Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG , UNITED NATIONS
Soldiers in Burkina Faso ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré yesterday, Monday 24 January, dissolving the government and suspending the country’s constitution. UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet “deplores the military takeover and calls for immediate release of President Kaboré, elected in peaceful election in 2020,” her spokesperson said a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
“We call on the military to immediately release the President and other high-level officials who have been detained,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The ousting of President Kaboré was made on state television by an army officer, who blamed the deteriorating security situation for the military takeover. “We urge a swift return to constitutional order,” Ms. Shamdasani added.
This latest coup in West Africa comes amid a “multifaceted crisis”, according to OHCHR – a crisis that ranges from “climate change that affects the ability of herders and pastoralists to carry out their daily work and conflicts erupt as a result of it, to violent extremist groups attacks on local population, as well as the deteriorating humanitarian situation”.
OHCHR estimates that three million people are food insecure in the country. Those factors “generate a lot of frustration” among the population, Ms. Shamdasani said, adding that the High Commissioner believes that “the way to manage this frustration and to find a way out of this conflict is through dialogue, through the meaningful participation of people from all sectors of the society. The military coup is certainly not the solution”.
The High Commissioner view echoed the statement by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres yesterday, in which he condemned “any attempt to take over a government by the force of arms.”
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
A UN report on the Democratic Republic of Congo raises specter of war crimes and crimes against humanity in North and South Kivu, according to UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO
As billions of people continue to breathe polluted air that causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths every year, UN climate experts on Friday highlighted how damaging microscopic smoke particles from wildfires play their part, travelling half-way across the world.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence made the following comment on the on-going presidential election process in Cameroon at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN Human Rights Office released a new report on Myanmar, describing death, destruction and desperation which reflect atrocities committed in 2017.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , IFRC , UNHCR
Afghanistan: Humanitarians scramble to reach survivors of deadly quake; response at ‘breaking point’
In remote eastern Afghanistan, aid workers are racing to assist survivors of Sunday’s devastating earthquake as the death toll continues to climb, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, repeated his urgent call for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, amid increased military Israeli activity in the enclave’s largest city.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Amid reports of increased Israeli military operations across Gaza City on Friday, UN aid agencies repeated urgent warnings of ongoing famine and a likely rise in preventable disease, linked to the dire living conditions in the war-shattered enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN calls for Iran to halt executions and move towards ending the death penalty.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following comment on the killing of journalists in Gaza at the bi-weekly press briefing.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN Human Rights Office on Tuesday called on Egyptian authorities to end the practice known as “rotation”, which allows Government critics to be held arbitrarily and for prolonged periods.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on deadly attacks by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNITED NATIONS , WFP , WHO
Gaza: Famine “irrefutably” confirmed, UN humanitarians unite in plea for aid access
Famine has been confirmed in Gaza Governorate by the world’s top authority on food security and will spread further within the Strip unless fighting stops and much more aid is allowed in, UN humanitarians said on Friday.