8 May 2015 – While Efforts have been made in Mauritius to ensure that older persons fully enjoy their rights, the United Nations rights expert on the issue stressed today that “law is not enough” and encouraged the authorities to make detection of elder abuse and law enforcement a priority. “The authorities’ firm commitment to putting older people first needs to translate into deeds,” said Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, the UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, at the end of her first official visit to the country. “Their situation cannot be seen in isolation as…
Author: UN News
8 May 2015 – The eruption of pre-election violence in Burundi last month has seen over 50,000 people flee to neighbouring countries and threatens to undo some of the most promising developments in recent refugee history in Africa, the United Nations body tasked with protecting displaced people said in Geneva today. “Many of these have crossed into Rwanda (25,004), but over the last week we have also seen a sharp increase in people seeking asylum in Tanzania (17,696) after entry restrictions there were lifted,” said, Adrian Edwards, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),…
7 May 2015 – Thousands of women and children in regions where Boko Haram violence has spilled into Cameroon, Niger and Chad, face a gruelling lean season and worsening malnutrition, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today. “Women displaced by conflict have lost their husbands, walked for days to safety and rely on the support of already-vulnerable communities,” said Denise Brown, WFP Regional Director for West Africa, stressing that “the lean season is upon us, and as local granaries are emptying, women tell of their families going hungry.” The current lean season – when food needs among the…
7 May 2015 – Sexual violence is being committed strategically, in a widespread and systematic manner, and with a high-degree of sophistication by most parties to the conflict in Syria and Iraq, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Bangura, said today as she briefed journalists on her “scoping mission” to the region in April. “Women and girls are at risk and under assault at every point of their lives,” Ms. Bangura declared, emphasizing that the threat of brutality followed them “every step of the way…in the midst of active conflict, in areas under control…
6 May 2015 – The United Nations Special Envoy on Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, is conducting intensive consultations aimed at getting the political process back on track for the country, where conflict erupted in late March. Starting the process with a visit to Paris, Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed met officials from the Office of the French President and the Foreign Ministry, as well as the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperative Council. Tomorrow, the Special Envoy will travel to Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, for meetings with President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, Vice President Khaled Bahah and other Yemeni officials, as…
6 May 2015 – As Liberia bounces back from the “national nightmare” of a devastating Ebola epidemic which claimed more than 4,000 lives, the country must also prepare for a series of future challenges – from the build-up of its security sector to the undertaking of critical presidential elections in 2017, according to Karin Landgren, the head of the United Nations Mission there (UNMIL). On the heels of her presentation of the Secretary-General’s latest report on UNMIL to the Security Council, Ms. Landgren voiced optimism that the West African nation had weathered the worst of the Ebola crisis as the…
5 May 2015 – Liberia is expected to be declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) within the week if no more new cases of the disease are discovered before then, the top United Nations official in Liberia said today as she briefed the Security Council. “After almost 14 months spent under the cloud of Ebola, this will be joyful news for the country,” said Karin Landgren, Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Liberia. “Liberians and their Government, with support from the UN and ineternational partners, have gotten firmly ahead of the epidemic. Now, all Liberians must remain vigilant.”…
4 May 2015 – The head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has condemned today’s attack on a UN helicopter near the city of Beni as “unacceptable and intolerable.” “I strongly condemn the firing at one of our helicopters in Beni territory,” declared Martin Kobler, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a statement released from the capital, Kinshasa. The attack took place in the morning of May 4th, in the area of Oicha, 20 km north of Beni. The helicopters were fired upon…
4 May 2015 – The United Nations has hailed South Sudan’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as the African nation takes a critical step towards protecting and promoting the rights of all children. “We applaud South Sudan for ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” declared the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in a press release issued earlier today. “We urge States that have ratified the Convention, now including South Sudan, to fulfil their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all children. Ratification is an…
2 May 2015 – After a reported overnight attack on Yarmouk refugee camp, the United Nations relief agency assisting Palestinians across the Middle East has called on the Syrian Government to refrain from using explosive weapons in populated areas, “including airborne weapons, whose indiscriminate effects expose civilians to imminent danger and suffering.” In a press release, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said it is increasingly alarmed about the safety of civilians in Yarmouk, amid reports overnight of armed clashes, the use of heavy weapons and air strikes. “Civilians in the camp…