7 February 2014 – The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom today deplored the killing of Cambodian journalist Suon Chan and called for those responsible for the killing to be brought to justice. “I am appalled by the brutal killing of Suon Chan,” Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said in a news release. “Society as a whole suffers when violence is used to silence journalists in the line of duty. The perpetrators of this crime should be brought to justice to strengthen freedom of expression and press…
Author: UN News
7 February 2014 – Three months after Typhoon Haiyan devastated central Philippines, United Nations agencies and their partners are refocusing their priorities to longer-term assistance aimed at getting children back in to classrooms and parents to work. “Our focus to date has been on providing life-saving aid to those children and communities that were hardest hit by the Typhoon and who are most at risk,” said Angela Kearney, the UNICEF Representative in the Philippines. “We are making real progress, but so much more needs to be done to restore these children’s rights and to return to them their chance to…
11 February 2014 – The top United Nations peacekeeping official today warned of difficult challenges in solving the conflict between the Government and opposition in South Sudan, as humanitarian officials reported that they have only been able to aid about a third of the nearly 900,000 people displaced by the fighting. “It is going to be a very long, complex process to address all the deep roots of this very big crisis,” Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous told reporters after briefing the Security Council on the crisis, including efforts by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional East…
11 February 2014 – The security situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) capital of Bangui continues to deteriorate, with targeted assassinations and rising violence and criminality on the streets, the United Nations human rights office today warned, adding that it is particularly worried about the “climate of complete impunity” in the country. “Brazen” public admissions from anti-Balaka elements claiming responsibility for crimes and murders they have committed “are furthering the culture of impunity and encouraging more people to resort to violence,” the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Rupert Colville, told journalists in Geneva. There…
10 February 2014 – Released detainees from the sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) must be part of the national political dialogue in South Sudan, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country reiterated today as anti- and pro-Government representatives prepare to meet for a new round of peace talks. The UN Mission in South sudan (UNMISS) “underscores the necessity of the national political dialogue to continue without delay to reach a comprehensive peace agreement, with the participation of all South Sudanese political and civil society representatives,” a UN spokesperson told journalists in New York. Anti- and pro-Government representatives are expected…
11 February 2014 – United Nations-sponsored talks between the Syrian Government and opposition that resumed yesterday are making scant progress in ending the “nightmare” of the civil war, the top mediator said today, calling for a quicker pace as officials voiced “deep concern” at the detention by the authorities of men and boys leaving a long besieged city. “The beginning of this week is as laborious as it was in the first week [of the talks]…I’m urging everybody to speed up,” UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi told a news briefing in Geneva of the latest diplomatic push to…
11 February 2014 – The United Nations said today that it is receiving more reports of civilian casualties and further displacement within Iraq as the conflict in Anbar province continues. Over the last six weeks up to 300,000 Iraqis – some 50,000 families – have been displaced due to insecurity around Fallujah and Ramadi in the province, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported. The Iraqi Government estimates that it will initially need $35 million to address humanitarian needs caused by the Anbar crisis, which began at the end of 2013, including providing food, bedding and other supplies. UNHCR…
11 February 2014 – A senior United Nations official today appealed to all parties in the Syrian conflict to ensure unimpeded access for the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in need, especially the thousands of Palestinian refugees languishing in the besieged Damascus suburb of Yarmouk. Filippo Grandi, Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), told a news conference in New York that the agency was able to deliver about 6,500 food parcels and 10,000 polio vaccines in the past couple of weeks, but that this is “a drop in the…
10 February 2014 – A third shipment of chemical weapons material was removed from Syria today, the Joint Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations confirmed. “The Syrian Arab Republic is encouraged to expedite systematic, predictable and high-volume movements to complete the safe removal of chemical materials,” the OPCW-UN joint mission said in a note to journalists. Accompanied by naval escorts from China, Denmark, Norway and Russia, the Norwegian cargo vessel ship is sailing for international waters where it will be met by British naval escorts. In addition, Finnish experts are onboard…
10 February 2014 – United Nations-sponsored talks between the Syrian Government and opposition resumed today, 10 days after a first round ended with little progress, in efforts to end the civil war, as an already- violated ceasefire to allow humanitarian access to a city cut off by siege for nearly two years was extended for another three days. UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi met negotiators from both sides in Geneva to discuss the agenda of the second round of talks, centring on an end to violence and terrorism and the establishment of a transitional governing body. The basis…