3 February 2014 – The United Nations and its global humanitarian partners today appealed for $2 billion on behalf of some 20 million people desperate for food in Africa’s Sahel region, where violence and insecurity has created protracted internal displacement and where population growth is outstripping food production. “More people than ever are at risk in the Sahel and the scale of their needs is so great that no agency or organization can tackle it alone,” said Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos at the launch in Rome. “The strategic plan for the region will help us reach millions of people…
Author: UN News
4 February 2014 – Syrian children have been subjected to “unspeakable” suffering in the nearly three years of civil war, with the Government and allied militia responsible for countless killings, maiming and torture, and the opposition for recruiting youngsters for combat and using terror tactics in civilian areas, according to the first United Nations report on the issue. “Violations must come to an end now,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the report, which was released yesterday to the Security Council. “I therefore urge all parties to the conflict to take, without delay, all measures to protect and uphold the rights…
4 February 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Minister of State and Special Envoy for Energy and Climate Change, of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, have announced that the Gulf country will host a high-level meeting in May to generate momentum for concrete actions to be taken at a climate summit Mr. Ban will convene four months later in New York. The summit will take place at Headquarters on 23 September, one day before the General Assembly begins its annual high-level debate. The Secretary-General has invited leaders of Government, business, finance and civil society to bring…
4 February 2014 – While Yemen has made good progress in its political transition, the country will not enjoy stability unless the humanitarian needs of its people are met, a senior United Nations relief official warned today. “There will be no stability in Yemen if more than half of the population is waking up in the morning without the possibility to have food; is living below the line of poverty,” Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, told a news conference in Geneva. “What does it mean, then, to organize elections or have any political…
4 February 2014 – The United Nations today began a new airlift from Iraq to feed nearly 30,000 displaced people in a conflict-torn region of northeast Syria where road access has been cut off for over six months and no significant relief deliveries have arrived overland since last May. The airlift comes as the UN World Food Programme (WFP) faces in Syria what is currently its most complex emergency globally, with challenges ranging from bureaucratic delays, insecurity on roads, the closure of major highways, and sieges imposed on civilians trapped in over 40 locations across the country due to the…
2 February 2014 – Strongly condemning the killing of two campaign aides who were shot dead in the western city of Herat, the top United Nations official in Afghanistan has stressed that such cowardly attempts to disrupt the country’s election process “cannot be tolerated”, and called on the national authorities to take all measures to bring the perpetrators to justice. In a statement issued from Kabul, Ján Kubiš Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, deplored the killing Saturday night of two members of the campaign team of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, who…
1 February 2014 – The head of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has welcomed a breakthrough commitment by African leaders to end hunger on the continent by 2025, and has pledged the UN’s support as they work to “transform vision into reality.” “This is the first time in history that African leaders have made such a strong pledge to eliminate hunger and it is also a show of confidence that, working together, we can win the fight against hunger in Africa in our lifetimes,” FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said yesterday after African Union (AU) member…
31 January 2014 – Unless additional funding is secured for the Central African Republic (CAR), nearly two million desperate people will be forced to go without food and basic necessities, the United Nations said today, as regional leaders attending an African Union summit in Ethiopia discuss ways to stop the ongoing fighting. UN and humanitarian organizations urgently have requested $551 million to provide vital relief and protection to 1.9 million people across the country over the next three months, but the appeal is only 11 per cent funded, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).…
31 January 2014 – An action plan to stabilize the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has made important progress thanks to the support United Nations peacekeepers have given the Congolese army in the fight against rebel groups, but military means alone are not the solution, a top UN official said today. “We must pursue a comprehensive strategy that addresses the root causes of the violence,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told a meeting of regional leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, citing the “urgent priority” of extending State authority to the areas retaken from rebels and security sector reforms. “The answer…
31 January 2014 – The congestion at United Nations bases in South sudan has started to create risks for the 85,000 displaced civilians seeking shelter there, but they must not be forced or induced to leave, a United Nations independent human rights expert today warned. “While decongestion of the sites is advisable, this cannot be a quick and standalone measure amid South Sudan’s ongoing crisis, but must be embedded in a long-term comprehensive strategy on internal displacement,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani. “The safety and security of the displaced populations…