This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
Rights chief Bachelet condemns deaths of 255 people in Colombia massacres
UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet has urged the Colombian Government to act after a surge in violence against farmers, indigenous and Afro-Colombian people.
So far in 2020, the High Commissioner’s office has recorded the deaths of 255 people in 66 massacres in Colombia.
Another 120 human rights defenders have also been killed, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Tuesday.
And since the signing of the Peace Agreement in November 2016, the UN Verification Mission in Colombia has documented 244 killings of former FARC freedom fighters.
In an attack earlier this month in Chocó department, an indigenous leader, Miguel Tapí Rito, was killed, causing around 900 people in his community - mostly women and children - to flee to a nearby town.
Since then, they have been begging the State authorities to provide them with protection.
"It is the State's duty to be present throughout the country, implementing a whole range of comprehensive public policies, not only to clamp down on those responsible for the violence, but also to provide basic services and safeguard the fundamental rights of the population", Ms. Bachelet said in a statement.
Four children among victims of shipwreck carrying Venezuelans to Caribbean
Four children are believed to be among the victims of a shipwreck in which at least 21 Venezuelans died trying to reach the Caribbean islands.
UN migration and refugee agencies IOM and UNHCR said on Tuesday that the tragedy represents one of the biggest single losses of life involving Venezuelans trying to reach Trinidad and Tobago, which is only 15 kilometres away.
In an appeal to both countries, UNHCR and IOM called for urgent efforts to stop smugglers and human traffickers sending refugees and migrants on dangerous sea journeys.
They also urged the authorities “to cooperate to protect the lives and safety of migrants and refugees, including by conducting “effective” search and rescue at sea.
It was also extremely important for the two Governments to work together on safe migration routes for all those fleeing Venezuela, the UN agencies said, amid an ongoing economic crisis and political impasse there.
Last month, UNHCR and IOM raised concerns over the deportation of 25 Venezuelans from Trinidad and Tobago. The group spent a couple of days at sea before ending up back in the Caribbean islands.
UN refugee agency condemns deadly attack on Niger town
UN humanitarians have condemned an attack on a town in south-east Niger that killed 28 people and injured hundreds more.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, also expressed concern for more than 30,000 refugees and internally displaced people who were sheltering in Toumour at the time.
It was targeted in a four-hour evening assault by Boko Haram extremists on 12 December.
Local reports indicate that nearly two-thirds of the town’s homes were destroyed and that the marketplace was burned to the ground; more than 1,000 cattle were also slain.
Toumour, which is 14 kilometres from the Nigerian border, hosts more than 30,000 refugees, internally displaced people and Niger returnees who need humanitarian assistance.
Together with humanitarian partners and the authorities, the UN agency has organized emergency shelter, food, water, and health support.
But recent heavy floods have made it difficult for aid workers to reach Toumour.
UNHCR also reported that people were on the move towards Diffa, a city 100 kilometres away. It hosts 46,000 vulnerable people and has also been a regular target for bandits.
Here’s agency spokesperson Babar Baloch: “Diffa region in south-east Niger has been hard hit by increasing extremist violence on the Lake Chad Basin that has forced hundreds of thousands into the region. In the first nine months of this year, over 450 acts of killing, kidnapping, sexual and gender-based violence, and other serious incidents were reported.”
UNHCR has called for increased support for humanitarian emergencies in the Lake Chad Basin, where 300,000 people have been forced to flee violence as refugees and another 2.9 million people are internally displaced.
Daniel Johnson, UN News
