April 22, 2024 No comments
Airlines urged not to facilitate UK-Rwanda asylum transfers
INTERNATIONAL, 22 April 2024, Human Rights - Independent UN experts have expressed concern over the role airlines and aviation authorities could have in the unlawful removal of asylum seekers from the United Kingdom to Rwanda under an agreement between the two governments and the proposed “Safety of Rwanda” bill. Two years ago, London announced the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP), now referred to as the UK-Rwanda Asylum Partnership, which stated that asylum seekers in the UK would be sent to Rwanda before their cases could be heard. The national Rwandan asylum system would then consider their need for international protection. In November 2023, the UK Supreme Court said the policy was unlawful due to safety concerns in Rwanda. In response, the UK and Rwanda created the new...
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April 22, 2024 No comments
No evidence yet of Israel’s claims against UNWRA: Colonna report
INTERNATIONAL, 22 April 2024, Humanitarian Aid - Israeli authorities have provided no proof yet following their three-month-old claim that a dozen UN staff colluded with Hamas in the 7 October attacks in Israel, according to the final report of an independent review of the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna and released on Monday. “Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organisations. However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this,” according to the 54-page final report, Independent review of mechanisms and procedures to ensure adherence by UNRWA to the humanitarian principle of neutrality. The UN Secretary-General, who received the final report at the weekend, had appointed the independent review group...
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April 22, 2024 No comments
UNRWA report: UN chief stands with agency, backs findings of probe into 7 October attacks in Israel
INTERNATIONAL, 22 April 2024, Peace and Security - UN chief António Guterres issued an appeal on Monday to “actively support” the UN agency for Palestinians, UNWRA, adding that he accepted the final findings of an independent probe into the organization, launched in response to unproven allegations that UNRWA staff had participated in the 7 October attacks against Israel. The final report, led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, was due to be released later on Monday. Ms. Colonna was also preparing to speak to journalists at a scheduled noon briefing in New York as Chair of the Independent Review Group on UNRWA. “The Secretary-General accepts the recommendations contained in Ms. Colonna's report,” Mr. Guterres’s Spokesperson said in a statement. “He has agreed with (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini that...
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April 22, 2024 No comments
Thousands of children killed or maimed by explosive weapons in populated areas: UNICEF
INTERNATIONAL, 22 April 2024, Peace and Security - Meaningful action to prevent the use of explosive weapons in populated areas could reduce the number of child casualties in conflicts by nearly half, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday. UNICEF warned that as urban warfare increases, the use of weapons designed for open battlefields are now a common reality in cities, towns and villages, with devastating effects on their young residents. Between 2018 and 2022, explosive weapons were responsible for 49.8 per cent of the more than 47,500 instances of children killed and maimed that were verified by the UN in more than 24 conflict zones globally, with the vast majority occurring in populated areas. Irrefutable evidence “The evidence is irrefutable – when explosive weapons are...
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April 22, 2024 No comments
Secretary-General calls for UN 2.0 to tackle 21st century challenges
INTERNATIONAL, 22 April 2024, UN Affairs - Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday emphasized the need for a “strengthened and updated” United Nations to better reach and support people around the world. Amid multifaceted crises ranging from conflicts to climate, and poverty and inequality, the world looks to the UN “to help deliver the better, safer and greener world we need,” Mr. Guterres said. “But we cannot solve 21st century problems with 20th century tools – we need a UN 2.0,” he stressed, in a message opening the UN 2.0 week. The transformation in skills and culture, encapsulated in the UN chief’s vision of a UN 2.0, is focused on fostering cutting-edge capabilities in data, digital solutions, innovation, foresight and behavioural science – to deliver stronger results and...
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