Peace and Security

Joint meeting of the Redeployment Coordination Committee in Hudaydah City, Yemen. 28 December 2018.
UN Photo

Top envoy to Yemen praises ‘flexibility’ of chief negotiators as new UN mission chief is named

31 January 2019

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen said on Thursday that the main negotiators for the warring sides were continuing to show the “necessary flexibility and good faith” to move forward, despite delays in implementing the agreement marking the first steps towards a lasting peace deal, brokered in Sweden last December.

Venezuelan refugees and migrants sleep in front of the bus terminal in Maicao, Colombia. The conditions are highly insecure and have led to theft, assault and rape of the migrants. September 2018.
© UNHCR/Stephen Ferry

Independent UN rights expert calls for compassion, not sanctions on Venezuela

31 January 2019
Americas

The crisis in Venezuela will not be solved by sanctions that “can lead to starvation”, a UN-appointed rights expert said on Thursday. Special Rapporteur Idriss Jazairy, who reports to the Human Rights Council, issued the warning against the background of widespread suffering in the South American country, linked to spiralling economic woes and deep political uncertainty.

Rosemary DiCarlo, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, meets with Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo, the Federal President of Somalia, at Villa Somalia during her working visit to Mogadishu, Somalia, on 30 January 2019.
UN Photo/Omar Abdisalan

‘Open, cordial, and frank discussions’ held over future Somalia-UN relationship

30 January 2019
Africa

Discussions described in a joint statement as “open, cordial and frank”, took place on Wednesday, between Somalia’s top two politicians and the UN political and peacebuilding affairs chief, in the capital Mogadishu.

United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) buffer zone.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Security Council unanimously agrees to extend UN Cyprus Mission amid political impasse

30 January 2019

The United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) has been extended for 6 months, as a result of a Security Council Resolution unanimously adopted on Wednesday. The move comes at a time when reunification talks between the two divided halves of the island are at an impasse, following the collapse of talks in July 2017.

General Bernard Commins, MONUSCO Force Deputy Commander, in Yumbi, where clashes between Batende and Banunu communities last December caused the deaths of hundreds, and the displacement of many others. The joint mission also visited the site where collective and individual graves had been discovered.
MONUSCO

Mass-graves found of at least 535 killed during ‘organized and planned’ inter-communal attacks in western DR Congo

30 January 2019
Africa

A preliminary UN investigation into a massacre reportedly carried out in western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last month, reveals that “at least 535 civilians were killed in four attacks”, the UN Mission in the country, MONUSCO, said on Wednesday.

Children at a school tent in the northern Idlib, Syria. Humanitarian emergencies deprive children of health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and other basic needs.
© UNICEF/UN0248372/Watad

Nearly $4 billion needed to protect 41 million children from conflict and disaster

29 January 2019
Global

Tens of millions of children living through conflict, disaster and other emergencies in dozens of countries urgently need protection, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday, in an appeal for $3.9 billion to support its humanitarian work around the world.

Tribute ceremony in N'Djamena for the 10 Chadian peacekeepers who were killed on 20 January in a terrorist attack in northern Mali.
MINUSMA

UN chief of peace operations honours fallen Chadian ‘blue helmets’ serving in northern Mali

28 January 2019
Africa

After 10 Chadian peacekeepers serving with the United Nations mission in Mali (MINUSMA) were killed in a terrorist attack on 20 January, the UN chief of peace operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, went to N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, to pay tribute to them on Monday in a ceremony organised by the Government.

War-affected Kunduz civilians in Afghanistan receive humanitarian aid.
UNAMA

Link between conflict and hunger worldwide, ‘all too persistent and deadly’, says new UN report

28 January 2019

Conflict-driven hunger is getting worse, according to a snapshot of the eight places in the world with the highest number of people in need of emergency food support, and the link between them is “all too persistent and deadly” according to a new report delivered to the UN Security Council on Monday.

Martin Griffiths, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, briefs the press at the Yemen political consultations in Sweden, on 10 December 2018.
Government Offices of Sweden/Ninni Andersson

Despite setbacks, ‘political will’ to end Yemen war stronger than ever: top UN envoy

28 January 2019
Middle East

The ceasefire in Yemen’s crucial port city of Hudaydah is “generally holding” and deadlines have had to be extended, but the UN’s Special Envoy said on Monday that “more than any time in the past” the political will remains to end years of conflict that has left millions on the brink of starvation.

A family of Venezuelans found a new home in Tumbes, Peru, thanks to local solidarity. Here, two children play on the floor of the improvised shelter they are living in.
© UNHCR/Elisabet Diaz Sanmartin

Solidarity needed to overcome ‘isolated’ attacks on Venezuela refugees, migrants

28 January 2019
Americas

Attacks and hate speech against Venezuelans seeking shelter in neighbouring countries should be condemned “with a clear and forceful message of rejection” and solidarity, a top UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and UN migration agency (IOM) official said in a statement on Monday.