The fate of 130 children on board two rescue ships in the Mediterranean Sea should not be put at risk by political point-scoring, the UN said on Thursday, amid ongoing uncertainty about whether the vessels will be allowed to dock in Italy.
Throughout human history, migration and climate have always been connected, but in the modern era, the impacts of the man-made climate crisis are likely to extensively change the patterns of human settlement.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, along with the heads of a number of UN agencies, expressed horror at Thursday’s reports that as many as 150 people may be dead after a boat they were traveling in capsized off the coast of Libya, making it the worst such tragedy in the Mediterranean this year.
Our main stories today: UN officials warn of desperate situation for migrants and refugees in Libya; the UN peacebuilding chief calls for ‘tangible steps’ to alleviate the crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and keep two-State solution alive; Idlib in Syria suffers more deadly attacks on civilians; Europe and Bangladesh deal with extreme weather events; and Angry Birds take on the climate crisis.
The heads of the two key UN agencies championing refugees and migrants have called for an end to their “arbitrary detention” across Libya, following an agreement on Tuesday by European Union countries to offer those fleeing across the Mediterranean a safe berth through a new distribution mechanism.
With the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), some 280 Ethiopians returned home on 10-11 July, after being facing traumatic experiences in Yemen.
Deeply concerned about the new rule barring from asylum the majority of people crossing the southern land border of the United States, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has warned that the ‘severe’ measure will endanger vulnerable people in need of international protection from violence or persecution.
“As a priority, we ask that 5,600 refugees and migrants currently held in centres across Libya be freed in an orderly manner and their protection guaranteed” the UN refugee and migrants chiefs said in a joint statement, released on Friday.
This Tuesday’s UN top stories are: high-level discussions on the progress made towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals; falling behind on universal education dream; the UN list of essential medicines updated; life-threatening floods in Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh; and human rights in Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Conditions in which migrants and refugees are being held in the United States are appalling, said the UN human rights chief on Monday, underscoring that children should never be held in immigration detention, or separated from their families.
