Special Envoy Hans Grundberg highlighted the alarming trend of escalation provoked by Yemen’s Houthi forces who began attacking international shipping in the Red Sea last year in support of Hamas operations in Gaza.  

The Yemen attacks provoked retaliatory strikes by multiple states, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel. 

United Nations rights chief Volker Turk emphasized the importance of transitional justice for Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, during the first-ever visit by someone in his post to the country. 

Since Islamist-led rebels seized Damascus last month, the United Nations has called for Assad and others to be held accountable for the crimes committed during more than 13 years of civil war. 

Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire deal with Israel after more than 460 days of a war that has devastated Gaza. 

Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official briefed on the deal told Reuters on Wednesday, opening the way to a possible end to a 15-month war that has upended the Middle East

An authoritative study from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that the world is entering a new era of crisis for children. With climate change, inequality, and conflict disrupting young lives and placing limitations on their futures.  

At the beginning of each year, UNICEF looks ahead to the risks that children are likely to face and suggests ways to reduce the potential harm.  

European foreign ministers have agreed to meet at the end of January to discuss lifting sanctions on Syria. Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said that the foreign ministers would convene in Brussels on January 27 to probe how the 27-member bloc might approach the issue. 

Libya’s eastern-based parliament has approved a national reconciliation and transitional justice law, as stated by three of its lawmakers. The measure is aimed at reunifying the oil-producing country after over a decade of factional conflict.  

The UN’s mission to Libya has repeatedly called for an inclusive, rights-based transitional justice and reconciliation process. 

After a trial in October 2024, human rights activist lawyer Yu Wensheng appealed against his three-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power.” On January 6, 2025, the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court rejected his appeal. 

Yu Wensheng’s wife and activist Xu Yan was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for the same offense and is set to be released in January 2025. 

Co-founder of France’s main postwar far-right movement Jean-Marie died on Tuesday at the age of 96. Le Pen, co-founder of the National Front (FN), sowed division throughout the country even after his death as the government slammed nationwide celebrations of his passing.  

On the eve of President Nicolas Maduro’s inauguration, Venezuelan opposition politician María Corina Machado was detained. At 3:21 p.m. local time, Machado’s press team said that security forces intercepted her convoy. But, in the coming hour, a 20-second video of Machado emerged online where she said she was merely followed after the rally—the video was later claimed to be coerced.