9 January 2014 – There is a real danger of further upheaval along religious lines in the Central African Republic (CAR), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today warned a regional gathering in Chad, stressing that the past year’s events have profoundly damaged the relationship between Muslim and Christian communities and pose a long-term danger to the country. “The horrific cycle of violence and retaliation between communities must stop immediately,” Mr. Ban said in his message to the extraordinary summit of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), hosted by Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno in the capital, N’Djamena. “Distrust is high…
Author: UN News
8 January 2014 – Warning that the critical humanitarian situation in Iraq’s Anbar province is likely to worsen as fighting rages between Government forces and militias, the United Nations is working with national and regional authorities and its humanitarian partners to ensure safe passage for emergency aid to stranded and displaced families. “The situation in Fallujah is particularly concerning as existing stocks of food, water and life-saving medicines begin to run out,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement in Baghdad. “According to our preliminary assessment, over 5,000 families have fled the fighting and sought refuge…
9 January 2014 – While the United Nations has released $15 million from its rapid response fund for immediate humanitarian operations in war-torn South Sudan, even amid “very substantial progress”, it could take up to eight weeks before the full 5,500-strong surge in UN peacekeepers and equipment is deployed on the ground. “But our goal is to go as quickly as possible and we are grateful to those countries who are helping us to do the transportation because that’s no small feat,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous told reporters after briefing the Security Council on the situation in…
7 January 2014 – The United Nations human rights office today strongly condemned the killing of more than 20 people, and the wounding of dozens of children and other relatives, during a funeral procession in southern Yemen, and urged authorities to hold those responsible to account. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that the shelling on 27 December at Al-Dhalai Governorate killed 21 civilians and injured 30 others, prompting President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi to set up an investigation committee. The move has been welcomed by OHCHR, according to spokesperson Rupert Colville. He told journalists…
8 January 2014 – The top two United Nations officials in South Sudan are today meeting with families displaced by the ongoing violence between pro- and anti-Government forces, as aid agencies aim to reach civilians with urgently needed supplies. There is continued instability, fighting and mobilization of armed forces in a number of locations, including around Bor in Jonglei State and in areas in Unity and Upper Nile States, the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) confirmed today. In the city of Malakal in Upper Nile State, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative, Hilde Johnson, visited the internally displaced persons camp…
7 January 2014 – The process of removing Syria’s most critical chemical weapons material outside of the country for destruction began today, the head of the Joint Mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations confirmed. “A first quantity of priority chemical materials was moved from two sites to the port of Latakia for verification and was then loaded onto a Danish commercial vessel today,” OPCW-UN Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag said in a statement from the Joint Mission. Accompanied by naval escorts from Denmark, Norway and Syria, the ship has now sailed for…
8 January 2014 – A United Nations human rights expert today called for urgent protection and increased assistance to the growing number of persons displaced by violence in the Central African Republic. “The number of displaced persons has increased dramatically over the past few weeks, and immediate access by humanitarian agencies, including to those sheltering in the airport in Bangui, must be granted without delay,” said UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani. The UN expert specifically noted the need to strengthen the international community’s response to protect and assist those fleeing the violence,…
7 January 2014 – The United Nations and its humanitarian partners today appealed for $1 billion to save millions of Syrian children from becoming a “lost generation,” doomed by the civil war in their country to a life of despair, diminished opportunities and broken futures. “The future for these children is slipping away, but there is still a chance to save them,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said at the unveiling of the “No Lost Generation” initiative in Geneva, one week ahead of a major donor conference in Kuwait for humanitarian aid for Syria. “The world must answer…
10 January 2014 – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) confirmed today that it is seeking details from Australian authorities about recent media reports of the navy forcing boats, presumed to be carrying asylum-seekers on their way to Australia, back to Indonesian territorial waters, as well as reports of plans to buy and provide vessels for future “push-backs.” Briefing reporters in Geneva, UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards said the agency would be concerned by any policy or practice that involved pushing asylum-seeker boats back at sea without a proper consideration of individual needs for protection. “Any such approach would raise significant…
8 January 2014 – The top United Nations official in Somalia today hailed the election of a new president of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland as the harbinger of a peaceful, federal solution for the entire Horn of Africa country, which has been wracked by civil war, factional fighting and Islamist extremism for over two decades. “Puntland is leading the way on the development of a federal Somalia,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Nicholas Kay said in a statement released in Garowe, Puntland’s capital. “The United Nations support the people of Puntland and all of Somalia as they move together…
10 January 2014 – The United Nations human rights office today said it hopes that Myanmar’s decision to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment will lead to the full abolition of the death penalty in the country. President Thein Sein announced on 2 January that he would commute death sentences to life imprisonment and reduce some sentences on humanitarian grounds and to mark the 66th anniversary of independence of the country, marked on 4 January. “We warmly welcome the Myanmar Government’s Presidential Order,” the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, told journalists in Geneva.…
6 January 2014 – The top United Nations official in Lebanon met today with senior leaders from the Government of Saudi Arabia to discuss a host of issues, including support for the Lebanese Armed Forces and the region-wide efforts to cope with the massive numbers of refugees sparked by the crisis in Syria. According to a UN spokesperson, the Secretary-General’s Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Derek Plumbly, visited Saudi Arabia today and met with senior Saudi officials, including the Second Deputy Prime Minister and the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. He discussed the support agenda for Lebanon and the region ahead…
10 January 2014 – United Nations independent human rights experts today urged the Spanish Government to reconsider its decision to extradite Alexsandr Pavlov, who oversaw security for a Kazakh businessman and prominent opposition leader, on grounds that he may be tortured or receive an unfair trial if extradited. “All countries must ensure that extradition does not put an individual at risk of persecution, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment,” the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan E. Méndez, said. “Spain must adopt all necessary measures to safeguard Mr. Pavlov’s rights and physical integrity.” In a news release from the Office of…
10 January 2014 – The United Nations human rights office today expressed concern about a decision by the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs to declare illegal a coalition of 54 mainly non-Islamic civil society groups focused on human rights known by the acronym COMANGO. “We call upon Government of Malaysia to amend the Societies Act 1966, maximize the space for human rights activists and organisations to operate freely, and ensure that they can conduct their legitimate activities without intimidation or harassment,” the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, told journalists in Geneva. The COMANGO coalition…
6 January 2014 – Preparations for the long-sought international conference on Syria are moving ahead, with the United Nations reaching out to the more than 30 participating Member States and with a call on the Syrian opposition to name members of its delegations. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is sending invitations today to the list of invitees determined at the 20 December Trilateral meeting between Russia, the United States and the Joint Special Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi. The conference, to be held in Switzerland, will also include the three other permanent members…
10 January 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the international community to increase its aid to Haiti on the fourth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck the impoverished country, noting progress already made in health and education, but warning that more needs to be done. “Haiti remains extremely vulnerable on many fronts,” he said in a message delivered 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…
8 January 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the General Assembly President John Ashe, today urged the bloc of developing countries known as the “Group of 77 and China” to work collectively towards reaching the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the 2015 deadline. “Less than two years remain to the end of 2015,” Mr. Ban said at a ceremony at UN Headquarters where Fiji handed over the chairmanship of the Group to Bolivia. “In that time, we must do much more to achieve the MDGs, define a unified and universal post-2015 development agenda…
9 January 2014 – Timor-Leste, Asia-Pacific’s youngest country, today became the region’s first to launch a national campaign under the United Nations Zero Hunger Challenge, which seeks to ensure universal access to food in the face of looming threats such as climate change. “Hunger is an unforgivable development failure,” Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said at the launching ceremony in the National Parliament in Dili, the capital. “It is the single greatest obstacle to creating the inclusive, sustainable, and resilient future we want for all the people of…
7 January 2014 – The United Nations human rights office today expressed deep concern about what it said is disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officials responding to protesters in Cambodia, and urged authorities and security forces to exercise utmost restraint. We urge the Cambodian authorities to launch a prompt and thorough investigation and to ensure full accountability of members of security forces found to have used disproportionate and excessive force, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), Rupert Colville, told journalists in Geneva. He stressed that policing of demonstrations must comply at all times with international human…
6 January 2014 – A senior United Nations official has welcomed a decision by Nepal’s top court against granting amnesty for serious human rights violations committed during a decade-long civil war calling it a “significant development for the thousands of victims of the conflict”.“I now call on the Government of Nepal to urgently implement this important decision, in the spirit of working towards genuine and lasting peace, and to respect the demand of the Nepalese people for justice,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.The 2006 peace accord that ended the conflict in Nepal had agreed to establish…