Europe

Many migrants have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe on board flimsy boats. Pictured here a group of migrants at sea. (file photo)
UNICEF/Alessio Romenzi

Italy failed to rescue over 200 migrants in 2013 Mediterranean disaster, UN rights body finds

27 January 2021
Human Rights

A UN rights committee said on Wednesday that Italy failed in its international obligations to protect the right to life of more than 200 migrants on board a vessel that sank in the Mediterranean Sea, in 2013. 

A UNHCR staffer welcomes resettled refugees originally from Syria and South Sudan at Lisbon airport in Portugal. (file)
© UNHCR/José Ventura

UN refugee agency calls for ‘new chapter for refugee protection’ across Europe

12 January 2021
Migrants and Refugees

As Portugal assumes the presidency of the European Union (EU), to be followed by Slovenia later this year, the UN refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday called on them to lead the effort to forge a better protection system for those seeking refuge across the continent and beyond.

Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on torture. (file photo)
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

UN human rights expert ‘cautiously’ welcomes UK court’s refusal to extradite Julian Assange

5 January 2021
Human Rights

An independent UN human rights expert has welcomed a British court’s refusal to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the United States on the basis that he would be exposed to oppressive conditions of imprisonment. 

Horsemanship is a long tradition in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.
UNDP Eurasia/Danil Usmanov

FROM THE FIELD: Weathering a tourist downturn in Kyrgyzstan

5 January 2021
Economic Development

The residents of a small traditional village high in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, which once attracted a steady stream of visitors, are learning how to adapt to the reality of a world where the COVID-19 pandemic has all but frozen out the opportunities provided by tourism.

A boy plays in the playground of an asylum seeking centre in Baexem in the Netherlands.
© UNICEF/Sidra

Netherlands violates nationality rights: UN rights committee 

29 December 2020
Human Rights

The Netherlands has violated a child’s rights by registering children under the category “nationality unknown” as opposed to Stateless – leaving them ineligible to access international protections, the UN Human Rights Committee  declared on Tuesday.  

A migrant at what remains of the Lipa Emergency Tent Camp in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, after it was destroyed in a fire.
IOM 2020/Ervin Causevic

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Migrant lives at ‘immediate risk’, warn UN agencies

28 December 2020
Migrants and Refugees

United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners have called on authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to act urgently to help hundreds of migrants, stranded and without shelter, amid freezing winter temperatures. 

The fire rages at the Lipa emergency camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina that housed about 1,400 migrants.
IOM 2020/Ervin Causevic

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Thousands of migrants lose shelter, after camp destroyed in fire

24 December 2020
Migrants and Refugees

The closure and subsequent fire, on Wednesday, at a migrant camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina has left thousands of migrants without shelter and protection, amid plummeting winter temperatures, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the Bundestag, the German parliament in Berlin.
United Nations/Florencia Soto Nino

Global challenges require global solutions, UN chief tells German parliament

18 December 2020
SDGs

UN Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the Bundestag, the German parliament, on Friday, where he warned of a deficit of international cooperation and underscored that global challenges require global solutions. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres (left) briefs the media in Berlin, Germany.
United Nations/Florencia Soto Nino

UN chief commends Germany’s commitment to multilateralism throughout ‘dramatic year’

17 December 2020
UN Affairs

Throughout a challenging year, Germany has been a reliable, generous and “exemplary” friend to multilateralism, the UN chief told journalists on Thursday, speaking at the national parliament building in Berlin. 

Ten years after his first arrest, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains in prison.
Unsplash/Markus Spiske

Independent UN expert calls for Julian Assange’s release, cites prison’s COVID outbreak

8 December 2020
Human Rights

Amid a COVID-19 outbreak at London’s Belmarsh prison, an independent UN expert appealed to British authorities on Tuesday to release Julian Assange or to place him under guarded house arrest during extradition proceedings to the United States.