The United Nations in Ukraine is alarmed over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the eastern part of the country, where heavy fighting has intensified in recent days, and is calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities to allow aid to reach civilians.
Greece has made progress in reforming its asylum system despite challenging economic and political circumstances, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) confirmed today, adding nonetheless that much more needed to be done to accommodate the influx of asylum-seekers and refugees.
The Security Council today extended the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) – one of the longest running UN missions still in operation – until 31 July 2015, noting that despite some progress made in negotiations between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides, a “comprehensive and durable settlement” is still lacking.
A group of United Nations human rights experts has welcomed the decision by the Government of the Netherlands to grant funding for municipalities that provide emergency shelters to homeless migrants in a reversal from the Dutch authorities’ earlier position.
A new plan put forth by the European Commission could generate over 2.1 million new jobs in Europe by mid-2018, a much-needed boost for the region, where employment remains fragile and uneven, the United Nations labour agency said today as it stressed the need to fast-track the proposal’s implementation to see results as soon as this year.
The United Nations refugee agency said it has “reacted swiftly” to help people forced to flee their homes when the south-eastern Ukrainian town of Mariupol came under rocket fire over the weekend, providing plastic sheeting for shelter construction.
The continued shelling of Ukraine's urban centres serves as a shocking reminder of the price being paid by the country's children and families, a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) official said today as she warned that the intensifying violence in the Eastern European country was increasingly putting children's lives in danger.
Briefing the Security Council on recent developments in Ukraine, Jeffrey Feltman, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, called today for revival of the Minsk Accords and an immediate end to hostilities.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned today's rocket attack in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol which reportedly killed dozens of civilians and left another one hundred injured.
More than 5,000 people have now been killed since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine in mid-April last year, the United Nations human rights office said today as it expressed fear that the real figure may be 'considerably higher.'
