Mexico

A United Nations human rights office report issued today states there are strong grounds to believe that some of the people detained in Mexico in the early stages of the investigation into the 2014 disappearance of 43 students were arbitrarily detained and tortured and those serious violations were covered up.  

The United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia condemned the murder of Wilman Asprilla Allim and Ansel Montoya Ibarra, two Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) political party members who were participating in electoral activities in Peque municipality.  The Mission urges all the competent institutions to investigate and prosecute those responsible for this crime.

As of 25 September, two days ago, there were nearly 740,000 suspected cholera cases in Yemen and more than 2,100 associated deaths recorded, with children accounting for more than half, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  Aid workers have set up 250 diarrhoea treatment centres.

Only 15 countries have three essential national policies supporting families with young children, according to a new UNICEF report, “Early Moments Matter for Every Child”.  They offer two years of [free] pre-primary education; breastfeeding breaks for new mothers in the first six months; and adequate parental leave.

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

The number of migrant deaths and disappearances over the past three years is likely to be much higher than the 23,000 that the International Organization for Migration has reported globally since 2014, since many deaths are not recorded, according to a report released by the agency today.

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

Mark Lowcock, the new head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), will travel to Niger and Nigeria from 9 to 12 September to raise the profile of the Lake Chad Basin crisis impacting some 17 million people.  He will seek additional humanitarian support to avert the risk of famine.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) released its annual report today which says that, after two years of economc contraction, all countries in the region except Venezuela, Saint Lucia and Suriname will record positive, though still low, growth this year.

The United Nations refugee agency reports from Yemen that continuing fighting in Taizz has displaced nearly 50,000 people since the beginning of 2017, in addition to the 3 million already uprooted since the conflict started, of whom 2 million remain displaced and 1 million have returned home to precarious conditions.