UN urges countries to step up assistance for Palestine refugees

UNRWA/Tamer Hamam
A Palestine refugee woman receives food assistance at the UNRWA Khan Younis Distribution Centre in Gaza. (file)


1 September 2018
Humanitarian Aid


The United Nations said it regrets the decision of the United States to stop funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and called on other countries to help fill the remaining financial gap.


“We regret the United States’ decision to provide no further funding to UNRWA, which provides essential services to Palestine refugees and contributes to stability in the region,” Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said in a statement Friday.

“The Secretary-General calls on other countries to help fill the remaining financial gap, so that UNRWA can continue to provide this vital assistance, as well as a sense of hope to this vulnerable population.”

In the statement, Mr. Dujarric also noted that the US has traditionally been the largest single contributor to UNRWA and that the Organization appreciates its support over the years.

He added that UNRWA enjoys the full confidence of the Secretary-General and that the agency’s head, Commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl, has led a rapid, innovative and tireless effort to overcome the unexpected financial crisis it has faced this year.

The agency has expanded the donor base, raised considerable new funding, and explored new avenues of support, said Mr. Dujarric, noting also that UNRWA took extraordinary internal management measures to increase efficiencies and reduce costs.

“UNRWA has a strong record of providing high-quality education, health and other essential services, often in extremely difficult circumstances, to Palestine refugees who are in great need,” he said.

UNRWA was established by the General Assembly in 1949 to provide assistance and protection to a population of some five million registered Palestine refugees in various countries throughout the Middle East. Its services include education, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, health care and emergency assistance.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/09/1018192

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Mauritania: UN chief urges peaceful, credible elections

UN Photo/Violaine Martin (file)
Secretary-General António Guterres.


1 September 2018
Peace and Security


United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on all parties in Mauritania to ensure peaceful and credible elections as the country holds legislative, regional and municipal polls on Saturday.


In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Guterres said he is “closely following” developments in the West African nation as it prepares to go to polls.

“[The Secretary-General] urges all parties to ensure the holding of elections that are peaceful and credible and allow for the participation of all interested stakeholders,” read the statement.

“He calls on all parties to ensure respect of the rule of law and that the human rights of all Mauritanians are upheld.”

According to reports, some 98 political parties are participating in the elections this year, a marked increase over the last time polls were held.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/09/1018202

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США не дадут денег UNRWA

01 Сентябрь, 2018 01:41

Служба новостей «Голоса Америки»


Палестинские школьники у школы, работа которой финансируется UNRWAПоделиться


США прекратили финансирование агентства ООН, которое оказывает помощь палестинским беженцам.

Госдепартамент США прекратил финансирование Ближневосточного агентства ООН для помощи палестинским беженцам и организации работ (UNRWA). Указано, что «администрация США внимательно изучила вопрос и определила, что Соединенные Штаты не будут производить дополнительные взносы UNRWA».

Хизер Нойерт, пресс-секретарь Госдепартамента, подчеркнула, что UNRWA «бесконечно и экспоненциально увеличивало количество получателей», из-за чего агентство «находится в кризисе на протяжении многих лет».

UNRWA оказывает медицинскую и социальную помощь, а также поддерживает образовательные программы для палестинцев на территории Западного берега реки Иордан, в секторе Газа, Иордании, Сирии и Ливане. По данным агентства, помощь распределяется среди примерно 5 млн человек, подавляющее большинство которых – потомки тех, кто бежал из своих домов после войны 1948 года.

На долю США приходится почти 30% бюджета UNRWA. В 2016 году Соединенные Штаты перечислили агентству 355 млн долларов. На прошлой неделе Администрация Дональд Трампа заявила о намерении не выделять более 200 млн долларов на проекты на Западном берегу и в секторе Газа.

https://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/usa-unrwa-financing/4553236.html

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FROM THE FIELD: Living a life in the ruins of Syria

© UNHCR/Bassam Diab
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi (l) walks through the battle-scarred streets of Douma, in Syria's Eastern Ghouta suburb.


31 August 2018
Peace and Security


Many people in Syria are trying to lead “a normal life amidst the ruins” of their country devastated by years of conflict; that’s according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, who visited the Syrian city of Douma this week.


Some 5.6 million people have fled Syrian over the past seven years of war and a further 6.6 million people are displaced inside the country.

Mr. Grandi walked the streets of Douma on Thursday and met people who are living in the rubble of destroyed homes.

The UN Refugee Agency continues to support people across the country with relief items. It has also funded the rehabilitation of vital infrastructure such as schools and health clinics.

Read more here on Mr Grandi’s visit.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/08/1018122

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Food, security and peace desperately needed in Mali – UN relief chief

UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller meets women in Mopti during her visit to Mali.


31 August 2018
Humanitarian Aid


A senior United Nations relief official has called for greater international attention to the plight of millions in Africa’s Mali, where worsening intercommunal violence and armed group attacks are complicating an already complex humanitarian emergency.


UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ursula Mueller – who just wrapped up a four-day mission to Mali – underscored that food, security, protection and peace are of paramount importance.

“Violence and intercommunal clashes have gotten worse here this year […] and this has huge implications, including humanitarian organizations not able to access areas and people in need of assistance,” she said, in Mopti (central Mali), where nearly a million people desperately await protection and humanitarian assistance.

According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of internally displaced persons in Mali has sharply increased since the beginning of the year to over 75,000 by the end of July. In all, some 5.2 million people are estimated to be in dire need of assistance across the country, the number represents one in four Malians.

In Mali, Ms. Mueller also met with humanitarian organizations to better understand the challenges they face in providing life-saving and protection assistance and with local authorities, stressing the need to scale up conflict resolution efforts, access to basic social services and protection.

“Despite huge challenges – security, access, funding and administrative impediments – they are continuing their critical work and reaching those who most need humanitarian assistance,” she said, praising the work of relief organizations.

During a wrap-up press conference in the Malian capital, Bamako, Ms. Mueller said she had been encouraged by the initiatives and the planning being made by the Government, development and aid actors to work together in ensuring that the immediate needs are addressed as well as helping restore and build livelihoods.

“This is essential to ensure our work today helps make communities more resilient and better able to survive future crises,” she said.

At a time, when the level of need is higher than at any point since the crisis erupted in 2012, the response has been hampered by a severe lack of resources. According to latest figures, only 31 per cent of the $330 million sought by the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan has been received.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/08/1018152

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Refugees overcrowded to ‘boiling point’ on Greek island, warns UN agency

UNHCR/Markel Redondo
A woman hangs washing out to dry at the Vathy Reception and Identification Centre (RIC) on the island of Samos, Greece. Refugee families are struggling at the reception centres on the island of Samos due to overcrowding, leading to deteriorating conditions.


31 August 2018
Migrants and Refugees


The Government of Greece has been urged by the United Nations to do more to help thousands of asylum-seekers and migrants who have been “crammed” into island reception centres, amid reports that children have tried to take their own lives there.


The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which issued the appeal on Friday, described the centres as “squalid, inadequate and rapidly deteriorating”.

Levels of overcrowding on some islands are on a par with March 2016, when arrival rates were far higher than they are now.

The majority of those seeking shelter are from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the UN agency.

It has warned that hundreds of unaccompanied boys and girls are particularly at risk, along with dozens of pregnant women, newborns and survivors of sexual violence.

More than 3,000 asylum-seekers on the islands have been given permission to move to the mainland, but transfers “have been slow”, UNHCR says, owing to a lack of accommodation and reception facilities.


“The situation is reaching boiling point at the Moria RIC on the island of Lesvos,” UNHCR spokesperson Charlie Yaxley said, referring to the Reception and Identification Centres (RIC) used to house new arrivals.

“More than 7,000 asylum-seekers and migrants are crammed into shelters built to accommodate just 2,000 people,” he added. “A quarter of those are children.”

There are similar overcrowding levels on another Greek island, Samos, where some 2,700 mainly Syrian and Iraqi families are staying in a facility that was originally designed to hold around 700 people.


On the islands of Chios and Kos, meanwhile, reception centres are at close to double their intended capacity.

“This is likely to become a serious concern if not addressed before winter sets in,” Mr. Yaxley told journalists, before warning of other urgent needs.

“We are particularly concerned about woefully inadequate sanitary facilities, fighting amongst frustrated communities, rising levels of sexual harassment and assaults and the increasing need for medical and psycho-social care,” he said, noting that increasing numbers of people - “including children” - have been displaying signs of mental health problems.

So far this month, around 800 asylum-seekers have been moved to the Greece’s mainland.

But this has failed to ease the pressure on the island reception facilities, as the number of arrivals has increased to an average of 114 per day, up from 83 in July.

To help reduce delays in transporting vulnerable people to the Greek mainland, UNHCR will continue to assist in the process next month.

“We do encourage the Greek authorities, who have received European funding for this situation, to address these challenges and to accelerate the procedure and measures to decongest the island as soon as possible,” Mr. Yaxley said.

Latest data from UNHCR indicates that so far this year, around 19,000 vulnerable people have reached the Greek islands from Turkey. In 2015, the number was more than 850,000.

“It’s a very manageable situation, it’s a question of political will,” Mr. Yaxley told journalists in Geneva, in an appeal for European Union countries to show solidarity with those in need of international protection.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/08/1018112

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Кан Гён Хва: На нынешнем этапе смягчения антисеверокорейских санкций не планируется

2018-07-23 10:54:34



Photo : YONHAP News

На нынешнем этапе решения ядерной проблемы Пхеньяна смягчения антисеверокорейских санкций не планируется. Об этом сообщила в ходе встречи с журналистами по возвращении из США министр иностранных дел РК Кан Гён Хва. 

По её словам, целью поездки было получить разрешение членов Совбеза ООН на внесение ряда ограничительных мер против КНДР в список исключений. 

Необходимость в этом возникла ради реализации межкорейских проектов. Однако это не смягчение санкций. 

Отвечая на вопрос о том, смогут ли РК, США и КНДР заявить об окончании Корейской войны до сессии Генассамблеи ООН в конце сентября, Кан Гён Хва напомнила, что для этого прилагаются усилия, но о точных сроках говорить сложно.

http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=r&Seq_Code=53867

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