid ongoing uncertainty about a ceasefire in Gaza, UN humanitarians have issued new data confirming the war’s deeply damaging impact on women and girls sheltering in Rafah.
Displacement after displacement. That describes the reality facing thousands of Palestinian families in Gaza who took Rashid Street from Rafah to the centre of the Gaza Strip after receiving evacuation orders from Israeli authorities on Monday to move to Al Mawasi, a coastal area of the besieged enclave.
The ongoing conflict between rival militaries in Sudan has stalled progress towards the determination of the final status of the disputed oil-rich Abyei region which straddles the Sudan-South Sudan border, the head of UN peacekeeping operations said on Tuesday.
The UN’s second Trailblazer award for Women Justice and Corrections Officers has gone to Major Ahlem Bouzi, an officer with the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).
The UN Secretary-General on Tuesday reiterated his appeal to Israel to stop any escalation in Gaza, amid reports that its forces have taken over key border crossings in Rafah.
Amid ongoing uncertainty about a ceasefire in Gaza and an escalation of the military operation in Rafah, UN aid agencies expressed deep concerns on Tuesday that the two main access points into the enclave remained closed, while families are scared and “hanging on psychologically and physically by a thread”.
The UN General Assembly on Monday debated Russia’s veto in the Security Council which blocked a draft resolution aimed at preventing a new extraterrestrial arms race.
Donors must continue to support humanitarian efforts to assist millions in need in Yemen, UN agencies and dozens of other aid partners said on Monday.
UPDATED: Amid reports that 100,000 Palestinians have been told to leave Rafah ahead of an anticipated Israeli military operation there and that Hamas has accepted the latest Israeli ceasefire proposal, UN humanitarians on Monday insisted that they had no intention of quitting the vital aid hub.
UN independent human rights experts on Monday issued a stark warning about the ongoing severe violations of women and girls’ rights in Haiti, highlighting the near total impunity of armed gangs amid the ongoing crisis there.
UN mine action experts warned on Monday that even when current hostilities end, the risk remains lethally high for civilians in Gaza from unexploded weapons and contaminated rubble throughout the devastated enclave.
UPDATED: Amid reports that 100,000 Palestinians have been told to leave Rafah ahead of an anticipated Israeli military operation there and that Hamas has accepted the latest Israeli ceasefire proposal, UN humanitarians on Monday insisted that they had no intention of quitting the vital aid hub.
UPDATED: Amid reports that 100,000 Palestinians have been told to leave Rafah ahead of an anticipated Israeli military operation there and that Hamas has accepted the latest Israeli ceasefire proposal, UN humanitarians on Monday insisted that they had no intention of quitting the vital aid hub.
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A woman whose two children were kidnapped on the way to school in Haiti has said she feels a moral obligation to continue her work supporting displaced people despite the trauma the family has experienced
UN agencies issued a joint warning on Friday that time is running out to prevent starvation in Sudan’s Darfur region due to intensifying clashes around the northern capital of El Fasher, which are hindering efforts to deliver life-saving aid.
An Israeli military operation in Rafah “could lead to a slaughter” and cripple lifesaving humanitarian work throughout Gaza, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Friday.
Internally displaced people account for at least 12 of those killed and a further 31 injured when their camps were shelled by M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, on Friday.
The relentless Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has set back Palestine’s overall socio-economic development by more than 20 years, according to a new UN report released on Thursday.
More than 10,000 people are believed buried under the rubble in Gaza after nearly seven months of devastating conflict, UN humanitarians said on Thursday, citing the enclave’s health authorities.
The Palestinian journalists who have been covering the devastating war in Gaza were named winners of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on Thursday.
More than 10,000 people are believed buried under the rubble in Gaza after nearly seven months of devastating conflict, UN humanitarians said on Thursday, citing the enclave’s health authorities.
The relentless Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has set back Palestine’s overall socioeconomic development by more than 20 years, according to a new UN report released on Thursday.
Amid growing international calls for restraint from Israel in Gaza and reports on Wednesday of further deadly strikes overnight, UN humanitarians underscored the ongoing devastating impact of the war and the need to ensure reliable aid supply lines to people in desperate need in the enclave.
Palestine’s recent attempt to become a full member of the United Nations was the focus of discussion in the General Assembly on Wednesday.
Madam President,
Members of the Security Council,
Excellencies,
In July last year, the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs was also invited to brief the Security Council on developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since then, we have observed both positive and worrying developments.
We note the decision of the European Council in March this year to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, based on the European Commission’s assessment of progress made by Bosnia and Herzegovina on key legislative and judiciary reforms. There is consensus among the political leadership in Bosnia and Herzegovina that European integration is the best route for ensuring the country’s future stability and prosperity. The European project has become a unique chance for the continent to bridge divides and shape a stable and prosperous future despite ongoing challenges.
Based on a united commitment towards a stable and peaceful future, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Council of Ministers in late 2022 sought the support of the United Nations through the Peacebuilding Fund to contribute to strengthening social cohesion, respect for diversity, understanding and trust, especially among young women and men in different communities. Met with a positive response by the Secretary-General, initiatives supported by the Peacebuilding Fund have started being implemented, in close cooperation with authorities at all levels and communities across the country. These projects are focused on the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security and the Youth, Peace and Security agendas, as well as community dialogue.
Madam President,
At the same time, in recent months, we have witnessed actions and statements contradictory to the positive developments outlined above.
The Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, who has undertaken official visits to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region over the past years, has noted concerns about repeated threats of secessionism, the promotion of hate speech, the denial of genocide and the glorification of war criminals who were convicted by local and international courts. She recently issued statements on the dangers of these trends and their long-lasting impact on peace and reconciliation in the country. She has stressed the importance of addressing the legacy of the past, including of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Only by promoting the understanding of the past through truth-seeking and accountability, and addressing the root causes and the continued impact of such violence on society, can sustainable peace be achieved.
Madam President,
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice have established that acts of genocide against the Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina were committed in and around Srebrenica in July 1995.
The Secretary-General has consistently called on everyone in the region and beyond to counter hate speech and the rhetoric of division and narratives of mistrust and fear. He said, and I quote, “All communities, all leaders and all organizations — including the media — must make this pledge.”
Many people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have for decades undertaken remarkable work to promote trust and reconciliation in the country. Of course, it is primarily the responsibility of authorities and institutions, at all levels, to help the whole of society constructively deal with the past, to demonstrate respect for all victims and survivors, and to work towards a prosperous and peaceful future for all of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s citizens.
Madam President,
I should like to recall that the United Nations is not a signatory to the Dayton Peace Agreement nor a member of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council. The United Nations is committed to support Bosnia and Herzegovina in its path towards reconciliation, peacebuilding and sustainable development.
Thank you.
