This is the NIB from the United Nations.
Probe call for Brazil dam collapse
UN-appointed rights experts have called for a thorough and independent investigation into the collapse of a dam in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state that has claimed dozens of lives and left hundreds missing.
In their appeal, the three UN Special Rapporteurs, together with the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, note that the tragedy is the second such incident in just over three years to involve the Vale mining company.
In November 2015, the Samarco mining disaster in Minas Gerais was caused when a dam collapsed, sending a deadly wave of waste across villages and farmland, that killed 19 people.
After this latest disaster, the UN experts have called on the authorities to bring to justice those responsible, prioritize safety checks of existing dams and carry out a rapid investigation into the toxicity of the waste.
‘World’s deadliest sea crossing’ claimed six lives a day in 2018: UN refugee agency
Six people died every day last year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe – “the world’s deadliest sea crossing” - the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Wednesday.
Citing ongoing political deadlock over sea rescue and disembarkation, a new report from the agency estimates that 2,275 individuals drowned or went missing in the Mediterranean in 2018.
This is despite the fact that Europe saw the lowest number of refugees and migrants arriving for five years, at 139,300.
Spain, Greece and Italy were the principal destinations and those arriving came mainly from Morocco, Guinea, Tunisia, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Syria.
In a call for more regional cooperation, UNHCR noted that many people crossing the Mediterranean Sea were “left stranded at sea for days on end”, because their boats were denied permission to dock.
Volunteer rescue boats and their crews have also faced growing restrictions, according to the UN report which says that on the Libya to Europe crossing, “one person died at sea for every 14 who arrived”.
30 dead and 100 migrants missing in Djibouti boat tragedy
Staying with dangerous boat crossings, the UN Migration Agency IOM says that 30 people are now known to have died when two vessels sank off the Djibouti coast on Tuesday.
Although 16 survivors have been rescued, IOM spokesperson Joel Millman warned that the death toll could rise, as it assists the authorities in the search for other passengers along the shoreline.
One 18-year-old male survivor said that the boat he was on was carrying 130 people before it sank, including 16 women.
Like the second vessel, it had set a course for Yemen, but went down in stormy conditions half an hour after leaving Godoria, in northern Djibouti.
According to IOM, those who perished were likely to have come from Ethiopia, whose nationals along with others from Somalia and Eritrea, seek work in the Arab States to the north of Yemen.
The agency says that since 2014, at least 199 people have died off the Obock coast.
Daniel Johnson, UN News.
