United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Helen Meagher La Lime of the United States as his Special Representative for Haiti and Head of the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH).
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Olof Skoog (Sweden):
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.
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.
The Human Rights Office says it is deeply concerned at reports that the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar-Abu al Helu is to be demolished by the Israeli authorities in the coming days. The community is home to 181 people, more than half of them children.
Today is the International Day of the Tropics. As you know, the Tropics are the area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, and host approximately 80 per cent of the world’s biodiversity and much of its language and cultural diversity.
The Security Council today decided to extend for one year the mandate of the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH), while also laying out a staggered decrease in its uniformed personnel and requesting periodic progress assessments on the Secretary-General’s proposed drawdown and exit strategy.
The temporary base in Tagbara, north-east of Bambari, of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic was attacked by anti-balaka fighters today. One peacekeeper was killed and 11 others were injured after several hours of exchange of fire. The Mission condemned the attack and deployed reinforcements to Tagbara.
With the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH) fully operational, preparations have already begun for that follow-up peacekeeping operation to make way for a new United Nations presence by the end of 2019 that would focus on the Caribbean nation’s long-term sustainable development, the Organization’s top peacekeeping official told the Security Council today.
