Author: UN News

3 February 2014 – The United Nations and its global humanitarian partners today appealed for $2 billion on behalf of some 20 million people desperate for food in Africa’s Sahel region, where violence and insecurity has created protracted internal displacement and where population growth is outstripping food production. “More people than ever are at risk in the Sahel and the scale of their needs is so great that no agency or organization can tackle it alone,” said Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos at the launch in Rome. “The strategic plan for the region will help us reach millions of people…

4 February 2014 – Syrian children have been subjected to “unspeakable” suffering in the nearly three years of civil war, with the Government and allied militia responsible for countless killings, maiming and torture, and the opposition for recruiting youngsters for combat and using terror tactics in civilian areas, according to the first United Nations report on the issue. “Violations must come to an end now,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the report, which was released yesterday to the Security Council. “I therefore urge all parties to the conflict to take, without delay, all measures to protect and uphold the rights…

4 February 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Minister of State and Special Envoy for Energy and Climate Change, of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, have announced that the Gulf country will host a high-level meeting in May to generate momentum for concrete actions to be taken at a climate summit Mr. Ban will convene four months later in New York. The summit will take place at Headquarters on 23 September, one day before the General Assembly begins its annual high-level debate. The Secretary-General has invited leaders of Government, business, finance and civil society to bring…

4 February 2014 – While Yemen has made good progress in its political transition, the country will not enjoy stability unless the humanitarian needs of its people are met, a senior United Nations relief official warned today. “There will be no stability in Yemen if more than half of the population is waking up in the morning without the possibility to have food; is living below the line of poverty,” Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, told a news conference in Geneva. “What does it mean, then, to organize elections or have any political…

4 February 2014 – The United Nations today began a new airlift from Iraq to feed nearly 30,000 displaced people in a conflict-torn region of northeast Syria where road access has been cut off for over six months and no significant relief deliveries have arrived overland since last May. The airlift comes as the UN World Food Programme (WFP) faces in Syria what is currently its most complex emergency globally, with challenges ranging from bureaucratic delays, insecurity on roads, the closure of major highways, and sieges imposed on civilians trapped in over 40 locations across the country due to the…

2 February 2014 – Strongly condemning the killing of two campaign aides who were shot dead in the western city of Herat, the top United Nations official in Afghanistan has stressed that such cowardly attempts to disrupt the country’s election process “cannot be tolerated”, and called on the national authorities to take all measures to bring the perpetrators to justice. In a statement issued from Kabul, Ján Kubiš Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, deplored the killing Saturday night of two members of the campaign team of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, who…

1 February 2014 – The head of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has welcomed a breakthrough commitment by African leaders to end hunger on the continent by 2025, and has pledged the UN’s support as they work to “transform vision into reality.” “This is the first time in history that African leaders have made such a strong pledge to eliminate hunger and it is also a show of confidence that, working together, we can win the fight against hunger in Africa in our lifetimes,” FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said yesterday after African Union (AU) member…

31 January 2014 – Unless additional funding is secured for the Central African Republic (CAR), nearly two million desperate people will be forced to go without food and basic necessities, the United Nations said today, as regional leaders attending an African Union summit in Ethiopia discuss ways to stop the ongoing fighting. UN and humanitarian organizations urgently have requested $551 million to provide vital relief and protection to 1.9 million people across the country over the next three months, but the appeal is only 11 per cent funded, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).…

31 January 2014 – An action plan to stabilize the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has made important progress thanks to the support United Nations peacekeepers have given the Congolese army in the fight against rebel groups, but military means alone are not the solution, a top UN official said today. “We must pursue a comprehensive strategy that addresses the root causes of the violence,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told a meeting of regional leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, citing the “urgent priority” of extending State authority to the areas retaken from rebels and security sector reforms. “The answer…

31 January 2014 – The congestion at United Nations bases in South sudan has started to create risks for the 85,000 displaced civilians seeking shelter there, but they must not be forced or induced to leave, a United Nations independent human rights expert today warned. “While decongestion of the sites is advisable, this cannot be a quick and standalone measure amid South Sudan’s ongoing crisis, but must be embedded in a long-term comprehensive strategy on internal displacement,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani. “The safety and security of the displaced populations…

2 February 2014 – While confirming today’s delivery of more than 700 food parcels to the desperate, malnourished civilians stranded in a hard-hit area outside the Syrian capital of Damascus, the United Nations agency tasked with protecting Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East, reiterated its call for long-term access to meet the enormous needs, as Syria’s three-year civil war grinds on. “Today, UNRWA distributed 715 food parcels in Yarmouk, the Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, bringing to 3,709 the number of parcels distributed since we gained access to the camp on 18 January, said Chris Gunness, Spokesman for the UN…

1 February 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council have strongly condemned the “heinous” terrorist attack that took place today in Hermel, Lebanon, a town near the country’s northern border, which killed at least four people and wounded dozens of others. “The members of the Security Council underline the need to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the 15-member body said in a press statement issued in New York shortly after the incident, which, according to news reports, was a suicide bomb attack carried out a gas station in the town, which is near Lebanon’s northern border…

31 January 2014 – Voicing deep concern about the growing threats and attacks on members of the media in Egypt, the United Nations human rights office today urged the authorities to investigate reports of violence against them and to promptly release all journalists imprisoned for carrying out their legitimate activities. “We are extremely concerned about the increasingly severe clampdown and physical attacks on media in Egypt, which is hampering their ability to operate freely,” Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told reporters in Geneva. “In recent months, there have been numerous reports…

31 January 2014 – Syrian Government and opposition delegates today wrapped up what United Nations officials hope will be just the first stage of talks to end the country’s civil war, with the chief mediator reporting no breakthrough to stop the “unspeakable suffering” of the Syrian people, including access for humanitarian aid. “We haven’t made any progress, to speak of,” UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi told a news conference in Geneva, site of the eight days of talks, noting that the opposition has agreed to return for a further session on 10 February but that the Government delegation…

31 January 2014 – A senior United Nations relief official today called for a halt to the displacement of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, after 66 people, including 36 children, were uprooted in the latest round of Israeli demolitions in the area. The call by James W. Rawley, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, comes after Israel demolished 36 Palestinian-owned structures in the community of Ein al Hilwe yesterday. “I am deeply concerned about the ongoing displacement and dispossession of Palestinians in Area C, particularly along the Jordan Valley where the number of structures demolished more than…

1 February 2014 – Amid a global landscape filled with both volatility and opportunity, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today encouraged leaders attending an annual security conference in Germany to work together – and with the United Nations –“to build the world of security that people deserve and that is within our power to deliver.” In a wide-ranging address to the 50th annual Munich Security Conference, the Secretary-General described the current state of international affairs as grappling with profound demographic, social and environmental change – and enormous shifts in political and commercial power. Moreover, while many countries have achieved stability and progress,…

31 January 2014 – The United Nations human rights office today welcomed the start of dialogue between President Viktor Yanukovych and the opposition in Ukraine following weeks of violent unrest, as well as the abolition this week of laws restricting the exercise of fundamental rights. “We call for this dialogue to be sustainable, inclusive and grounded on the full respect of international human rights treaties ratified by Ukraine,” the spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Rupert Colville, told a news conference in Geneva. The Ukrainian capital, Kiev, has been witnessing mass protests since late…

31 January 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for the observance of the Olympic Truce, calling on everyone engaged in armed hostilities to lay down their weapons and cease hostilities. “The participants in the Sochi Games may carry the flags of many nations, but they come together under the shared banner of equality, fair play, mutual respect and non-discrimination,” Mr. Ban said in his message. “I encourage all those involved in the games – Governments, groups, organizations and individuals – to uphold and defend these core Olympic ideals,” he added. The symbolic Truce starts one week before the XXII…

30 January 2014 – The United Nations must use science and technology to strengthen its policy-making on sustainable development, reducing inequality and eradicating extreme poverty, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said launching his advisory board of scientists. “For too long we have sought to burn and consume our way to prosperity. That model is unsustainable,” Mr. Ban said in remarks at the inaugural meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board in Berlin. Composed of 26 eminent scientists in varied natural, social and human disciplines, the Board is meant to strengthen ties between the UN and the global scientific community so that science…

30 January 2014 – The Security Council today extended the long-running United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) until 31 July 2014, noting that progress made so far had not yet resulted in a comprehensive and durable settlement between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides. Unanimously adopting a new resolution, the Council urged the two sides to implement confidence-building measures, saying it looked forward to agreement on and implementation of further steps, including military confidence-building measures and the opening of other crossing points on the Green Line. The force has been deployed on the island since 1964, when inter-communal…