UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom (archive). Top news of the day | Friday: USA, Orlando Bloom, Syria, DRC UN
The main news of the day in the UN and the world: US refusal to participate in the Universal Periodic Review process within the framework of the Human Rights Council, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom in Bangladesh, abductions and disappearances in Syria, humanitarian crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
USA and the Human Rights Council
The UN Human Rights Council expressed regret over the decision of the United States not to participate in the review of the human rights situation in this country. Through this process, known as the Universal Periodic Review, UN member states report on the steps they have taken to realize and protect human rights and receive advice from experts. The US was scheduled to appear before the Universal Periodic Review Working Group on Friday but pulled out. This is the first time a country has decided not to participate in the review. Members of the Human Rights Council called on Washington to renew cooperation with the mechanism and said they would postpone the review to 2026.
Orlando Bloom in Bangladesh
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom visited Bangladesh this week and visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. The British actor met with the children and their families living there. They are “100 percent aid dependent,” Bloom said. But its volumes are declining, he warned. Lack of funding threatens education, health care and the very survival of people in the camps. In June, UNICEF had to temporarily close most schools in Cox’s Bazar. Almost 150 thousand children lost the opportunity to study. Educational institutions eventually reopened, but are at risk of closing again in 2026.
Abductions in Syria
Eleven months after the fall of the previous regime in Syria, alarming reports of abductions and disappearances continue to emerge from the country. The representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Tamin Al-Khitan, said this at a briefing in Geneva on Friday. He noted that after the change of power in the country, the situation remains unstable, and various forces and groups are fighting for influence. According to Al-Khitan, people are afraid to go to the UN because of threats, and therefore the real number of abducted and disappeared is difficult to establish. Since January 2025, 97 cases of abductions have been documented. Congo (DRC) continues to rapidly deteriorate due to fighting that has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. The UN World Food Program (WFP) warns about this. Access for humanitarian organizations to areas seized by the M23 armed group at the beginning of the year remains extremely difficult. In some areas people are dying of hunger. Meanwhile, fighting between the M23 and government forces continues, causing new waves of displacement. There are now about 5.2 million internally displaced people in the eastern part of the country.