This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
Don’t let your guard down during COVID vaccine rollout: WHO
The news that the UK has begun administering a COVID-19 vaccine should not be an excuse to ease up on vigilance and prevention measures, the UN health agency said on Tuesday.
Dr. Margaret Harris from the World Health Organization (WHO) told journalists that vaccines were a “great” tool, but that it would be a long time until they provided protection for all:
“They will be very helpful but the effect of the vaccine in providing some kind of immune barrier is still far off. The things that must be done to prevent an increase, an uptick, a surge, whatever you want to call it, are the public health measures.”
These precautions included social distancing, handwashing and mask wearing, Dr. Harris said, before insisting that “every case” of infection should be identified, as should every contact – “backwards and forwards” - along the chain of transmission.
These measures must be done with “ever greater rigour” to stop the intense transmission of the virus, Dr Harris added, as the UK started giving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to elderly patients.
Somalia business support helps vulnerable women and children
To Somalia now, where the UN migration agency, IOM, has appealed for help for entrepreneurs hit hard by the pandemic, to dissuade them from leaving the country and risking their lives in search of work.
Out of 320 women-led firms in the capital Mogadishu, IOM cited a report showing that almost 60 per cent had been forced to shut down during the pandemic – and more than 30 per cent had closed permanently.
Remittances have also fallen sharply, a major problem, as 40 per cent of households are believed to rely on money sent back to Somalia, IOM said.
To help those struggling most, 185 people have been offered assistance, which the UN agency maintained would “directly improve the lives” of more than 1,100 family members.
Cash assistance is a key component, to help entrepreneurs restock supplies, pay rent, electricity, or loans, said Richard Danziger, IOM Somalia’s Chief of Mission.
“Addressing the impact of COVID-19 on Somalia’s economy is imperative to reduce push factors for migration that can put at further risk individuals in vulnerable situations, especially women and children”, Mr. Danziger said.
Release Julian Assange immediately, rights expert says
Finally, the United Nations-appointed Special Rapporteur on torture has appealed for the immediate release of Julian Assange from prison in the UK - or else place him under house arrest, ahead of extradition proceedings for spying.
In a statement, independent expert Nils Melzer pointed out that Mr. Assange “is not a criminal convict and posed no threat to anyone”.
The call comes 10 years after Mr. Assange’s first arrest on 7 December 2010; he is linked to the online publication of classified files by Wikileaks, the online news leaks site he founded.
A decision on his extradition to the United States is expected early in the new year.
In a statement the rights expert noted that there had been an outbreak of COVID-19 at Belmarsh prison where Mr. Assange is being held.
His prolonged solitary confinement in a high security prison is “neither necessary nor proportionate and clearly lacks any legal basis", Mr Melzer said.
Daniel Johnson, UN News.
