Yemen: Committee brings warring parties to the table in Hudaydah, builds on ceasefire

UN Photo

Handshake between the heads of the two respective delegations to the Redeployment Coordination Committee meeting in Hudaydah City, Yemen. 28 December 2018.


28 December 2018

Peace and Security


Yemen’s warring parties have begun the process this week of implementing a comprehensive ceasefire agreement across the key rebel-held port city of Hudaydah, raising hopes that groundbreaking consultations convened by the UN in Sweden can lead to a lasting peace through further talks next year.


The UN-brokered body made up of both Government and Houthi opposition representatives is known officially as the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC), chaired by retired Dutch General, Patrick Cammaert, with the support of UN personnel.

The three-day meeting of the RCC followed on from the formal start of the ceasefire on 25 December.

On Wednesday, both Houthi rebels and Government coalition personnel, worked to clear minefields to create a safe passage across a frontline for Government representatives to attend the meeting on rebel-controlled territory, during which General Cammaert commended the parties for their demonstration of goodwill to implement the Stockholm agreement.

The first phase of putting the agreement into action is based on three priority areas: maintaining the ceasfire, confidence-building measures to deliver humanitarian assistance, and redeployment of fighters.

Both parties have acknowledged this as an historic moment, and each have reiterated their commitment to implementing the Stockholm ceasefire, said the UN on Thursday.

The UN’s Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said that the cooperation shown so far, sends a “massive signal” that positive change is possible, adding that if the peace plan can evolve and progress smoothly, “the people of Yemen will notice a new prospect for the future.”

The parties are set to present detailed plans for full redeployment to Mr. Cammaert in the next committee meeting, programed for 1 January in Hudaydah. In the meantime, each have agreed to begin opening humanitarian corridors as part of confidence-building measures, starting with the key coastal road between rebel-held capital Sana’a, and Hudaydah.

More routes are scheduled to be cleared, and a humanitarian convoy is scheduled to move from the port city along the Hudaydah-Sana’a road on Saturday.

Fighting in and around Hudaydah for control of the key port intensified in recent months, which has severely narrowed the flow of essential resources and lifesaving aid, and exacerbated the threat of famine.

The Yemen war intensified in early 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition joined the Government fight against Houthi rebels, instituting an aerial bombing campaign.

An added consequence unleashed by the conflict has been the lack of pay for civil servants in rebel-held Hudaydah, which the Yemeni government has agreed to pay, backdated to the beginning of this month.

President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi announced the decision on Thursday, marking a shift after more than two years during which the government was unable to pay salaries, according to news reports, causing the Yemeni riyal to fall heavily against the US dollar, and leaving many citizens unable to afford basic necessities like food and water.




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В ОБСЕ приветствуют договоренность о новогоднем перемирии в Донбассе

28.12.2018   1:31:02


Киев. 28 декабря. ИНТЕРФАКС-УКРАИНА - Спецпредставитель ОБСЕ в Трехсторонней контактной группе (ТКГ) Мартин Сайдик и глава Специальной мониторинговой миссии (СММ) ОБСЕ в Украине Ертурул Апакан положительно оценили договоренность о возобновлении перемирия на востоке Украины, сообщила пресс-служба СММ ОБСЕ.

Согласно сообщению, М.Сайдик и Е.Апакан приветствовали обновление сторонами обязательств по соблюдению режима прекращения огня по случаю новогодних и рождественских праздников.

М.Сайдик заявил, что возобновление обязательств, которое вступит в силу в 00:01 (по восточноевропейскому времени) 29 декабря, требует принятия сторонами конкретных мероприятий.

"Для содержательного, устойчивого и длительного прекращения огня нужно, чтобы были отданы приказы прекратить огонь, поддерживалась дисциплина, а также обеспечивался надежный и беспрепятственный доступ СММ ОБСЕ по всей Украине, как это предусмотрено мандатом Миссии. Обещания, данные людям на востоке Украины, должны выполняться", - заявил он.

Е.Апакан отметил, что возобновление обязательств по соблюдению режима прекращения огня четко призвано минимизировать угрозы для гражданского населения.

"Это время - время надежды и исцеления; время, когда семьи собираются, когда люди по-новому осознают и ценят дар жизни. Они хотят и заслуживают мира", - добавил глава СММ ОБСЕ.


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THE COMMITTEES: General Assembly Third Committee ‘anchored’ in human rights protection

UN Photo/Marco Dormino

A Human Rights Officer interviews a displaced witness in Menaka, in northern Mali. In May 2018, a delegation led by Human Rights Officers travelled to Menaka to investigate the recent armed attacks in the settlements of Aklaz and Awakassa.


26 December 2018

Human Rights


From drugs control, to indigenous people’s rights and counter-terrorism, the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee is officially known as the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee, with the full array of complex issues and challenges to mull over that its title would imply. Here’s the latest in our series of explainers on how the ideas and pledges of world leaders each September, are turned into action by Member States in the weeks after they go home.


This year’s busy session homed in on the advancement of women; promotion of fundamental freedoms through elimination of racism and discrimination; and also addressed social development questions related to youth, aging, and persons with disabilities.

Guiding all these discussions, is no small task, and for this year’s 73rd General Assembly session, that has been the task of Committee Chair Mahmoud Saikal, who also serves as Afghanistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

In an interview with UN News, he explained how discussions had begun in October to shape the substance of detailed dialogue in November, over the priority issues.
Resolutions are key

Mr. Saikal pointed out that a good 50 percent of this work is anchored in human rights, explaining that “what are most important ultimately that comes from the Third Committee are the resolutions.”

A lesser-known but historic contribution made by the Committee was its instrumental role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 70 years ago – an milestone that was celebrated at length this month.

In all, 81 meetings were held to discuss the draft of the document, before it was adopted as a resolution, now the most translated text in the world. If you want to get a sense of what it must have been like back in 1948, here’s one of the original Committee documents from that era.

What emerged from the many drafts and sit-downs by Committee members, working with the UN Commission on Human Rights, and the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), was a milestone document which recognizes the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all people, as “a foundation of freedom, peace and justice in the world.”
Supporting the world’s new refugee pact

Today, one of the Committee’s many emphases in the realm of human rights has to do with refugees. Just this year, the Committee had a hand in ramping up support for people fleeing their home countries, and those that take them in, through the Global Compact on Refugees.

UN News/Grece Kaneiya

Mr. Saikal described the non-binding agreement, affirmed by the General Assembly on 17 December of this year, as “going beyond the traditional way of handling the refugee crisis” as it works to appeal to non-state actors, the private sector, and civil society, to place an emphasis “on addressing the root causes of the conflict. We cannot be divorced of that.”

Mr. Saikal, who fled persecution from Afghanistan himself, aged 19, explained that having lived the experience of the nearly 70 million refugees around the world has shaped his ability to fulfill his duties on the Committee: “I’ve been through it myself. What was important for me was the motivation to stand on my own feet.”

“I’m going to use my own brain, my own skills,” he told himself. “I’m not going to allow people to treat me as a refugee.” He then resolved to give back by championing refugees during his diplomatic career, seeking to empower them.

Under his leadership, Afghanistan has secured it first-ever seat on the Human Rights Council, and now looking forward, the Third Committee chair says his ties with home, and his UN experience, continues to drive his hopes for the future.

Countering terror, a top priority

A top priority is to see the implementation of counterterrorism resolutions, going beyond ink on paper, and seeing evidence of change “when it comes to movement on the ground, movement of terrorists, financing of terrorists, and arming of terrorists,” he said.

A host of issues will be up for discussion in the upcoming year: Violence against women, protection of the rights of children, crime prevention and criminal justice, and international drug control revitalization. Topics will be, as usual, prioritized depending on the substance of reports from the field, which bring “the flesh and blood” to the committee's work.

The United Nations at large, “is one of the biggest achievements of mankind,” Mr. Saikal said, however the challenge remains to make it more relevant to the lives of people who truly need the organization’s support.

The best evidence of this is implementation. “There needs to be follow-up,” he told UN News.

“I’m keen to see what we do this year. Where will it go when it comes to the lives of people around the world? It's always in the back of my mind as we give hours, days, and weeks in the service of human rights.”




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Newly displaced fleeing attacks in northeast Nigeria, top 2,000

UNICEF/Gilbertson VII Photo

Children from displaced families collect water at a tap in Maiduguri, Borno state, north-east Nigeria. Humanitarian crisis in the region has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes and dependent on humanitarian assistance.


27 December 2018

Humanitarian Aid


After fleeing terrorist attacks, as well as clashes between Government forces and militia, more than 2,000 newly displaced Nigerians have arrived in an already over-stretched camp known as Teacher’s Village, in Maiduguri, the capital of the country’s Borno State.


The UN humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, reported on Thursday that escalating attacks by non-State armed groups in northeast Nigeria are triggering these new displacements, especially across Borno.

According to news reports, the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA officially registered over 2,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in just 24 hours.

OCHA says that humanitarian organizations are supporting the Government-led response in providing life-saving assistance, including food, shelter and healthcare.

Moreover, hundreds fleeing conflict have also arrived in Borno State’s overloaded Monguno reception centre where humanitarian organizations are providing shelters, relief kits, and water and sanitation.

At present, more than seven million people in northeast Nigeria require humanitarian assistance and protection, including 1.8 million IDPs.

The 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan for Nigeria sought funding of $1.05 billion to assist 6.2 million people, and was 66 per cent funded.




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‘Repeated attacks’ could close down key hospital in eastern Libya, says WHO

UNSMIL/Iason Athanasiadis

Early morning view over the city of Benghazi, Libya.

27 December 2018

Peace and Security

The World Health Organization (WHO) has strongly condemned an armed attack in Al Jala Hospital in Libya’s second-largest city of Benghazi, which took place on Tuesday, warning that further assaults could shutter the key facility.


Although nobody was reportedly killed, WHO said that there had been panic among patients and health workers inside the hospital, and damage to building infrastructure. According to local news reports, unidentified armed assailants entered the building and stormed into the intensive care section, damaging some equipment in an exchange of gunfire. They left without causing any injuries.


The trauma hospital is already struggling with resources and suffering from a lack of medical supplies. The attack marks the latest incident in a wave of attacks by armed groups in the country’s eastern pocket in recent months, prompting the volatile city to remain on a state of high alert.


In November, fighting between armed militia resulted in damage to a hospital for Women and Childbirth in the capital, Tripoli. A doctor was shot, and the incident led to a three-day halt to non-emergency medical services.


The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) responded in a statement stressing that the national health system “is already under-resourced and overstretched, these attacks are costing lives of innocent patients and staff alike.”
Attacks only ‘add to the suffering’ of Libyan people


Echoing the warning, WHO said on Thursday in response to the Benghazi attack against the Al Jala facility that “repeated attacks will lead to closure of this important hospital, add to the suffering of Libyan people, and further deprive the already limited access they have to medical care.


The UN global health agency urged all parties to observe international humanitarian law and respect the safety and neutrality of health workers and the facilities in which they operate.


Such tragedies should be avoided “by taking all necessary precautionary measures”, declared WHO, “and perpetrators must be brought to justice.”


According to latest figures from the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, Benghazi hosts the largest number of internally-displaced people of anywhere in the country, with 26,800 living in and around the city. 189,000 returnees have also made their way back to the city and surrounding areas, since the overthrow of former ruler Muammar Al Gadaffi, in 2011. Since then, the country has been wracked by division and economic crisis.



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Представители Украины и республик Донбасса не договорились о новогоднем перемирии на заседании в Минске

19 декабря 2018, 18:15


В этом минском отеле проходят встречи Трехсторонней контактной группы по Донбассу.© Фото facebook.com/belarusmfa


Представители Украины на переговорах в Минске отказались обсуждать возможность объявления в Донбассе перемирия с 22 декабря по случаю новогодних праздников.

Об этом по итогам заседания подгруппы по безопасности Трехсторонней контактной группы (ТКГ) заявил представитель самопровозглашенной Луганской народной республики в подгруппе Роман Иванов. По его словам, которые приводит «Луганский информационный центр», «украинская сторона отказалась обсуждать новогоднее перемирие в рамках работы группы».

В то же время представитель Киева в гуманитарной подгруппе ТКГ Ирина Геращенко сообщила на своей странице в Facebook, что с инициативой о перемирии в Минске выступили украинская сторона и ОБСЕ. По ее словам, окончательно дата начала перемирия должна быть определена 27 декабря во время скайп-конференции подгруппы по безопасности.

На предыдущем заседании ТКГ 4 декабря, напоминает «Интерфакс», спецпредставитель ОБСЕ Мартин Сайдик заявил, что вскоре начнется подготовка сторон к новогоднему перемирию. По итогам сегодняшнего заседания министр иностранных дел самопровозглашенной Донецкой народной республики Наталья Никонорова сообщила журналистам, что в целом ДНР и ЛНР поддерживают предложенный ОБСЕ проект совместного заявления ТКГ о перемирии.

В прошлом году новогоднее перемирие в Донбассе было объявлено с 23 декабря. Всего с начала войны в 2014 году стороны провозглашали перемирие 24 раза, последнее — с 29 августа 2018 года в связи с началом нового учебного года. Однако ни одна из договоренностей не соблюдалась сторонами конфликта в полной мере.



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Afghanistan: UN ‘unequivocally condemns’ attack in Kabul

UNAMA/Fardin Waezi

A busy roundabout in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan; the UN has welcomed a ceasefire for the Eid holiday.

26 December 2018

Peace and Security

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, known by its acronym UNAMA, condemned an attack on a government compound in the country’s heavily populated capital city of Kabul on Monday night, which news reports say left more than 40 dead.


“These attacks cause untold human suffering to Afghan families,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA said on Tuesday.


Dozens were reportedly injured during the attack on a government ministry building that trapped hundreds of employees.


According to news reports, the incident started with a suicide car bomb blast near the building's entrance, before gunmen stormed inside. While it is not yet known who carried out the attack, similar assaults have been waged by both the so-called ISIL, or Da'esh terrorist group, and Taliban fighters.


“The United Nations unequivocally condemns them, as there is no justification whatsoever for such attacks,” stressed Mr. Yamamoto.


The UN maintained that those who have organized and enabled such attacks must be brought to justice and held accountable, and also called again on all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians from harm.


The Organization continues to stand in solidarity with all Afghans and remains committed to an Afghan-led peace process to end the ongoing war and enable the government to allocate more resources to protect all its citizens from such atrocities.


On behalf of the UN in Afghanistan, Mr. Yamamoto expressed his deep condolences to the victims’ families and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
Terrorism: 'Criminal and unjustifiable'


While expressing their sympathy and concern, the Security Council issued a statement underlining that the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors “of these reprehensible acts of terrorism” needed to be held accountable and brought to justice.


They also urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Afghan Government and all other relevant authorities to this end.


“The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security,” said the statement.


Moreover, they reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.


The Council also reaffirmed the need for all States to combat “by all means,” in accordance with the UN Charter and other obligations under international law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.



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