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Otto and Jayden (7A) researching the Right to Education

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Otto and Jayden (7A) researching the Right to Education

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Syed and Kirtiman (7A) researching Freedom from Discrimination 

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Syed and Kirtiman (7A) researching Freedom from Discrimination 

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These are fantastic posters 7a! Well done for such inspiring work! We look forward to meeting some of you in MUN next year! Mrs Shelton

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Ayden (7A) researching about the Freedom of Speech 

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Ayden (7A) researching about the Freedom of Speech 

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Sundus and Devanee (7A) researching Human Rights (Right for Freedom from Slavery) after the MUN assembly. 

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Sundus and Devanee (7A) researching Human Rights (Right for Freedom from Slavery) after the MUN assembly. 

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 Five takeaways from the travel ban is the world negotiating with Trump or is Trump negotiating with the world 

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 Five takeaways from the travel ban is the world negotiating with Trump or is Trump negotiating with the world 

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President Trump issued an updated travel ban on Monday aimed at moving past the legal battles that have consumed his young administration.

Legal experts say the revised executive order, which prohibits people from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for 90 days and halts U.S. refugee resettlement for 120 days, is far more likely than the old one to stand up in court.

New language, such as dropping Iraq from the list of banned countries, isn't the only major difference this time around. Trump signed the order behind closed doors, for example, and the policy won't take effect for 10 days.

Here are five takeaways from Trump's new travel ban.
Court ruling served as playbook
It's clear that the Trump administration used a ruling from a federal appeals court as a playbook for reviving the order.

States challenging the original ban argued that their residents were directly harmed because families were being separated, green-card holders were stranded abroad and foreign scholars and students with valid visas in the U.S. were afraid to leave the country.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and put the policy on hold nationwide.

But the revised order explicitly exempts legal permanent residents and those who already have a valid visa to come to the U.S. That language could take away a major chunk of a state's legal standing for bringing a lawsuit.

"This is a much improved draft," said Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University Law School. "This order takes the edges off."

Another key change is that the ban removes an indefinite restriction on the admission of Syrian refugees and instead just halts all refugee admissions to the U.S. for four months.

The administration also stripped language that would give preference to religious minorities - such as Christians from the Middle East - once refugee resettlement resumes. That provision gave fuel to critics who labeled the previous order a Muslim ban.

The new policy also includes a specific list of who may qualify for a waiver to the executive order, which can be provided on a case-by-case basis.

The examples appear squarely aimed at some of the most controversial cases of travelers being turned away, such as an Iranian baby with a serious heart defect whose family was en route to get medical care in the U.S. when they got caught up in the initial travel ban.
The White House learned from its mistakes
The White House has learned its lesson from the first messy rollout, which ignited dozens of legal challenges and sparked chaos at airports across the country.

Key officials and GOP lawmakers were reportedly not briefed before the original ban took effect, while some travelers en route to the U.S. were detained at airports amid confusion over whom the policy applied to.

The administration said it has worked closely with all relevant agencies to ensure a smooth implementation this time around.

Instead of taking effect immediately, the ban won't take hold until March 16, giving customs agents, travelers, airlines and airports more than a week to prepare.

The White House also briefed reporters hours before Trump signed the order and said it will be issuing further guidance to airlines and other stakeholders.

"[Customs and Border Protection] will hold executive level calls with airlines in order to provide guidance, answer questions, and address concerns," the administration said in a fact sheet. "CBP will issue guidance and contact stakeholders to ensure timely implementation consistent with the terms of the Executive Order."

The new ban also spells out exactly who is exempt, emphasizing "in transit" travelers will not be denied entry and that valid visas will not be revoked.
The original travel ban is dead
The new order revokes the original travel ban, effectively killing that policy.

"In my view, that first executive order is dead as Dillinger," Turley said.

Justice Department officials insisted Monday that there was "nothing wrong" with the original ban but said that they expect legal challenges to the original order to be "mooted."

"In order to avoid spending additional time pursuing litigation, I am revoking Executive Order 13769 and replacing it with this order," the new order says.

That doesn't mean Trump's legal woes are over. Opponents can still re-file challenges to the new ban, and judges could implement another restraining order.

But Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D), who led the lawsuit against the ban, cautioned that they are still weighing their next steps before the order takes effect.

"It's going to be a tougher case for the plaintiffs than before, no question about it," said Jay Holland, civil rights attorney with Joseph Greenwald & Laake.
Question over terrorism threat is still key
One of the chief complaints from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was that the administration failed to prove that the nations listed in the original ban posed a heightened risk of terrorism.

And an internal report from the Department of Homeland Security found that few people from those countries had actually been involved in terrorism-related activities in the U.S. since 2011, adding that citizenship is not a reliable indicator of threat.

The new policy makes a much greater effort to justify the travel ban but could still leave questions for the courts.

The order says "hundreds of persons born abroad have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes in the United States" since 2001 and points to two recent examples.

It also cites 300 active FBI anti-terror investigations into individuals admitted into the U.S. as refugees.

But a senior Justice Department official said that the number was "global" and declined to provide specific information about the nationality of those 300 individuals - leaving it unclear how many are from the six nations with restricted travel.
It opens the door for other travel restrictions
The new policy opens the door for Trump to impose other travel restrictions in the future.

The White House plans to review national security risks and beef up immigration vetting procedures while travel for certain foreign nationals and refugees remains suspended.

After that, the Homeland Security and State departments "may submit to the President the names of any additional countries recommended for similar treatment, as well as the names of any countries that they recommend should be removed."
Katie Bo Williams and Jordan Fabian contributed to this report.

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Five takeaways from Trump's new travel ban

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President Trump issued an updated travel ban on Monday aimed at moving past the legal battles that have consumed his young administration. Legal experts say the revised executive order, which prohibits people from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for 90 days and halts U.S.

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It's busy!

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sober thinking ....

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The world's eight richest billionaires control the same wealth between them as the poorest half of the globe's population, according to a charity warning of an ever-increasing and dangerous concentration of wealth.

In a report published to coincide with the start of the week-long World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Oxfam said it was "beyond grotesque" that a handful of rich men headed by the Microsoft founder Bill Gates are worth $426bn (£350bn), equivalent to the wealth of 3.6 billion people.

The development charity called for a new economic model to reverse an inequality trend that it said helped to explain Brexit and Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election.

Oxfam blamed rising inequality on aggressive wage restraint, tax dodging and the squeezing of producers by companies, adding that businesses were too focused on delivering ever-higher returns to wealthy owners and top executives.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) said last week that rising inequality and social polarisation posed two of the biggest risks to the global economy in 2017 and could result in the rolling back of globalisation.

Oxfam said the world's poorest 50% owned the same in assets as the $426bn owned by a group headed by Gates, Amancio Ortega, the founder of the Spanish fashion chain Zara, and Warren Buffett, the renowned investor and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway.

The others are Carlos Slim Helú: the Mexican telecoms tycoon and owner of conglomerate Grupo Carso; Jeff Bezos: the founder of Amazon; Mark Zuckerberg: the founder of Facebook; Larry Ellison, chief executive of US tech firm Oracle; and Michael Bloomberg; a former mayor of New York and founder and owner of the Bloomberg news and financial information service.

Last year, Oxfam said the world's 62 richest billionaires were as wealthy as half the world's population. However, the number has dropped to eight in 2017 because new information shows that poverty in China and India is worse than previously thought, making the bottom 50% even worse off and widening the gap between rich and poor.

With members of the forum due to arrive on Monday in Switzerland, where guests will range from the Chinese president Xi Jinping, to pop star Shakira, the WEF released its own inclusive growth and development report in which it said median income had fallen by an average of 2.4% between 2008 and 2013 across 26 advanced nations.

Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark filled the top five places in the WEF's inclusive development index, with Britain 21st and the US 23rd. The body that organises the Davos event said rising inequality was not an "iron law of capitalism", but a matter of making the right policy choices.

The WEF report found that 51% of the 103 countries for which data was available saw their inclusive development index scores decline over the past five years, "attesting to the legitimacy of public concern and the challenge facing policymakers regarding the difficulty of translating economic growth into broad social progress".

Basing its research on the Forbes rich list and data provided by investment bank Credit Suisse, Oxfam said

the vast majority of people in the bottom half of the world's population were facing a daily struggle to survive, with 70% of them living in low-income countries.

It was four years since the WEF had first identified inequality as a threat to social stability, but that the gap between rich and poor has continued to widen, Oxfam added.

"From Brexit to the success of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, a worrying rise in racism and the widespread disillusionment with mainstream politics, there are increasing signs that more and more people in rich countries are no longer willing to tolerate the status quo," the report said.

The charity said new information had shown that poor people in China and India owned even fewer assets than previously thought, making the wealth gap more pronounced than it thought a year ago, when it announced that 62 billionaires owned the same wealth as the poorest half of the global population.

Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam GB, said:"This year's snapshot of inequality is clearer, more accurate and more shocking than ever before. It is beyond grotesque that a group of men who could easily fit in a single golf buggy own more than the poorest half of humanity.

"While one in nine people on the planet will go to bed hungry tonight, a small handful of billionaires have so much wealth they would need several lifetimes to spend it. The fact that a super-rich elite are able to prosper at the expense of the rest of us at home and overseas shows how warped our economy has become."

Mark Littlewood, director general at the Institute of Economic Affairs thinktank, said: "Once again Oxfam have come out with a report that demonises capitalism, conveniently skimming over the fact that free markets have helped over 100 million people rise out of poverty in the last year alone."

The Oxfam report added that since 2015 the richest 1% has owned more wealth than the rest of the planet. It said that over the next 20 years, 500 people will hand over $2.1tn to their heirs - a sum larger than the annual GDP of India, a country with 1.3 billion people. Between 1988 and 2011 the incomes of the poorest 10% increased by just $65, while the incomes of the richest 1% grew by $11,800 - 182 times as much.

Oxfam called for fundamental change to ensure that economies worked for everyone, not just "a privileged few".

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World's eight richest people have same wealth as poorest 50%

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The world's eight richest billionaires control the same wealth between them as the poorest half of the globe's population, according to a charity warning of an ever-increasing and dangerous concentration of wealth.

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In Model UN, you'll be discussing some of the hundreds of topics available, which can be intimidating! Most research sourcing talking about these complex global issues are written for scholars and professionals, not students! However, we're hoping to make that process much easier for you. By focusing on the five main sections of research for Model UN, you can walk into committee armed with all the knowledge you need to represent your country and write an incredible resolution.

When researching for Model UN, you should think about five different types of research:

1. Country Profile

2. Topic Background

3. Past International Action

4. Country Policy

5. Possible Solutions

Your research across these five categories should all go in to your "Research Binder", which you should put together to prepare for a conference. Read more about what to include in a research binder here!

Country Profile

To get started with research, its important to understand the country you're representing- where it is, who lives there, who your allies are, what type of government your country has, and more. Together, the answers to these countries comprise your "Country Profile". Here are some guiding questions to get you started:
Physical Geography
What is your country's official name?
What region of the world is your country located in?
How big is your country? (square miles)
Who are your country's neighbors?
How would you describe your country's physical features and climate?
Politics and Government
When was your country founded?
What type of government does your country have?
Who are some of your country's leaders?
How many people serve in your country's military?
Who are your country's allies? Enemies?
What is your country's capital?
Culture
What is your country's population?
What is your country's ethnic composition?
What is your country's official language?
What other languages are spoken?
What are some of the major cities?
Economy
How would you describe the quality of life in your country?
What is your country's total Gross Domestic Product?
What are some of your country's natural resources?
What is your country's currency?
What are your country's major imports and exports?
What are your country's biggest trading partners?

To find the answers to these questions and more, we recommend you use our Country Profile Map!

Topic Background

Aside from your Country Profile, the other step to get started is to gain a basic understanding of the topic you'll be discussing. To do this, you should research your Topic Background. Some of the best resources for your topic background will be specific to your topic- websites about your issue in particular, or books about the topic for your committee! To properly research your topic background, make sure you can fulfill three key steps:

1. Clearly define what the topic is.

2. Identify the key terms related to the topic, and answer key questions about the topic such as "What causes this issue?", "Who is impacted by this issue?", and "Where is this issue most prevalent?".

3. Make sure you're using credible sources of information to understand your topic- don't just use Wikipedia, the news, or blogs!

Interested in how to write the Topic Background section in a Position Paper? Check out our article about it!

Past International Action

One of the most important things to understand when discussing any topic in Model UN is what the United Nations and international community has already done about the topic. You don't want your solutions to be redundant, and you want to make sure you're aware what the world already has, and hasn't done. Past international action can come in the form of UN resolutions, international conventions and treaties, or actions by NGOs and international organizations. Here are some resources to help you find the past international actions related to your topic, or you can check out our article about using UN sources to research your topic!
Past UN Resolutions
International Conventions and Treaties
Reports of the Secretary General
Reports of the Economic and Social Council
Plus, our NGO Guide details the work of over 100 NGOs over a broad range of issues, so you can see what Civil Society is doing about your topic already.

Interested in how to write the Past International Action section of your Position Paper? Check out our article about this section!
Member States on the Record: Speeches at the United Nations
Member State Votes on Resolutions
Signature/Ratification Status for Each Country of Important Conventions and Treaties
Country Policy

Once you have a decent understanding of the topic and your country, you take this knowledge together and learn what your "Country Policy" is on your topic. Your Country Policy is what your country thinks should be done, or not done, about the issue, and how this topic impacts your country. This means determining if your country is in favor of solutions that have been proposed or resolutions that have been passed, or if your country has been advocating at the UN for policies.

A good starting place to learn your country policy is to research what your country's government, foreign ministry, or UN mission have said about the topic on their website. Use our Country Profile and Policy Map to check out these websites for your country! Other resources to use from the UN include the following:

Possible Solutions

The most important part of researching for a Model UN conference, and often the most forgotten, is to research Possible Solutions to help resolve the issue your committee is discussing. The solutions aren't what your country wants to do for itself- that would never need to be discussed at the UN. Instead, you should consider what your country wants the United Nations to do about the issue worldwide. Feel free to use your own creativity to think of ideas, and find reasons why they would work that you can use in speeches, and later in your resolutions in committee.

All resolutions should be realistic, and can even build on past solutions the UN has tried- maybe you want to expand a program worldwide that was previously local. Maybe you think that a specific solution needs more support or funding. Feel free to include existing UN action in your solutions, but new and creative ideas are always welcome as well! Aside from the United Nations and Member States, other good places to look for solutions are in the existing work of NGOs ( check out our NGO Guide here), through various Think Tanks worldwide, and in university publications.
General Research on Countries African Countries Asian & Middle Eastern Countries European Countries North & South American Countries United States of America
Other Resources
Peace and Security Development: Economic and Environmental Development: Humanitarian and Health Human Rights International Law
Structure and Publications of the United Nations

General Assembly Committees and Main UN Organs

UN Specialized Agencies, Programs, and Funds

Country Profile Links

Links by Topic Category

News Sources

Think Tanks & Policy Groups

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In Model UN, you'll be discussing some of the hundreds of topics available, which can be intimidating! Most research sourcing talking about these complex global issues are written for scholars and professionals, not students! However, we're hoping to make that

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Thank you to Mrs MOLONEY and Mrs Shelton for organising us to go to it. It was a very memorale first conference. 😁😁😁

That's very kind - and you are very welcome! A big thank you to the student leaders and to Mrs moloney and mr Magdeburg who accompanied you.! Well done

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Top tips helping with resolution writing

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Highlights of QLC training!

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DBS MUN Executive Team and Directors took part in this year's Qatar Leadership Conference held 20th to 22nd October. The Qatar MUN and Media Leadership conference is a joint project between Northwestern University in Qatar and THIMUN Qatar. The Leadership Conference offers one of the largest professional development conferences in the Middle East with over 100 presenters annually.

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MUN leaders in action!

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Writing resolutions!

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Gets you thinking

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And nowadays democracy

Is hipocracy

only what a rich man see

He cant have all that power

He destroy the world in an hour

He wants his name

to be chanted louder

Its unfair

A good dictator is too rare

To find one ill shoot my flare

But the result is something i cant bare

Trump, hillary

They're all a walking felony

Their control is drillin me

Their promises are filled with gaps

All they want is claps

But im throwin em raps

Back to back debating

All the people they're degrading

Real politics is fading

But this problem is ancient

The only good exists

In the united nations

The key is patience

What the league couldnt do

Was prevent ww2

But then peace grew

Who knew?

No more red or white

No we wavin blue

Still got some problems

But we workin it through

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What can we do to tackle climate change?

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2016 will very likely be the hottest year on record and a new high for the third year in a row, according to the UN. It means 16 of the 17 hottest years on record will have been this century.

The scorching temperatures around the world, and the extreme weather they drive, mean the impacts of climate change on people are coming sooner and with more ferocity than expected, according to scientists.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report, published on Monday at the global climate summit in Morocco, found the global temperature in 2016 is running 1.2C above pre-industrial levels. This is perilously close to to the 1.5C target included as an aim of the Paris climate agreement last December.

The El Niño weather phenomenon helped push temperatures even higher in early 2016 but the global warming caused by the greenhouse gas emissions from human activities remains the strongest factor.

What is the Paris agreement?

It's a climate change accord agreed by nearly 200 countries in December 2015, which came into force on 4 November 2016. The agreement commits world leaders to keeping global warming below 2C, seen as the threshold for safety by scientists, and pursuing a tougher target of 1.5C. The carbon emission curbs put forward by countries under Paris are not legally-binding but the framework of the accord, which includes a mechanism for periodically cranking those pledges up, is binding. The agreement also has a long-term goal for net zero emissions which would effectively phase out fossil fuels.

"Another year. Another record," said WMO secretary-general, Petteri Taalas. "The extra heat from the powerful El Niño event has disappeared. The heat from global warming will continue."

"Because of climate change, the occurrence and impact of extreme events has risen," he said. "'Once in a generation' heatwaves and flooding are becoming more regular."

The WMO said human-induced global warming had contributed to at least half the extreme weather events studied in recent years, with the risk of extreme heat increasing by 10 times in some cases.

"It is almost as if mother nature is making a statement," said climate scientist Michael Mann, at Penn State University in the US. "Just as one of the planet's two largest emitters of carbon has elected a climate change denier [Donald Trump] - who has threatened to pull out of the Paris accord - to the highest office, she reminds us that she has the final word."

"Climate change is not like other issues that can be postponed from one year to the next," he said. "The US and world are already behind; speed is of the essence, because climate change and its impacts are coming sooner and with greater ferocity than anticipated."

The record-smashing heat led to searing heatwaves across the year: a new high of 42.7C was recorded in Pretoria, South Africa in January; Mae Hong Son in Thailand saw 44.6C on 28 April; Phalodi in India reached 51.0C in May and Mitribah in Kuwait recorded 54.0C in July. Parts of Arctic Russia also saw extreme warming - 6C to 7C above average.

Arctic ice reached its equal second-lowest extent in the satellite record in September while warm oceans saw coral mortality of up to 50% in parts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Extreme weather and climate related events have damaged farming and food security, affecting more than 60 million people, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The level of CO2 in the atmosphere has also broken records in 2016, with May seeing the highest monthly value yet - 407.7 ppm - at Mauna Loa, in Hawaii.

The forecast for 2017 is another very hot year, but probably not a record breaker.

"As the El Niño wanes, we don't anticipate that 2017 will be another record-breaking year," said Dr Peter Stott at the UK's Met Office. "But 2017 is likely to be warmer than any year prior to the last two decades because of the underlying extent of [human-caused] warming due to the increasing atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases."

However, another analysis released at the UN summit in Morocco showed that global carbon emissions have barely grown in the last three years, following decades of strong growth. The main reason is China burning less coal.

Global emissions graphic

Professor Corinne Le Quéré, at University of East Anglia in the UK, who led the analysis, said: "This third year of almost no growth in emissions is unprecedented at a time of strong economic growth. This is a great help for tackling climate change but it is not enough. Global emissions now need to decrease rapidly, not just stop growing."

The WMO's temperature analysis combines the three main records, from the Met Office, Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and stretches back to 1880.
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cop 22: un climate change conference | marrakech

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2016 will be the hottest year on record, UN says

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2016 will very likely be the hottest year on record and a new high for the third year in a row, according to the UN. It means 16 of the 17 hottest years on record will have been this century.

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Here Are the Candidates for the Next U.N. Secretary-General

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Here Are the Candidates for the Next U.N. Secretary-General

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I vote for Saniya! 😜

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Here Are the Candidates for the Next U.N. Secretary-General

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When are we going to find a solution for this issue?
The world certainly seems so heartless at the moment .... 😪 Mrs Shelton

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A number of children and pregnant women were among the 240 people reported to have drowned off the coast of Libya while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea this week, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.

In a news release, UNICEF's Helena Rodriguez, a gynaecologist and cultural mediator (an interpreter of cultural needs and practices) working with Italian health workers to assist rescued from the sea spoke of the loss and suffering of the survivors brought to the Italian island of Lampedusa yesterday.

"It is an awful situation here," said Ms. Rodriguez.

Speaking, in particular, of the anguish of a young Liberian woman who lost her two-year-old son, 13-year-old daughter and 21-year-old brother - all of whom drowned when their boat capsized, the UNICEF official said:

"The tragedy has left this young woman in a state of deep shock after she saw her children and her young brother drown in front of her."

Smugglers shot at them and forced them to go. This is why so many people drowned just 12 km from the Libyan shore

"Even though she had paid smugglers $2,400 for her family to make the crossing from Libya to Italy, when she and others saw the completely unseaworthy boat, they refused to get in because they were afraid. But the smugglers shot at them and forced them to go. This is why so many people drowned just 12 km from the Libyan shore," she added.The Liberian woman, one of 29 survivors brought to the island, is also suffering from acute pneumonia.

According to UNICEF, two other women who were saved by the same Norwegian rescue vessel also lost their children at sea. Most of the victims were from Senegal, Liberia, Guinea, and Nigeria.

Additionally, the UN agency noted that those rescued were in difficult physical and psychological condition upon arrival - with some in a coma and others suffering from severe burns due to exposure to engine fuel.

It added that 2016 is set to be the deadliest year on record for the Mediterranean with more than 4,200 refugees and migrants having died attempting the dangerous journey across the sea. Nearly 160,000 have arrived to Italy by sea so far this year.

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Pregnant women, children among the victims in latest Mediterranean tragedy - UNICEF

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A number of children and pregnant women were among the 240 people reported to have drowned off the coast of Libya while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea this week, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.

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Which goals can we do to show solidarity with the UN global goal aims?

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A convoy from the UN into Yemen, urges a 72 hour ceasefire extension to help people.
What's the long term solution here? Mrs Shelton

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"The ceasefire was largely holding despite reported violations from both sides in several areas," said the Special Envoy, Ismail OuldCheikh Ahmed, in a statement.

"We noted over the last days that food and humanitarian supplies were provided to several affected neighborhoods and that UN personnel were able to reach areas that were previously inaccessible. We would like to build on this and we aim for a wider outreach in the next few days," he added.

Our aim is that it will lead to a permanent and lasting end to the conflict

Yemen is one of the poorest countries on earth and the 18-month-old conflict has had a terrible effect on its people, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which estimates that nearly half the population - or just over 12 million people - are now in need of some form of assistance.

Earlier this year, the Yemeni parties agreed on the terms and conditions of the Cessation of Hostilities, which went into effect on 10 April 2016, but violations have occurred. The United Nations had since facilitated peace negotiations in Kuwait between a Yemeni Government delegation and a delegation of the General People's Congress and Ansar Allah. But the talks ended on 6 August.

According to the Special Envoy, all Yemeni parties have recently assured him that they would recommit to the terms and conditions of the Cessation of Hostilities, and it re-entered into force at 23:59 Yemen time on 19 October 2016, for an initial period of 72 hours, subject to renewal.

The Special Envoy reminded all parties that these terms and conditions include an obligation to allow free and unhindered access for humanitarian supplies and personnel to all parts of Yemen, in addition to a full and comprehensive halt to military activities of any kind. "This must be respected at all times, in all areas," he said.

Furthermore, he reiterated his call for the immediate reactivation of the De-escalation and Coordination Committee (DCC) and the deployment of its members to Dhahran Al Janoub as agreed during the talks held in Kuwait.

"I expect all sides to strictly adhere to their commitments and work toward a definitive cessation of violence through a political process. In case parties agree to the extension, the Cessation of Hostilities must be fully respected," he said. "Our aim is that it will lead to a permanent and lasting end to the conflict."

"Yemenis deserve to live in peace and have access to their basic rights and all parties must assume their responsibility in protecting them," he concluded.

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Yemen: UN envoy urges 72-hour extension of ceasefire

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With the 72-hour cessation of hostilities in Yemen coming to an end, the United Nations envoy for Yemen today urged all warring parties to agree to its extension for at least another renewable 72 hours so that humanitarian supplies continue to reach people affected by the ongoing conflict there.

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According to the UN.... and he wants to be leader of the 'free world'....? Good grief ...

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Donald Trump is "peddling lies and xenophobia" by claiming "many" refugees have links to ISIS, says a top UN investigator. The claims are "analytically and statistically unfounded" according to UN Special Rapporteur on counter terrorism and human rights Ben Emmerson.

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Interesting to learn how the UN is made up .....

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MUN student leaders super excited about #QLC16

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MUN student leaders super excited about #QLC16

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Qncc work! Leadership muners are very dedicated!

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As endorsed by the UN, World Poetry Day celebrates freedom of speech, creativity and independence. It falls on March 21st every year.

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The observance of World Poetry Day is also meant to encourage a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, to promote the teaching of poetry, to restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and to support small publishers and create an attractive image of poetry in the media, so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art, but one which enables society as a whole to regain and assert its identity.

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How can we help to combat global warming and the impact it will have?

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Climate change could drive 122m more people into extreme poverty by 2030

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UN report warns that without measures to halt and reverse climate change, food production could become impossible in large areas of the world

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This is what Michelle Obama has to say about Donald Trump's views on women. Powerful stuff.

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My goodness! You guys are fired up!

Well, let me just say hello everyone. I am so thrilled to be here with you all today in New Hampshire. This is like home to me, and this day - thank you for a beautiful fall day. You just ordered this day up for me, didn't you? It's great to be here.

Let me start by thanking your fabulous governor, your next US senator, Maggie Hassan. I want to thank her for that lovely introduction. I also want to recognize your Congresswoman Annie McKlane Kuster, who's a dear, dear friend. Your soon-to-be congresswoman once again, Carol Shea Porter - all of whom have been just terrific friends to us. And your executive council and candidate for governor, Colin Van Ostern.

And, of course, thanks to all of you for taking the time to be here today.

Audience member: We love you!

Thanks so much. That's very sweet of you. I love you guys too. I can't believe it's just a few weeks before election day, as we come together to support the next president and vice-president of the United States, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine! And New Hampshire is going to be important, as always.

So I'm going to get a little serious here, because I think we can all agree that this has been a rough week in an already rough election. This week has been particularly interesting for me personally because it has been a week of profound contrast.

See, on Tuesday, at the White House, we celebrated the International Day of the Girl and Let Girls Learn, and it was a wonderful celebration. It was the last event that I'm going to be doing as first lady for Let Girls Learn. And I had the pleasure of spending hours talking to some of the most amazing young women you will ever meet, young girls here in the US and all around the world. And we talked about their hopes and their dreams. We talked about their aspirations. See, because many of these girls have faced unthinkable obstacles just to attend school, jeopardizing their personal safety, their freedom, risking the rejection of their families and communities.

So I thought it would be important to remind these young women how valuable and precious they are. I wanted them to understand that the measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls. And I told them that they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and I told them that they should disregard anyone who demeans or devalues them, and that they should make their voices heard in the world. And I walked away feeling so inspired, just like I'm inspired by all the young people here - and I was so uplifted by these girls. That was Tuesday.

And now, here I am, out on the campaign trail in an election where we have consistently been hearing hurtful, hateful language about women - language that has been painful for so many of us, not just as women, but as parents trying to protect our children and raise them to be caring, respectful adults, and as citizens who think that our nation's leaders should meet basic standards of human decency.

The fact is that in this election, we have a candidate for president of the United States who, over the course of his lifetime and the course of this campaign, has said things about women that are so shocking, so demeaning that I simply will not repeat anything here today. And last week, we saw this candidate actually bragging about sexually assaulting women. And I can't believe that I'm saying that a candidate for president of the United States has bragged about sexually assaulting women.

And I have to tell you that I can't stop thinking about this. It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn't have predicted. So while I'd love nothing more than to pretend like this isn't happening, and to come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous of me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream.

This is not something that we can ignore. It's not something we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season. Because this was not just a "lewd conversation". This wasn't just locker-room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior, and actually bragging about kissing and groping women, using language so obscene that many of us were worried about our children hearing it when we turn on the TV.

And to make matters worse, it now seems very clear that this isn't an isolated incident. It's one of countless examples of how he has treated women his whole life. And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally, and I'm sure that many of you do too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman.

It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts. It's like that sick, sinking feeling you get when you're walking down the street minding your own business and some guy yells out vulgar words about your body. Or when you see that guy at work that stands just a little too close, stares a little too long, and makes you feel uncomfortable in your own skin.

It's that feeling of terror and violation that too many women have felt when someone has grabbed them, or forced himself on them and they've said no but he didn't listen - something that we know happens on college campuses and countless other places every single day. It reminds us of stories we heard from our mothers and grandmothers about how, back in their day, the boss could say and do whatever he pleased to the women in the office, and even though they worked so hard, jumped over every hurdle to prove themselves, it was never enough.

We thought all of that was ancient history, didn't we? And so many have worked for so many years to end this kind of violence and abuse and disrespect, but here we are in 2016 and we're hearing these exact same things every day on the campaign trail. We are drowning in it. And all of us are doing what women have always done: we're trying to keep our heads above water, just trying to get through it, trying to pretend like this doesn't really bother us maybe because we think that admitting how much it hurts makes us as women look weak.

Maybe we're afraid to be that vulnerable. Maybe we've grown accustomed to swallowing these emotions and staying quiet, because we've seen that people often won't take our word over his. Or maybe we don't want to believe that there are still people out there who think so little of us as women. Too many are treating this as just another day's headline, as if our outrage is overblown or unwarranted, as if this is normal, just politics as usual.

But, New Hampshire, be clear: this is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable. And it doesn't matter what party you belong to - Democrat, Republican, independent - no woman deserves to be treated this way. None of us deserves this kind of abuse.

And I know it's a campaign, but this isn't about politics. It's about basic human decency. It's about right and wrong. And we simply cannot endure this, or expose our children to this any - not for another minute, and let alone for four years. Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say enough is enough. This has got to stop right now.

Because consider this: if all of this is painful to us as grown women, what do you think this is doing to our children? What message are our little girls hearing about who they should look like, how they should act? What lessons are they learning about their value as professionals, as human beings, about their dreams and aspirations? And how is this affecting men and boys in this country? Because I can tell you that the men in my life do not talk about women like this. And I know that my family is not unusual. And to dismiss this as everyday locker-room talk is an insult to decent men everywhere.

The men that you and I know don't treat women this way. They are loving fathers who are sickened by the thought of their daughters being exposed to this kind of vicious language about women. They are husbands and brothers and sons who don't tolerate women being treated and demeaned and disrespected. And like us, these men are worried about the impact this election is having on our boys who are looking for role models of what it means to be a man.

In fact, someone recently told me a story about their six-year-old son who one day was watching the news - they were watching the news together. And the little boy, out of the blue, said, "I think Hillary Clinton will be president." And his mom said, "Well, why do you say that?" And this little six-year-old said, "Because the other guy called someone a piggy and," he said, "You cannot be president if you call someone a piggy."

So even a six-year-old knows better. A six-year-old knows that this is not how adults behave. This is not how decent human beings behave. And this is certainly not how someone who wants to be president of the United States behaves.

Because let's be very clear: strong men - men who are truly role models - don't need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful. People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together. And that is what we need in our next president. We need someone who is a uniting force in this country. We need someone who will heal the wounds that divide us, someone who truly cares about us and our children, someone with strength and compassion to lead this country forward.

And let me tell you, I'm here today because I believe with all of my heart that Hillary Clinton will be that president.

See, we know that Hillary is the right person for the job because we've seen her character and commitment not just in this campaign, but over the course of her entire life. The fact is that Hillary embodies so many of the values that we try so hard to teach our young people. We tell our young people "work hard in school, get a good education". We encourage them to use that education to help others - which is exactly what Hillary did with her college and law degrees, advocating for kids with disabilities, fighting for children's healthcare as first lady, affordable childcare in the Senate.

We teach our kids the value of being a team player, which is what Hillary exemplified when she lost the 2008 election and actually agreed to work for her opponent as our secretary of state - earning sky-high approval ratings serving her country once again.

We also teach our kids that you don't take shortcuts in life, and you strive for meaningful success in whatever job you do. Well, Hillary has been a lawyer, a law professor, first lady of Arkansas, first lady of the United States, a US senator, secretary of state. And she has been successful in every role, gaining more experience and exposure to the presidency than any candidate in our lifetime - more than Barack, more than Bill. And, yes, she happens to be a woman.

And finally, we teach our kids that when you hit challenges in life, you don't give up, you stick with it. Well, during her four years as secretary of state alone, Hillary has faced her share of challenges. She's traveled to 112 countries, negotiated a ceasefire, a peace agreement, a release of dissidents. She spent 11 hours testifying before a congressional committee. We know that when things get tough, Hillary doesn't complain. She doesn't blame others. She doesn't abandon ship for something easier. No, Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.

So in Hillary, we have a candidate who has dedicated her life to public service, someone who has waited her turn and helped out while waiting. She is an outstanding mother. She has raised a phenomenal young woman. She is a loving, loyal wife. She's a devoted daughter who cared for her mother until her final days. And if any of us had raised a daughter like Hillary Clinton, we would be so proud. We would be proud.

And regardless of who her opponent might be, no one could be more qualified for this job than Hillary - no one. And in this election, if we turn away from her, if we just stand by and allow her opponent to be elected, then what are we teaching our children about the values they should hold, about the kind of life they should lead? What are we saying?

In our hearts, we all know that if we let Hillary's opponent win this election, then we are sending a clear message to our kids that everything they're seeing and hearing is perfectly OK. We are validating it. We are endorsing it. We're telling our sons that it's OK to humiliate women. We're telling our daughters that this is how they deserve to be treated. We're telling all our kids that bigotry and bullying are perfectly acceptable in the leader of their country. Is that what we want for our children?

And remember, we won't just be setting a bad example for our kids, but for our entire world. Because for so long, America has been a model for countries across the globe, pushing them to educate their girls, insisting that they give more rights to their women. But if we have a president who routinely degrades women, who brags about sexually assaulting women, then how can we maintain our moral authority in the world? How can we continue to be a beacon of freedom and justice and human dignity?

Well, fortunately, New Hampshire, here's the beauty: we have everything we need to stop this madness. You see, while our mothers and grandmothers were often powerless to change their circumstances, today, we as women have all the power we need to determine the outcome of this election.

We have knowledge. We have a voice. We have a vote. And on November the 8th, we as women, we as Americans, we as decent human beings can come together and declare that enough is enough, and we do not tolerate this kind of behavior in this country.

Remember this: in 2012, women's votes were the difference between Barack winning and losing in key swing states, including right here in New Hampshire. So for anyone who might be thinking that your one vote doesn't really matter, or that one person can't really make a difference, consider this: back in 2012, Barack won New Hampshire by about 40,000 votes, which sounds like a lot. But when you break that number down, the difference between winning and losing this state was only 66 votes per precinct. Just take that in. If 66 people in each precinct had gone the other way, Barack would have lost.

So each of you right here today could help swing an entire precinct and win this election for Hillary just by getting yourselves, your families, and your friends and neighbors out to vote. You can do it right here. But you could also help swing an entire precinct for Hillary's opponent with a protest vote or by staying home out of frustration.

Because here's the truth: either Hillary Clinton or her opponent will be elected president this year. And if you vote for someone other than Hillary, or if you don't vote at all, then you are helping to elect her opponent. And just think about how you will feel if that happens. Imagine waking up on November the 9th and looking into the eyes of your daughter or son, or looking into your own eyes as you stare into the mirror. Imagine how you'll feel if you stayed home, or if you didn't do everything possible to elect Hillary.

We simply cannot let that happen. We cannot allow ourselves to be so disgusted that we just shut off the TV and walk away. And we can't just sit around wringing our hands. Now, we need to recover from our shock and depression and do what women have always done in this country. We need you to roll up your sleeves. We need to get to work. Because remember this: When they go low, we go ...

Audience: High!

Yes, we do.

And voting ourselves is a great start, but we also have to step up and start organizing. So we need you to make calls and knock on doors and get folks to the polls on election day and sign up to volunteer with one of the Hillary campaign folks who are here today just waiting for you to step up.

And, young people and not-so-young people, get on social media. Share your own story of why this election matters, why it should matter for all people of conscience in this country. There is so much at stake in this election.

See, the choice you make November 8 could determine whether we have a president who treats people with respect - or not. A president who will fight for kids, for good schools, for good jobs for our families - or not. A president who thinks that women deserve the right to make our own choices about our bodies and our health - or not. That's just a little bit of what's at stake.

So we cannot afford to be tired or turned off. And we cannot afford to stay home on election day. Because on November the 8th, we have the power to show our children that America's greatness comes from recognizing the innate dignity and worth of all our people. On November the 8th, we can show our children that this country is big enough to have a place for us all - men and women, folks of every background and walk of life - and that each of us is a precious part of this great American story, and we are always stronger together.

On November 8, we can show our children that here in America, we reject hatred and fear and in difficult times, we don't discard our highest ideals. No, we rise up to meet them. We rise up to perfect our union. We rise up to defend our blessings of liberty. We rise up to embody the values of equality and opportunity and sacrifice that have always made this country the greatest nation on Earth.

That is who we are. And don't ever let anyone tell you differently. Hope is important. Hope is important for our young people. And we deserve a president who can see those truths in us - a president who can bring us together and bring out the very best in us. Hillary Clinton will be that president.

So for the next 26 days, we need to do everything we can to help her and Tim Kaine win this election. I know I'm going to be doing it. Are you with me? Are you all with me? You ready to roll up your sleeves? Get to work knocking on doors?

All right, let's get to work. Thank you all. God bless.
This transcript was released by the White House Office of the First Lady

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The full transcript of Michelle Obama's powerful New Hampshire speech

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The first lady delivered an impassioned diatribe against Donald Trump and the 'hurtful, hateful language of women' heard throughout the election campaign

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the UN never impacted on YOUR life?  Think again - play this interactive game!

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What has the United Nations ever done for you? - interactive

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Ever wondered how UN action has actually affected your life? Browse our interactive guide to find out

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http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/11/13245504/wonder-woman-united-nations-ambassador-women-empowerment  I think we need wonder woman on our DBS board!

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Not Gal Gadot, or Lynda Carter, or the multitude of voice actors, writers, and artists that have lent their talents to DC's premier female hero over the last 75 years. The actual fictional character is becoming an honorary leader in the UN's efforts to bring gender equality to the world.

Announced today by the United Nations, Wonder Woman will be officially "sworn in" as the UN Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls at an event at the UN Headquarters on October 21st, attended by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson, and a host of other guests.

The event, part of DC's ongoing celebration of Diana's 75th anniversary, will launch a new UN initiative (presumably spearheaded by Wonder Woman in her new "role") to support the UN's fifth sustainable development goal, the equal treatment and empowerment of women and girls across the world. A champion of love, truth, and justice like Diana seems like the perfect woman for the job, really.

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Wonder Woman Is Becoming an Official UN Ambassador

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Not Gal Gadot, or Lynda Carter, or the multitude of voice actors, writers, and artists that have lent their talents to DC's premier female hero over the last 75 years. The actual fictional character is becoming an honorary leader in the UN's efforts to bring gender equality to the world.

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Let's ensure ALL children have EQUAL access to education - look at what the UN are doing TODAY to work towards EQUAL education .

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International Day of the Girl Child, 11 October

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The world's 1.1 billion girls are a source of power, energy, and creativity - and the millions of girls in emergencies are no exception. This year's International Day of the Girl (IDG) on October 11 marks the beginning of a year-long effort to spur global attention and action to the challenges and opportunities girls face before, during, and after crises.

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shame on human kind .....

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This is the story of Aleppo - told with the help of one incredible filmmaker in the city who reveals the humanity of many of those trapped inside one of the world's most dangerous places.

Click here to visit the full Inside Aleppo site

For five years now the Syrian civil war has ground out mercilessly. It's left hundreds of thousands dead and uprooted 11 million people, half of whom have fled the country as refugees. What started as an Arab Spring like protest against the country's leader has become a relentless and brutal conflict involving many powers across the region.

The battle and now bombardment that began four years ago in Aleppo, the country's largest city, has been the bitter cauldron of that war. With scores of videos uploaded every day, showing the violence and destruction, the world has been able to watch as the city has been destroyed and tens of thousands have died. We've been able to see it, but it's also been all too easy to look away.

Thanks to the brave work of filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab, which can be seen below, in the past few months Channel 4 News has been able to get closer to the horror than at any time since it became impossible for us to get in. Her work has highlighted the carnage in the hospitals, and the pain of the casualties and their families, which lie behind the statistics.

As this relentless battle and carnage continues, Channel 4 News will be reporting what happens in Aleppo in whatever form we can. Every day for the foreseeable future. In no small part thanks to the bravery and skill of Waad. Please watch her films.

Ben de Pear,

Editor, Channel 4 News
A warning, these reports contain images you may find distressing.
A busy night at the Al Quds hospital. More than 200 airstrikes from Syrian government and Russian forces hit yesterday - the worst day for a month.

Baby Marwan was feeling ill one day, so his uncle took him to the doctor's. Then a barrel bomb hit. This is his story during one hour on one day in Aleppo.

A journey like no other. A doctor and his family's journey along one of the most dangerous roads in the world.

The story of when three brothers tried to have a normal day in Aleppo. They ended up at the city's Al Quds hospital.

A silent film that shows the final moments of the last paediatrician in Aleppo. All filmed on the hospital's CCTV.

This film reveals the phenomenal dedication and skill of the ill-equipped doctors and nurses in the city's hospitals - who battle to save both a pregnant mother injured in an airstrike, and her new born baby's life.

Doctors in Aleppo have reported that a 'chlorine attack' has hospitalised dozens of people, most of them children.

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This is the story of Aleppo - told with the help of one incredible filmmaker in the city who reveals the humanity of many of those trapped inside one of the world's most dangerous places. Click here to visit the full Inside Aleppo site For five years now the Syrian civil war has ground out mercilessly.

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Why aren't women considered as capable candidates for this position?

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Why aren't women considered as capable candidates for this position?

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Maybe they are waiting for you Saniya?

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Antonio Guterres has emerged as the likely man to become next UN secretary general.

A former Portuguese prime minister and head of the UN refugee agency, he was the Security Council's unanimous choice.

A final decision will be made in a formal vote at the council before going to the General Assembly.

But despite Mr Guterres' breadth of appeal and experience, many had hoped the top job would go to a woman.

Out of 13 candidates, seven were women; some arguably even more experienced than Mr Guterres.

Female contenders in the race included the former prime minister of New Zealand, the director general of cultural agency Unesco, the Moldovan deputy prime minister and a senior EU official.

In August, the outgoing UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said it was "high time" for a female head, after more than 70 years of the UN and eight male leaders.

UN secretary general: The hardest job in the world?

The women who run the world

But those who wanted to see a woman elected were disappointed by Wednesday's result, calling it a "disaster for gender equality".

The Campaign to Elect a Woman UN Secretary-General, a group of mostly academics who supported the female candidates up for nomination, called it an "outrage".

"There were seven outstanding female candidates and in the end it appears they were never seriously considered," the campaigners said in a statement.

One of the contenders, Christiana Figueres, a key architect of the global climate change agreement signed in Paris last year, called the result "bittersweet".

So was the election sexist?

Some of the candidates have said gender was a factor.

Susana Malcorra, Argentina's foreign minister, complained last month that women did not have a chance in the Security Council.

"It's not a glass ceiling; it's a steel ceiling," she said, according to Foreign Policy magazine.

On Wednesday, after congratulating her rival on his win on Twitter, Ms Malcorra went on to say that gender remains an issue in the election of a secretary general.

But other candidates downplayed the role of sexism or gender in the race.

Helen Clark, New Zealand's former prime minister, told the Guardian: "If you're asking whether women are being discriminated against - no.

"There are a lot of factors swirling around. There is east-west, there is north-south, there's the style of what's wanted in the job. Do they want strong leadership? Do they want malleable? It's all cross-cutting and we don't know what will come in the wash."

What are some of the "swirling factors"?

Some say that, whether you are a male or female candidate, politicking and so-called backroom deals are the biggest factors in determining who is finally nominated.

The Woman SG Campaign said in its statement that this week's result "represents the usual backroom deals that still prevail at the UN".

The UN Association in the UK detailed on its website some of the closed-door deals that go on in the UN Security Council.

"One of the most visible types of backroom deals was articulated by UN inspectors in 2011 when they wrote that 'no Secretary-General had been immune to political pressure' to reserve certain top UN jobs for certain member states.

"This refers to the unfortunate practice of major powers extracting promises from candidates in return for their support."

Politico highlighted the importance of these dealings as heavyweights like Russia and the US hold immense power to stop a candidacy.

"Whoever wins the race will have had to carefully negotiate the support (or at least avoid the opposition) of both the United States and Russia."

There is no suggestion that any backroom deals were made over the election of Mr Guterres.

Indeed, Samantha Power, the US representative to the UN, described the result as "remarkably" uncontroversial, calling him a candidate "whose experience, vision, and versatility across a range of areas proved compelling".

But it is clear that if a woman is to be elected to the UN's top job next time, it is not just sexism she will have to overcome.

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Antonio Guterres has emerged as the likely man to become next UN secretary general. A former Portuguese prime minister and head of the UN refugee agency, he was the Security Council's unanimous choice. A final decision will be made in a formal vote at the council before going to the General Assembly.

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Russia has been directly and repeatedly accused of war crimes at the UN security council in an unusually blunt session, as hopes of any form of ceasefire were flattened by the scale and ferocity of the Syrian regime's assault on eastern Aleppo.

The war crimes accusations centred on the widespread use of bunker-busting and incendiary bombs on the 275,000 civilians living in the rebel-held east of the city, weapons that Moscow's accusers say were dropped by Russian aircraft.

"Bunker-busting bombs, more suited to destroying military installations, are now destroying homes, decimating bomb shelters, crippling, maiming, killing dozens, if not hundreds," Matthew Rycroft, the UK ambassador to the UN, said during the emergency security council session on Syria on Sunday.

"Incendiary munitions, indiscriminate in their reach, are being dropped on to civilian areas so that, yet again, Aleppo is burning. And to cap it all, water supplies, so vital to millions, are now being targeted, depriving water to those most in need. In short, it is difficult to deny that Russia is partnering with the Syrian regime to carry out war crimes."

Rycroft later walked out of the chamber with his US and French counterparts before the Syrian government representative began speaking, in protest at the regime's bombing campaign.

The bombardment of Aleppo entered a fifth consecutive day on Monday, after 95 people were killed in the east of the city on Sunday, according to doctors. A tally from local hospitals put the number of wounded at 398, including 61 children.

"What has happened over the last three days is indescribable," said Mohammad Abu Rajab, a doctor in one of the largest medical centres in eastern Aleppo. "Words fail, pictures fail, everything fails."

Abu Rajab's hospital received 180 dead and wounded on Sunday, and six more dead on Monday morning.

"Imagine the dead lying in the corridors, corpses and wounded and blood flowing everywhere," he said. "We are standing before inhumanity, real massacres, extraordinary weapons whose blasts we never heard before, never heard before ever, they make the ground shake beneath our feet."

In Moscow, meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov slammed the United States and Britain for accusing Russia of "barbarism" and war crimes.

"We note the overall unacceptable tone and rhetoric of the representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States, which can damage and harm our relations," Peskov told reporters.

At the security council meeting, Rycroft's French counterpart, François Delattre, said the use of bunker-busters and incendiaries on urban residential areas was a war crime.

"They must not be unpunished," he said. "Impunity is simply not an option in Syria."

"Aleppo is to Syria what Sarajevo was to Bosnia, or what Guernica was to the Spanish war," the French envoy said. "this week will go down in history as the one in which diplomacy failed and barbarism triumphed".

Earlier on Sunday, the UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said: "Putin's regime is not just handing Assad the revolver; he is in some instances firing the revolver. The Russians themselves are actually engaged."

The US ambassador, Samantha Power, highlighted the targeting of three out of four centres in eastern Aleppo used by the volunteer emergency services - the White Helmets - with the consequence that lifesaving equipment had been destroyed and "those buried in rubble in Aleppo are much more likely to die in the rubble".

She said while Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, had been talking about restoring peace in Syria at council meetings last week, incendiary bombs were being loaded on to Russian planes in preparation for the new offensive.

"What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counter-terrorism. It is barbarism," Power said, urging other national representatives to speak out. "History will not look kindly on security council members who stay silent in the face of this carnage," she said, adding that it was also not the time to use the passive voice and observe that Aleppo was being bombed. It was time, she said, to say who was doing the bombing.

In response, the Russian envoy, Vitaly Churkin, blamed the breakdown of a week-long, US-Russia-brokered ceasefire on rebels, including the "moderate opposition" backed by the west. Extremist groups in eastern Aleppo were holding its population hostage, Churkin claimed, stopping them from leaving and using them as human shields.

He praised the Assad regime in Damascus for its "admirable restraint", claiming it was in fact Syrian government forces that were surrounded and were only firing on eastern Aleppo when they had been fired upon. "The Syrian regime only uses air power to get terrorists out of the city with minimal civilian casualties," Churkin said, as he dismissed reports of mass killing in eastern Aleppo as fake, using footage from government-held western Aleppo.

The UN special envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said the ceasefire had significantly reduced the level of fighting, allowing Aleppo residents to "come out of their shelters and houses to celebrate Eid on the streets".

He said: "People started to become cautiously optimistic," but added the ceasefire was broken by bombing a day before the end of its first week "when five districts were hit reportedly with five severe airstrikes" following the Syrian government's unilateral declaration of an end to the truce.

"Since that fateful day, we have seen the situation in eastern Aleppo deteriorate to new heights of horror," De Mistura said. He said the airstrikes were reported to have killed 213 people in Aleppo province, 139 of them in eastern Aleppo.

De Mistura said: "We heard the word 'unprecedented' - in quantity and also in scale and type - in [descriptions of] the types of bombing. We have seen reports, videos and pictures of reported use of incendiary bombs that create fireballs of such intensity that they light up the pitch darkness in eastern Aleppo, as though it was actually daylight. We now hear of bunker-busting bombs being used and see pictures of large craters in the earth much larger than in previous aerial bombings.

"If it is confirmed, the systematic indiscriminate use of such weapons in areas where civilians and civilian infrastructure are present may amount to war crimes."

The scorched-earth campaign appears aimed at forcing the rebels to surrender in Aleppo, their last major metropolis in what supporters of the regime deem "useful Syria", relegating the opposition into a rural insurgency. The Syrian military command has announced that it is planning a major operation to retake all of Aleppo, urging citizens to flee the besieged district.

De Mistura said he had been asked why, in the face of such an onslaught and failure of diplomacy, he did not resign. He said he would not do so "because any sign of me resigning would be a signal that the international community is abandoning the Syrians, and we will not abandon the Syrians, and neither will you".

Tom Fletcher, the UK's former ambassador to Lebanon, said the change in tone used at the security council on Sunday marked a new phase in the west's response to the conflict, jettisoning residual hopes of making a deal with Russia.

"Normally diplomatic language is cautious: even the Syria contact group's statement yesterday only spoke of patience with Russia being 'not unlimited'. But today's statements in the security council from France, the US and UK are more raw, and more angry. They show that the recent policy - admittedly more in hope than expectation - of trusting Russia to restrain Assad is now buried in the rubble of Aleppo. This signals a new phase. Assad has calculated that US elections give him a free hand to massacre. We will now see whether or not he has underestimated US readiness to protect the most vulnerable."

Topics

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Russia accused of war crimes in Syria at UN security council session

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Russia has been directly and repeatedly accused of war crimes at the UN security council in an unusually blunt session, as hopes of any form of ceasefire were flattened by the scale and ferocity of the Syrian regime's assault on eastern Aleppo.

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"If men don’t
have to control, women won’t have to be controlled."

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"If men don’t
have to control, women won’t have to be controlled."

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Emma Watson is a real inspiration for young women - 21st century girl power!

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How can the world unite to help refugee children get safety and refuge?

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The Home Office has refused to respond to official requests from the French authorities to accept unaccompanied child refugees stranded in Calais who are eligible to come to Britain, the British Red Cross has said.

With the planned demolition of Calais's refugee camp only weeks away, the Red Cross says the Home Office is turning down "take charge" requests by the French on often pedantic grounds. Once such a request has been accepted by the UK government it is in effect responsible for a child who is seeking asylum.

In some cases British officials claim to have "misplaced" requests from the French to help children, raising questions over Britain's approach to what humanitarian experts call an urgent child protection issue. The camp is scheduled to be demolished this month, with no provision agreed by the British and French for most of the 1,000 unaccompanied minors there, of whom at least 400 are eligible to enter the UK.

A new report damningly articulates the Home Office's intransigence, with research by the Red Cross revealing it takes up to 11 months on average to bring a child to the UK under an EU scheme to reunite families. Lawyers say there is no reason why the process should take more than several weeks.

The report also identifies "problems ranging from basic administrative errors causing severe delays to a shortage of human resources on the French side". It accuses the Home Office of unnecessarily forcing vulnerable children to stay in the camp for months after their case is rejected because of a basic administrative error or lack of documents.

"Insufficient discretion or consideration is made for the child's vulnerability and circumstances," says the report, No Place For Children, released on Sunday.

Despite more than a record 10,000 refugees being stranded in the Calais camp, the report found that in August the French had only three ad hoc administrators and one coordinator, all volunteers, to identify and start processing the claims of unaccompanied minors.

The Red Cross recommends that UK officials should be based in Calais to help identify and process cases as a matter of urgency. At the start of last week, the Home Office had yet to send an official delegation to identify eligible child refugees and assist their claims. Sourceson Saturday, however, said that UK government officials had finally started to "completely understand the urgency of the eviction", particularly after 129 child refugees went missing following a partial eviction of the site in February.

Karl Pike of the British Red Cross said: "The eviction is really concentrating minds. The Home Office is aware of how badly it went last time, with children going missing."

Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of Labour's Refugee Taskforce, urged Britain and France to immediately agree to each accept 500 of the Calais children. She said: "The situation has been urgent for months and now we are reaching crisis point - the political stalemate between Paris and London has to stop. As the French government prepares to clear the camp at Calais, thousands of vulnerable child refugees will be put at risk if there is no plan in place to get them to a safe home."

As yet only 72 unaccompanied refugee children from Calais have been brought to the UK under a scheme to reunite families under an EU rule known as the Dublin regulation. Even in these cases, charities accuse the Home Office of not helping, saying that the process and legal costs have been paid by voluntary organisations and lawyers working pro bono.

At least 178 unaccompanied children have been identified in the Calais camp as having family ties to the UK, with more than another 200 eligible to come to Britain under a separate scheme, an amendment to the Immigration Act put forward by Lord Dubs. Despite its being passed into legislation on 9 May, the Home Office has not to resettle a single child using the Dubs amendment.

Initial expectations had been that 3,000 vulnerable children would be rescued. With the camp's destruction imminent, the Home Office has not attempted to explain what it intends to do about the Dubs children.

"The spirit of the Dubs amendment - to assist the most vulnerable children in Europe" is not being met, says the report.

Another pressing, issue is the provision of safe accommodation for unaccompanied children in the camp. Although it is widely accepted that there are traffickers in the camp, only 50 places for asylum-seeking children are available at nearby French centres.

Alex Fraser, director of refugee support at the British Red Cross, the largest provider of support to refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, said: "Children, who could be rebuilding their lives in safety with their only surviving relatives, are being left to fend for themselves in conditions unimaginable to most adults.

"With the forthcoming evictions in Calais, these bureaucratic problems are now more pressing than ever. We need to see urgency from both the UK and French governments. Children with a legal right to be here should be on the Eurostar across the Channel, not being dispersed somewhere else in France."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "It is wholly false to say that we have not accepted responsibility for asylum applications submitted by the French authorities for unaccompanied children with family members in the UK. We have made crystal clear our commitment to fulfilling our obligations under the Dublin regulation."
Topics

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Britain 'did not respond' to French pleas to take Calais child refugees

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The Home Office has refused to respond to official requests from the French authorities to accept unaccompanied child refugees stranded in Calais who are eligible to come to Britain, the British Red Cross has said.

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What are your views on the Government's monitoring of digital communications? Is it a Human Rights violation, or a necessary safety precaution?

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What are your views on the Government's monitoring of digital communications? Is it a Human Rights violation, or a necessary safety precaution?

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this concept scares me .....

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The top United Nations expert of free expression said today that reports that Yahoo complied with United States intelligence demands by searching the e-mails of hundreds of millions of customers "raise serious human rights concerns."

According to reports, Yahoo customized software to scan all incoming e-mail traffic for information responsive to criteria provided by the US National Security Agency or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said a news release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

"Government monitoring of digital communications, when conducted as described in recent reports, could undermine the privacy that individuals depend on in order to seek, receive and impart information online," the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, said, adding: "Based on the allegations reported, I have serious concerns that the alleged surveillance fails to meet the standards of necessity and proportionality for the protection of legitimate government interests."

In a 2013 report to the UN Human Rights Council on communications surveillance, the previous special rapporteur, Frank La Rue, concluded that government "access to communications data held by domestic corporate actors should only be sought in circumstances where other available less invasive techniques have been exhausted."

Mr. Kaye said that Yahoo's apparent accession to government surveillance requests, without evident legal challenge, also raises concern about the involvement of technology companies in questionable government programs that impact freedom of expression, recalling his June 2016 report on the private sector and freedom of expression in the digital age.

"States place undeniable pressures on the private information and communication technology sector that often lead to serious restrictions on the freedom of expression," the 2016 report stated. Mr. Kaye reiterated that companies in all areas of the industry "are capable of establishing and exercising varying degrees of leverage in their relationships with States to resist or mitigate the harm caused by abusive application of the law."

His report also highlighted that private entities should be evaluated on the steps they take both to promote and undermine freedom of expression, even in hostile environments unfriendly to human rights.

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Independent Experts and Special Rapporteurs, are appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

News Tracker: Past Stories on This Issue

The top United Nations human rights official today urged United States authorities to proceed with great caution in their legal efforts to break the encryption on an iPhone linked to the investigation into the mass killings in San Bernardino, California, saying the case could have broader implications for digital security and human rights.

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Reports that Yahoo aided US e-mail surveillance draw concern of UN human rights expert

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The top United Nations expert of free expression said today that reports that Yahoo complied with United States intelligence demands by searching the e-mails of hundreds of millions of customers "raise serious human rights concerns."

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What a devastating natural disaster.  what do you think the UN should do in such instances?

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Along with a grant of $5 million to address the most life-saving needs, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) earlier this week released a loan of $8 million dollars to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to scale up response to the worsening cholera epidemic in Haiti.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Category 4 Hurricane Matthew Tuesday smashed into Haiti with 235 kilometres per hour winds with devastating impact and left destruction in its wake. As information from the areas that were hit hardest becomes available, and as villages and coastal towns begin making contact with the outside world, the death toll soars and the scope of the damage becomes evident.

Initial assessments indicate that hundreds of people have died and thousands of families have lost their homes, livestock and crops.

"We expect that homes, schools and cholera treatment facilities have been destroyed and that water systems, roads and bridges have been severely damaged. This is a major blow to Haiti's reconstruction effort and the fight against cholera, so that's why immediate CERF funds now will kick start vital life-saving assistance for Haitians caught up in this crisis," said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O'Brien.

Intense rains in May and June of 2016, as well as the potential loss of immunity to cholera four years after the highest peaks of the disease have increased the number of suspected cholera cases. In 2016 almost 27,000 cholera cases have been reported in Haiti, and over 240 people have died. Hurricane Matthew is feared to significantly worsen the situation and increase the risk of a larger outbreak, according to the UN.

"There is a lot of suffering, a lot of hardship; some of the communities have been almost totally destroyed by the strength of the wind. Therefor the shelters, public infrastructure including the schools [and] hospitals have been affected," Enzo di Taranto, the Head of Office for OCHA in Haiti, said in an interview with UN Radio.

He added that there also has been significant damage to the country's electrical and water provision systems.

Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reports that very little is known about the island's most isolated and impoverished areas, including the towns of Les Cayes, Port Salut and Jérémiem, all located in the south-west Department of Grande Anse et Sud, where the hurricane first made landfall. According to the agency, all the towns suffered severe flooding.

WFP's efforts on the ground

The agency has already prepositioned 7.5 million pounds of food, including high-energy biscuits for families whose homes and food stocks have been destroyed or damaged.In addition, WFP reports that there is 25 tons of food locally available in Jeremie for immediate distribution. These local food rations will enable 9,000 people to meet their immediate food needs for one week.

In the long run, Haitian farmers, and producers of the countries staple foods, including plantain, will face serious challenges to recover. WFP reports that up to 80 per cent of the harvest has been lost in some areas.

UNICEF sounds alarm on behalf of 500,000 children in hard-hit areas

An estimated 500,000 school going children live in Grande Anse and Ground South departments in southern Haiti, the areas worst-hit by Hurricane Matthew, and, according to a briefing from UNICEF earlier today, an estimated 175 of their school were severely damaged while 150 others across the country are being used as shelters."The priority is to ensure that children have access to safe drinking water as they are particularly vulnerable to water-borne diseases," UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told reporters in Geneva, adding that several health facilities have been damaged and need to be repaired.

Additionally, UNICEF estimates that up to 80 per cent of the homes in the southern part of the country are damaged and nearly 16,000 people are staying in temporary shelters.

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Haiti: UN emergency fund allocates $5 million to kick-start assistance in wake of Hurricane Matthew

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Hurricane Matthew's destructive path through the Caribbean dealt a "major blow" to Haiti's reconstruction effort and fight the against cholera, the United Nations humanitarian chief said this evening as the UN announced $5 million in emergency funds to kick-start assistance in the wake of the deadly storm, which has affected some 350,000 people on the tiny island.

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New MUNers - a brief overview of the work of the UN - a good read!

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The UN's predecessor, the League of Nations, was established after the 1914-18 World War.

It aimed to prevent another global conflict, but it failed to halt the slide towards war in the 1930s and was disbanded in 1946.

Much of the league's structure and many of its aims were adopted by its successor.

In 1944 the US, Britain, the Soviet Union and China met in Washington and agreed on a blueprint for a proposed world organisation.

The blueprint formed the basis of talks in 1945 between representatives from 50 countries. Under the terms of the resulting charter the UN came into being on 24 October 1945.
MEMBERS
The UN comprises 193 member states. South Sudan is the newest member - it joined in July 2011. Membership grew as colonies became independent and the Soviet Union disintegrated. The Vatican and Taiwan remain non-members. Most members have permanent missions at the UN's main headquarters in New York.

Potential members are recommended by the Security Council and are admitted by a two-thirds majority vote in the General Assembly.

Member nations contribute to the running costs of the UN. A country's contribution is assessed on its ability to pay. The US is the top contributor.
STRUCTURE
General Assembly
The assembly is the UN's main forum for debate. It is the only UN body which includes representatives from all member countries. Each member country has one vote.

Members can discuss any subject in the UN Charter, from international security to the UN budget. The assembly can issue recommendations, based on its deliberations. But it has no power to force countries to act on these.

The assembly may also adopt "declarations", reflecting high degrees of concern or resolve among members.

On key issues - including international security - a two-thirds majority is needed to adopt a resolution.

The General Assembly meets for three months of the year from mid-September, and for special and emergency sessions. Its annual sessions open with a "General Debate", in which each member country delivers a statement about its perspective on world events.

Most assembly business is dealt with by its six Main Committees. The assembly approves or rejects their recommendations.

Security Council
The council is tasked with ensuring global peace and security. It has five permanent member nations: China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.

Ten other countries have temporary membership on a rotating basis.

The council can impose economic sanctions and can authorise the use of force in conflicts.

It also oversees peacekeeping operations.

Economic and Social Council
The council spearheads the UN's economic, social, humanitarian and cultural activities.

It oversees the work of commissions which deal with human rights, population growth, technology and drugs, among other issues.

Its 54 members are elected by the General Assembly.

International Court of Justice (World Court)
The court is the main judicial body of the UN and is tasked with settling legal disputes submitted to it by states. It sits in the Dutch city of The Hague.

The court's 15 judges are elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council.

The court's decisions are binding, although nations have sometimes refused to accept its rulings.

Secretariat
The Secretariat undertakes the day-to-day work of the UN, administering the programmes and policies of the organisation. Its work includes research, translation and media relations. Some 9,000 Secretariat staff are drawn from 170 countries.

Trusteeship Council
The council administered the UN's trust territories. It suspended its activities in 1994 when the last of the trust territories, Palau in the south Pacific, became independent.

The council, made up of the five permanent Security Council members, agreed in 1994 to meet "as occasion required".
THE UN SYSTEM
Fourteen independent agencies make up the "UN System" alongside many of the organisation's own programmes and agencies.

The independent agencies include the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Health Organisation. They are linked to the UN by cooperation agreements.

The UN's own major agencies and programmes include:

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - UN's nuclear watchdog, based in Vienna

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) - set up to try those suspected of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, based in The Hague

UN Children's Fund (Unicef) - promotes child health, education, protection

UN Development Programme (UNDP) - committed to reducing poverty, developing infrastructure, promoting democratic governance

UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) - based in Paris, aims to promote peace and development through education, science, culture and communication

UN Environment Programme (Unep) - based in Nairobi, promotes environmental protection

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - safeguards rights and well-being of refugees; based in Geneva

UN Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA) - dedicated agency providing assistance solely to Palestinian refugees and their descendants

World Food Programme - based in Rome; "frontline agency in the fight against hunger"

LEADERSHIP
Secretary-general: Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, took up the post on 1 January 2007.

He was re-elected for a second term by the UN General Assembly, unopposed and unanimously, in June 2011, with effect from 1 January 2012.

Mr Ban, who is the first Asian secretary-general for 35 years, describes his priorities as mobilising world leaders to deal with climate change, economic upheaval, pandemics and increasing pressures involving food, energy and water.

In style, he prefers quiet diplomacy and sees himself as a bridge-builder, aiming to give voice to the world's poorest and most vulnerable people, and to strengthen the UN itself, which was dented when he took office by scandals over the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq, and corrupt procurement.

He was born in Chungju, Korea, in 1944 and studied international relations at Seoul University. He worked at South Korea's UN mission before joining the government.

He succeeded Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian, who became the UN's seventh secretary-general in 1997. He was re-elected for a second term in 2001.

The General Assembly elects the secretary-general for a five-year renewable term. The post is often filled by candidates from smaller, neutral nations.
ISSUES
The US-led war in Iraq in 2003 - launched without Security Council authorisation - led to apocalyptic predictions of the collapse of the council and of the UN system.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that pre-emptive attacks "could set precedents that result in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force".

He added that the UN could only head off unilateral military responses by showing that it could respond collectively to the security concerns of individual countries.

The possibility of pre-emptive action would mark a major departure from the charter, which advocates containing threats through containment and deterrence.
Peacekeeping
The UN has taken on an increasingly interventionist approach since the end of the Cold War, the tense stand-off between the Soviet bloc and the West which dominated much of the organisation's first four decades.

But despite some successes in the peacekeeping arena, operations in Bosnia, Rwanda and Somalia were flawed, failing to prevent massacres and even genocide.

A 2000 report criticised the UN's insistence on neutrality in situations where one side resorted to violence, warning that this could render missions ineffective.

The organisation's blue and white olive branch motif does not guarantee safety; more than 1,500 peacekeepers have been killed since the UN's inception.
Power
The share-out of power in the UN, particularly in the Security Council, is hotly debated. Critics say the over-riding influence of the council's five permanent members is unfair.

The former secretary-general Kofi Annan, among others, has described the structure of the council as anachronistic. The major powers on the Security Council oppose moves to give more power to the General Assembly.
Corruption
The UN came under heavy fire in 2005 when an investigation into the oil-for-food programme that it operated with Saddam Hussein's Iraq found that the scheme had been mismanaged and was riddled with corruption. It criticised the secretary-general for failing to oversee the programme adequately.

Peacekeeping operations have been hit by accusations of fraud, as well as charges of sexual abuse by peacekeeping troops.
Money
Having been mired in a financial crisis for many years, the UN has come under pressure to cut spending and to slim down its bureacracy. Member nations owe the organisation billions of dollars.

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The UN's predecessor, the League of Nations, was established after the 1914-18 World War. It aimed to prevent another global conflict, but it failed to halt the slide towards war in the 1930s and was disbanded in 1946. Much of the league's structure and many of its aims were adopted by its successor.

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What should happen next?

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Expressing deep concern over the plight of civilians caught in the cross-fight in a Benghazi neighbourhood, a senior United Nations official in Libya has called for a humanitarian pause to allow aid to reach those in urgent need and as well as a safe passage for those who wish to leave.

"The protection of civilians is the UN's number one priority here," Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Martin Kobler, said today in a news release issued by the UN mission in the country ( UNSMIL).

"Therefore, I call for a humanitarian pause to allow humanitarian assistance and to reach those in need and to create a safe passage to allow civilians who wish leave to do so in a safe and dignified manner," he added.

In particular, he emphasized that women and children who wish to leave must be allowed to do so as a first step towards the evacuation of all civilians and prisoners in the city's Ganfouda neighbourhood.

According to reports, the civilians are also suffering shortages of food, water and medicines.

Mr. Kobler, also the head of UNSMIL, added that the mission has been working to support the Libyan mediation process to minimize the suffering in Ganfouda and in that capacity, "stands ready to support in the evacuation process."

Further noting that UNSMIL supports the fight against terrorist organizations as identified by relevant Security Council resolutions, the news release underscored that the fight against terrorist organizations should be conducted in line with international laws.

"The use of civilians as human shields and the carrying out of indiscriminate attacks are prohibited by International Humanitarian Law," stressed Special Representative Kobler, adding: "Such violations would constitute war crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and their perpetrators would be held accountable."

News Tracker: Past Stories on This Issue

At interactive dialogues on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Libya Ukraine, and Burundi, senior UN human rights officials and independent experts today urged the governments to take immediate steps to ensure protection of human rights in their respective countries.

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Libya: As situation worsens, UN envoy calls for pause in fighting near Benghazi

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Expressing deep concern over the plight of civilians caught in the cross-fight in a Benghazi neighbourhood, a senior United Nations official in Libya has called for a humanitarian pause to allow aid to reach those in urgent need and as well as a safe passage for those who wish to leave.