13 July 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Haiti and the Dominican Republic starting Monday to meet with senior government officials as well as to get a first-hand look at programmes designed to improve health and reduce poverty. In Haiti, he will visit a village in the Central Department to launch, with Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, the country’s “Total Sanitation Campaign,” which aims to scale up sanitation and hygiene interventions in rural areas. He will also meet with the local community and with families which were affected by cholera, according to information provided by his spokesperson.…
Author: UN News
10 July 2014 – An independent United Nations human rights expert has urged the Government of Honduras to address the culture of widespread impunity for crimes against women and girls, while also noting that incidents of violence against women appear to be on the rise in the Central American nation. “In Honduras, violence against women is widespread and systematic and it impacts women and girls in numerous ways,” the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, said in a statement delivered on Monday following an eight-day mission to the country. “The climate of fear, in both the public…
17 July 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, flanked by his new special envoys for Syria, today pledged to “spare no effort” to help end the bloodshed and bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict that brought untold suffering to millions. “The Syrian people have suffered enough and too long. It is time for action. It is time for peace,” Mr. Ban said at a photo opportunity at United Nations Headquarters with Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura and Deputy Special Envoy Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy. “Together, we will spare no effort to help stop the violence and achieve a Syrian-led inclusive…
17 July 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced his regret that Israel has launched a ground offensive against Gaza, despite calls for restraint, and stressed that there can be no military solution to the conflict which flared up over a week ago. “I regret that despite my repeated urgings, and those of many regional and world leaders together, an already dangerous conflict has now escalated even further,” he stated during a photo-op at United Nations Headquarters with his newly appointed special envoys for Syria. “In the past 24 hours, there have been a number of incidents involving the deaths…
17 July 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced that he has appointed Said Djinnit of Algeria as his special envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa tasked with bringing international awareness to the area’s challenges. Mr. Djinnit succeeds Mary Robinson of Ireland, who earlier this week accepted new responsibilities as the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, said the announcement from Mr. Ban’s office. In his new role, one of Mr. Djinnit’s responsibilities will be drawing attention to the continuing insecurity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where continued fighting and a decrease in…
17 July 2014 – United Nations officials today stressed the need to harness the necessary resources to take Africa’s progress to the next level, calling for increased investment to boost the continent’s development prospects. “Africa needs to bridge a huge financing gap,” John Ashe, President of the General Assembly, said at the thematic debate on the promotion of investment in Africa. “Innovative financing must come from within the continent and from greater private sector investment, as well as public-private collaborations.” Mr. Ashe said that over the past decade, there has been considerable investment in many African countries, including those with…
17 July 2014 – The top United Nations envoy to Libya today warned that the risk of a major escalation of the recent fighting in the capital is high and threatens the fledgling political process in the country. “The quick pace with which developments have unfolded in Tripoli over the past couple of weeks are a reflection of the deeply fractured political scene which continues to hang heavily over the country, undermining its fledgling political process,” said Tarek Mitri, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). The recent turmoil has reportedly been some…
16 July 2014 – The insecurity in the Central African Republic (CAR) remains a great concern, the top United Nations peacekeeping official said today, highlighting the need for airlift capacity and other logistical assistance to increase the number of UN ‘blue helmets’ in the country. Speaking to journalists after a closed-door session of the Security Council, Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for UN Peacekeeping Operations, said that the work is going on “very, very actively.” “We are working despite all the logistical challenges towards deploying additional troops,” said Mr. Ladsous, who recently returned from the country. “The problem is that it is…
16 July 2014 – Deeply concerned by the escalating and increasingly interlinked crises in sudan and South Sudan, where violence is sparking refugee flows and disrupting harvests again this year, the top United Nations relief official warned today that the humanitarian situation is deteriorating for hundreds of thousands of people in both countries. “I told [Security] Council Members that this suffering is taking place in an increasingly complex environment. Reputable sources sight estimates of 170,000 people displaced within [Sudan People’s Liberation Movement] SPLM-North areas in the first half of this year,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos told reporters after…
16 July 2014 – After days of escalating violence and follow-on civilian suffering in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations special envoy for the Middle East confirmed today that Israel has agreed to a five hour humanitarian pause – set to begin tomorrow morning – and repeated his call on Hamas to respect the lull “in the interest of the people of Gaza.” In a statement issued by his spokesperson in Jerusalem, Robert Serry UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process confirmed that the Government of Israel agreed the five hour humanitarian pause, which will start at tomorrow…
15 July 2014 – The level of human loss and destruction in Gaza as a result of the ongoing conflict with Israel has been “immense,” the United Nations agency tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees said today, noting that eight days of hostilities has claimed 174 lives and injured well over 1,100 people. “The numbers are increasing by the hour,” Sami Mshasha, from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), told a news conference in Geneva. “We also notice that a good number of those killed and injured are women and children, and that…
15 July 2014 – A new United Nations survey has found that over 10 million Yemenis – more than 40 per cent of the population – do not know where their next meal will come from. The Comprehensive Food Security Survey, conducted by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), shows that Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates in Yemen are serious across most of the country and at emergency levels in some areas. The agencies said around five million people were found to be severely food insecure, suffering from levels of hunger where external food…
15 July 2014 – More than 90 days after hundreds of schoolgirls were kidnapped by Boko Haram rebels in north-eastern Nigeria, a United Nations envoy for the region got a first-hand account of the efforts underway to rescue the students and to fight terrorism in the region, and met with education activist Malala Yousafzai, who was spending her birthday in Nigeria to show solidarity with the girls and their families. In Abuja, Said Djinnit, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, reiterated “the continued commitment of the United Nations to the unity and stability of Nigeria,” according to the UN…
11 July 2014 – With Syria heading into its fourth year of conflict, a United Nations agency today called on Europe to do more to help Syrian refugees, after a new report found that some nations in the region are turning back asylum seekers and ‘shouldering only a small part’ of the challenges. “In fact, they are minuscule and represent only four per cent of Syrian refugees,” UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Melissa Fleming told journalists in Geneva in reference to the Syrian refugee figure in Europe. Until now, just 123,600 Syrian refugees have sought asylum in Europe, according to…
11 July 2014 – The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has reported that earlier today, its radar revealed that three rockets originating from the general area of Ain Arab in south Lebanon were fired towards Israel. According to a UN spokesperson in New York, the Mission’s radar picked up the activity at around 6 a.m. local time. Israeli authorities informed UNIFIL that one rocket impacted in northern Israel. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) returned artillery fire towards the general area of the fired rockets, said the UN. “This is a serious incident in violation of UN Security Council resolution…
14 July 2014 – The appointment of a presidential adviser on conflict-related sexual violence and child recruitment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) marks “a new dawn” in tackling these scourges, senior United Nations officials said today. The appointment of Jeannine Mabunda Lioko Mudiayi is a demonstration of President Joseph Kabila’s personal commitment to the fight against conflict-related sexual violence and recruitment and use of children in the DRC,” said Zainab Hawa Bangura and Leila Zerrougui, the Secretary-General’s Special Representatives on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Children and Armed Conflict, respectively. “It comes at a crucial moment when…
14 July 2014 – Extremely concerned by the dramatic increase in violence against civilians in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for a halt to the fighting and a return to the country’s political objectives. Rival militias vying for control of Tripoli International Airport triggered heavy clashes yesterday in what media reports describe as the worst fighting in the capital for six months. At least seven people were reportedly killed and dozens others wounded. In a statement from his spokesperson, Mr. Ban said that he believed the such violent actions “undermine the sacrifices that so…
13 July 2014 – The United Nations mission in Libya on Sunday called for a cessation of hostilities in the capital, Tripoli, as well as in Benghazi and other parts of the country, amid reports of heavy clashes and several deaths. Media reports say that heavy fighting broke out between rival militias vying for control of Libya’s main airport, resulting in at least seven deaths, in what is described as the worst fighting in the capital for six months. “Libyan authorities, political forces and armed groups are called upon to put an end to the plight of the civilians,” the…
12 July 2014 – The members of the United Nations Security Council have condemned “in the strongest terms” the recent attacks by the insurgent group Al-Shabaab in Mogadishu against the presidential palace and seat of Government, as well as on the Somali Parliament and its members. The 8 July attack on the presidential palace, known as Villa Somalia, was the latest in a series of attacks by Al-Shabaab against the country’s political institutions. “The members of the Security Council reiterated their resolve to continue to stand by the people and Government of Somalia, in the face of deplorable terrorist attacks,…
11 July 2014 – With thousands of families being driven from their homes by the violence spreading through north-eastern Nigeria, United Nations agencies and their partners are providing humanitarian aid to those who have escaped and crossed the border into Cameroon. According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the frequent violent attacks in the region have displaced some 650,000 people in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno. Since May, more than 8,000 Nigerians from the area have fled to the remote north part of Cameroon. Armed groups have caused destruction, including burning homes and kidnappings throughout the country, including in Borno, where…