21 November 2014 – Key steps have been taken recently to deliver food vouchers to some 10,000 internally displaced people in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reported today, while underscoring that ensuring access to food in the country’s crisis-gripped eastern region remains a “priority concern.” “The initial round of food voucher distribution has injected close to half a million dollars into the economy of local host communities,” Elisabeth Byrs, WFP spokesperson, highlighted in a briefing to journalists in Geneva. She also explained that the vouchers, through partnerships with non-governmental organizations and a foundation,…
Author: UN News
20 November 2014 – Almost 1,000 people have been killed in Ukraine since a tenuous ceasefire was established there in early September amid efforts to end the violence between armed rebel groups and the Government, the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said today as it released its latest report on the situation in the country. According to the report, violations of international human rights and humanitarian law “persist” as the situation in the conflict-affected area in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk becomes “increasingly entrenched, with the total breakdown of law and order and the emergence of parallel…
19 November 2014 – A group of United Nations human rights experts today have voiced alarm over the potential imminent release of Milorad Trbic, who was convicted in 2009 by the Bosnian State Court of committing genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The experts’ call comes after the Bosnian Constitutional Court overturned the verdict and ordered a retrial. “The release of convicted criminals undermines efforts made by the Bosnian State Court and the international community to achieve justice, especially in light of the wider failure by the Government to adopt and implement a…
18 November 2014 – Against a backdrop of aging populations and persistently low economic growth, few European governments are doing enough to help recent immigrants move from low-skilled precarious jobs and into decent work, says a new report out today from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Migration Policy Institute. According to the report,Aiming Higher: Policies to Get Immigrants into Middle-Skilled Work in Europe, while some countries have made sizeable investments in labour market integration policies throughout the past decade, they have focused primarily on getting immigrants into work. As a result, these policies have struggled to facilitate career…
21 November 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today reiterated his call for all Burkinabé stakeholders to ensure Burkina Faso’s seamless transition to democracy amid an ongoing constitutional crisis in the West African country, a United Nations spokesperson has confirmed. “The Secretary-General continues to follow the situation in Burkina Faso very closely. He looks forward to the installation of the Transitional Government and the Transitional National Council,” said UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, briefing the press at UN Headquarters this afternoon. “He reiterates his encouragement to all parties to continue to use dialogue during the transition period and resolve all outstanding issues.”…
21 November 2014 – Concluding a three-day mission to South Sudan, a senior United Nations relief official has called on all parties to the conflict there to respect their ceasefire commitments, while urging the international community to continue providing support to enable humanitarians to scale up and expand critical aid operations. In a press release issued today by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Kyung-wha Kang, noted that while the humanitarian community has reached more than 3.5 million people with assistance this year, the situation in South sudan remains “bleak” and…
20 November 2014 – On the eve of a meeting of United Nations agency chiefs to discuss ways to jointly tackle the Ebola outbreak, the World Bank reported today Liberia’s labour sector has suffered a huge blow since the start of the crisis, as a “massive effort” was underway in mali to halt the spread of the re-emerged virus. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will tomorrow discuss the common effort to counter the Ebola outbreak with the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB), made up of 29 Executive Heads of UN Funds and Programmes, specialized agencies, including the Bretton Woods…
19 November 2014 – The United Nations Security Council has strongly condemned yesterday’s “despicable terrorist attack” in a synagogue in Jerusalem, resulting in the murder of four innocent civilians worshipping there and a police officer, as well as the injury of many more. In a statement to the press, the members of the Council strongly condemned all such acts of violence, and expressed concern about increased tensions, “which have affected both the Israeli and Palestinian people, and urged all sides to take immediate steps to restore calm.” In addition, the Council emphasized the importance of all statements condemning the attack…
19 November 2014 – The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported today that the number of Ebola cases is “no longer increasing nationally in Guinea and Liberia, but is still increasing in Sierra Leone”, and that preparedness teams have been sent this week to Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia and Senegal. Earlier today, UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, Robert Piper, had appealed for funding for Ebola preparedness in the swath of Africa consisting of Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal making up one of the poorest regions in the world. WHO, in its…
18 November 2014 – The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has begun relocating nearly 15,000 South Sudanese refugees who had been stranded for a few months at a way station in western Ethiopia after the refugee camp where they were due to live was flooded. In a press release today, UNHCR said that a first group of 125 refugees left Matar Way Station on Monday and headed along the Baro River to the Itang Transit Centre, where they spent the night before resuming their journey today by road towards Pugnido Refugee Camp, some 300 kilometres away. The refugees are expected to…