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UN blacklists Myanmar military for sexual abuse of Rohingya population
A report by the United Nations has blacklisted Myanmar's military for carrying out widespread sexual violence as a strategy to terrorize the Rohingya Muslim population and to drive them out of the land they lived in western Myanmar.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' report is due to be presented to the UN Security Council on Monday, but an advance copy has been obtained by the Associated Press.

According to the AP, Guterres says in the report that Myanmar's armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, are "credibly suspected" of having used sexual assault, including rape, "in the course of military clearance operations in October 2016 and August 2017." ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/...presstv01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2266.ph0ao0037n.234a

UN Rejects Russian Attempt To Condemn US Aggression In Syria

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council overwhelmingly rejected a Russian resolution calling for condemnation of “aggression” by the United States, United Kingdom and France against Syria on Saturday, a vote reflecting support for the allied airstrikes on Syrian chemical sites.

But the vote at the end of an emergency meeting called by Russia also demonstrated again the paralysis of the U.N.’s most powerful body in dealing with Syria’s seven-year conflict.

Russia’s demand for condemnation and an immediate halt to “aggression” and “any further use of force” by the three Western allies got support from only two other countries on the 15-member Security Council — China and Bolivia.

By contrast, eight countries voted against the Russian draft — the U.S., U.K., France, Netherlands, Sweden, Kuwait, Poland and Ivory Coast. Four countries abstained — Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Equatorial Guinea and Peru.

At the meeting, the fifth in a week on chemical weapons in Syria, Russia and its supporters again clashed with the U.S. and its allies over a suspected poison gas attack on April 7 in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

The U.S., U.K. and France said they launched airstrikes against Syrian chemical sites after obtaining evidence that a chemical weapon was used by President Bashar Assad’s government. Russia ...MORE

https://inhomelandsecurity.com/un-r...-aggression-in-syria&utm_campaign=20180416IHS

Mediator seeks 'relaunch' of UN-led Syrian talks
18 April 2018 - A renewed United Nations-led diplomatic push is under way for a "meaningful relaunch" of intra-Syrian talks by the Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, his office has announced.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the veteran negotiator is said to be engaged in "high-level consultations […] with the aim of proactively ascertaining the options" for kick-starting the UN-facilitated political process as called for in Security Council resolution 2254 (2015).

Agreed by the 15-member body in 2015, that text calls for free and fair elections for all Syrians and a newly-drafted constitution, as the basis for a Syrian-led, Syrian owned process to end the conflict.

More than seven years of war there have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, displaced millions and levelled entire ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/...-unnews01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2269.ph0ao0037n.2385

UN launches global plan to strengthen protection of internally displaced persons
18 April 2018 - With multiple crises forcing millions of people away from their homes, United Nations agencies, Governments and partners have launched a set of measures to strengthen protection of internally displaced persons as well as find solutions to address their problems.

"Addressing the protection needs of the forcibly displaced and seeking solutions to their plight contribute to greater stability for countries and whole regions," said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in a news release announcing the three-year Plan of Action.

"The consequences of our failure to resolve internal displacement can be devastating," he stressed.

The framework, formally called the Plan of Action for Advancing Prevention, Protection and Solutions for Internally Displaced People (2018-2020), calls on all relevant actors to step up efforts to prevent, respond to and resolve internal ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/mili...-unnews01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2269.ph0ao0037n.238a

UN-EU conference raises $4.4 billion for war-ravaged Syria; leaders underscore need for political solution
25 April 2018 - International donors at a United Nations-European Union humanitarian conference pledged nearly $4.4 billion on Wednesday to fund critical aid programmes in war-torn Syria throughout 2018.

Gathered in the Belgian capital, Brussels, alongside top officials from over 85 countries and organizations, UN and EU leaders also stressed that the stalled UN-led Syrian political negotiations, known as the intra-Syrian talks, must be revived.

In a video message to the conference, which aimed to boost support for the future of Syria as well as the wider region, which is hosting millions of refugees, Secretary-General António Guterres said that negotiations are the only way forward.

"We see confrontations and proxy wars involving several national armies, a number of armed opposition groups, many national and international militia, terrorist groups, foreign fighters from everywhere in the world – all these creating a bleak panorama
of Syria today where there is no military solution to the crisis," he said

"The solution must be political."

The UN chief also stressed the importance of Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), which endorsed a road map for a peace process in Syria, and the 2012 Geneva Communiqué, which set out the principles for a political transition in the country. ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/...-unnews01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2275.ph0ao0037n.23em

'Gaza is about to explode,' UN envoy warns Security Council
26 April 2018 - The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is continuing with no prospects for a political resolution and "Gaza is about to explode," a senior United Nations official said Thursday, urging both sides to avoid further clashes along the enclave's border.

"Old wounds continue to bleed and deepen as we speak, risking the outbreak of another war," Nikolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council during an open debate on the crises affecting the region.

While his briefing covered the situations in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon, it was largely focused on the unfolding crisis along the Gaza fence, which is at the tiny enclave's border with Israel.

For the last four weeks, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have converged on the fence to protest the long-standing blockade of the enclave.

The so-called 'Great March of Return' demonstrations are expected to continue and culminate around 15 May, and could spread to the West Bank and beyond, Mr. Mladenov said. ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/mili...-unnews01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2276.ph0ao0037n.23gi

UN, Congo specialists deployed to tackle new Ebola epidemic
Emergency teams of specialists from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and United Nations agencies have been deployed to the African country to tackle the spread of a new wave of Ebola epidemic.

UN and Congolese authorities said Sunday that the deployment over the weekend came after reports suggested that more than 30 people had been infected by Ebola.

A total of 18 people have been killed since April 4 when first cases of Ebola were reported. Authorities officially confirmed last Tuesday there was an outbreak centered around the village of Ikoko Impenge, near the town
of Bikoro in the northwestern province of Equateur.

Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga, along with officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), traveled to Equateur on Saturday after reports of the latest infection case emerged from the area a day earlier.

Kalenga said then government and UN agencies would do their best to root out the new epidemic as soon as possible.

"We have to pool our efforts quickly and align ourselves with the government response plan to fight this new epidemic effectively," the minister said in a statement ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/secu...presstv01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2290.ph0ao0037n.23x3

Step up humanitarian support to 7.1 million people and invest in Sudan's development: UN relief chief
14 May 2018 - The United Nations humanitarian chief urged the international community to step up life-saving humanitarian support to 7.1 million vulnerable Sudanese on Monday, and invest more in the country's social-economic development.

"Millions of people face serious and growing humanitarian needs," said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, at the end of a three-day visit to Sudan, stressing the importance of unimpeded, sustained humanitarian access.

"Many have suffered for the past 15 years, but we cannot let them slide back into a situation where they become completely dependent on humanitarian assistance," he added, underlining the need to scale up longer-term development aid to help the country make itself more resilient.

During his mission, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs met Government officials, welcoming their efforts to improve humanitarian access to remote areas, including those controlled by non-State armed groups.

Mr. Lowcock also spoke with humanitarian partners and visited settlements for those internally-displaced in Murta and Kulba, in South Kordofan.

While unilateral ceasefires have improved security across Darfur, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile, recent skirmishes between armed groups in pockets of Darfur's Jebel Marra region have caused a wave of internal displacement, said the relief chief ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/mili...-unnews02.htm?_m=3n.002a.2291.ph0ao0037n.23ya

UN Atomic Agency: Iran Complying With 2015 Nuclear Pact

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday Iran is complying with restrictions on its nuclear program in accord with the 2015 international agreement. The inspectors' assessment is the first since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the pact.

The United Nations atomic watchdog said Tehran is staying within limits on the level to which it can enrich uranium, the size of its stock of enriched uranium and other strictures. But it chided Iran for limiting "complementary access" inspections.

The U.N. assessment came as the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran in an effort to force the Islamic Republic back to the bargaining table to negotiate new terms of the nuclear agreement, curb its ballistic missile tests, end its military advances in the Middle East.

The U.S. says in coming months, it will reimpose sanctions it and other countries dropped when Tehran agreed to restrain its nuclear program – measures that hobbled the Iranian economy. But the five other signatories to the Iran nuclear accord – Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia – all have said they continue to support the deal. ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/...524-voa02.htm?_m=3n.002a.2300.ph0ao0037n.2496

UN aid chief highlights 2 million Syrians in greatest need
29 May 2018 - Less than 20 per cent of the "desperate" civilians living in Syria's hard-to-reach areas have got the humanitarian aid they need so far this year, a senior United Nations official warned on Tuesday, calling for the Security Council to help ease their plight.

"Those two million people, in places like northern rural Homs, Douma and southern Damascus, are some of the most desperate in the country," Mark Lowcock, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said during his briefing to the 15-member body.

Only six inter-agency convoys have reached those areas since January, providing relief for 169,000 people, which is "less than 20 per cent of the people we would like to be reaching," he added.

Updating members on the situation in formerly rebel-held eastern Ghouta, Mr. Lowcock, who is also Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said he had released $16 million from the Syria Humanitarian Fund to support people in that area – now under government control.

The Damascus suburb was recaptured after years of siege in April, following an intense battle, and the Syrian government asked the UN to provide assistance to local people there.

During a recent visit to Saqba and Kafr Batna in eastern Ghouta, UN staff ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/...-unnews01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2304.ph0ao0037n.24dy

Myanmar targeted the educated in genocide, Rohingya refugees say
Members of Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya community say government forces have specifically targeted the minority group's religious figures and teachers in their crackdown in Rakhine state.

More than a dozen Rohingya teachers, elders and religious leaders from the Rohingya community, who fled to neighboring Bangladesh, recently told Associated Press that they were singled out and disproportionately targeted by security forces.
Soldiers targeted the educated, they said, so there would be no community leaders left willing to speak up against the pervasive abuse.

It's an old tactic, according to those who study genocide, and often a precursor to killing.

Mohammed Hashim hid in the hills and watched as his brother begged for his life, his arms bound behind his back as soldiers marched the 35-year-old teacher away. It was the last time he saw him

My brother apologized and pleaded with the military not to kill him; he showed them his ID card and said, 'I'm a teacher, I'm a teacher.' But the government had planned to kill our educated people, including my brother," said Hashim who, like some Rohingya, uses only one name. ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/myanmar/2018/myanmar-180605-presstv01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2309.ph0ao0037n.24k2

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UN agencies and Myanmar ink agreement, setting stage for Rohingya return
6 June 2018 - United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the understanding reached between UN agencies and Myanmar on creating conditions that would allow hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to voluntarily and safely return to their homes in the country's Rakhine province.

The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the Government of Myanmar, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), on Wednesday, concerns the UN system's support to creating conditions conducive to voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable refugee returns from Bangladesh, and their reintegration in the country.

"As these conditions are not yet in place, [the Secretary-General] welcomes the agreement by the Government of Myanmar to take this first step to address the root causes of the conflict in Rakhine," read a statement issued by the UN chief's spokesperson.

The Secretary-General also encouraged Myanmar to take "decisive steps to implement the agreement" and reiterated his call for an end to violence, accountability for perpetrators, redress for victims, humanitarian access to all areas in Rakhine state, and the implementation of the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/...-unnews01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2310.ph0ao0037n.24l4