This is the News in Brief, from the United Nations.
Justice for Myanmar generals is coming, rights experts insist
Human rights violations against Myanmar’s ethnic minorities are continuing, top UN-appointed independent experts said on Tuesday, insisting that those responsible for abuses would face justice.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, cited the involvement of the Myanmar military in operations against Rohingya communities in Rakhine state.
The violence in Rakhine is “escalating” and there are credible reports of Rakhine men being tortured and dying in custody and Rakhine villages “being burned”, she said.
The UN Special Rapporteur added that the Rohingya who are still in Rakhine remain confined to camps in central Rakhine and within a few Rohingya villages.
Also in Geneva, Chris Sidoti, member of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar explained that the International Court of Justice would soon be giving its decision on whether to launch an investigation into the events leading up to the mass exodus of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh, in 2017.
$50 million appeal for Ukraine households on contact line to keep winter at bay
UN humanitarians have launched an appeal for more than $50 million to help the people of east Ukraine to prepare for the upcoming winter.
Aid organizations warn that with temperatures of minus 15, to minus 20 Celsius just months away, people's needs in conflict-hit eastern areas, are likely to be even more severe than they are today.
According to UN aid coordination wing OCHA, the situation is “critical” for thousands of civilians who’ve endured more than four years of fighting.
Nearly 60 per cent of the families living within five kilometres of the “contact line” dividing Ukraine’s Government-controlled and non-Government controlled areas, cannot access healthcare.
A proportion of the funding will give 80,000 people access to health care through a mobile medical team, or by giving them cash for pay to travel to a medical facility.
With additional investment, aid teams aim to support 70,000 people near the contact line with winter protection.
This includes repairs to damaged houses and shelters, and help accessing working heaters and heating material, as many central-heating systems have collapsed.
World leaders should “take young people seriously” to fix planet’s climate crisis, says activist
World leaders should “take young people seriously” to find solutions to the planet’s “existential” climate crisis, Swiss activist Marie-Claire Graf said on Tuesday, before leaving for the UN’s first Youth Climate Summit in New York.
Ms. Graf, 23, is one of 100 young advocates from the same number of countries given “Green Tickets” by the UN to attend Saturday’s meeting, where they can showcase their solutions and press decision-makers for concrete action.
“There is really no time to wait because I guess what is the biggest problem that we still think climate change is something which maybe happen in some years, but we are in a huge crisis which is existential…Take young people seriously and include them in decision-making bodies, so we don’t only be like somewhere on the agenda but we want to be seat on the table when decisions are made. I guess this would be a major step to really take young people seriously in all kind of multilateral negotiations and decisions.”
Under the Green Ticket initiative, each ticket is fully-funded and carbon-neutral, to enable youngsters from all walks of life to attend.
Other engaged youngsters, such as Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, are already in New York ahead of the Youth Summit, which precedes the Climate Action Summit, convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on 23 September.
Ana Carmo, UN News.
