Nicaragua

On the eve of the second round of the presidential election in Madagascar, the electoral observer missions and the members of the international community issued a statement calling on the two candidates to show restraint and to exhort their supporters to avoid any action that could compromise the electoral process.

The new Permanent Representative of Nicaragua to the United Nations, Jaime Hermida Castillo, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Delegates expressed deep concern today about violence allegedly perpetrated by paramilitary “shock force” in Nicaragua, while continuing to diverge as to whether that escalating crisis merits consideration by the 15-member Security Council.

The new Permanent Representative of Nicaragua to the United Nations, Sidhartha Francisco Marín Aráuz, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

A new report released today by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that 4 million refugee children do not attend school.  The report shows that enrolment of refugee children in school is failing to keep pace with the growing refugee population.

The United Nations Children’s Fund is taking measures to ensure a safe start to the school year in Ebola-affected regions of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, including training of principals and 1,750 teachers about the virus, setting up procedures for early detection, isolation and referral to health services for children who may have Ebola‑like symptoms.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern over continuing arrests and apparently arbitrary detentions of human rights defenders and activists in Saudi Arabia.  Since 15 May, at least 15 Government critics have been detained, their whereabouts unknown, in some cases, amid a serious lack of transparency.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says today that, three months after the violence started in Nicaragua, an estimated 280 people have died and 1,830 have been injured, in violence overwhelmingly perpetrated by the State and by pro-Government armed elements.  Those killed include at least 19 police officers.

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

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.