News from the United Nations

• Gaza is now a graveyard and there’s no escape, say UN aid teams December 20, 2024
  Hunger, dire living conditions made worse by heavy winter rains and ongoing hostilities continue to endanger people’s lives in Gaza, which has become “a graveyard”, UN humanitarians warned on Friday. 
• Sudan’s El Fasher siege: UN humanitarians killed as refugee crisis intensifies December 20, 2024
  The ongoing conflict in Sudan - particularly around besieged El Fasher – and a growing refugee crisis on the South Sudan border, have intensified an already alarming humanitarian crisis, according to UN agencies on Friday. 
• Syria transition may fail if support lifeline is delayed, says IOM chief December 20, 2024
  The head of the UN migration agency stressed on Friday that Syria is in no position to take back millions of Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime, while there is an urgent need to “re-evaluate” sanctions impacting the war-ravaged country.
• Security and economic woes plague West Africa, as key elections loom December 20, 2024
  West Africa and the Sahel continue to grapple with a confluence of political, security and humanitarian crises as countries prepares for pivotal elections in 2025, the UN special envoy for the vast region told ambassadors in the Security Council on Friday.
• Syria: Rights investigators call for protection of evidence, including mass grave sites December 20, 2024
  In a landmark mission to Syria, the UN probe into the most serious rights violations committed in the country since 2011 has called on caretaker authorities to take immediate measures to protect mass grave sites and preserve critical evidence.
• Humanity’s fate can't be left to algorithms, UN chief tells Security Council December 19, 2024
  The UN Secretary-General on Thursday urged the Security Council to act decisively to establish international guardrails for artificial intelligence (AI), warning that delays could heighten risks to global peace and security.
• Staggering scale of Sudan crisis ‘demands sustained and urgent attention’ December 19, 2024
  A senior UN humanitarian official on Thursday issued an urgent plea for international support to alleviate the devastating toll of the ongoing war in Sudan, as millions remain in desperate need of aid and protection.
• ‘Dying hungry and in pain’: An increasingly likely outcome in Gaza December 19, 2024
  The head of the UN aid coordination office in Gaza, Georgios Petropoulos, issued a harrowing update on the dire situation in the enclave on Thursday, describing it as "the most dangerous place on earth right now." 
• World News in Brief: Deaths and injuries mount in Ukraine, refugees from Sudan, Vanuatu quake response December 19, 2024
  In Ukraine, the UN continues to provide aid and support to communities impacted by Russia’s full-scale invasion.
• Syria’s new ‘flame of hope’ must not be extinguished: Guterres December 19, 2024
  A flame of hope burns bright today in Syria – but if it’s not carefully managed by both Syrians themselves and the international community, it risks being extinguished.