Human rights

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, observed on 9 August:

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called on Guatemalan authorities to fully investigate the violent death of a transgender woman found dead at her home on Saturday in Guatemala City.  She had sought asylum in Guatemala after fleeing violence in El Salvador due to her gender identity.

In Zimbabwe, where 60 per cent of the population is projected to be food insecure by the end of 2020, the World Food Programme appealed for $250 million to prevent a human catastrophe.  A nationwide COVID-19 lockdown has led to joblessness in urban areas, growing hunger in rural areas and hyperinflation that has made basic goods unaffordable.

The World Health Organization warned today of the threat that COVID-19 poses to health workers across Africa, with more than 10,000 in 40 countries having been infected with the virus so far.  The warning comes as COVID-19 cases in Africa appear to be gathering pace, with more than 750,000 cases and over 15,000 deaths.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the World Day against Trafficking in Persons, observed on 30 July:

Sexual violence is used as a war tactic and a political tool to dehumanize, destabilize and forcibly displace populations across the globe, the United Nations expert on the issue told the Security Council in a 17 July videoconference meeting, pressing countries to adopt a survivor-centred approach that ensures victims will not be forgotten.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed’s keynote remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the High-Level Political Forum side event on Sustainable Finance’s Role in Reducing Modern Slavery:  COVID-19’s Lessons on Protecting the Most Vulnerable, in New York today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, commemorated on 11 July:

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that it is providing tents, water, tanks and toilets to the more than 3,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo that arrived in north-western Uganda last week during a temporary opening of two border crossing points.

Addressing rights violations as warning signs of conflict is even more urgent in the COVID-19 era, the United Nations senior human rights official told the Security Council in a 7 July videoconference meeting, as she spotlighted the role peacekeepers can play in monitoring virus-related stigma, hate speech and the impact of containment measures on vulnerable groups.