This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
Second Ebola vaccine for DRC is welcome, says UN health agency
Authorities in Tanzania have been urged by the UN to supply further information about the death of a person from suspected Ebola Virus earlier this month in Dar es Salaam.
In neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the haemorrhagic virus that began last August, has now claimed more than 2,100 lives, with dozens of new cases being recorded each week.
Despite “several” requests, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday that it has not received the information required from Tanzania to fully assess the potential risks.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib said that the agency stands ready to help the country respond to any health emergency.
To date, the agency has not advised any travel restrictions to Tanzania.
In a related development, WHO also confirmed that a second Ebola vaccine is to be distributed in DRC.
The experimental jab will complement the existing vaccine being used in the north-east of the country.
Nigeria must act to stop housing crisis and forced evictions: rights expert
To Nigeria now, where a UN-appointed independent rights expert expressed concern on Tuesday that homeless and other vulnerable people are being “rounded up” by police, “persecuted” and “harassed”, owing to stigma and discrimination.
The warning from Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, follows her 10-day visit to the country.
She noted that persons with disabilities are often held in punitive detention centres against their will, in “deplorable” conditions.
People with HIV/AIDS and members of the LGBTI community are also particularly at risk of eviction, Ms. Farha insisted, in an appeal to the authorities to address a growing housing crisis.
Highlighting the fact that seven in 10 Nigerians in towns and cities now live in informal settlements, the Special Rapporteur said that most live without access to running water and toilets - and they are in constant fear of being turned out of their homes.
She’s calling for the Government to decriminalise homelessness and poverty and declare a nationwide moratorium on forced evictions.
Harassment of human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong must end, say experts
And finally, UN-appointed independent rights experts have called on China to end the “harassment and surveillance” of prominent lawyer and activist Jiang Tianyong.
In a joint statement, the Special Rapporteurs and members of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, said that Mr. Tianyong was forcibly disappeared and then sentenced in November 2017 to two years in prison for inciting subversion of State power.
Previously, the rights experts expressed concern he had been tortured into confessing, and detained after cooperating with a Special Rapporteur in 2016.
Mr. Tianyong was released in February this year but remains under constant surveillance by the authorities and his movement is severely restricted, the experts maintained.
They also expressed concern about the rights defender’s lack of access to appropriate medical care, after suffering ill-treatment in prison.
Daniel Johnson, UN News.
