Guatemala

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Human Rights Office published the United Nations first-ever report on the human rights situation in Kashmir today, which states that past and ongoing human rights abuses must be urgently addressed, and details violations committed by security forces with impunity.

The World Food Programme has begun distributing food rations to people affected by the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Equateur Province.  The World Health Organization is helping the nine surrounding countries scale up national emergency preparedness and response capacities.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo welcomes the condemnations by the province’s leaders regarding recent ethnically motivated incidents, and calls upon authorities to intensify efforts to fight against impunity and bring perpetrators to justice.

A humanitarian coordination team of 60 experts from United Nations agencies and aid partners is traveling to Guatemala today to assess the immediate humanitarian needs of more than 1.7 million people impacted by the eruption of volcano Fuego two days ago.

The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan condemned the attack today that killed and injured religious scholars gathered in Kabul who were there to promote peace in Afghanistan.  Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released a study that found nearly half of Afghan children are missing out on school.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The United Nations mission in the Central African Republic says investigations are ongoing in Bria (in Haute Kotto prefecture), where United Nations police arrested an anti‑Balaka leader suspected of involvement in an attack on a Formed Police Unit patrol that resulted in the death of a peacekeeper last December.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern over the murder of three human rights defenders working with indigenous and peasants’ rights organizations in Guatemala during the last 10 days, calling for a prompt investigation into those and other attacks against rights defenders, and accountability for the perpetrators.