June 19, 2019 No comments
Saudi Arabia in spotlight as UN-appointed independent investigator publishes full Khashoggi findings
INTERNATIONAL, 19 June 2019, Human Rights - Responsibility for the killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi lies with “high-level officials” of the monarchy, a UN-appointed independent investigator said on Wednesday, in a renewed call for full State accountability for the crime. In a 100-page report to be presented to the Human Rights Council next week, Special Rapporteur Agnès Callamard discusses the circumstances leading up to Mr. Khashoggi’s death and considers steps that might have prevented his murder. The prominent United States-based writer was last seen alive entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on 2 October last year. Citing graphic audio recordings obtained by the Turkish intelligence services, Ms. Callamard - United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions - suggests that the crime was a “premeditated extrajudicial...
Read more
June 19, 2019 No comments
Ripple effect of sexual violence in conflict threatens ‘collective security’, stains ‘our common humanity’, says UN chief
INTERNATIONAL, 19 June 2019, Human Rights - Sexual violence in conflict is a “threat to our collective security” and a “stain on our common humanity”, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, on Wednesday. Calling the scourge “a tactic of war, to terrorize people and to destabilize societies”, he underscored that its effect can echo across generations through trauma, stigma, poverty, long-term health issues and unwanted pregnancy. He urged that survivors should be heard and their needs recognized. “They are mostly women and girls, but also men and boys, calling for our support to access life-saving health services, justice and reparation”, he elaborated. The day also honours those “working on...
Read more
June 19, 2019 No comments
Record displacement shows ‘we're almost unable to make peace’, warns UN refugee agency chief
INTERNATIONAL, 19 June 2019, Migrants and Refugees - A record 70.8 million people fled war, persecution and conflict in 2018, UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday, appealing for greater international solidarity to counter the fact that “we have become almost unable to make peace”. Unveiling new data indicating that global displacement numbers are at “the highest level” that the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has seen in its almost 70-year existence, Mr. Grandi noted that these were “conservative” estimates. In Venezuela, he added, only half a million of the four million people that had left that country amid an ongoing economic and political crisis have formally applied for asylum and refugee status. Peru restrictions risks creating ‘bottleneck’ upstream Amid reports that regional neighbour Peru had tightened restrictions on Venezuelans trying to cross its border after struggling to cope...
Read more
June 18, 2019 No comments
Syria: Humanitarian disaster in Idlib ‘unfolding before our eyes’ says top UN relief official
INTERNATIONAL, 18 June 2019, Peace and Security - Unabating violence, destruction and a downward sprial in overall conditions for the desperate people trapped in north-western Syria’s Idlib were in the spotlight as the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Tuesday that “we are faced with a humanitarian disaster unfolding before our eyes”. “There is no denying the facts”, he stated. Mark Lowcock, also the UN Humanitarian Affairs chief, painted a grim picture of continuing violence involving Syrian Government forces and their allies, armed opposition forces, and the Security Council-listed terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). “Over the last six weeks, the conduct of hostilities has resulted in more than 230 civilian deaths, including 69 women and 81 children” he detailed in a briefing to the Council. “Hundreds more have...
Read more
June 18, 2019 No comments
UN health agency steps up fight against ‘invisible pandemic’ of antimicrobial resistance
INTERNATIONAL, 18 June 2019, Health - As resistance to antibiotics grows, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the latest stage of its campaign to fight this deadly health risk – likened by the agency to an “invisible pandemic”– with the launch of a new online tool for health professionals on Tuesday. The AWaRe portal divides antibiotics into three groups – Access, Watch and Reserve – and explains which antibiotics should be used to treat the most common and serious infections (Access), which ones should be available at all times in the healthcare system (Watch), and those that must be used sparingly or preserved and used only as a last resort (Reserve). The campaign is designed to raise the proportion of global consumption of antibiotics in...
Read more
