UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for greater attention to the Rohingya refugee crisis – which entered its fourth year – and for addressing the root causes of the conflict.
The collective impact of climate change, COVID-19 and conflict mean that well over 200 million people will likely need humanitarian assistance by 2022, the UN’s deputy rights chief said on Monday.
The Human Rights Council should consider supporting new accountability measures against perpetrators of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines’ so-called war on illegal drugs, the UN’s top rights official said on Tuesday.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,United Nations agencies called on Wednesday for South-East Asian governments to show compassion to boats full of vulnerable people adrift in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.
As senior UN officials spread the alarm over the rapid spread of COVID-19 through prisons – where physical distancing is nigh on impossible, and hygiene is often inadequate – UN Corrections, Justice and Human Rights teams are working to protect prison staff and detainees from the ravages of the virus.
A World Health Organization (WHO) worker has been killed while driving a vehicle carrying COVID-19 samples in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, the United Nations country office confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.
The UN human rights office (OHCHR), is calling for compassion for people desperately seeking shelter, after 30 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar died on a boat in the Bay of Bengal that had spent nearly two months at sea.
Daily fighting in Myanmar, widespread internet blackouts and reporting restrictions, indicate that the shift to more democratic rule is “sliding away”, a senior UN-appointed independent rights investigator said on Wednesday.
UN agencies together with the Bangladesh authorities have appealed for $877 million to support hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, where conditions are still not conducive for their safe return, UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said on Tuesday.
The Human Rights Council on Thursday held an interactive dialogue with UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, on the root causes of violations and abuses suffered by the Rohingya mainly-Muslim minority and other minorities in Myanmar. She said the Government now has a historic opportunity to counteract systematic violations, "by bringing its people together, as one".
