UN rights chief calls for action to address Central Mediterranean Sea migrant crisis

UN rights chief calls for action to address Central Mediterranean Sea migrant crisis

Since 2014, over 26,000 people have died or gone missing crossing the Mediterranean Sea.  Most of these deaths or disappearances, over 20,000, occurred in the Central Mediterranean, considered among the deadliest migration routes in the world.  “We are seeing a steep increase in the number of desperate people putting their lives at grave risk,” said…

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Colombia: Implementing peace deal, promoting dialogue ‘inextricably linked’

Colombia: Implementing peace deal, promoting dialogue ‘inextricably linked’

The two aims are important aspects of the Government’s Total Peace Policy and have become “inextricably linked”, he said.  “It is hard to envision either fully succeeding without the other, given the realities on the ground in many of the conflict-affected areas where violence by remaining armed groups is a major obstacle to implement the…

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Reform global financial architecture to achieve sustainable development: UN deputy chief

Reform global financial architecture to achieve sustainable development: UN deputy chief

Delivering remarks at a forum on reform held during the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, she called for course correction now – the halfway point to achieve the goals by 2030.  In recent years, developing countries have been battered by soaring energy and food costs, the climate emergency,…

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Central Mediterranean: Deadliest quarter for migrant deaths in six years

Central Mediterranean: Deadliest quarter for migrant deaths in six years

IOM’s Missing Migrants Project documented 441 deaths during this period, though the true toll is likely to be higher.  Investigations continue into several reports of so-called invisible shipwrecks – cases where boats are reported missing but there are no records of survivors or search and rescue (SAR) operations.   The fates of more than 300…

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Mali: Civilians paying the price as terrorist violence flares up, Security Council hears

Mali: Civilians paying the price as terrorist violence flares up, Security Council hears

El-Ghassim Wane, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Mission in Mali, MINUSMA, briefed the Security Council on major developments in the West African country over the past three months.  MINUSMA was established a decade ago following insecurity in the north and a failed military coup, which led to the signing of…

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Afghanistan: UN forced to make ‘appalling choice’ following ban on women nationals

Afghanistan: UN forced to make ‘appalling choice’ following ban on women nationals

“UN national personnel – women and men – have been instructed not to report to UN offices, with only limited and calibrated exceptions made for critical tasks,” according to a statement  issued on Tuesday by its office in Afghanistan. The ban is the latest in a series of discriminatory measures that restrict Afghan women and girls…

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