28 January 2014 – Peace and security, sustainable development and human rights are on the agenda at the second summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which opens in Cuba today and where United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered a wide-ranging address. In his remarks, Mr. Ban said the Latin American and Caribbean region has undergone “turbulent times, but has come through stronger”. That progress is visible across the work of the United Nations. Indeed, over the last 20 years, extreme poverty in the region has been cut in half and differences are being resolved through…
Author: UN News
31 January 2014 – The top United Nations envoy in Somalia today voiced his concern over escalating tensions in Baidoa surrounding a federal State-building conference, calling for calm and dialogue by all parties as they address legitimate concerns. “It is important that all parties remain calm, committed to dialogue and support reconciliation efforts,” Nicholas Kay said in a news release issued by the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). Mr. Kay, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of UNSOM, called on traditional leaders, politicians and all stakeholders to play a “constructive and reconciliatory” role amid the ongoing process to form…
30 January 2014 – The United Nations peacekeeping mission in South sudan is seeking to verify reports of human rights violations in the conflict that erupted just over a month ago, a spokesperson today said, as peacekeepers are boosting patrols in the world’s youngest nation. The UN Mission in South sudan (UNMISS) is working throughout the country to collect evidence and document abuses including in the capital Juba, and Bor, Jonglei State, where UN police and peacekeepers are sheltering more than 10,000 civilians. Overall, 79,000 civilians are sheltering at eight bases throughout the country, according to a UN spokesperson. Briefing…
30 January 2014 – Unless the security situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) improves, humanitarian agencies will not have sufficient access to people in the provinces outside the capital Bangui, the United Nations relief arm today warned. Some 825,000 people are still displaced from their homes across the country, more than 400,000 of them in Bangui alone, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The UN and its partners have requested $152 million to fund an emergency intervention plan, which aims to provide vital relief and protection to 1.2 million people across the country…
30 January 2014 – Africa will always find a ready and willing partner in the United Nations as it progresses on the road of economic development to provide peace, more jobs, greater equality and better living conditions to its peoples, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told leaders of the continent’s 54 States today. “The United Nations is your unwavering partner in this pursuit,” he said at the opening session of the 22nd session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. “There is hardly any higher priority for the United Nations than tangible and sustainable development in…
29 January 2014 – More than 400,000 people have been displaced recently in the so-called “Triangle of Death” – the area between the towns of Pweto, Mitwaba and Manono – in the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations confirmed today. More than 600 homes in 11 villages have been destroyed since October, a dramatic increase in the last two years, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for the DRC, Martin Kobler, said today that he was “extremely concerned” by the deterioration of…
30 January 2014 – The decision by India’s Supreme Court to commute 15 death sentences to life imprisonment is a ‘significant step’, independent United Nations human rights experts today said, urging the country to establish a moratorium on executions with a view of abolishing the death penalty. “This judgment by the Supreme Court reaffirms the value of human rights and respect for human life, as enshrined in the Indian Constitution,” said the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns. “If the death penalty is to be used at all, international law clearly requires that it must follow…
29 January 2014 – A senior United Nations official today stressed that agriculture is the engine of growth needed to eradicate hunger and boost food production in Africa, ahead of the launch later this week of the 2014 African Year of Agriculture and Food Security. José Graziano da Silva, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), noted that several African countries have already reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) hunger target of reducing by half the proportion of undernourished people between 1990 and 2015. These countries include Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Djibouti, Ghana, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome…
29 January 2014 – Noting that the recent conflict in South sudan has rolled back development gains made over the past two years since independence, the top United Nations humanitarian official today voiced her hope that a recent ceasefire will enable people to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. “The violence and abuses we have seen since 15 December threaten the future of this young country,” Valerie Amos told reporters in the capital, Juba, as she concluded a three-day visit to see first-hand the impact of the conflict on the nation’s people. The conflict between pro- and anti-Government…
29 January 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the establishment of a new transition Government in the Central African Republic (CAR), and urged determined national and international efforts to stop sectarian violence which is affecting more than half of the country’s population. In a statement last night from his spokesperson, Mr. Ban congratulated the new Head of State of the Transition, Catherine Samba-Panza, and Prime Minister Andre Nzapayeke for their efforts to “put the transition back on track.” Ms. Samba-Panza, CAR’s first woman leader, was elected last week by the country’s transitional parliament. She took over from…
28 January 2014 – Despite Burundi’s request that the United Nations mission helping it recover from decades of ethnic war end by mid-2014, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is recommending its renewal for another full year as the country moves towards crucial elections amid political violence and intra-party tensions. “Our best efforts to consolidate peace in Burundi, as advanced as they are, remain incomplete,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Parfait Onanga-Anyanga told the Security Council today in presenting the latest report on the small Central African country, where hundreds of thousands of people have perished in largely inter-ethnic fighting between Hutus and…
28 January 2014 – The United Nations humanitarian chief continued her visit to South sudan today with a stop in Malakal in Upper Nile state, where she met with communities displaced by the recent conflict and observed the efforts of aid agencies that have been assisting those affected by the violence. The Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, said she was concerned about the current situation and the impact of the violence across the country. She added that humanitarian organizations were supporting the Government’s efforts to respond to the immediate crisis, but said they also…
28 January 2014 – Seriously concerned by widespread human rights violations and the “increasing cycle of violence and retaliation” in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations peacebuilding office in the country, authorized the use of force by European Union troops, and added travel bans and asset freezes to an arms embargo already in place. The 15-member Council unanimously adopted a new resolution expressing deep concern at the “continuing deterioration of the security situation in the CAR” which it said is characterized by a “total breakdown in law and order, the…
29 January 2014 – With a little over a week to go before the Winter Olympics open in Sochi, Russia, General Assembly President John Ashe today urged United Nations Member States to observe the historic tradition of ceasing hostilities ahead of the Games. “I solemnly appeal to all Member States to demonstrate their commitment to the Olympic Truce for the 2014 Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Mr. Ashe said reading his Solemn Appeal at the UN Headquarters in New York. He urged Governments “to undertake concrete actions at the local, national, regional and world levels to promote and strengthen a…
27 January 2014 – The United Nations today paid tribute to the 6 million Jews and countless others massacred in the Nazi Holocaust with a solemn ceremony in the General Assembly Hall, a rebuke to Holocaust deniers, and a warning from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the perils of anti-Semitism and hatred of any kind. “The United Nations was founded to prevent any such horror from happening again. Yet tragedies from Cambodia to Rwanda to Srebrenica show that the poison of genocide still flows,” he said in a message marking the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of…
28 January 2014 – The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom today condemned the separate killings of four television journalists in Pakistan and Iraq, calling for those responsible to be brought to trial. “Violence against the media cannot be allowed to continue with impunity,” said the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova. In the Pakistani city of Karachi, technician Waqas Aziz, security guard Ashraf Yusuf, and driver Khalid Khan – all three employed by ‘Express News’ – were fatally shot on 17 January while in their television van. An…
28 January 2014 – Amid reports that riot police have been deployed in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to break up anti-Government protests, the United Nations labour agency today urged everyone to remain calm and reiterated its calls for a probe into police action. The UN International Labour Organization (ILO) is “deeply disturbed” by the continuing violence in Cambodia, including reports of another crackdown on protesting workers on Sunday, the UN agency said in a statement. “The ILO urges all parties to refrain from further violence, and to take all steps necessary for the release of the trade union leaders…
27 January 2014 – Coconut farmers in the Philippines are in urgent need of assistance to recover their livelihoods nearly three months after Typhoon Haiyan tore through the country, the United Nations food relief agency today warned, calling for donors to support its $38 million call for severely affected Philippine households. “Coconut farmers are replanting, but what makes the situation so dire is that newly planted trees take between six to eight years to reach maturity and return to full production,” said Rajendra Aryal, acting UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Representative in the Philippines. Philippines is the second largest…
28 January 2014 – An independent United Nations human rights expert has urged the Rwandan Government to lift undue restrictions on the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association so that the country can expand its economic achievements since the 1994 genocide to the fields of multiparty democracy and human rights. “I commend Rwanda for its remarkable progress in developing infrastructure, building institutions and ensuring stability and security over the past 20 years,” said Maina Kiai, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. “The next step is to build upon that foundation by developing…
28 January 2014 – The United Nations refugee agency said today it has released updated guidelines on the needs of people fleeing southern and central Somalia that underscore the need for Governments to assess applications for protection on the basis of reliable, up-to-date information about the situation in Mogadishu and other areas. “Notice needs to be taken of the impact of the armed conflict on civilians,” Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news conference in Geneva. She said that while security has improved in some parts of southern and central Somalia, armed conflict…