High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed deep dismay at the worsening situation in Syria, calling on the international community to take immediate measures to protect the country’s people. With more than 3,000 people killed since March, the Syrian Government has manifestly failed to protect its population, she said.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the situation in Yemen continues to be extremely volatile. The price of bread is 50 per cent higher than it was a few months ago, which is very damaging for the poorest families. The World Food Programme is increasing its assistance in the country.
The World Food Programme warned today that more people in Yemen are slipping into hunger as the country faces a serious humanitarian situation. Citing rising prices, fuel shortages and political instability, WFP is scaling up programmes to feed 3.5 million vulnerable people in the country’s northern and southern regions.
The Head of the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur, Ibrahim Gambari, has strongly condemned the attack, yesterday night, that killed three peacekeepers and injured six others. Three peacekeepers where killed last night when a patrol came under attack by armed assailants in Zam Zam internally displaced persons camp.
Deeply saddened by the loss of life in Cairo last night, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appealed to all Egyptians to remain united and to preserve the spirit of the historic changes of early 2011. He called on transitional authorities to guarantee the protection of human rights and civil liberties for Egyptians of all faiths.
In a statement, the Secretary-General says that the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize honours three women of uncommon courage, strength and commitment — Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and social activists Tawakkul Karman of Yemen and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia.
The new Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, briefed the Security Council this morning on the situation in Abyei. He noted that the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA) has not observed significant progress on the withdrawal of Armed Forces from the area.
Helen Clark, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, laid a wreath yesterday at the site of the August attack on the UN House in Abuja. Speaking to reporters after meeting with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, she vowed that the attack would not stop the critical UN development work there.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, has strongly condemned a suicide bomb attack at a Transitional Federal Government complex in south Mogadishu, which killed scores of people and wounded many more. He said the “senseless and cowardly” attack was “unacceptable”.
The High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said today that an increasingly complex international environment is making it harder to help the world’s more than 43 million refugees, internally displaced and stateless people.