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Tag: UN

  • Don’t be used as political thugs, UN advises youths

    United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) has urged Nigerian youths to resist being used as thugs by some politicians to perpetrate evil.

    The warning was made during a workshop by UNIC held in the event hall of Igando Local Council to commemorate the United Nations’ World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, which is an annual event.

    Contributing to the workshop theme, which is: “Understanding cross- cultural and diversity in peace building”, Director, UNIC Lagos, Mr. Ronald Kayanja, who was represented by an official of the organisation, Mrs. Bolanle Olumekor, enjoined youth not to make themselves willing tools by politicians, who he noted, would only use the them to achieve their ambition only to dump them afterwards.

    Kayanja warned that history over the years has demonstrated that violence does not profit, adding that those youths should steer clear of any acts that may lead them to permanently regret in life.

    Corroborating Kayanja, chief resource person, Dr. Segun Bolarinwa of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, ( NIIA), had earlier shown a documentary depicting violent conflict in Rwanda occasioned by politics of ethnic cleansing that has almost led to the annihilation of certain tribal group in that country.

    Bolarinwa through his lecture, told the over 300 participants that there could be no constructive benefit accruing from violence any day, hence, people should learn to coexist in love, peace and harmony.

     

    Lending her voice to the discourse, President of Violence Prevention Association of Nigeria (VIPAN), Mrs. Olajumoke Israel, posited that the campaign against violence and conflict usually begins from the home, explaining that when there is peace in the family, it will most permeate into the larger society.

     

    “At VIPAN, our major concern is to see citizens of our society enjoy mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence, irrespective of differences in religion, tribe and dialect,” She said.

     

    “In fact, that is the will of God for mankind. This why we are appealing especially to students and all youth to steer clear of any violent act or do anything that may spark off violence”; Israel pleaded.

     

     

     

  • Boko Haram: UN tasks Nigeria on stigmatisation of girls

    The UN has urged the Nigerian authorities to give more attention to protecting the girls and children, who were victims of sexual violence and abuse by the Boko Haram terrorists.

    Ms Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, stated this while briefing on the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflicts.

    The News Agency of Nigeria  reports that the plight of the girls, who were victims of sexual violence and abuse by Boko Haram terrorists, were among the spotlights for the Day.

    Under this year’s theme, “The Plight and Rights of Children Born of War,” the Day encourages solidarity with the survivors, who have endured multiple ordeals, in the wake of sexual violence.

    A short video clip featured ‘Khadija’, who was kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists at Banki, Borno and impregnated, being tagged ‘Boko Haram wife’ and her baby, ‘Boko Haram sin’ in the camp.

    Patten recalled her meeting with the victim girls and children born out of rape arising from the sexual violence and abuse when she travelled to Maiduguri in 2017.

    “I met with 200 young girls and there were 162 babies and I was really disturbed by the fact that these young girls and their babies were not only rejected by their families and by their communities but also by the very people they were living with inside the camp.

    My visit to Maiduguri made me realise that more attention needs to be given; I think the focus really has to be on the rights.

    “There’s a convention on the rights of the child that protect these children and more needs to be done,’’ she said.

    According to her, all the girls that she met at the internally displaced people camps in Maiduguri were released from the captivity of Boko Haram.

    She said some of them still had complaints about sexual violence and food, explaining that these were issues that she raised with the government, following her visit to the camp.

    “I raised the issue with the authority, with the Acting President (Yemi Osinbajo), whom I met and who reassured that actions would be taken.’’

    She said government followed up to ensure the review of the administration of the camp.

    She added with further follow up by Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, the distribution of food was handed over to the World Food Programme to ensure cases of sexual abuse were minimised.

    My office is trying to support the government of Nigeria and other partners and agencies to meet the needs of the very young survivors of sexual violence and their children through access to some kind of livelihoods support.

    That`s in the process of negotiation with Nigeria.’’

    UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said the effects of conflict-related sexual violence echoes across generations, in the form of trauma, stigma and unwanted pregnancy.

    The UN chief described the scourge as “a threat to our collective security’’ and “a stain on our common humanity.’’

    “Children conceived through wartime rape often struggle with issues of identity and belonging for decades after the guns have fallen silent.

    “They may be left in a legal limbo or at risk of becoming stateless.

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    “They are vulnerable to recruitment, trafficking and exploitation, with broad implications for peace and security as well as human rights.

    “Their mothers may be marginalised and shunned by their own families and communities.

    “These women and children are sometimes seen as affiliates of armed and violent extremist groups, rather than as victims and survivors,’’ Guterres said.

    Lord Ahmad, the British Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations, also condemned Boko Haram terrorists’ activities against girls.

    “Female illiteracy in some countries is running at 60, 70 or 80 per cent and there are bigoted fanatics, who actually campaign to stop girls from going to school, including the numbskulls from Boko Haram who will raid schools, abduct children and inflict any atrocity in order to deny girls an education.

    “As recently as February, Boko Haram kidnapped 110 girls from a school in Dapchi and we all remember how 276 were taken from Chibok in 2014.

    “When I visited Borno last year, I met girls who had been told they would be shot if they dared learn to read, as the Taliban shot Malala,’’ Ahmad said.

    Similarly, Ms Ninette Kelley, Director of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in New York, while launching the UNHCR’s Global Trends Report, urged governments to ensure voluntary return of IDPs to their communities.

    She added that no displaced person should be forced to return until certain factors are considered.

  • U.S. withdraws from UN Human Rights Commission

    The U.S. on Tuesday withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday accusing it of a “chronic bias against Israel.”

    U.S. envoy to the UN Nikki Haley, who announced her country’s decision in Washington, slammed Russia, China, Cuba and Egypt for thwarting U.S. efforts to reform the council.

    She also criticized countries which shared U.S. values and encouraged Washington to remain but “were unwilling to seriously challenge the status quo.”

    The U.S. is half-way through a three-year term on the main U.N. rights body and the Trump administration had long threatened to quit if the 47-member Geneva-based body was not overhauled.

    “Look at the council membership, and you see an appalling disrespect for the most basic rights,” said Haley, citing Venezuela, China, Cuba and Democratic Republic of Congo.

    Haley also said the “disproportionate focus and unending hostility toward Israel is clear proof that the council was motivated by political bias, not by human rights.”

    Washington’s withdrawal is the latest U.S. rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. (Reuters/NAN)

  • UN slams U.S. border policy separating migrant children, parents

    The UN has described as ‘unconscionable’, the U.S. border policy of forcibly separating migrant children from parents.

    UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, in a statement issued by his Spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, defended the rights of migrant and refugee children.

    The UN chief did not, however, single out the U.S. but made a general statement.

    As a matter of principle, the Secretary-General said he believed that refugees and migrants should always be treated with respect, dignity and in accordance with existing international law.

    “Children must not be traumatised by being separated from their parents. Family unity must be preserved,’’ the UN chief said.

    As part of his final global update, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Al Hussein, also voiced his deep concern over the U.S. border protection policies.

    “In the past six weeks, nearly two thousand children have been forcibly separated from their parents,’’ Al Hussein said in his opening remarks to the 38th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

    He said the American Association of Paediatrics in the U.S., had called it a cruel practice of “government-sanctioned child abuse’’ which might cause “irreparable harm” with “lifelong consequences”.

    “The thought that any State would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable,’’ he said.

    The UN Chief called on the U.S. to immediately put a stop to the policy and ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

    The human rights situation in the U.S. was one of the many topics to be discussed at the latest Human Rights Council session, which runs through July 6.

    Zeid also expressed his deep concern about a bill presented to Parliament in Hungary in May which, if adopted, would criminalise human rights monitoring at borders and within border zones.

    The bill would also criminalise the provision of information, legal aid and assistance to migrants.

    The High Commissioner stressed that “people do not lose their human rights by virtue of crossing a border without a visa.’’ (NAN)

  • UN chides Nigeria over delay in Ogoni clean-up

    The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has chided the federal government for the long delay in actual clean-up of oil polluted Ogoniland.

    Its Executive Director, Erik Solhem, yesterday said it is time for the affected communities to witness genuine “actions on ground”.

    He lamented that for over seven years, the polluted site remained devastated despite promises from previous administrations.

    He spoke during his visit to the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibril, in Abuja.

    Solhem, who emphasised the process to the remediation exercise commenced during administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, said the clean-up exercise required strong input of experts from the private sector and other international reputable development organisations.

    “I was excited with what you showed me on the map on different steps you intend to take.

    “It’s just to ensure different components are captured to step up the cleanup. The time has now come to ensure there is something on the ground.

    “Let’s be realistic. This problem started when Obasanjo was the president of Nigeria. So it’s quiet sometime the report was launched then come Goodluck, then Buhari.

    “The launch of the report is seven years back so there is need for action on ground. The people of the Niger Delta want to see physical actions on ground.

    “That’s what people want to see. They want serious actions in their lives, not just politicians like myself talk.”

    Describing the $1 billion initial commitment for the remediation exercise as huge, he noted needs for the ministry not to rely on its local capacity.

    However, the UN Chief offered to assist the federal government implement the report on the clean-up of Ogoniland through several packages it intends to share with the government.

    Solhem explained different UN agencies can come together under leadership of the federal government to expedite the remediation exercise.

    “We can make different packages of supporting you but it must come under your leadership.

    “You need to bring in people because this is $1 billion programme. That’s big.

    “To draw something up the scale of $1billion, I think you need supreme expertise from road construction, oil and gas, cement industry, huge number of people.

    “I’m sure that expertise is available in Nigeria but UN can assist because this is very different from running a programme of $1 million,” Erik added.

    The minister shared achievements of the ministry in tackling environmental issues across the six geopolitical zones in the country.

    He identified gully erosion and deforestation in the south, desertification in the North as well as issues of environmental pollution.

    However, he explained the UNEP Report has become the gospel in the Niger Delta region, stressing that anything outside the report would face serious confrontation.

    Jibril assured the UNEP Executive Director of federal government’s resolve to religiously follow up with the clean-up.

    He noted that as part of the remediation, about 600 members of the affected communities got free surgery.

     

  • Half of murdered women killed by ‘partners’ – UN deputy chief

    Ms Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, has said that worldwide, almost one-in-two women murdered were killed by a partner or ex-partner.

    Mohammed stated this in Brussels at the launch of a new partnership between the UN and EU, an essential tool to make violence against women and girls “a thing of the past”.

    Addressing the European Development Days, she said that the joint ‘Spotlight Initiative’ was a key element for making Global Goal 5 on women’s empowerment, of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, a reality.

    She said that in some countries, “spotlight will focus on the most extreme form of violence – femicide”.

    “Often, in the wake of these murders, we find that women have indeed reported to the police, or sought medical care.

    “But service providers did not have adequate information or the means to identify the risk,” the UN deputy scribe said.

    Mohammed said some of the violence took place due to the broader insecurity that women faced, particularly where they were advocating for women’s rights.

    She painted a picture of women not fully included in decision-making, being subjected to a “global pandemic” of violence against women and girls.

    “Attacks and discrimination are deeply embedded in social norms, attitudes and practices. Addressing these mindsets will require significant investments of time, resources and political will,” she asserted.

    Now in the third year of working towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the forum in 2018 is  spotlighting on gender equality.

    “Without equality and empowerment, we will simply perpetuate today’s paradigm: trying to address all the world’s challenges with only half the world’s assets,” she said.

    The UN deputy chief cited the World Bank in detailing how women’s equal participation in the labour force had the potential to unlock 160 trillion dollars for sustainable development reinvestment.

    “Yet a stark reality prevails: more women than men live in extreme poverty,” she said, adding that the worldwide pay gap stands at 23 per cent, and gender roles have been too slow to change.

    Mohammed pointed to the benefit of reaching SDG 5 – for the more than 190 countries around the world who signed up to the Goals in 2015 – which calls for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

    “I often call it the ‘docking station’ for all the goals,” she said, flagging that Spotlight builds on civil society leadership and aims to address some of the imbalances women face.

    The UN deputy chief also underscored the UN’s commitment to lead by example by empowering women within the organisation itself.

    Mohammed said the UN was working towards, for the first time in its history, full gender parity in the Senior Management Group and among those nominated to be its Resident Coordinators.

    “We have a long way to go.  But we have a plan and we have the will,” she stressed. (NAN)

     

  • Stop detaining migrants, separating children – UN tells U.S.

    The UN on Tuesday, called on the U.S. to stop detaining irregular migrant families and separating children at the southern border, saying it contravened the law.
    “The U.S. should immediately halt this practice of separating families and stop criminalising what should at most be an administrative offence, that of irregular entry or stay in the U.S.
    “Detention should be the last resort. The current U.S. policy is a serious violation of the rights of the child,” UN Human Rights Spokeswoman, Ravina Shamdasani, told a news conference in Geneva.
    “It is, therefore, of great concern that in the U.S., migration control appears to have been prioritised over the effective care and protection of migrant children,” Shamdasani added.
    She noted that the U.S. was the only country in the world that had not adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
    Many of them are fleeing violence or human rights violations, according to the spokeswoman.
    Most people crossing the U.S. southern border are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, where rampant violence would give them the right to international protection, UN Refugee Agency Spokesman, William Spindler, said.
    Several hundred children and babies have been taken away from their families since October, according to information received by the UN office.
    Under international human rights standards, authorities should always act in the best interest of children in any situation.

  • UN to honour 3 fallen Nigerian peacekeepers on June 1

    Three fallen Nigerian peacekeepers have been listed for honour by the United Nations (UN) next month.

    Lt. Col. Ali Suleiman, Warrant Officer Remmy Amakwe and Mr. Kolawole Shogaolu are among the 129 military, police and civilian personnel who will be honoured after losing their lives in peacekeeping operations during 2017.

    The Secretary-General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, will lay a wreath in their memory at the global organisation’s headquarters in New York to mark the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.

    He will also officiate at a ceremony to posthumously present the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal to the fallen heroes.

    Lt. Col. Suleiman served with the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo while Warrant Officer Amakwe was deployed with the African Union–United Nations Mission in Darfur.

    Mr. Shogaolu served in a civilian capacity in the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali.

    Nigeria is the 41st largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping, according to a recent statistics.

    It currently contributes more than 500 military and police personnel to the UN peace operations in Abyei, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, Mali, Sudan, South Sudan and the Western Sahara.

    In his message to mark the Day, Guterres announced that he would spend the Day with United Nations Peacekeepers in Mali “to express my solidarity with colleagues facing high casualties and enormous volatility.”

    This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of UN Peacekeeping, the flagship enterprise of the Organization described by the Secretary-General as ”a proven investment in global peace, security and prosperity.”

    “We express our gratitude to the more than one million men and women who have served under the UN flag, saving countless lives. We honour the more than 3,700 blue helmets who have paid the ultimate price over the past seven decades.

    “And we pay tribute to the 14 peacekeeping missions working around the clock to protect people and advance the cause of peace,” Guterres said.

    Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said: “Our peacekeepers – civilian, police, men and women, military personnel – save lives every day”.

    “Today, we honour those who have sacrificed their lives in service to peace. Their service and sacrifice inspires us to work harder to support a sustainable peace in some of the world’s most complex and challenging places.”

  • Nigeria to add 189m people 2050, says UN

    Nigeria has been projected to add no fewer than 189 million people to its present population between 2018 and 2050, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has said.

    UN, in a new report: ‘2018 Revision of World Urbanisation Prospects’, projected that around 2.5 billion more people would be living in cities by 2050.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that DESA in earlier report said: “By 2050, the third most populous country will be Nigeria, which currently ranks seventh, and which is poised to replace the U. S.”.

    Announcing the latest findings, DESA said most of the projected increase in urbanisation is expected to be highly-concentrated in just a handful of countries.

    “Together, India, China and Nigeria will account for 35 per cent of the projected growth of the world’s urban population between 2018 and 2050…

    “It is projected that India will have added 416 million urban dwellers, China 255 million and Nigeria 189 million,” DESA said.

    The UN department said by 2050, two out of every three people are likely to be living in cities or other urban centres, highlighting the need for more sustainable urban planning and public services.

    Owing to both demographic shifts and overall population growth, that means that around 2.5 billion people could be added to urban areas by the middle of the century, predicts DESA predicted.

    The report also estimates that by 2030, the world could have 43 so-called megacities – up from 31 today, according to reports.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Boko Haram Has Been Defeated, Group Tells UN

    An anti terrorism group, the Coalition Against Terrorism and Extremism (CATE) has insisted that contrary to the claim of the United Nations, the Boko Haram terrorists has been defeated.

    The group was reacting to claims by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambers who claimed that the that Boko Haram has not been defeated in the north-east.

    Addressing journalists in Abuja, CATE executive director, Comrade Gabriel Onoja however, said the reality on ground as by independent analysts as well as peace and conflict resolution practitioners on the field shows that the terrorist group remains defeated.

    Onoja expressed concern that the statement credited to the UN may be a precursor to the re-arming of the terrorists to cause more havoc.

    He said the statement by Ibn Chambers may have confirmed initial fears of international conspiracy to make Nigeria fail, wondering why the UN is yet to disown the statement.

    He said, “CATE is therefore looking below the surface in assessing the position declared by the UN and ibn Chambers’ because it implies there are steps being taken by these players to revive and re-arm Boko Haram to ensure that all possible outcomes tally with their perverted position.

    “Irrespective of the twisted position that some key players may wish to adopt, our stand is that Boko Haram has been and remained defeated. The assessment that made us arrive at this conclusion is neither by the UN or the Federal Government of Nigeria’s standard but we rather rely on the reality on ground as can be attested to by independent analysts as well as peace and conflict resolution practitioners on the field.

    We urge the Nigerian military and government not to be caught napping.”