Registration of international NGOs in Palestine: joint statement by High Representative Kallas and Commissioners Lahbib and Šuica

High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, and Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, issued the following statement:   The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to worsen. As winter sets in, Palestinians are left exposed to heavy rain and falling temperatures, without safe shelter. […]

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Amidst uncertainty, a helpline in Pakistan becomes a lifeline for Afghans

She sits among a multilingual team of 40 colleagues, speakers of Pashto, Dari, Persian, Arabic, Urdu and English, in a room filled with monitors and headsets.   Each colleague is connected to a different life, a new fear, a unique story. Many callers are women, mothers with young children, widows, single women who have built […]

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New measures to strengthen cybersecurity resilience and capabilities

  We spend a lot of our time online. This shift to the digital world brings threats as well as opportunities. This includes cyber and hybrid attacks on essential services and democratic institutions, which Europe faces on a daily basis. The Commission has proposed new cybersecurity measures to further strengthen the EU’s resilience and capabilities in […]

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Commissioner Lahbib joins national commemoration in Switzerland for victims of Crans Montana fire

Commissioner for Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib is participating in the official national commemoration honouring the victims of the Crans Montana fire and expressing solidarity with the injured, their families and the communities affected. The ceremony, held in Martigny on the national day of mourning, will bring together the Swiss federal and cantonal authorities, international partners […]

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From lunch tray to lifelong health: WHO sets global standards for school meals

The UN agency’s new global guidance on evidence-based policies and interventions shows that healthy food in schools can help children develop healthy dietary habits for life.  “The food children eat at school, and the environments that shape what they eat, can have a profound impact on their learning, and lifelong consequences for their health and well-being,” […]

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‘We children saw things that no one should ever have to see’ Holocaust survivor tells the UN

Speaking in the General Assembly Hall alongside one of her great grandchildren, Mrs Lazan described her family’s journey from a ‘comfortable’ life in Hoya, northwest Germany, to a detention camp in the Netherlands – and in January 1944, internment in Bergen Belsen concentration camp. Mrs Lazan’s indomitable spirit in the face of the most inhumane […]

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Mozambique floods heighten disease, malnutrition risks – UN agencies

The head of aid coordination office, OCHA, in the country, Paola Emerson, told reporters in Geneva that more than half a million people have been impacted by the floods, triggered by heavy rains in the first weeks of the new year. “The numbers keep rising as extensive flooding continues and dams keep releasing water to […]

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Amid Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, Chad shows ‘act of solidarity’

That’s according to UN human rights chief Volker Türk, who had discussions with over 40 leaders of Sudanese civil society in Northern State’s capital, Dongola, this week.  “But these representatives have also found the solution,” Mr. Türk said in a video on X. “There needs to be an all-out effort, both within Sudan and by the […]

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Statement by Commissioner Lahbib on the demolition of the UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem

I condemn the Israeli decision to forcibly enter and demolish the United Nations Sheikh Jarrah compound held by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) located in East Jerusalem. I urge the Israeli authorities to halt such action, which is in violation of Israel’s obligations resulting from the […]

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New anti-racism strategy pushes for equality for all

  Over the past five years, the EU has made progress in tackling racism, particularly by breaking down barriers created by racial discrimination and by integrating anti-racism efforts throughout all relevant EU policies. But problems persist. And a recent EU survey reveals that two in three citizens still view racial discrimination as a widespread issue in their countries. The European Commission has now […]

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