UNITED NATIONS: Contenders for the next UN secretary-general made their case this week for a United Nations more invested in peace, but avoided taking positions that could antagonize the member states who will choose the world body&#39;s next chief. Chile&#39;s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina&#39;s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica&#39;s Rebeca Grynspan, and Senegal&#39;s Macky Sall are all hoping to succeed Antonio Guterres on January 1, 2027, when his second five-year term ends. Each candidate spent three hours this week answering wide-ranging questions from the 193 member states and representatives of civil society. However, &quot;a lot of diplomats are a bit cynical about the hearings,&quot; Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group told AFP. &quot;There is a widespread suspicion that the US and other vetoes in the Security Council will select a winner in private and minimize the Assembly&#39;s role in the process.&quot; The question-and-answer sessions, dubbed &quot;interactive dialogues,&quot; were introduced in 2016. The General Assembly, where every member state has a seat, can only elect the secretary-general upon the recommendation of the Security Council, where the five permanent members, the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France hold veto power. Much of what the contenders said was &quot;formulaic,&quot; but they did send some &quot;important messages,&quot; according to Gowan. He said Grossi emphasized &quot;how fragile the UN is today&quot; and appeared more &quot;radical&quot; than Guterres on reform. All the candidates stressed the urgent need to restore confidence in a United Nations teetering on the brink of financial collapse. Its relevance has also been called into question in a world facing a level of armed conflict not seen since World War II. Chile&#39;s Bachelet, a former UN human rights chief, said the secretary-general should be &quot;physically present in the field&quot; wherever problems need solving, a position also taken by Grossi. Sall, a former president of Senegal, suggested a &quot;reinvented role&quot; so that the UN might &quot;regain its place at the global table.&quot; Some have criticized Guterres for failing to exert influence over conflicts in Ukraine or the Middle East. Grynspan said the next UN chief &quot;needs to take a risk&quot; and lamented: &quot;We have become a risk-conservative organization.&quot; &quot;The UN only fails when we don&#39;t try, we have to try,&quot; added Grynspan, who, as head of UN Trade and Development, negotiated a deal that facilitated the export of Ukrainian grain following the 2022 Russian invasion. Waiting in the wings&nbsp;The candidates acknowledged the link between the UN&#39;s three pillars of peace, human rights and development, while emphasizing the organization&#39;s primary role in upholding the first tenet. US President Donald Trump has called for the UN to return to its &quot;original mission&quot; of peace. Very few of the questions focused on specific conflicts, and the candidates largely refrained from answering in concrete terms, preferring instead to invoke a commitment to the UN Charter. When asked about Gaza, however, Grynspan urged &quot;unrestricted&quot; entry of humanitarian aid and voiced support for a long-term solution for two states to live side by side in &quot;peace and security.&quot; Sall highlighted the &quot;human tragedy&quot; of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Candidates&#39; past stances and actions will undoubtedly influence the final selection. Republican lawmakers have already called on Washington to block Bachelet due to her defense of abortion rights. Grossi, the current head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is involved in sensitive matters, including the response to Iran&#39;s nuclear program. The five Security Council permanent members remain tight-lipped about their intentions, and other contenders for UN chief might still emerge. &quot;I think that there are still quite a few candidates circling and waiting to see how things play out&quot; before declaring their candidacy, Gowan said.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi talks to the press on a road outside Zaporizhzhia city, after his visit to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on September 1, 2022, amid the Russian invasion 

Americas

Candidates for the next UN secretary-general urge a stronger, peace-focused UN while avoiding controversy, as major powers are expected to heavily influence the final decision.

UN leadership hopefuls stress need for peace and restoring confidence

DHAKA: About 250 people, including children, were feared missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea, the United Nations said on Tuesday.&nbsp;&quot;The trawler, which departed from Teknaf in southern Bangladesh and was on its way to Malaysia, reportedly sank due to heavy winds, rough seas, and overcrowding,&quot; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.&nbsp;Thousands of Rohingya, Myanmar&#39;s persecuted Muslim minority, risk their lives every year fleeing repression and civil war in their country by sea, often aboard makeshift boats.&nbsp;The Rohingya on board the boat were likely leaving huge camps in Bangladesh&#39;s Cox&#39;s Bazar, where more than a million refugees forced to flee Myanmar&#39;s western state of Rakhine live in squalid conditions.&nbsp;Rakhine state has been the scene of fierce fighting between the military and the Arakan Army, an ethnic minority rebel group, over control of the territory.&nbsp;The exact circumstances surrounding the latest incident were unclear, but preliminary information indicated that the vessel was carrying 280 people and left Bangladesh on April 4.&nbsp;&quot;This tragic incident reflects the dire consequences of protracted displacement and the absence of durable solutions for the Rohingya,&quot; the UNHCR statement said.&nbsp;It was also &quot;a reminder of the efforts urgently needed to address the root causes of displacement in Myanmar and create conditions that would allow Rohingya refugees to return home voluntarily, safely and with dignity,&quot; it said.&nbsp;The Andaman Sea stretches along the western shores of Myanmar, Thailand and the Malay Peninsula.&nbsp;Last year, the UNHCR said that 427 Rohingya were feared dead at sea in two shipwrecks off the Myanmar coast in May.

Asia

The United Nations says about 250 people, including children, are feared missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsizes in the Andaman Sea.

About 250 people feared missing after boat capsizes in Andaman Sea: UN

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for respect of nations&#39; political independence following a US military operation in Venezuela that Washington defended as a police action against Caracas&#39;s &quot;fugitive&quot; leader.&nbsp;US forces&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/explosions-heard-in-venezuelas-capital-afp-journalist" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">seized Nicolas Maduro and his wife</a>&nbsp;over the weekend, ending 12 years of increasingly authoritarian rule by the left-wing leader, whom Washington accused of running a cartel and targeted with a $50 million bounty.&nbsp;Guterres urges &quot;respect for the principles of sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of states,&quot; according to remarks read on his behalf by Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo during an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the crisis.&nbsp;&quot;I am deeply concerned about the possible intensification (of) instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted,&quot; the UN chief&#39;s remarks said.&nbsp;Colombia &mdash; a new member of the Security Council that formally requested the meeting, and whose leader, Gustavo Petro, has clashed with Donald Trump &mdash; also expressed concerns about US intentions.&nbsp;The UN Charter permits &quot;the use of force only under exceptional circumstances &mdash; in legitimate defense, in the face of an armed attack or when there is an express authorization by this Council,&quot; said Colombian ambassador Leonor Zalabata Torres.&nbsp;Even then, &quot;this does not amount to assuming political control of another state,&quot; she added.&nbsp;&#39;Era of lawlessness&#39;US Ambassador Mike Waltz defended what he described as a &quot;surgical law enforcement operation facilitated by the US military against two indicted fugitives of American justice, narco-terrorist Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores,&quot; his wife.&nbsp;&quot;As Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio has said, there is no war against Venezuela or its people. We are not occupying a country,&quot; Waltz said.&nbsp;He added, nonetheless, that &quot;you cannot continue to have the largest energy reserves in the world under the control of adversaries of the United States.&quot;&nbsp;US ally Britain called during the meeting for a &quot;safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate government,&quot; with its acting UN representative, James Kariuki, saying Venezuelans &quot;deserve a government which reflects their vote at the ballot box.&quot;&nbsp;Some Security Council members criticized Washington&#39;s actions, including Venezuelan allies&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/china-calls-on-us-to-immediately-release-venezuelas-maduro" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Russia and China</a>, which demanded Maduro&#39;s release.&nbsp;Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia slammed the US operation that seized Maduro as a &quot;harbinger of a turn back to the era of lawlessness and US domination by force.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;We hope that you will abandon double standards and that you will not attempt to justify such an egregious act of aggression,&quot; Nebenzia said.&nbsp;Venezuela&#39;s representative, Samuel Moncada, requested the Security Council&#39;s support in demanding that the United States &quot;fully respect the immunities of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.&quot;&nbsp;Maduro and his wife both appeared at a New York court on Monday, entering pleas of not guilty.

Some Security Council members, including Venezuelan allies Russia and China, demand Maduro's release.

UN chief urges 'respect' for sovereignty at Venezuela emergency meeting

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations has set aside $64.9 million for Pakistan under its 2026 global humanitarian appeal, aimed at assisting 1.9 million vulnerable people in the South Asian nation. The UN and its partners on Monday launched the $33 billion appeal, which prioritizes life-saving support for nearly 87 million people next year, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). The plan seeks to ultimately reach 135 million people across 50 countries through 23 national operations and six regional refugee and migrant response plans. The appeal, titled the 2026 Response Plan and branded &ldquo;Life by Life,&rdquo; allocates funding for countries hit by conflict, climate-driven disasters, epidemics and economic shocks. UNOCHA noted that nearly 98 million people received assistance in 2025 despite deep funding cuts and rising attacks on aid workers. The largest individual appeal is for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, where $4.1 billion is required to support 3 million people facing extreme levels of violence and destruction. Sudan, home to the world&rsquo;s biggest displacement crisis, needs $2.9 billion for 20 million people, while Syria accounts for the largest regional plan at $2.8 billion for 8.6 million people. UNOCHA warned that humanitarian operations have come under severe strain after global funding dropped to a 10-year low in 2025, leaving 25 million fewer people reached compared to the previous year. Over 320 aid workers, mostly local staff, were killed amid conflict and insecurity, the agency said. &ldquo;This appeal sets out where we need to focus our collective energy first: life by life,&rdquo; UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said, adding that the 2026 plan aims to shift more resources to local organizations and put assistance directly into the hands of affected communities.

Economy

The $33 billion humanitarian plan seeks to ultimately reach 135 million people across 50 countries through 23 national operations and six regional refugee and migrant response plans.


$64.9M earmarked for Pakistan under $33B UN humanitarian appeal

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday condemned what it called escalating Israeli violations in the occupied West Bank, including the &ldquo;storming of the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque,&rdquo; warning that the actions breach international law and endanger regional stability.&nbsp;In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Israeli forces and extremist settlers were committing &ldquo;clear violations&rdquo; of international law and relevant UN resolutions. It stressed that &ldquo;the sanctity of all holy sites must be upheld&rdquo; in line with global norms and the &ldquo;recognized historical status&rdquo; of the area.&nbsp;The ministry urged the international community to take &ldquo;effective and immediate measures&rdquo; to halt settler violence, prevent further provocations, and ensure full adherence to UN decisions.&nbsp;Reaffirming Islamabad&rsquo;s long-standing stance, the statement said Pakistan supports a two-state solution that leads to a sovereign and independent Palestinian state, based on pre-1967 borders, &ldquo;with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.&rdquo;

Foreign Affairs

Pakistan condemned escalating Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque raid, calling them violations of international law. Pakistan urged global intervention and reaffirmed support for a two-state solution.

Pakistan condemns Israeli actions, demands protection of Palestinian holy sites

BEIRUT: United Nations peacekeepers said Friday that Israel&#39;s army has built walls in south Lebanon near the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, nearly a year after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.&nbsp;In October, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon surveyed &quot;a concrete T-wall erected by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) southwest of Yaroun. The survey confirmed that the wall crossed the Blue Line, rendering more than 4,000 square metres of Lebanese territory inaccessible to the Lebanese people,&quot; UNIFIL.&nbsp;&quot;In November, peacekeepers observed additional T-wall construction in the area. A survey confirmed that a section of wall southeast of Yaroun also crossed the Blue Line,&quot; it added, urging Israel to withdraw.

Middle East

UN peacekeepers say Israel has built concrete walls in south Lebanon that cross the Blue Line and block Lebanese land, have urged Israel to remove the walls.

UN peacekeepers say Israel built walls inside Lebanon

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday strongly condemned India&rsquo;s &ldquo;weaponization of water,&rdquo; saying the practice threatens regional stability and the basic rights of millions of people in South Asia.&nbsp;The president met United Nations Secretary-General Ant&oacute;nio Guterres on the sidelines of the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha.&nbsp;&ldquo;We face a new threat in the form of water weaponization,&rdquo; President Zardari said in the official statement. &ldquo;Water, which the world recognizes as a fundamental human right, cannot be turned into a tool of pressure. Such tactics cannot and will not succeed.&rdquo;&nbsp;The president&rsquo;s remarks come amid Pakistan&rsquo;s continued concerns regarding India&rsquo;s suspension of key cooperative mechanisms under the Indus Waters Treaty.&nbsp;Signed in 1960 through World Bank facilitation, the agreement allocates the western rivers to Pakistan and the eastern rivers to India. Tensions have risen in recent years as India expanded hydropower projects on the western tributaries, prompting warnings from Pakistan over reduced downstream flows.&nbsp;The situation escalated in April 2025 when India placed the treaty in abeyance following an incident in Indian-occupied Kashmir. A move unprecedented since the treaty&rsquo;s signing. Pakistan has maintained that any attempt to restrict its lawful water share would constitute a grave and unacceptable act.&nbsp;Pakistan People&rsquo;s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who was also present in Doha meeting, said that India&rsquo;s recent actions had already resulted in &ldquo;severe humanitarian and environmental consequences&rdquo; inside Pakistan.&ldquo;India&rsquo;s withdrawal from treaty obligations and withholding of river data has contributed directly to floods and disasters in Pakistan,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It is deeply concerning and demands urgent global attention.&rdquo;&nbsp;During the meeting, President Zardari praised the Secretary-General&rsquo;s leadership and his &ldquo;consistent support for Pakistan&rdquo; in navigating global challenges.&nbsp;He reiterated Pakistan&rsquo;s call for a peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with UN Security Council resolutions and highlighted Pakistan&rsquo;s longstanding role in United Nations peacekeeping missions.&nbsp;Secretary-General Guterres acknowledged Pakistan&rsquo;s contributions to global peace and expressed solidarity with Pakistan in its efforts against terrorism.&nbsp;President Zardari also welcomed the Doha Political Declaration as a step toward renewing international commitment to poverty reduction and social development.&nbsp;He noted that the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) remains a successful model for advancing social inclusion and women&rsquo;s economic empowerment.&nbsp;Reaffirming Pakistan&rsquo;s foreign policy priorities, the president called for the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders and the realization of the Palestinian people&#39;s right to self-determination.&nbsp;&ldquo;Pakistan fully supports the United Nations&rsquo; central role in promoting peace, justice, and prosperity,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and Pakistan&rsquo;s Ambassador to Qatar were present during the meeting.

On Doha summit sidelines, Pakistan’s president meets UN chief, condemns water “weaponization,” raises Kashmir and Palestine, highlights peacekeeping role, and supports global social development efforts.


Pakistan condemns India’s ‘water weaponization’ in meeting with UN chief

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban on Tuesday to restore internet and telecommunications access across the country, saying the blackout imposed by the government in Kabul has left the nation almost entirely cut off from the outside world. The outage, reported the previous day, was the first nationwide shutdown since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 and was part of their professed crackdown on immorality. Earlier this month, several provinces lost their fiber-optic connections after Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree banning the service to prevent immorality. The disruption threatened economic stability and deepened one of the world&rsquo;s worst humanitarian crises, said the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. It warned that the blackout is crippling banking and financial systems, isolating women and girls, limiting access to medical care and remittances, and disrupting aviation. The U.N. said such restrictions further undermine freedom of expression and the right to information. It noted that telecommunications are also crucial during disasters &mdash; Afghanistan has recently suffered major earthquakes in the east and is struggling with mass forced returns from neighboring countries. The U.N. mission said the internet outage spread since it was first imposed by the Taliban on Sept. 16 and became nationwide on Sept. 29. The mission said it would continue to press Afghanistan&rsquo;s de facto authorities to restore access &ldquo;in support of the Afghan people.&rdquo;

Central Asia

The UN mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban to restore nationwide internet and telecom access, warning the blackout threatens banking, healthcare, remittances, aviation, and freedom of expression, deepening the country’s humanitarian crisis after recent earthquakes and mass deportations.

The UN appeals Taliban to restore internet access across Afghanistan

NEW YORK: A senior North Korean diplomat reiterated at the UN Monday that his country won&#39;t give up its nuclear weapons despite numerous demands to do so, calling them crucial to keeping a &ldquo;balance of power&rdquo; with South Korea. &ldquo;We will never walk away from this position,&rdquo; he said. Under the spotlight of the General Assembly&#39;s annual meeting of world leaders, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong amplified his country&#39;s longstanding complaints about US-led military exercises with South Korea and Japan. Complaining that the US and its allies are mounting a &ldquo;growing threat of aggression,&rdquo; he portrayed his own country&#39;s arsenal as the reason &ldquo;the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula is ensured.&rdquo; Still, his address was more tempered, especially toward the United States, than many of his country&rsquo;s prior remarks on the world stage and elsewhere. While Kim lambasted &mdash; without naming names &mdash; &ldquo;hegemonic forces&rdquo; and an &ldquo;indiscriminate tariff war,&rdquo; there were no personal insults, and there was more sternness than over-the-top bellicosity. Kim vowed that &ldquo;we will never give up nuclear,&rdquo; noting that North Korea&rsquo;s nuclear program is enshrined in its constitution. He asserted that security on the Korean Peninsula &ldquo;is faced with serious challenges more than ever,&rdquo; saying that the US-Japanese-South Korean exercises &ldquo;are breaking all the previous records in terms of scale, nature, frequency and scope.&rdquo; The North routinely characterizes such war games as preludes to an attack. South Korea says military exercises are necessarySouth Korea, for its part, has said the recent trilateral military exercises were necessary to counter North Korea&rsquo;s growing nuclear and missile threats. Numerous UN Security Council resolutions have demanded that the North stop building nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Kim&rsquo;s appearance at the United Nations marked the first time since 2018 that North Korea sent a senior diplomat to the General Assembly gathering. The UN, he said, &ldquo;should not feel relieved, nor congratulate ourselves, on the non-occurrence of World War III for the past 80 years. Instead, we should pay due attention to the fact that the inducible threat has persisted and is now becoming more serious, and take measures accordingly. The diplomat&#39;s appearance at the UN comes amid signs of renewed interest in a possible meeting between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and US President Donald Trump. Trump and the North Korean leader met three times in 2018-2019 as Pyongyang was building a nuclear weapons stockpile, which Kim Jong Un views as key to his country&rsquo;s security and his continued authority in the northeast Asian nation. The talks collapsed over US-led sanctions against the North, and its leader has since shunned any diplomacy with the US and South Korea. Since Trump returned to power in January, he has repeatedly expressed hope of restarting talks with Kim. Last Monday, the North Korean leader said he still has &ldquo;good memories&rdquo; of Trump but urged the United States to drop its demand that the North surrender its nuclear arms as a precondition for resuming diplomacy. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said in an Associated Press interview on Friday that President Lee Jae Myung has asked Trump to become &ldquo;a peacemaker&rdquo; and use his leadership to get North Korea to talks to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Cho said Trump &ldquo;expressed his willingness to be engaged with North Korea again.&rdquo; Trump has an Asia visit upcomingTrump is expected to visit South Korea next month to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Trump is also scheduled to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during that meeting. North Korea has always had close ties to neighboring China, but in recent years has focused on expanding cooperation with Russia, another neighbor, by supplying combat troops and ammunition to support its war against Ukraine. The leaders of North Korea and China recently held their first summit in over six years, pledging mutual support and enhanced cooperation. The meeting followed a first-ever joint appearance by the DPRK&rsquo;s Kim, China&rsquo;s President Xi Jinping, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin at a massive Beijing military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At a follow-up meeting in Beijing on Sunday, the foreign ministers of North Korea and China agreed to deepen their bilateral ties and resist &ldquo;hegemonism,&rdquo; an apparent reference to their pushback against the United States.

North Korean diplomat insists his country won't give up nukes at the UN

GAZA CITY: Hamas said a mass walkout of delegations before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&#39;s speech at the United Nations on Friday showed Israel&#39;s &quot;isolation&quot; as a result of the Gaza war. &quot;Boycotting Netanyahu&#39;s speech is one manifestation of Israel&#39;s isolation and the consequences of the war of extermination,&quot; Taher al-Nunu, the media adviser to the head of Hamas&#39;s political bureau, said in a statement.

Articles tagged with "United nations"