News of united nations

ECLAC downgrades growth projections for Latin America, Caribbean

13-08-2024 15:04 Lower forecast issued for Latin America's economy by UN body, which places blame on "uncertain international context."

MALVINAS SOVEREIGNTY DISPUTE

Mondino reaffirms Malvinas claim, calls for ‘mature’ relationship with UK

18-06-2024 16:56 Foreign Minister Diana Mondino speaks before UN decolonisation committee, which issues fresh call for talks between Buenos Aires and London; President Javier Milei takes to social media to reiterate his support for nation’s top diplomat as rumours over her potential exit continue.

MIGRATION & HUMAN RIGHTS

UN: Number of children fleeing Latin America is soaring

15-05-2024 13:20 More than 30,000 children have crossed the perilous Darien Gap jungle in four months on the path to a better life in the United States, a number up 40% from the same period last year.

Foreign relations & diplomacy

Argentina shifts historic position on Palestine as UN member state

10-05-2024 17:12 President Javier Milei's government votes against recognition of Palestinian state at United Nations, breaking with its normal diplomatic position.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

ECLAC forecasts 3.1% decline for Argentina’s economy this year

09-05-2024 17:56 Argentina growth forecast revised downwards by United Nations body, while regional outlook is improved.

WAR IN MIDDLE EAST

UN Security Council demands 'immediate' ceasefire in Gaza

25-03-2024 11:54 UN Security Council demands 'immediate' Gaza ceasefire for first time; Only United States abstains, 14 other members vote in favour.

Human rights

UN rights chief warns Gaza 'powder keg' could spark wider war

04-03-2024 13:17 Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Volker Türk characterises the Gaza war as a "powder keg" and condemns "great replacement" theories

HUMAN RIGHTS

Venezuela suspends UN rights office, expels staff

15-02-2024 16:27 Two days after the United Nations agency expressed "deep concern" over the detention of a prominent rights activist, Venezuela's Foreign Minister ordered staff at the rights office to leave within 72 hours.

Gaza

UN court tells Israel to protect Gazans, avoids ceasefire call

26-01-2024 11:54 United Nations’ top court tells Israel it must act to immediately prevent the killing and harm to innocent Palestinians in an interim ruling that stopped short of demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Davos forum

Argentina's 'anarcho-capitalist' president descends on Davos

17-01-2024 09:58 President Javier Milei will address the global elite in Davos on Wednesday

CLIMATE CHANGE

New WMO head Saulo says top priority is helping climate-vulnerable countries

04-01-2024 16:58 Argentina’s Celeste Saulo, the first woman to head the World Meteorological Organisation, says her top priority is to help the most vulnerable countries cope with climate change and extreme weather.

FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY

Argentina debuts diplomatic shift under Milei at United Nations

19-12-2023 10:17 Diplomatic shift begins as Milei government takes stronger stance on authoritarian regime at United Nations; Argentina urges "Nicaraguan authorities to immediately release all persons arbitrarily arrested while re-establishing the rights of those deprived of their nationality," in line with European Union countries and the United Kingdom and other nations.

by Juan Gasparini, from Geneva

Foreign Policy & Diplomacy

Biden and Lula to launch workers' rights pact in meeting Wednesday

20-09-2023 07:00 The two presidents are taking further steps to tighten relations based on their mutual support for worker's rights and organized labor

UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

President Fernández uses final UNGA address to reiterate IMF, Malvinas demands

19-09-2023 20:44 President Alberto Fernández demands United States end "inadmissible" economic blockade of Cuba and sanctions applied to Venezuela in final address to United Nations General Assembly as head of state.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Hell becomes heritage: UNESCO honours ex-ESMA detention centre

19-09-2023 15:51 An exercise in memory without hatred has turned the former ESMA Navy Mechanics School, the largest torture and extermination centre during the last military dictatorship’s rein of terror, into a cultural space that hurts but aspires to heal.

HUMAN RIGHTS

UNESCO strives to ensure memory remains part of global heritage

19-09-2023 13:11 While UNESCO has universalist aspirations, memorials are ripe for appropriation for political causes – especially where they touch on bloody events of the past.

Human Rights

Ex-ESMA recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Site

19-09-2023 13:10 Former clandestine detention, torture and extermination camp during era of state terrorism recognised as a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

Human Rights

Ex-ESMA in running to join UNESCO World Heritage list

15-09-2023 14:10 Ex-ESMA Navy Mechanics School, former clandestine detention centre under 1976-1983 military dictatorship and today a museum of memory, among a host of sites in running for United Nations recognition

Human rights

Argentina backs UN rights council condemnation of Quran burnings

12-07-2023 09:38 The UN Human Rights Council voted Wednesday to condemn recent burning incidents of Muslim holy book, but many countries declined to back the resolution, fearing it encroached on free speech. Argentina, China, Cuba, India, South Africa, Ukraine and Vietnam support call.

MIGRATION & HUMAN RIGHTS

Migration 'only option' for many in Latin America, says food aid chief

05-07-2023 12:19 Many people in Latin America see migration as "the only option they have" after enduring successive crises of climate change, Covid and spiking food prices, says World Food Programme's head for the region Lola Castro.

Celeste Saulo interview

Incoming UN climate agency chief forecasts wind of change

03-06-2023 08:34 Celeste Saulo, the head of Argentina's Servicio Meteorológico Nacional since 2014 and the new incoming head of the UN's weather and climate agency, insists it's not too late to change how the climate crisis story ends.

ENVIRONMENT

Celeste Saulo elected first female chief of World Meteorological Organization

01-06-2023 08:42 Celeste Saulo, who has headed Argentina's weather agency since 2014, elected as the first female leader of UN climate agency.

ENVIRONMENT

Argentine in running to be UN weather agency's next chief

31-05-2023 10:13 The World Meteorological Organization, which plays a critical global role in tracking climate change, chooses a new leader this week to turbocharge that work over the next four years. UBA professor and the WMO's first vice-president Celeste Saulo is among the frontunners.

PERU IMMIGRATION

Peru deploys military to block undocumented migrants

27-04-2023 13:20 Peru's president decrees state of emergency at the country's borders and sends troops to reinforce checkpoints and block undocumented migrants making their way north from Chile.

ENVIRONMENT

United Nations reports 'off the charts' melting of glaciers

21-04-2023 09:45 United Nations says world's glaciers melted at dramatic speed last year and saving them is effectively a lost cause.

UNITED NATIONS

UN report criticises ‘structural discrimination’ against Argentina's indigenous

23-03-2023 17:43 United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights highlights repeated “evictions and violent interventions” in new report.

by Api Dhadda

CLIMATE CHANGE

United Nations issues urgent warning on climate

20-03-2023 18:31 UN estimates will cross the key 1.5-degree Celsius global warming limit in about a decade

UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG

IAEA board backs Grossi as head for second term to 2027

10-03-2023 13:38 United Nations nuclear watchdog's 35-nation board votes for Argentina's Rafael Mariano Grossi to serve as director general for a second term, until 2027.

BLOOMBERG - OPINION

Why climate change is the greatest threat to human progress

07-03-2023 15:00 The Human Development Index is flashing red for the first time in three decades and adding to the urgency of reducing greenhouse gases.

FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico 'deeply concerned' by new Israeli West Bank plan

17-02-2023 16:58 Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico express "deep concern" over Israeli government's decision to legalise new settlements in the West Bank.

FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY

40 nations urge Israel to lift 'punitive' sanctions on Palestinians

16-01-2023 23:01 Argentina among some 40 nations calling on Israel to lift sanctions it imposed on the Palestinian Authority earlier this month.

ARGENTINA

UN investigator meets with government, issues statement on extrajudicial killings

25-11-2022 22:30 UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Morris Tidball-Binz calls on Argentina to “step up efforts to prevent and investigate unlawful deaths” at the conclusion of 11-day visit.

by Sam Forster

Lithium in Latin America

'We don't eat lithium': Latin America longs for benefits of metal boon

27-10-2022 18:08 Global demand has exploded for lithium – the "white gold" found in huge quantities in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. But in Latin America's "lithium triangle," there are growing concerns about the impact on regional groundwater sources and doubts about whether the benefits of a metal bonanza will truly local communities near plants, many of whom live in poverty.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

ECLAC: Latin American economy will grow 3.2% in 2022

20-10-2022 00:34 ECLAC said all subregions will face a growth slowdown next year, with South America expecting growth of 1.2% in 2023 compared to 3.4% this year.

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Pope urges UN reform after Ukraine war, Covid 'limits'

16-10-2022 10:44 The United Nations is no longer fit for "new realities," writes Pope Francis in soon-to-be released book.

INTERNATIONAL DEBT

United Nations: 54 poor nations urgently need debt relief

11-10-2022 12:56 United Nations Development Programme warns dozens of developing nations are facing a rapidly deepening debt crisis and that "the risks of inaction are dire."

FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY

Argentina abstains from UN vote on Xinjiang abuses debate

07-10-2022 00:06 UN Human Rights Council votes against holding a debate on alleged widespread abuses in China's Xinjiang region after intense lobbying by Beijing; Argentina abstains from ballot.

ARGENTINA

Argentina 'must maximise resources to defend human rights,' says UN expert

06-10-2022 16:33 Visiting United Nations envoy Attiya Waris calls on authorities to ensure financial pressures do not affect the defence of human rights.

by Sam Forster

Human rights

Venezuela rejects UN report alleging crimes against humanity

26-09-2022 21:31 UN's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela said last week that military and state intelligence services were part of a scheme "supported by senior authorities" to stifle opposition dissent.

HUMAN RIGHTS & VENEZUELA

UN committee releases damning report on human rights abuses in Venezuela

24-09-2022 08:00 Human rights watchdogs call for increased international pressure on government in Caracas following damning United Nations report; Pressure grows on Argentina to revise relations with Maduro administration.

by Sam Forster

And that reminds me...

Another UN (General Assembly) bites the dust

24-09-2022 07:26 President Alberto Fernández's maiden live performance at the UN General Assembly caused more of a splash here than in New York and on the basis of a domestic rather than international issue.

by Michael Soltys

BRAZIL ELECTION 2022

Brazil more isolated after four years of Bolsonaro

21-09-2022 09:09 Political analysts say the international influence of Latin American giant Brazil has shrunk under President Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right incumbent fighting an uphill battle to win re-election next month.

UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

President warns UN leaders of threat from political violence

20-09-2022 22:21 Alberto Fernández addresses attempted assassination of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on world stage for first time, as he calls for greater global solidarity on efforts to tackle political violence and food insecurity.

FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY

President Fernández to attend UN General Assembly in New York

15-09-2022 16:37 Peronist leader will deliver speech before UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, before heading to Houston for talks with energy industry leaders. Postponed meeting with US President Joe Biden has not been rescheduled for this trip.