Fatwas, faith and fallacies: Myth-busting female genital mutilation in Africa

“Deep down, I knew what I had experienced was not something any girl should go through,” she emphasised.  FGM was once considered an unavoidable rite of passage for young girls in the Mara region of the United Republic of Tanzania, but communities are making inroads. Busting the myth More than 230 million girls and women […]

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Burkina Faso’s Junta Pulls the Plug on Political Life

On January 29, the junta’s Council of Ministers approved a decree dissolving all political parties in the country and a draft law repealing the legislation governing their operations and financing. The minister of territorial administration, Émile Zerbo, said the action is part of a broader effort to “rebuild the state,” following what the junta describes as […]

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‘Human rights cannot wait’: Türk launches $400 million appeal for 2026

He warned Member States that with crises mounting, the world cannot afford a human rights system in crisis.  “The cost of our work is low; the human cost of underinvestment is immeasurable,” he said.  “In times of conflict and in times of peace, we are a lifeline for the abused, a megaphone for the silenced, a steadfast ally to those […]

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Australia’s Albanese Should Raise Israeli Crimes During Herzog Visit

In the wake of the Bondi Hannukah attack, the deadliest mass shooting in Australia in three decades, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to visit, to “engage with members of the Jewish community who are grieving the loss of 15 innocent lives.” President Herzog is Israel’s head of state, with a constitutional and […]

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Guterres welcomes resumption of Iran-US talks

The development follows weeks of tensions surrounding Iran’s nuclear programme and threats of a US military attack.  Delegations headed by US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held indirect talks in Oman, according to media reports.  This marked the first time the sides had met since last June when the US and […]

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Restore and Bolster Congressional Oversight of DHS, ICE, and CBP

Congress approved five of six federal funding bills this week, delaying funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over concerns regarding recent immigration crackdowns, including killings and other abuses. Congress is now negotiating possible reforms for DHS and two of its agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).  The […]

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Concerns persist over herbicide spraying reports on Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel

The development poses a “serious humanitarian risk” to civilians living there, maintained the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), briefing journalists in Geneva. “The use of herbicides raises questions about the effects on local agricultural lands and how this might impact the return of civilians to their homes and livelihoods in the […]

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Greek Coast Guard Under Scrutiny for Migrant Deaths

On February 3, a devastating collision between a Greek Coast Guard vessel and a migrant boat occurred off the Greek island of Chios. The collision, which resulted in 15 deaths and 24 people injured, including 11 children, raises serious questions about the actions of the Greek Coast Guard at sea. Although officials were quick to blame the migrant boat […]

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How AI, gaming and virtual worlds are reshaping Holocaust remembrance

“At the moment, we have an incredibly dispersed and diverse landscape of memory-making, and the more digital we get, the most diverse it gets,” Professor Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden, Director of the Landecker Digital Memory Lab at the University of Sussex, told UN News. As Holocaust survivors age and first-hand testimony becomes rarer, educators, researchers and […]

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Chad: Africa’s refugee haven struggles with its own stark challenges

Here’s what you need to know: Fighting and dire humanitarian conditions triggered by the conflict that erupted among rival militaries in Sudan in April 2023 have so far displaced 14 million people, spilling over to the country’s seven bordering neighbour nations, according to the UN. Few places are feeling the effects of the ongoing war as […]

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