The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called on Guatemalan authorities to fully investigate the violent death of a transgender woman found dead at her home on Saturday in Guatemala City. She had sought asylum in Guatemala after fleeing violence in El Salvador due to her gender identity.
Officials at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) say locust swarms linked to climate change remain a serious threat to food security in parts of East Africa, India and Pakistan. United Nations agencies are helping affected areas by providing data on weather, climate and the desert locust life cycle.
An estimated 4.1 million girls will be subjected to female genital mutilation this year and if programmes and services stay shut for six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that figure will reach 6.1 million by 2030, according to the United Nations Population Fund’s “State of World Population 2020” report issued today.
An Ebola outbreak has been identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s western Equateur province. The health ministry has identified six cases, including four people who have died. The World Health Organization has staff in Mbandaka, the main city impacted by the outbreak, to support the response.
The United Nations donated 250,000 surplus protective face masks to the United States for New York City’s health workers who are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, as agencies called for a $2.5 trillion assistance package for developing countries, who face an estimated $220 billion in income losses.
While the World Health Organization (WHO) is not declaring the novel coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern at this time, the outbreak is a very high risk in China, as well as regionally and globally, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has announced.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Luis António Lam Padilla, the new Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
The Yemen office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights confirmed that 52 detainees were among those killed when air strikes hit a former community college compound on the northern outskirts of Dhamar City, United Nations teams in the country reported on Sunday. As many as 170 detainees were being held there.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that the number of attacks on schools in eastern Ukraine increased four-fold during the first four months of 2019, versus the same period in 2018, with schools attacked 12 times between January and April.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
UNICEF reports that 894 children — including 106 girls — were released today from the ranks of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a local militia that helps the Nigerian security forces in the fight against insurgency in the country’s north‑east. UNICEF says more than 3,500 children were recruited between 2013 and 2017.
UNAIDS is concerned that new HIV infections are not declining among people who inject drugs, despite a decline in new infections globally. A new report also shows that 99 per cent of them live in countries lacking adequate needle and syringe programmes, drug-dependency treatment, and HIV testing and treatment.
At least 34 United Nations and associated personnel were killed in malicious attacks while on duty in 2018, according to the annual report of the UN Staff Union’s Standing Committee for the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service. It is among the lowest casualty rates of the last five years.
The United Nations is concerned about reported violence and use of force by security forces during recent demonstrations in Douala, and condemns incidents of violence at Cameroon’s embassies in Paris and Berlin. It is also concerned about the reported arrest of Maurice Kamto, leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights today expressed concern after the approval in first reading of a bill to amend Guatemala’s National Reconciliation Law. If adopted, the amendment would result in a generalized amnesty for all cases of grave human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict.
The World Health Organization reports that full operations in response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province, which were disrupted by civil unrest in late December, have resumed across all locations. It warns that further interruptions could have serious consequences.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
The conflict in eastern Ukraine continues to take a toll on civilians, with more than 5 million people affected and 3.5 million people in need of aid. The 2018 response plan is only 38 per cent funded and disbursement of $162 million urgently needed for 2019 is now crucial as winter temperatures drop.
