News from the United Nations

• Haiti’s independence debt to France focus of debate at UN April 19, 2025
  Two centuries to the day after France imposed a crippling debt on Haiti in exchange for its independence, a UN forum heard calls for the restitution of what has long been described as a “ransom” extorted under the threat of force from the Caribbean nation that still bears the scars of colonialism and slavery.
• UN chief urges ‘utmost restraint’ amid escalating violence in Yemen April 19, 2025
  The UN Secretary-General has expressed grave concern over US airstrikes in and around Yemen’s port of Ra’s Isa this week, which reportedly resulted in scores of civilian casualties.
• Myanmar: Thousands remain in crisis weeks after deadly earthquakes April 18, 2025
  Thousands of families in Myanmar remain without shelter, water or medical care three weeks after deadly earthquakes struck the country, as frequent aftershocks compound the suffering of communities already battered by conflict and poverty.
• Gaza: Alongside conflict, an information war is still happening, warns UNRWA chief April 17, 2025
  Amid reported Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip into Thursday that killed at least 23 people, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, issued an urgent call to “get international media into Gaza” to cover the conflict, in addition to those reporters trapped in the enclave. 
• Rise in violence against civilians in South Sudan April 17, 2025
  The number of civilians in South Sudan harmed by conventional parties to the conflict and other armed groups increased by 51 per cent in 2024, the UN Mission in the country (UNMISS) said on Thursday. 
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights among new entries to UNESCO Memory of the World Register April 17, 2025
  The archives of British naturalist Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution by natural selection revolutionized understanding of nature and humanity’s place within it, are among 74 new additions to a UN list of documentary heritage of universal value. 
• Libya’s fragile transition plagued by deepening economic and political divides April 17, 2025
  Libya’s prolonged political transition is facing renewed strain, with mounting economic pressures and tensions between rival governments threatening the calm that has held since the 2020 ceasefire.
• Sudan: No respite for civilians amid unrelenting war and aid access barriers April 17, 2025
  As Sudan’s civil war grinds on, millions of civilians remain trapped in a relentless cycle of displacement, hunger and violence, while relief efforts are stifled by insecurity and bureaucratic hurdles.
• Record hunger in Haiti amid rising needs April 17, 2025
  Escalating armed violence, displacement, economic turmoil and disruptions to local food production are fueling hunger in Haiti and leaving millions at risk, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday. 
• Humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in El Fasher, Sudan April 16, 2025
  Escalating violence and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in and around El Fasher in Sudan continue to be of grave concern, the United Nations said on Wednesday.