The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has condemned a shooting outside a girls' school in Afghanistan which left two students dead and four people injured, including a teacher.
Catherine Mbengue, UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, said "This is a heinous, cowardly act against students and a teacher whose only crime was to be in school...By attacking students and the teacher, the perpetrators are attacking children's right to education and threatening the very fabric of Afghan society."
More
A United Nations expert says that the human right situation in Somalia is getting worse: hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes, others are being subject to threats, rape and violence.
Ghanim Alnajjar, the Independent Expert on the situation of Human Rights in Somalia, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the current circumstances in the country are much worse than they were when he last briefed the 47-member body in September 2006.More
A new publication by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights aims to serve as a research tool for children's rights advocates.
"This major study documents how the Convention on the Rights of the Child came to represent a sea change in the way the international community was prepared to address the rights of children," said High Commissioner Louise Arbour.
The two-volume Legislative History on the Convention on the Rights of the Child lists among the many major advances ushered in by the Convention recognition, for the first time in a human rights treaty, of the differential and often discriminatory impact that national legislation, policies, attitudes and cultural traditions can have on girls. The Legislative History on the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the first comprehensive record of the drafting of the Convention, according to a news release from Ms. Arbour's office.For more information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, click here and here.
The senior United Nations envoy to Liberia says that the nation's women should not just be looked on as victims of war, but as post-conflict "vanguards of peace."
"Such inclusion can only be achieved through the strengthening of democratic institutions necessary to ensure peace, security, human rights and justice for all," Alan Doss, Special Representative of the Secretary-General Alan Doss and head of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), said.
He also said that bringing together and supporting women's NGOs and groups will "guarantee that women’s voices are heard and heeded in all spheres of life."
For more information on women and peacekeeping, check out SC Resolution 1325 how it increases women's participation in the peace process.
More
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke about the agreement made by the "Group of Eight" to tackle global warming, saying that he "wholeheartedly welcomes that G8 leaders have agreed on a strong and early action to combat climate change."
As they began their three-day summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States have agreed to seek "substantial" cuts in emissions in an effort to tackle climate change, according to media reports.More
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro says that Africa remains off-track in meeting world goals for fighting poverty, and is urging international support for the continent.
Presenting an update on sub-Saharan Africa’s progress towards obtaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - a set of global anti-poverty and development targets to be achieved by 2015 - Ms. Migiro said the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations, currently meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany, provides an opportunity for donor countries to lay out concrete timetables for how they will increase development assistance to African countries.Migiro said that "challenges remain daunting, yet progress is emerging." More
As top officials from the Group of Eight (G8) gathered in Germany for their summit meeting, UNAIDS urged them to show continued leadership on the issue of HIV/AIDS.
The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) "urges the G8 leaders to translate their previous commitments on AIDS into tangible action and to ensure that additional pledges on AIDS reinforce and build on existing" and praised the G8 leaders for their "unprecedented commitments."
More
United Nations General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa says that for gender equality to become a reality in the Middle East, more women must take leadership positions in the public sphere.
"The Middle East is a vast, diverse region and the status of women varies significantly from one country to the other...Women in some parts of the region still face multi-layered discrimination that is deep-rooted in our legal framework, culture and educational system."
More
Hilary Swank, the two-time Academy Award winning actress, kicked off a race--known as the Blue Planet Run--to bring safe drinking water to 20 million people by 2015.
"We're gathered here to acknowledge that for over one billion people on this planet, safe drinking water is simply not available," the Hollywood actress said at the launch in New York of the first-ever around-the-world relay race to raise funds and spread awareness about the need for safe drinking water.Swank also lauded the men and women participating in the race: "Because of your efforts on behalf of the one billion people who struggle daily to get the water they need to stay alive, I know I'll never take a glass of water for granted again." More