17 May 2014 – Following reports that armed groups cut water supplies in Syria’s flashpoint town of Aleppo, leaving at least 2.5 million people with no access to safe water for drinking and sanitation for days, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that such deliberate targeting of civilians is a “clear breach” of international law. A statement issued yesterday evening by a UN spokesperson in New York said Mr. Ban is concerned by reports that water supplies in the city of Aleppo were deliberately cut off by armed groups for eight days. “The Secretary-General notes that preventing people’s access…
Author: UN News
16 May 2014 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today it has started moving more food supplies from Turkey into north-east Syria to assist displaced families, while noting continued challenges with humanitarian access to those in need inside the war-torn nation. A convoy of 34 trucks carrying 796 metric tons of food including sugar, lentils, rice, bulgur, tomato paste, beans, vegetable oil, pasta, salt, and wheat flour – enough to feed 58,000 people for one month – left Wednesday through the Nusaybin border crossing point. It will deliver urgently needed food assistance over the next few days…
15 May 2014 – A senior United Nations official has highlighted the extreme hardship faced by Palestinian refugees in Syria as a result of the ongoing armed conflict, and stressed the need to improve conditions to enable the delivery of critically-needed humanitarian assistance. “Many refugees had, often overnight, lost everything from their homes, their livelihoods, their businesses and their hopes. In their families, they had confronted death, injury and disappearance,” said Pierre Krähenbühl, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). “As another generation of Palestinians experiences the trauma of displacement,…
15 May 2014 – Nearly 15 million people in Yemen – over half the population – are in need of some form of humanitarian aid this year, the top United Nations relief official in the country said today, urging the international community to provide the critical funds necessary for the response. Johannes Van Der Klaauw, the newly-appointed UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, told a news conference in Geneva that the international community needs to come forward with substantial funding to implement the 2014 response plan for Yemen, which remains alarmingly under-funded. Only 18 per cent of the $592 million needed…
15 May 2014 – Drought and ongoing conflict are not only adding pressure to Syria’s already dire food security situation, but also increasing the need for imports and driving up prices, according to the latest outlook issued by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). “The pressure continues to mount on displaced families and other vulnerable farmers, threatening long-term consequences for their food security, health and economic survival,” stressed Eriko Hibi, the FAO Representative in Syria. FAO warned that the production of wheat and barley – the country’s two most important food crops – may be severely reduced. “The…
14 May 2014 – The United Nations has condemned the murder of well-known French photojournalist Camille Lepage, whose body was found in the Bouar region in the western part of war-torn Central African Republic (CAR), where she had been working. “I condemn the killing of Camille Lepage, whose only desire was to show, through her work, the fate of marginalised populations,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), calling on the country’s authorities to do everything possible to shed light on the circumstances of her death and bring the authors to justice. UNESCO says…
14 May 2014 – The political situation in Burundi remains tense with limited political space not conducive to protection of human rights, a United Nations envoy today told the Security Council today, warning that as the country approaches elections in 2015, there is a possibility of violence. “In the approach of the election period, there is a propensity to political violence and confrontation between youths affiliated with political parties, reflecting the deleterious political climate,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, told the 15-member Council. “To prevent exacerbation, we particularly recommended that the authorities intensify efforts to promote better political…
14 May 2014 – The United Nations expert committee tasked with monitoring discrimination against women today added its voice to the chorus of condemnation of the abduction of over 200 girls from their school in north-eastern Nigeria and called for their immediate release. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed deep concern about the fate of the girls, who were abducted on 14 April during a violent raid by the militant group known as Boko Haram in the village of Chibok in Borno state. “The Committee urges Nigeria to employ all necessary means to obtain the release…
14 May 2014 – The United Nations Mission in South sudan (UNMISS) has welcomed the signing of an agreement between the Government and the South sudan Democratic Movement/Army (Cobra Faction) on the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Greater Pibor County, Jonglei state. In a press statement welcoming the accord, reached in Addis Ababa on 9 May, UNMISS chief Hilde Johnson recalled that just six months ago, prior to the to the current national crisis, Pibor County was the epicentre of instability in South Sudan, and the conflict between the SSDM/A and the Government was the focus of international attention.…
13 May 2014 – The children of the Central African Republic are witnessing terrible violence in what has become a forgotten crisis, a senior United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) official today said, urging the international community to ‘stand up’ and stop and help end the crisis as soon as possible. “You look into their eyes and they are just lost. But it is not just the violence, it is the sheer brutality. Chopping. Maiming,” Souleymane Diabaté, UNICEF’s representative in Central African Republic (CAR), told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York. Since December 2013, 194 children have been maimed and…
13 May 2014 – Stressing the need to educate all children, the head of the United Nations education agency today condemned the abduction of schoolgirls in Nigeria – calling it “an attack against the aspirations of these girls” – and urged greater cooperation among Member States on educational needs. “The universal right to education is still contested in some places, and I take this opportunity to condemn the abduction of more than 270 girls in Nigeria by extremist groups,” said Irina Bokova, the Director General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Speaking to the “Global Education for…
12 May 2014 – Significant gains have been made in recent years in combating the threat of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) but the countries of Central Africa still face numerous challenges that require continued international support, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today. “Despite the efforts made by leaders of Central African countries and their people, the sub-region remains fragile and continues to require ongoing support from the international community, particularly the United Nations,” said Abou Moussa, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA). In his final…
10 May 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the signing of an agreement to resolve the crisis in South Sudan, and demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities. The agreement was signed yesterday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, by South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir, and former Vice President Riek Machar, whose supporters have waged a five-month battle that has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and led to gross human rights violations by both sides. Mr. Ban, in a statement issued by his spokesperson, demanded that the parties immediately translate these commitments into action on the ground, in particular…
9 May 2014 – The Security Council today demanded the “immediate and unconditional” release of the schoolgirls abducted a few weeks ago by Boko Haram militants in Nigeria, and called on the international community to work closely with the authorities to ensure their safe return. In a statement read out to the press by Ambassador Oh Joon of the Republic of Korea, which holds the Council’s presidency for May, the members of the Council expressed their “profound outrage at and condemned in the strongest terms” the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in mid-April in Chibok, as well as the reported…
9 May 2014 – Poor rains, high food prices and ongoing conflict have intersected to push Somalia once gain to the brink of crisis, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in the country said today, warning that without immediate action, the fragile food security situation could worsen in the coming months, especially if funding shortages force essential projects to shut down. “This is not your usual appeal for funds. Some of NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and agencies have so few resources that essential life-saving projects are facing closure,” warned Philippe Lazzarini, at a briefing in Geneva. “If funding is not received in…
9 May 2014 – More than half way through the 12-month school year, almost two thirds of schools in the conflict-ridden Central African Republic (CAR) remain closed, according to a recent survey by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners. “The education system is literally on its knees,” said Souleymane Diabaté, UNICEF Representative in Car. “Many teachers have not been paid for months; there are no textbooks; the little infrastructure that existed before the crisis has been damaged.” Fighting in Car has taken on an increasingly sectarian nature following a 2012 rebel-led coup and has since become more…
13 May 2014 – Amidst an international community “hopelessly divided” over how to end more than three years of bloodshed in Syria, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced that he has regretfully accepted the resignation of Lakhdar Brahimi, the Joint United Nations-League of Arab States Special Representative on the crisis. Making the announcement during the daily press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Ban said the veteran diplomat would relinquish his post as of 31 May. Yet, as the conflict grinds on with no end in sight, Mr. Ban lamented the envoy’s resignation as a “tragedy for the Syrian…
12 May 2014 – Continued inaction in the Middle East peace process could lead to further instability in the region, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today at an international meeting in Turkey, reiterating his calls on Israelis and Palestinians to avoid unilateral steps that would aggravate the situation and diminish prospects for negotiations to resume. In a message delivered by Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Mr. Ban told the parties that “not making a choice in favour of peace and co-existence within the two-State framework is the most detrimental choice of all.”…
12 May 2014 – The top United Nations envoy in Iraq says he remains concerned at reports of increased armed activities in Fallujah, in Anbar province, and its impact on civilians. “The people of Anbar have suffered from terrorism and violence for too long. All efforts must be made to ensure that fighting ends, people return to their homes, and reconstruction can begin,” said Nickolay Mladenov, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). “It is vital that those affected by the fighting are able to receive humanitarian support,” Mr. Mladenov added in a…
8 May 2014 – The head of the Joint Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations (OPCW-UN) today called for safe and unfettered access to the remaining eight per cent of Syria’s chemical weapons material that needs to be removed and destroyed. Speaking to reporters after a closed-door briefing to the UN Security Council, Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag recalled that 92 per cent of Syria’s chemical weapons have been removed or destroyed in country so far. The remaining eight per cent is currently inaccessible due to the security conditions, Ms. Kaag said, stressing…