9 October 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined global partners, including the head of the World Bank, at a high-level conference in Washington, D.C., to combat water borne diseases like cholera in Haiti and, raise commitments to provide clean water, improved sanitation and health services in cholera endemic areas over the next three years. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim pledged $50 million ahead of the high-level conference on “Haiti: Clean Water, Improved Sanitation, Better Health” , co-hosted with the UN Secretary-General to substantially improve water and sanitation coverage in Haiti, and strengthen health services. “We have made…
Author: UN News
10 October 2014 – Strongly condemning the recent deadly ambush of a convoy of United Nations peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Security Council today deplored all attacks and provocations by armed groups against the UN stabilization mission in the country, known as MINUSCA, and underlined that such attacks may be considered war crimes. In a statement to the press, the Council “condemned in the strongest terms” yesterday’s attack against a MINUSCA convoy in the Car capital, Bangui, in which one Pakistani peacekeeper was killed and several other peacekeepers from Pakistan and Bangladesh were severely injured. In a…
6 October 2014 – The horrors of sexual violence in South sudan did not end with the ceasefire agreement, a senior United Nations official today said calling on citizens of the world’s youngest country to stand together and say “enough is enough.” Speaking at a press conference on her first visit to the country, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict, Zainab Bangura, said that armed men – civilians and soldiers from all parties to the conflict – are responsible, and some carry on the acts. “If allowed to continue, these rapes will haunt South sudan…
3 October 2014 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today welcomed the release of 70 Kurdish children, who were kidnapped in May while traveling from their home-town of Ai’n Al Arab in the northern Syrian governorate of Aleppo to take their final school examinations. “The physical and psychological well-being of these children is currently being assessed. We remain deeply concerned about the safety of children and teachers who are still in captivity,” said Hanaa Singer, UNICEF’s representative in Syria in a statement today. The children were kidnapped on 29 May and held in captivity for 120 days. Ms. Singer…
3 October 2014 – The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is “saddened and disturbed” to learn of the death of an international humanitarian aid worker, killed when a shell landed near the International Committee of the Red Cross Headquarters in eastern Ukraine on Thursday. This incident follows the “appalling” shelling of a school in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, which resulted in the death of a number of civilians, the Secretary-General said in a statement released by his spokesperson yesterday evening. Mr. Ban is also seriously concerned over the “dangerous surge” in fighting in recent days and mounting civilian casualties. “These…
2 October 2014 – The United Nations refugee agency reported today that new data on irregular crossings of the Mediterranean in the third quarter of 2013 show an alarming increase in the numbers of people perishing while attempting to make the journey to Europe. “We are failing to heed the lessons from the terrible events of last October, and more and more refugees are drowning trying to reach safety,” said António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), referring to the tragic incident a year ago this week in which a boat carrying migrants from Libya caught fire and sank…
30 September 2014 – As the international community lays the foundation for a sustainable development agenda that will follow the Millennium Development Goals in 2016, the Foreign Minister of Belarus today urged the United Nations General Assembly to make globalization more even and equitable than it has been up to now. “Rising inequality in the world in the biggest scourge,” Vladimir Makei told the 69th high-level debate on its last day of speeches. He said the world faces a paradox, having made significant advances in strengthening various forms of equality among genders and ethnicities, and yet faces a “stubborn rise…
29 September 2014 – In attempting to seal their borders, European nations are facing an “impossible” task, the United Nations independent expert on the human rights of migrants said today, as he encouraged the European Union (EU) to identify new legal channels of migration in an effort to save lives. “Sealing international borders is impossible, and migrants will continue arriving despite all efforts to stop them, at a terrible cost in lives and suffering,” Special Rapporteur François Crépeau wrote today in an Open Letter to the EU’s Committee on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. “If Europe is to witness a significant…
29 September 2014 – Addressing the General Assembly this afternoon, Liechtenstein’s Foreign Minister, Aurelia Frick, said acts of aggression perpetrated against Ukraine and the illegal annexation of parts of its territory underline the need to enforce international law. The call for accountability is growing louder, said Ms. Frick. Victims of the gravest crimes around the world are placing their hopes for justice with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). But for truly collective work to maintain peace and security, we need a collective sense of purpose. It is difficult to reconcile that a single Security Council member…
30 September 2014 – Addressing the General Assembly this morning, Suriname’s Foreign Minister Winston Guno Lackin called on the United Nations to “develop the muscles” needed to democratize itself and move away from the “restrictive” veto power. The Latin American and the Caribbean region was a “nuclear free” zone, he said, adding that political interdependence and regional organizations have become the driving force of mutual respect and mutual benefit. On a national level, Suriname has recently reached an average per capita income of approximately $10,000 with its GDP primarily based on the mining sector, which is responsible for 90 per…