28 January 2014 – Peace and security, sustainable development and human rights are on the agenda at the second summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which opens in Cuba today and where United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered a wide-ranging address. In his remarks, Mr. Ban said the Latin American and Caribbean region has undergone “turbulent times, but has come through stronger”. That progress is visible across the work of the United Nations. Indeed, over the last 20 years, extreme poverty in the region has been cut in half and differences are being resolved through…
Author: UN News
31 January 2014 – The top United Nations envoy in Somalia today voiced his concern over escalating tensions in Baidoa surrounding a federal State-building conference, calling for calm and dialogue by all parties as they address legitimate concerns. “It is important that all parties remain calm, committed to dialogue and support reconciliation efforts,” Nicholas Kay said in a news release issued by the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). Mr. Kay, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of UNSOM, called on traditional leaders, politicians and all stakeholders to play a “constructive and reconciliatory” role amid the ongoing process to form…
30 January 2014 – The United Nations peacekeeping mission in South sudan is seeking to verify reports of human rights violations in the conflict that erupted just over a month ago, a spokesperson today said, as peacekeepers are boosting patrols in the world’s youngest nation. The UN Mission in South sudan (UNMISS) is working throughout the country to collect evidence and document abuses including in the capital Juba, and Bor, Jonglei State, where UN police and peacekeepers are sheltering more than 10,000 civilians. Overall, 79,000 civilians are sheltering at eight bases throughout the country, according to a UN spokesperson. Briefing…
30 January 2014 – Unless the security situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) improves, humanitarian agencies will not have sufficient access to people in the provinces outside the capital Bangui, the United Nations relief arm today warned. Some 825,000 people are still displaced from their homes across the country, more than 400,000 of them in Bangui alone, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The UN and its partners have requested $152 million to fund an emergency intervention plan, which aims to provide vital relief and protection to 1.2 million people across the country…
30 January 2014 – Africa will always find a ready and willing partner in the United Nations as it progresses on the road of economic development to provide peace, more jobs, greater equality and better living conditions to its peoples, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told leaders of the continent’s 54 States today. “The United Nations is your unwavering partner in this pursuit,” he said at the opening session of the 22nd session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. “There is hardly any higher priority for the United Nations than tangible and sustainable development in…
29 January 2014 – More than 400,000 people have been displaced recently in the so-called “Triangle of Death” – the area between the towns of Pweto, Mitwaba and Manono – in the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations confirmed today. More than 600 homes in 11 villages have been destroyed since October, a dramatic increase in the last two years, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for the DRC, Martin Kobler, said today that he was “extremely concerned” by the deterioration of…
30 January 2014 – The decision by India’s Supreme Court to commute 15 death sentences to life imprisonment is a ‘significant step’, independent United Nations human rights experts today said, urging the country to establish a moratorium on executions with a view of abolishing the death penalty. “This judgment by the Supreme Court reaffirms the value of human rights and respect for human life, as enshrined in the Indian Constitution,” said the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns. “If the death penalty is to be used at all, international law clearly requires that it must follow…
29 January 2014 – A senior United Nations official today stressed that agriculture is the engine of growth needed to eradicate hunger and boost food production in Africa, ahead of the launch later this week of the 2014 African Year of Agriculture and Food Security. José Graziano da Silva, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), noted that several African countries have already reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) hunger target of reducing by half the proportion of undernourished people between 1990 and 2015. These countries include Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Djibouti, Ghana, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome…
29 January 2014 – Noting that the recent conflict in South sudan has rolled back development gains made over the past two years since independence, the top United Nations humanitarian official today voiced her hope that a recent ceasefire will enable people to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. “The violence and abuses we have seen since 15 December threaten the future of this young country,” Valerie Amos told reporters in the capital, Juba, as she concluded a three-day visit to see first-hand the impact of the conflict on the nation’s people. The conflict between pro- and anti-Government…
29 January 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the establishment of a new transition Government in the Central African Republic (CAR), and urged determined national and international efforts to stop sectarian violence which is affecting more than half of the country’s population. In a statement last night from his spokesperson, Mr. Ban congratulated the new Head of State of the Transition, Catherine Samba-Panza, and Prime Minister Andre Nzapayeke for their efforts to “put the transition back on track.” Ms. Samba-Panza, CAR’s first woman leader, was elected last week by the country’s transitional parliament. She took over from…