17 June 2014 – Challenging the Security Council to take immediate action to protect victims in the ongoing Darfur crisis, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) underscored today that without concrete steps to apprehend those accused of crimes against humanity, the world’s efforts to ensure justice in Darfur could “go down in history as an indefensible failure.” “What have we achieved in concrete terms? Have we lived up to the expectations of Darfur’s victims? Sadly, the intellectually honest answer is a resounding ‘no,’” Fatou Bensouda said as she began her briefing to the Council with a look back…
Author: UN News
16 June 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today condemned “in the strongest terms” the attacks that took place on Sunday in Mpeketoni, Kenya, which reportedly killed at least 48 people and wounded many more. “The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of the deceased and the Government of Kenya and wishes the wounded a swift recovery,” said a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson. The Somali insurgent group known as Al-Shabaab has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks, which targeted hotels and a police station and lasted several hours, according to media reports. “The Secretary-General reiterates the solidarity of…
16 June 2014 – The reduction of peacekeeping personnel in Côte d’Ivoire will continue, given ‘impressive’ progress there, but the rapid reaction capabilities of remaining forces must be boosted to help ensure security during planned elections, the top United Nations envoy in the West African country told the Security Council today. “At the end of the month of May, we have achieved the withdrawal of 1,700, in line with Security Council Resolution 2112 (2013),” Aïchatou Mindaoudou, the head of the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) said, presenting the Secretary-General’s latest report. “These military reductions have been possible because of…
16 June 2014 – Marking the Day of the African Child, United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown today called for the world to remember the kidnapped schoolgirls of Chibok, Nigeria, while also praising young people around the world as they mobilise to demand education for all. “Thousands of people have come together united with one cause: safe schools for every girl and boy,” Mr. Brown said in his message for the Day, which this year focuses on the theme, ‘A child friendly, quality, free and compulsory education for all children in Africa.’ “While the global community has…
19 June 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned the continued heavy shelling, aerial attacks and use of barrel bombs by the Syrian Government, and renewed his appeal to all parties to the conflict to end violence and seek a political solution. “The Secretary-General reiterates his condemnation of the indiscriminate use of any weapon against civilians, which contravenes international humanitarian and human rights law,” said a statement issued by his spokesperson. “All civilians must be protected in any situation.” A recent attack, on an improvised camp for internally displaced people in southern Syria on 18 June, reportedly killed over…
19 June 2014 – As part of an ongoing plan to expand the reach of its humanitarian efforts in Syria, the United Nations refugee agency has opened a field office and warehouse in the southern city of Sweida and stocked it with aid items for onward delivery to thousands of internally displaced civilians. On Wednesday, a convoy belonging to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) crossed the border from Jordan and made its way to the nearby city of Sweida with 25,000 blankets, 10,000 sleeping mats, 2,500 kitchen sets, 2,000 plastic sheets and 5,000 jerry cans from warehouses in…
19 June 2014 – Two special advisors to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned today what could amount to war crimes committed in Iraq by terrorist and armed groups, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and raised special concern about the impacts of the deteriorating security situation on religious and other minorities. “The protection of civilians should be the primary focus of any strategy to address the current situation,” said the Special Advisers to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, and on the Responsibility to Protect, Jennifer Welsh. Noting that members of the…
18 June 2014 – With United Nations monitors reporting today that armed separatists have used killings, abductions and torture to instil a “climate of intimidation and fear” in eastern Ukraine, the world body’s human rights chief urged all armed groups to put down their weapons, end the violence and begin the process of long-term reconciliation. As her Office (OHCHR) released its third report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, High Commissioner Navi Pillay called on armed groups operating in Donetsk and Luhansk to “stop taking themselves, and the people living in their regions, down this dead end, which is…
17 June 2014 – The United Nations Security Council today voiced its deepest condolences to the families of all journalists who have been killed while covering the crisis in Ukraine, and encouraged a thorough investigation of all such incidents. Among the casualties are two Russian journalists killed on 17 June, and an Italian photojournalist who was killed on 24 May along with his Russian interpreter. “The members of the Security Council encourage a thorough investigation of all incidents of violence involving journalists,” Ambassador Vitaly Churkin of Russia, which holds the Council’s presidency for June, said in a statement to the…
14 June 2014 – Some 50,000 children in South sudan could die this year and thousands of rape survivors could go without psychosocial support, a senior United Nations humanitarian official today said, as aid agencies appealed for $1 billion they need to continue their work. “Now that the rains have set in, conditions in South sudan are deteriorating by the day: people are literally living in mud,” said Toby Lanzer, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan. He noted that cholera has broken out, malaria is rampant and many children are malnourished: “Millions of people need emergency healthcare, food, clean…
13 June 2014 – The United Nations human rights office today urged the Government of Mauritania to protect prominent human rights activist Aminetou Mint El-Moctar who has become the focus of a social media campaign encouraging anyone who “kills her or tears out her eyes will be rewarded by God.” “We are concerned that Ms. Mint El-Moctar is not being provided with adequate protection by the authorities, despite having requested it,” said Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The activist has been targeted after the leader of a movement known as “Friend of the Prophet”…
17 June 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the top United Nations envoy in Iraq are urging the country’s leaders to come together to address the rapidly deteriorating security situation and prevent sectarian reprisals amid the ongoing violence. “I am deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Iraq, including the reports of mass summary executions by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL),” Mr. Ban told reporters in Geneva today. “There is a real risk of further sectarian violence on a massive scale, within Iraq and beyond its borders,” he added. The security situation in Iraq…
17 June 2014 – The majority of civilians in Syria continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing conflict, the head of a United Nations-appointed human rights panel said today, noting that violence has escalated to an unprecedented level, humanitarian aid is arbitrarily denied and perpetrators of crimes have no fear of consequence. “Impunity has made its home inside the Syrian Arab Republic,” Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said during his presentation to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In over 3,000 interviews, the Commission has collected “detailed narratives” indicating a…
16 June 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appointed Major General Luciano Portolano of Italy as the new head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). “Major General Portolano has had a long and distinguished military career,” stated the announcement issued by Mr. Ban’s office. The Major General joined the Italian army in September 1981 and since September 2012 has served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Joint Operations in the Italian Armed Forces. He also has extensive experience with multinational operations and out-of-area operational deployments, including in Afghanistan where he commanded the International Security Assistance Force…
16 June 2014 – The United Nations human rights chief today condemned the reported “cold-blooded” mass execution in Iraq in recent days, while Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged that the perpetrators of those crimes be brought to justice while also calling on Iraqi leaders to prevent sectarian reprisals. Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that UN staff and other sources on the ground reported the executions of hundreds of Iraqis following last week’s capture of Mosul and other population centres by forces allied with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), including disarmed soldiers as well…
2 June 2014 – Big cities like New York are on the frontlines of the climate threat as well as engines of innovation, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, welcoming Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pledge to “green” the “city that never sleeps” and to pursue a framework for sustainable urban areas. “Big cities like New York generate and create some problems, but at this home of innovation, we can find solutions from this great city,” declared the UN chief following a meeting with Mayor de Blasio this afternoon at City Hall in downtown Manhattan. The Secretary-General welcomed the Mayors’…
13 June 2014 – The level of elephant poaching across Africa remains alarmingly high, according to a new United Nations-backed report release today, which also found an increase in the number of large seizures of ivory. “Africa’s elephants continue to face an immediate threat to their survival from high-levels of poaching for their ivory and with over 20,000 elephants illegally killed last year, the situation remains dire,” said John E. Scanlon, Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The report by the Convention’s Secretariat says that although the sharp upward trend…
13 June 2014 – Egypt’s judicial system has again come up short, the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) warned today after a criminal court handed down a harsh jail sentence for 25 activists, including prominent blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah, reportedly for “breaching the protest law, illegal gathering, theft, and attacking officials on duty.” Briefing reporters in Geneva, OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville expressed concern about the decision by a Cairo criminal court on Wednesday to sentence the activists in absentia to 15 years’ imprisonment and to a fine and a further five years of police surveillance after their release.…
13 June 2014 – While efforts are underway to safely release the abducted Nigerian school girls, more civilians are killed and many others are being displaced by Boko Haram insurgents, the United Nations envoy for West Africa today warned, reiterating the Organization’s commitment to helping stabilize the country. Special Representative of the Secretary-General Said Djinnit made the statement following a ministerial meeting on security in Nigeria convened yesterday by United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, William Hague. “Nigeria has been playing a pivotal role in promoting regional peace and security,” Mr. Djinnit noted, “and the UN is committed to its…
13 June 2014 – As ongoing violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) continues to drive civilians to seek safety elsewhere, the United Nations refugee agency is appealing to neighbouring countries to keep their borders open and allow access to safe haven for people on the run. Overall, the crisis that began in Car in December 2012 has thus far caused 226,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). There are also an estimated 550,000 people internally displaced, of whom 132,000 are in the capital, Bangui. The agency said today it is…