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News from UNICEF, 2025-02-07, via ReliefWeb (link below)
CW: Child abuse, SV
Haiti’s Children Under Siege: The staggering rise of child abuse and recruitment by armed groups
This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF spokesperson James Elder – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
GENEVA, 7 February 2025 – “A staggering 1,000 per cent rise in sexual violence against children in Haiti has turned their bodies into battlegrounds. The 10-fold rise, recorded from 2023 to last year, comes as armed groups inflict unimaginable horrors on children.
"Almost equally staggering is how little coverage this gruesome statistic has received. And so, if numbers have lost meaning, perhaps the children living this horror will count.
"‘Roseline’ is 16. Late last year, she left her friend’s house to go to the shop and was abducted by armed men. She was placed in a van with other young girls and taken to a warehouse. There she was extensively beaten. She was then drugged and over the course of what she believes to be a month, she was relentlesslyremovedd. When the armed group realised Roseline had no one to pay her kidnapping ransom, she was released. She is currently in a UNICEF-supported safe house with more than a dozen other girls, all receiving care.
"Now, of course this is a press briefing and we know numbers do matter, so let me share a few more:
"Armed groups now control 85 per cent of Port-au-Prince. Let me repeat that. 85 per cent of the capital of Haiti is under the control of armed groups—an astounding case of insecurity in a capital city.
"Last year alone, child recruitment into armed groups surged by 70 per cent. Right now, up to half of all armed group members are children—some as young as eight years old.
"Many are taken by force. Others are manipulated or driven by extreme poverty. It’s a lethal cycle: Children are recruited into the groups that fuel their own suffering.
"And in Haiti, the suffering is immense. 1.2 million children live under the constant threat of armed violence.
"Essential services have collapsed. Hospitals are overwhelmed. More than half of Haiti’s health facilities lack the equipment and medication to treat children in emergencies.
"Playgrounds, schools, and homes have turned into battlegrounds, forcing many families to flee. More than 500,000 children have been displaced. An estimated 3 million will require urgent humanitarian assistance this year.
"And education? More than 300,000 children have seen their education disrupted due to recurrent population displacement and school closures.
"And as noted, sexual violence is rampant. The abhorrence of an attack on a child is obvious. A 10-fold increase is ruinous. The pain of course does not stop with the survivor—it ripples through families, shatters communities, and scars society as a whole.
"And yet: Haitians refuse to give up in the face of crisis. Take one example: UNICEF’s 135,000 U-reporters in the country. These young people embody the commitment of everyday Haitians, bringing their energy and dedication to help those who need it most.
"U-Report is a digital platform created by UNICEF to engage communities, especially youth, in social issues. And in Haiti, in one month in 2024 alone, U-reporters’ efforts led to the identification and referral of cases of malnutrition, under-vaccination, and essential support for pregnant women in displaced sites and host communities.
"Haiti’s progress starts with its children. With incredible partners, UNICEF has: created 32 mobile safe spaces to prevent and respond to gender based violence; deployed more than 380 health professionals across 105 institutions; distributed cash to almost 30,000 families; and treated more than 80,000 children for moderate and severe wasting.
“Programmes that meet children’s needs can disrupt cycles of violence and reduce the risk of them becoming perpetrators or victims. Despite this, UNICEF Haiti’s 2024 emergency funding appeal of US$221.4 million was 72% underfunded. This starkly contrasts with the urgent need for education, protection, and development opportunities to prevent children from being drawn into violence. Without these efforts, violence will continue to consume future generations.”
For this year’s observance of International Environment Day the United Nations is focusing on the plight of forests worldwide. In Haiti, there remains less than one percent tree cover. Most deforestation is caused by the local population’s need for land to farm, wood to build with, and charcoal to cook with. The result has left immense tracks of land bare to the elements, hastened massive soil erosion and increased land slides and flash flooding.
View of a deforested hilltop near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
©UN Photo/Logan Abassi, 2011-06-07
Children play on a water slide during UNRWA Summer Fun Weeks.
Thanks to a donation from the Government of Finland, over 150,000 children in Gaza are participating in Summer Fun Weeks 2013, a two-week summer programme organised by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The programme features activities designed to encourage creativity and a psychosocial well-being like football, kite flying, drawing, and traditional games.
©UN Photo/Shareef Sarhan, 2013-06-21
With the start of February, China is now the president of the Security Council.
A street scene in Wonsan City, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The photo was taken during Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos’ five-day mission in the country to assess food aid needs.
©UN Photo/David Ohana, 2011-10-20
Press release SG/SM/22531 from the Secretary-General, 2024-01-24.
Statement on the Secretary-Generals website, with Arabic translation.
Strongly Condemning Houthi De Facto Authorities’ Arbitrary Detention of United Nations Personnel in Yemen, Secretary-General Demands Their Immediate, Unconditional Release
The following statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres was issued today:
I strongly condemn the arbitrary detention by the Houthi de facto authorities on 23 January of seven additional United Nations personnel in areas under their control.
I demand the immediate and unconditional release of those detained on Thursday, as well as the personnel from the United Nations, international and national non-governmental organizations, civil society and diplomatic missions arbitrarily detained since June 2024 and those held since 2021 and 2023. Their continued arbitrary detention is unacceptable.
The personnel of the UN and its partners must not be targeted, arrested or detained while carrying out their duties for the UN for the benefit of the people they serve. The safety and security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed.
The continued targeting of UN personnel and its partners negatively impacts our ability to assist millions of people in need in Yemen. The Houthis must deliver on their previous commitments and act in the best interests of the Yemeni people and the overall efforts to achieve peace in Yemen.
The United Nations will continue to work through all possible channels to secure the safe and immediate release of those arbitrarily detained. I welcome the collective support of international partners, non-governmental organizations and all those working to support the people of Yemen in these efforts.
UN News, 2025-01-24, “World News in Brief: More UN staffers detained in Yemen, education hit by climate crisis, Nigeria aid plan”
Parts relevant to Yemen quoted
The UN has suspended all official movements by its teams into and out of Houthi-held areas of Yemen, after more UN staffers were detained on Thursday.
The de facto rulers of much of the country, including the capital Sana’a, released the crew of a merchant ship who had been held for more than a year, earlier this week.
The move raised hopes that more than 60 staff from the UN, international organizations and diplomatic missions already being held by the Houthis over the past year, might be released.
Friday’s safety measure announced by Julien Harneis, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, comes as the organization faces mounting security challenges in its operations in the region.
The Houthis and the internationally-recognized Government have been fighting for control of the country in what has become a wider regional proxy war, for over a decade.
Security measure
“Yesterday, the de facto authorities in Sana’a detained additional UN personnel working in areas under their control,” Mr. Harneis said.
“To ensure the security and safety of all its staff, the United Nations has suspended all official movements into and within areas under the de facto authorities’ control…this measure will remain in place until further notice.”
Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq elaborated on the response later on Friday, highlighting the UN’s ongoing efforts: “Our officials in Yemen are actively engaging with senior representatives of the de facto authorities, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all UN personnel and partners.”
The detentions mark a troubling escalation for humanitarian operations in Yemen, where access and security remain critical concerns.
The UN continues to emphasise the importance of upholding the safety and neutrality of its personnel to ensure lifesaving aid reaches those in need.
Meeting coverage SC/15972 from yesterdays 9843rd meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
Verbatim records to be issued as document S/PV.9843 | Web TV video recording.
Partial quote below, statements from the delegates have been omitted, see SC/15972 for full story.
Dialogue ‘Central Axis in Construction of Peace’ in Colombia, Special Representative Tells Security Council
Amid one of the deadliest waves of violence in Colombia since the signing of the 2016 Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace, speakers in the Security Council today underscored the urgency of implementing the accord’s security guarantees.
Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, said that the first days of 2025 have been marred by violence in the country. “I am deeply saddened by the actions that have bloodied the remote Catatumbo region of north-east Colombia since late last week, claiming dozens of lives,” he said. According to numerous reports, many of the victims were individually targeted and killed.
The bloodshed — the result of an attack by Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) in an area of presence of a rival armed group known as Estado Mayor de los Bloques y Frentes (EMBF) — is part of the ongoing confrontation between armed groups in various areas of the country with a limited State presence. The success of the Ministry of the Interior’s rapid response plan, aimed at accelerating the implementation of the 2016 peace agreement, will depend directly upon the availability of resources, he went on to say.
It is also critical to accelerate the implementation of the ethnic chapter of the Final Agreement, which focuses on the needs and protection of Colombia’s Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities. “The Bari and Yukpa are among the populations affected by the violence in Catatumbo,” he said. Moving forward, the gender provisions of the peace agreement will require adequate funding, proactive leadership and constant engagement with women’s organizations.
In the last six days alone, over 80 people have been killed in the Catatumbo region, 100 have been kidnapped and over 30,000 have been displaced, said Diego Tovar, Representative of the high contracting party to the Commission for the Follow-up, Promotion and Verification of the Implementation of the Final Agreement. He warned that the violence “threatens to spread to other regions”, with ethnic communities, women and children being among the most affected by the reconfiguration of the armed actors.
Also, he added, impunity continues to be extremely high for the assassination of former combatants, reaching 90 per cent. Some ex-combatants remain imprisoned after the signing of the Agreement and are waiting for the jurisdiction to generate prompt solutions to their cases. Eight years on, the reintegration process remains precarious. Its non-implementation and persistent violence led 80 per cent of former combatants to leave their territorial areas, he said, pointing to their “massive displacements” in 2023 and 2024.
Armando Wouriyu Valbuena, Secretary of the Special High-Level Body on Ethnic Peoples of Colombia, noted that ethnic peoples constitute 10 per cent of the Colombian population and occupy one third of national territory. “As such, we are environmental guardians for the rest of Colombians and the planet,” he stressed. He recalled that ethnic and Indigenous groups were the only stakeholders to conclude an agreement with the Colombian Government and the former Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común (FARC), leading to the Ethnic Chapter — a first in the history of peace agreements to have an ethnic perspective. However, after eight years of implementation, that Chapter continues to be the most neglected, despite being intended to solve underdevelopment for communities of African descent and Indigenous communities.
Substantive improvement in the pace of implementation requires that the instances provided for in the Agreement must be activated by the various stakeholders in peace. The committee on follow-up and implementation monitoring is an inactive body, he noted — but has the potential to bring together representatives of the Colombian State and peace agreement signatories of the now-extinct FARC. Calling on the Government “to include us in the 16 national sectoral plans for comprehensive rural reform and development plans”, he noted that in the Catatumbo area, “former combatants and my brothers from the Bayou people are victims of displacement, and others of confinement” — further requesting that the National Commission enact security guarantees.
UN News, 2025-01-22: “At Davos, Guterres slams backsliding on climate commitments”
This news is about the Secretary-Generals visit to the World Economic Forums annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. A full copy of his statements is available on the UNs website | Web TV video recording
full quote
Mr. Guterres was speaking at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, the exclusive event held high in the Swiss Alps where senior politicians, Heads of State and CEOs of some of the world’s biggest and most influential companies rub shoulders.
The UN Secretary-General took aim at the theme of this year’s meeting, Collaboration for the Intelligent Age, maintaining that there has been scant proof of either collaboration or intelligence and plenty of evidence that many of the world’s problems are worsening, from conflicts to inequality and assaults on human rights.
Nuclear war is no longer the only existential threat to humanity, he said, pointing to the climate crisis and the “ungoverned expansion” of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
‘Fossil fuel addiction’
Likening fossil fuel addiction to Frankenstein’s monster – “sparing nothing and no one” - the Secretary-General noted the irony that 13 of the world’s biggest ports for oil supertankers are set to be overwhelmed by rising sea levels, a consequence of rising temperatures and sea ice melt, caused overwhelmingly by burning coal, crude oil and natural gas.
A number of financial institutions and industries are backtracking on climate commitments, noted Mr. Guterres.
A move that is, he said “short-sighted, and paradoxically, it is selfish and also self-defeating. You are on the wrong side of history. You are on the wrong side of science. And you are on the wrong side of consumers who are looking for more sustainability, not less.”
Looking ahead to the UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Brazil at the end of the year, the UN chief reminded world leaders that they must keep their promise to produce new, economy-wide national climate action plans well before the event.
Developing countries need a “surge in finance" for climate action, he declared, urging not just governments but all businesses and financial institutions to create robust and accountable transition plans.
AI’s untold promise
The next existential threat, AI, is a double-edged sword, Mr. Guterres continued, as it is already revolutionizing learning, diagnosing illnesses, helping farmers to increase their yields and improving the targeting of aid.
But it comes with profound risks if it is left ungoverned: it can disrupt economies, undermine trust in institutions and deepen inequalities, the Secretary-General warned.
The Global Digital Compact – part of the Pact for the Future adopted by UN Member States last September – offers a “roadmap to harness the immense potential of digital technology and close digital divides” with a shared vision of AI serving humanity, not the other way around.
Despite the challenges, the UN will never halt its demand for peace grounded in the UN Charter, international law and the principles of sovereignty, political independence and the territorial integrity of States, he said.
Reforming institutions, from the global financial architecture to the UN Security Council, is, the UN chief asserted, a necessity because systems of governance are often ill-equipped to deal with today’s challenges. But achieving these essential changes – which world leaders committed to at last September’s Summit of the Future - will only be possible with political will, he said, cautioning: “I am not convinced leaders get it.”
The Secretary-General concluded his remarks with a return to the theme of this year’s Davos event, appealing to the global community to face these existential challenges head on and work as one.
Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, was at Davos: UN News story I saw. I did not read it (and thus not post it). As you say, it is a demon convention. But now that I have, it may be interesting.
News from the World Health Organization, 2025-01-20, via ReliefWeb.
Tanzania confirms outbreak of Marburg virus disease [partial quote]
Dodoma, 20 January 2025 – Tanzania today confirmed an outbreak of Marburg virus disease in the northwestern Kagera region after one case tested positive for the virus following investigations and laboratory analysis of suspected cases of the disease.
“Laboratory tests conducted in Kabaile Mobile Laboratory in Kagera and later confirmed in Dar es Salaam identified one patient as being infected with the Marburg virus. Fortunately, the remaining suspected patients tested negative,” the president said. “We have demonstrated in the past our ability to contain a similar outbreak and are determined to do the same this time around.”
A total of 25 suspected cases have been reported as of 20 January 2025, all of whom have tested negative and are currently under close follow-up, the president said. The cases have been reported in Biharamulo and Muleba districts in Kagera.
Marburg virus disease is highly virulent and causes haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly. Patients present with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. They may develop severe haemorrhagic symptoms within seven days.
Tanzania previously reported an outbreak of Marburg in March 2023 – the country’s first – in Kagera region, in which a total of nine cases (eight confirmed and one probable) and six deaths were reported, with a case fatality ratio of 67%.
In the African region, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
Marburg virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials. Although several promising candidate medical countermeasures are currently undergoing clinical trials, there is no licensed treatment or vaccine for effective management or prevention of Marburg virus disease. However, early access to treatment and supportive care – rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids – and treatment of specific symptoms, improve survival.