View of the city of Yangon, Myanmar. Top news of the day | Friday: Iran, Dnepr, Myanmar, sustainable energy UN
The main news of the day in the UN and in the world: escalation in the Middle East, shelling of the city of Dnepr in Ukraine, violations of the rights of the Rohingya in Myanmar, sustainable energy.
Middle East: Avoiding Further Escalation
The UN Secretary-General has called on all parties to “stop the dangerous cycle of retaliation” in the Middle East. Antonio Guterres made a statement following reports of alleged Israeli strikes on Iranian territory. Also on Friday, the head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, called on all parties to show restraint and recalled the inadmissibility of shelling nuclear facilities. The IAEA, he said, can confirm that Iran’s nuclear facilities were not damaged.
Shelling of Dnieper
UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine Denise Brown issued a statement on Friday in which she strongly condemned “the strikes of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the city of Dnieper and other areas of the Dnieper region, which brought new suffering for the people of Ukraine.” She said the strikes occurred early Friday, damaging homes and killing and injuring dozens of people, including children. This happened just two days after the deadly strike on Chernigov, Brown recalled. Aid workers in Dnipro, she said, are already on the ground helping the victims.
Myanmar: escalating violence
UN High Commissioner Volker Türk on Friday expressed alarm at a new round of violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where forces of the ruling junta and the opposition are clashing. It is reported that the country’s military authorities are forcing members of the Rohingya people to join the ranks of their units. Rohingya Muslims, the UN reminds, have already suffered at the hands of the Myanmar military in 2017. Then about 10 thousand people were killed and another 750 thousand were forced to leave their homes and flee to neighboring countries. Many of them still live in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh. Turk called on the international community to make efforts to prevent further violence against the Rohingya.
Decade of Sustainable Energy
Coming to end of the Decade of Sustainable Energy, launched in 2014. His main goal was to ensure that everyone on the planet could benefit from innovation in this area and improve their living conditions. There has been some success along this path, but it has not been possible to fully achieve the set goals, the head of the General Assembly noted, opening the next meeting within the framework of the Sustainable Development Week. Dennis Francis believes that over the past years, humanity has realized the potential of sustainable energy. The share of renewable energy capacity in developing countries has grown significantly over the past decade, reaching 38 percent in 2021, he said. However, as the head of the General Assembly noted, much remains to be done.