Law and Crime Prevention

Somalia continues to suffer chronic humanitarian crises, with recurring cycles of floods and drought, compounded in 2020 by desert locusts and COVID-19.
UNSOM

Somalia at a critical juncture, as federal, state leaders, meet to break election impasse

20 August 2020
Africa

With elections slated for November delayed due to COVID-19, Somalia is at a critical juncture, the top United Nations official in the country told the Security Council on Thursday, pressing federal and state leaders to agree on voting modalities, and bolster the capacity of forces which are meant to assume full control of national security, next year.

Women near the town of Kladanj, in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995).
© UNICEF/LeMoyne

Bosnia and Herzegovina should recognise sex crime survivors’ rights, say experts

19 August 2020
Europe

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, tens of thousands of victims of sexual violence committed during conflict in the 1990s still await justice, UN-appointed rights experts said on Wednesday.

Judgment hearing in the Ayyash et al case for the 2005 homicide of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Hariri assassination: UN-backed tribunal finds one guilty, three acquitted

18 August 2020
Middle East

The UN Secretary-General took note on Tuesday of the guilty verdict delivered by a special UN-backed court, in the case of one of the defendants accused of killing former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, in a bomb attack 15 years ago. Three other defendants, also reportedly members of militant group, Hezbollah, were acquitted. 

A social worker (left) and a psychologist (second from left) give colouring and exercise books to children in eastern Ukraine, during a home visit to meet with the family.
© UNICEF/Pavel Zmey

Children have ‘nowhere to turn' as COVID-19 hits protection, social services, reports UNICEF

18 August 2020
Global

Disruptions to services for preventing and responding to violence in the home , due to the global pandemic, has left children in more than 100 countries vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, a UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) survey has found.

A mosque in Khair Khana, Kabul , Afghanistan.
UNAMA/Habiburahman Rahmany.

Afghanistan: More action needed to stop killings of human rights defenders 

14 August 2020
Asia Pacific

The death of nine human rights defenders since the beginning of this year marks “the emergence of a truly alarming trend", an independent UN rights expert said on Friday, calling on Afghanistan to prevent any further killings.

A girl stands in a camp for displaced people, in Mogadishu, the capital. She was attacked and beaten following a food distribution (file).
© UNICEF/Kate Holt

Somalia: Draft law a ‘major setback’ for victims of sexual violence

11 August 2020
Africa

The UN official working to end rape during wartime is urging authorities in Somalia to scrap a proposed law that allows for child marriage, among other “very disturbing provisions”.

A boy stands in a disadvantaged neighbourhood of Ahvaz, Iran. The country is among those being subjected to international sanctions, despite the ravages of COVID-19.
© UNICEF

COVID-19: Lift sanctions ‘bringing suffering and death’, urge UN rights experts

7 August 2020

A group of UN independent human rights experts have called on countries to lift – or at the very least, ease – sanctions to allow affected nations and communities access to vital supplies to fight against the global coronavirus pandemic.

Wreckage of suicide car bomb in Mogadishu (file).
UN Photo/Stuart Price

Cross-border links between terrorists, organized crime, underscore need for coherent global response

6 August 2020

The nexus between terrorism and organized crime took centre stage in the Security Council on Thursday, with experts raising fresh concerns over opportunistic alliances emerging among belligerents who share a hostility towards national authorities, and seek to exploit vulnerabilities created by the COVID-19 crisis.