The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees today said the number of Nicaraguan refugees and asylum seekers in Costa Rica has doubled in the last eight months, reaching more than 150,000 people. This represents 3 per cent of Costa Rica’s total population of 5 million.
Amid the continued humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the World Food Programme (WFP) reports that it provided food to nearly 150,000 people and cash assistance to 6,000 on 14 December. Some 100 food shops and other businesses have closed in Jalalabad city due to currency devaluation and high food and commodity prices.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) regained access to two refugee camps previously cut off by clashes in Ethiopia’s Tigray Province. It is calling for urgent support amid rising displacement, as well as safe passage to transfer refugees to a safer site, 135 kilometres away.
The onset of winter — compounded by the devastating effects of the coronavirus — poses a direct threat to the health and livelihoods of Venezuelan refugees and migrants, nearly 2 million of whom have settled in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, the United Nations refugee agency warned today.
In Nicaragua, UNICEF and its partners have prepositioned emergency supplies and developed a joint response plan to address the needs of families impacted by Hurricane Eta, including 10,000 people evacuated from the northern coast, while the World Food Programme has positioned 80 metric tons of food assistance in the region.
The United Nations human rights office said today it is very concerned about repeated attacks against indigenous peoples in Nicaragua, non-protection of their rights and impunity for crimes committed against them. Some 40 indigenous people have been killed, 47 injured, 44 kidnapped and four disappeared since 2015.
The World Food Programme (WFP) says it has reached 1 million people in Mozambique with food assistance in the month since Cyclone Idai made landfall. WFP intends to assist 1.7 million people needing urgent food and nutrition support, but still requires $130 million to implement its response through June.
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.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Staff of the Human Rights Office say they are appalled at the ongoing violence in Nicaragua, where at least 16 people are reported to have been killed this week and more than 100 injured amid anti-Government protests. They are also concerned at the reported arrest and detention of six human rights defenders.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary‑General António Guterres:
