Holocaust Remembrance Day comes amid growing xenophobia | Secretary-general names 5 women to UN leadership spots | UN envoy: Fair election critical to future aid efforts in Somalia
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien says the Syrian government is deliberately blocking humanitarian aid to the country's poorest citizens in violation of agreements. O'Brien urged Security Council members to put pressure on Syria to allow access.
Today marks the United Nations-designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and this year's theme is "Educating for a better future." It comes amid increasing xenophobia against Jews, Muslims and other groups, observers warn.
A flat-pack shelter for refugees designed in partnership by Better Shelter, the IKEA Foundation and the United Nations Refugee Agency has won the prestigious Beazley Design of the Year Award for 2016. The recyclable shelter can house a family of five, and 16,000 shelters have been delivered to displaced populations in Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Iraq, Niger, Nepal, Greece and Macedonia.
The Netherlands has initiated talks with other EU countries to help fund women's health groups losing money under US President Donald Trump's restrictions on aid to groups that provide or discuss abortions. Aid groups in poverty-stricken regions around the globe have expressed fears about losing funding.
Pollution from solid-fuel cookstoves, used by more than 3 billion people globally, may be speeding global warming as well as causing 260,000 premature deaths each year, researchers say. The United Nations-hosted Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is working to replace the stoves with cleaner, safer alternatives.
Newly elected President Adama Barrow has returned to Gambia after the departure of former leader Yahya Jammeh. West African United Nations official Mohammed Ibn Chambas said the new president has asked regional military forces to remain in his country for the next six months.
UN Wire is a free service sponsored by the
United Nations Foundation
which is dedicated to supporting the United Nations' efforts to address the most pressing humanitarian, socioeconomic and environmental challenges facing the world today.
Contact the UN Foundation
Caleb Tiller
Executive Director, Communications and Public Affairs
United Nations Foundation
1750 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 887-9040
www.unfoundation.org