General News

The use of anti-personnel mines has “dramatically decreased” in recent decades, a leading expert on the munitions said on Tuesday, amid concerns about the high number of civilian casualties in conflict zones, including Afghanistan.

In an interview with UN News, Amelie Chayer from UN partner organization the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, insisted that the international community is taking the issue of demining seriously by making near-record levels of investment to makes communities safe.

On this World Children’s Day, when kids across the globe unite for their rights, Emmy-Nominated actress Millie Bobby Brown has been named the newest United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador.

Remembering the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, the UN chief has called on everyone around the world to “stand together against the normalization of hate”.

In his message marking Holocaust Remembrance Day, on 27 January, Secretary-General António Guterres said that everyone has a responsibility to “decisively resist” racism and violence.

Matt Wells reports.

George Weah was inaugurated on Monday as the new President of Liberia, where the United Nations is set to close its peacekeeping mission (UNMIL) in a few weeks after a successful 15-year presence in the West African country.

The new Liberian President took office at a ceremony in the capital, Monrovia, and it marks the first peaceful, democratic transfer of power, since the 1940s.

Illegal smuggling networks which have imprisoned, tortured and abused thousands of migrants trying to cross Libya, “must be tracked and prosecuted”.

That’s according to Othman Belbeisi, who is the UN migration agency IOM’s mission chief, in Libya.

He was speaking after the second flight of the year left Libya for Nigeria on Monday, under the so-called Voluntary Humanitarian Return programme, which allows third country nationals to return home.

Sixty blue helmets were killed in attacks in 2017; nearly double the figure for the past two years.

That’s according to senior UN official Atul Khare, who reported that overall, 123 personnel died while serving at peacekeeping missions this year.

The Under-Secretary-General for Field Support underlined that action is being taken to improve security conditions in the field.

Alban Mendes de Leon asked him about some of the major developments in peacekeeping over the past 12 months and what to expect in 2018.

Duration: 5’03”

Three months after Hurricanes Irma and Maria delivered a major blow to the island of Dominica, life is resuming on the Caribbean island.

Schools are open, and food and water needs have been met. But only 10 per cent of the homes have electricity and the two main job areas — agriculture and tourism — have been badly hit.

Veronique Durroux speaks by phone to Luca Renda, UN Development Programme (UNDP) team leader and head of UN crisis management on Dominica, about the situation and UN efforts to help.

Duration: 6’41”

Although a UN court has charged more than 160 people for war crimes committed during the Balkan wars, that number is still “very little” considering the thousands of violations that still need to be investigated.

That’s the assessment of Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which closes its doors this month after nearly 25 years of service.

A refugee story with a happy ending, with news that a Syrian former champion wrestler has opened a sports centre in Egypt offering hope to others displaced from the war-torn country.

Amir Awad, the 18-time Syrian National wrestling champion did it rather than risk his family’s life by smuggling them to Europe.

The exchange of more than 300 prisoners by warring parties in Ukraine has been welcomed as a positive step after years of conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday.

After successfully coordinating the operation this week, ICRC reported that it was the largest transfer of detainees since fighting erupted in 2014 between government forces and separatists in the east of the country bordering Russia.