21 January 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Security Council and the UN envoy to Lebanon have condemned today’s explosion in a southern Beirut suburb that killed four people and wounded a number of others, and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. “The recurrent acts of terrorism and violence in Lebanon are totally unacceptable,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement. “The Secretary-General calls on all Lebanese parties to come together in support of their State institutions, particularly the security forces, and to strive for national unity as the best safeguard of Lebanon’s security and…
Author: UN News
21 January 2014 – After being on the brink of civil war, Yemenis negotiated an agreement for peaceful change, the only such in the region, a senior United Nations official today said welcoming the conclusion of the National Dialogue Conference as an “historic moment” for the country. “Yemen serves as a model for comprehensive national dialogue, based on transparency, inclusivity and active and meaningful participation of all political and social constituencies,” said Jamal Benomar, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Adviser on Yemen. The National Dialogue established a new social contract, the Special Advisor said, “breaking from the past and paving the…
20 January 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today withdrew his invitation to Iran to attend a United Nations conference on ending the nearly three-year-old Syrian civil war, voicing “deep disappointment” that Iranian public statements were totally inconsistent with oral assurances he had been given. Mr. Ban announced last night that he had invited Iran to attend the conference’s opening in Montreux, Switzerland, on Wednesday after Foreign Minister Javad Zarif assured him that his country understands that the basis of the talks is full implementation of an action plan adopted in the so-called Geneva Communique of 2012, which calls for a…
20 January 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on Iraq’s political leaders to enter inclusive talks in the face of rising conflict and warned that failure to make progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks could spark a new outbreak of violence. “Today, I reiterate my message to Iraqi political leaders to fulfil their responsibilities to ensure inclusive dialogue, social cohesion, and concrete political progress,” he told the United Nations Security Council at the start of the body’s regular debate on the situation in the Middle East following his return from a visit to the region. “The country is again facing…
12 January 2014 – United Nations officials are calling on the international community to increase aid to Haiti on the fourth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck the impoverished country, as well as pledging the Organization’s ongoing solidarity with the Haitian people and Government. “Haiti remains extremely vulnerable on many fronts,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message delivered on Friday to UN staff in Port au Prince, the capital, by his Special Representative Sandra Honoré. “145,000 people continue to live in make-shift camps. The country is structurally exposed to recurrent food crises. Haiti has the lowest level of…
18 January 2014 – Top United Nations officials and the Security Council have strongly condemned a suicide attack at a restaurant in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday evening that killed 21 people, including four UN staff members, and injured many more. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described as “horrific” the attack against the Lebanese restaurant, for which the Taliban has reportedly claimed responsibility. “Such targeted attacks against civilians are completely unacceptable and are in flagrant breach of international humanitarian law. They must stop immediately,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement. In remarks on Saturday, Mr. Ban said it was “another…
19 January 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the decision taken on Saturday by the opposition National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Armed Forces to participate in this week’s international conference that aims to peacefully resolve the ongoing conflict. “This is a courageous and historic step in the interest of a negotiated political solution to a three-year conflict that has caused so much misery and destruction,” Mr. Ban said in a statement. “I look forward to the opposition’s expedited formation of a delegation that broadly represents the diversity of the Syrian opposition, including women,” he added. The Geneva Conference…
17 January 2014 – The United Nations human rights chief today strongly condemned the repeated obstruction of aid convoys trying to bring supplies to a besieged Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, stating that impeding humanitarian assistance to desperate civilians may amount to a war crime. More than 160,000 Palestinian refugees lived in Yarmouk, a suburb just south of Damascus, until December 2012, when the vast majority fled after armed opposition groups entered the camp and Government forces attacked. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has been unable to deliver any assistance since September last year, with…
16 January 2014 – The United Nations human rights chief today warned armed opposition groups in Syria that executions and unlawful killings violate international law and may amount to war crimes, as reports continue to emerge of mass executions in the northern part of the strife-torn nation. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a news release that it has received reports in the past two weeks of a succession of mass executions of civilians and fighters who were no longer participating in hostilities in Aleppo, Idlib and Raqqa by hardline armed opposition groups in…
16 January 2014 – The United Nations and Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria regrets the decision of one of the opposition groups, the National Coordination Committee (NCC), not to take part in next week’s international conference in Switzerland seeking to end nearly three years of civil war. Lakhdar Brahimi called NCC President Hassan Abdel-Azim yesterday to convey his “deep regrets’ but said he respected the decision. The conference will seek to achieve a comprehensive agreement between the Syrian Government and the opposition for fully implementing the decision of an earlier Geneva conference in June 2012, which called for…
16 January 2014 – The United Nations today launched the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, with senior officials urging that the observance be used to redouble efforts to achieve a durable peace between Israel and Palestine. “The coming year will be crucial to achieving the two-State solution,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said in his remarks to the UN General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. Mr. Eliasson said Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are working hard towards a peaceful, comprehensive settlement of all permanent status issues. That means a settlement that…
17 January 2014 – United Nations personnel may be among at least 14 civilians killed in a suicide bombing of a restaurant in Kabul, the Afghan capital, tonight for which the Taliban claimed responsibility. Deploring the attack, which killed both Afghans and foreigners, in the “strongest terms,” the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it is seeking to verify the status of all UN personnel and reiterated its condemnation of attacks that deliberately target civilians as gross violations of international humanitarian law. “This violence is unacceptable and must stop immediately,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative and UNAMA head Ján…
17 January 2014 – A United Nations independent human rights expert today urged Government and opposition parties in Cambodia to immediately negotiate an end to the ongoing impasse, saying political reconciliation is the “only way forward” for the country. Wrapping up week-long visit to Cambodia, Surya P. Subedi, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the country, stressed that the ongoing political and social tensions have a direct impact on the enjoyment of human rights by all Cambodians. In statement issued by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), he said that “flexibility on both sides to reach…
17 January 2014 – More than 6,000 child soldiers may now be involved in the conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR), with their numbers growing as fighting pits community against community in clashes that have taken on increasingly sectarian overtones, the United Nations reported today. Recruitment is happening on all sides, with reasons including poverty, despair, desire for revenge, and the general lack of options for children, and there have been many reports of girls being used as sex slaves, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Marixie Mercado told a news briefing in Geneva, stressing her agency’s efforts to free…
17 January 2014 – A United Nations human rights expert today called on the Myanmar Government to investigate reports of fatal clashes between security forces and Muslims in a village in Rakhine state, where over 110,000 people have been uprooted in Buddhist-Muslim violence in the past 18 month. “If deaths and injuries have occurred, the Myanmar Government must, under international law, conduct a prompt, effective and impartial investigation and hold the perpetrators of any human rights violations to account,” UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar Tomás Ojea Quintana said in a statement. “Quick and transparent action…
17 January 2014 – With more and more people fleeing the ongoing conflict in South Sudan, the United Nations refugee agency said today it is setting up new camps and expand existing ones in neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya to cope with the influx of refugees. Since conflict erupted in the world’s youngest nation in mid-December, more than 86,000 South Sudanese have crossed into neighbouring countries, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “With people still arriving at a rate of around 1,000 a day, we are looking at the prospect of refugee numbers exceeding 100,000 by the…
16 January 2014 – The recovery process in the Philippines has been steady but uneven, the United Nations top relief official said today, urging donors to increase support for the $788 million response plan for Filipinos, who continue to depend on humanitarian support, particularly to rebuild their homes. “Two months after the storm, the scale and spread of humanitarian needs is still daunting,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said in a statement from the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “I am particularly concerned that just 20 per cent of funding has been…
17 January 2014 – Fighting in South Sudan has turned into a horrifying humanitarian and human rights disaster with mass atrocities committed by both sides, a senior United Nations official said today, wrapping up a four-day visit to the strife-torn nation. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonovic told reporters that the month-long conflict has now reached the threshold of an internal armed conflict, causing “untold suffering” for thousands of civilians. “Mass atrocities have been committed by both sides. During my visit, I have received reports of mass killings, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, the widespread destruction…
16 January 2014 – Donors have provided only 6 per cent of the $247 million that the United Nations needs over the next 100 days to ease the “mega-tragedy” in strife-torn Central African Republic (CAR), where nearly 900,000 people have been driven from their homes and now lack the very basics of food, water, medical care and shelter. “We cannot deliver in any way, shape or form, to meet the needs of this population, without the mobilization of the resources that we require,” John Ging, Director of the Operational Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs…
16 January 2014 – Mali is at a crossroads, the top United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, as he urged the international community to continue to actively support ongoing national efforts to steer the West African nation in the right direction and prevent it from relapsing into crisis. “With the progress achieved over the last six months, the window to proceed to the next level is wide open,” the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Bert Koenders, told journalists after meeting with the 15-member Council. “The Government and key stakeholders must seize this opportunity to advance…