Expressing deep sadness that more than 200 Rohingya – who fled military persecution in Myanmar in 2017 – have died trying to cross the Andaman Sea from Bangladesh this year, Mr. Türk said that the boats used to make the crossings are not only “overcrowded and unsafe” but also “left...
“The costs have been catastrophic”, Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement marking the day. Since the pandemic struck, he pointed out that millions of lives have been lost, as hundreds of millions fallen ill. And economies have been shattered, health systems stretched, and trillions of dollars lost. Moreover, progress...
In a statement issued on Friday, Stéphane Dujarric said that in addition to the deaths of the male and female peacekeepers in Timbuktu town earlier in the day, four other blue helmets from the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) were injured. Possible war crime Attacks targeting UN...
Speaking in Kyiv, at the end of a four-day official visit, Martin Griffiths described the deadly threat from daily artillery attacks on the southern port city of Kherson. Today, more than 18 million people in Ukraine need humanitarian aid, according to UN humanitarians. Some 7.83 million have fled the country...
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr. Türk reported that the number of people arbitrarily detained – either for expressing their political views, or for being perceived as critics of the Government – rose from 195 in September to 225 today. “This includes relatives of detained political opponents,...
Floods in the capital, Kinshasa, and some provinces have destroyed homes and farmland, as well as schools and other public infrastructure. “The Secretary-General extends his condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the Government and people”, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement, also wishing a...
In a statement, Mr. Türk said he was appalled by attacks against civilians by armed elements amid a surge in violence, urging the authorities and community leaders to act urgently to end the bloodshed. Over the past four months, at least 166 civilians have been killed, and 237 injured, as...
Speaking in Geneva, after returning from a four-day tour of war-ravaged Ukraine this week, Volker Türk confirmed that he had been forced to take shelter in a bunker during a shelling attack. His experience was what Ukrainians and UN colleagues, encountered “on a regular basis”, the High Commissioner said, before insisting that...
Briefing reportedly at the request of Russia on “supplies of lethal weapons to Ukraine and their consequences”, Izumi Nakamitsu reminded ambassadors that she had already addressed the issue in September. Risk of diversion The UN Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) chief repeated what she had said then, that a large-scale influx of weapons...
Mr. Guterres has strongly condemned the attacks, which occurred on 29 and 30 November in the villages of Kishishe and Bambo, located in Rutshuru territory, North Kivu province, in the volatile eastern part of the country At least 131 civilians were killed, including 17 women and 12 children, and eight...
Mr. Guterres made the appeal in his message to mark the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime, observed on Friday. “States have the primary obligation for preventing genocide, but religious and community leaders, civil society,...
Speaking in the capital, Kyiv, after an official four-day visit to the country, Volker Türk said that the scale of the damage and destruction that he had seen in Izium was “shocking”. In Bucha, north of Kyiv, where scenes showing civilians lying dead in the street sparked international outrage soon...