Europe

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses journalists at UN Headquarters.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Ban voices shock, condemnation at Russian politician's 'brutal killing'

28 February 2015
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed shock and condemnation at the brutal killing of Russian politician Boris Nemtsov, the United Nations spokesperson's office confirmed today.
Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery Urmila Bhoola.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré (file)

UN rights expert urges Belgium to boost fight against modern slavery

26 February 2015
Despite its comprehensive approach to tackling modern forms of slavery, the Government of Belgium must further sharpen its focus on proper victim detection and identification, a United Nations independent expert declared today.
Photo: WHO/F. Guerrero
WHO/F. Guerrero

UN health agency ‘taken aback’ as measles resurfaces in Europe, calls for widespread vaccination

25 February 2015
European policymakers, healthcare workers, and parents must step up their efforts to vaccinate children against measles amid an ongoing outbreak across the continent, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said today, warning that a recent resurgence in the disease threatened Europe’s goal of eliminating measles by the end of 2015.
Displaced families and the elderly in Ukraine line up for WFP food vouchers, which enable them to obtain food including milk, fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs and meat.
WFP/Abeer Etefa

With millions ‘seriously at risk,’ UN launches humanitarian appeal for Ukraine

24 February 2015
The enormous humanitarian needs of the people of Ukraine have intensified since January this year, outstripping local capacities, the United Nations’ top official in Ukraine said today as the international community launched a new humanitarian appeal for the country.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Pavlo Klimkin, Foreign Minister of Ukraine.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Ban meets Ukrainian minister, discusses conflict, Minsk accord

24 February 2015
The United Nations Secretary-General met yesterday in New York with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, to discuss the conflict in the east of that country.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) meets with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (second right), of the Russian Federation.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

UN chief discusses Ukraine, other key issues with senior regional officials

23 February 2015
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met today with the Foreign Minister of Russia to discuss among other issues, the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, expressing his expectation that all concerned parties would live up to their commitments to the truce agreed in Minsk on 12 February.
Photo: OSCE
OSCE

UN rights office deplores racist incident in build-up to European football match

20 February 2015
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has strongly condemned the racist behaviour exhibited by fans of the English football club, Chelsea, during the lead-up to a European match in Paris, France, and urged authorities to “re-energize” their efforts in combatting intolerance.
A monitor from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine inspects damage to a building, 9 July 2014.
OSCE/Evgeniy Maloletka

In call with senior Ukrainian official, Ban expresses hope that ceasefire takes hold

20 February 2015
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today spoke by telephone with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Pavlo Klimkin, voicing his concern at the “still dangerous” situation on the ground and expressing hope that the ceasefire agreed to on 12 February in Minsk firmly takes hold across the region.
A woman collects aid items at a distribution centre in Nikolayevka, eastern Ukraine.
UNHCR/E. Zivatdinov

With fragile ceasefire in place, UN agencies scale up humanitarian operations in Ukraine

19 February 2015
Several days after parties to the conflict in Ukraine signed a ceasefire, United Nations agencies announced a scale up of their emergency operations to the country, delivering some 62 metric tons of humanitarian aid to the crisis-torn Donetsk region today.
Photo: IRIN/Kenneth Odiwuor
IRIN/Kenneth Odiwuor

UN officials deplore ‘horrendous’ murder of woman in Turkey

17 February 2015
Violence against women and girls is a grave violation of human rights and can only be put to an end by addressing its root causes, two UN officials declared today as they condemned the attempted rape and brutal murder of a young Turkish woman which has sparked widespread protests throughout the country.