The United Nations Refugee Agency today welcomed recent actions taken by several European countries to collectively end a stand-off on the Mediterranean, where some 450 refugees and migrants had been stranded at sea amid a battle over disembarkation. France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Spain and Portugal have agreed to land the ships and share the processing of these people.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
UNAIDS issued a stark wake‑up call today, saying time to reach the 2020 targets for HIV is running out. New HIV infections are rising in some 50 countries, while AIDS-related deaths are not falling fast enough. A new report has found that gains made for children are not being sustained, and new infections among them have declined only 8 per cent in the past two years.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says today that, three months after the violence started in Nicaragua, an estimated 280 people have died and 1,830 have been injured, in violence overwhelmingly perpetrated by the State and by pro-Government armed elements. Those killed include at least 19 police officers.
The United Nations deployed needs assessments and inter‑agency convoys to areas in Syria that recently changed control. Yesterday, a team from the Organization, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross delivered food assistance to 15,000 people in Nassib and Um Elmayathen in Dara’a Governorate.
The text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was finalized on 13 July, marking the first time that Member States have come together to negotiate an agreement covering all dimensions of global migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner.
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has temporarily deployed 40 peacekeepers to Bijombo, South Kivu, where violent clashes between local armed groups have reportedly destroyed entire villages, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee to such areas as Uvira.
The United Nations migration agency said today that it assisted more than 72,000 migrants to return home voluntarily in 2017. This represents a 27 per cent decrease compared to 2016, when some 98,000 migrants were provided with return and reintegration support.
The United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti reports that the situation there remains tense and volatile following the suspension of a fuel price hike by Prime Minister Lafontant on Saturday. The Mission is helping to remove roadblocks to ensure access to key roads.
The latest report issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization warns today that time is running out for the world’s forests, whose total area is shrinking every day. Forests provide around 20 per cent of income for rural households in developing countries and fuel for cooking and heating for 1 in every 3 people around the world.
Thousands of Rohingya people continue fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine State and describe continued violence and human rights abuses, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, told the Human Rights Council yesterday, warning that the international community will not forget the outrages committed.