UN News Centre

Five United Nations human rights experts have condemned Ecuador for suppressing civil society following a Government order to close a non-governmental organization (NGO) that supports environmental and indigenous rights.

In December, the United Nations food aid agency has delivered food or cash to more than a million people in conflict-affected zones in northeast Nigeria, meaning that over half of those in need of urgent humanitarian assistance have now been reached.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called Adam Barrow, the President-elect of Gambia, to congratulate him on his electoral victory and to reiterate the commitment of the United Nations to support a peaceful, timely, and orderly transfer of power.

The United Nations relief wing today voiced deep concern at the resurgence of attacks against humanitarian workers in crisis-gripped Central African Republic (CAR).

Jan Eliasson took up the job of Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations in July 2012, and while the post has been challenging, it has not proved daunting for the Swedish national – a veteran of international affairs, with decades of diplomatic experience in world capitals and conflicts.

A recently completed United Nations study indicates that during 2016, Israeli authorities demolished or seized 1,089 Palestinian-owned structures throughout the West Bank – including East Jerusalem – thus displacing 1,593 Palestinians and impacting the livelihoods of another 7,101.

The United Nations envoy for Syria has welcomed the announcement of a nationwide ceasefire between the Government and armed opposition groups that would come into effect at midnight tonight.

Two United Nations human rights experts welcomed a decision by the United States to dismantle a national registry program targeting people visiting from countries that are home to active terrorist groups, a program that the experts labelled “discriminatory and ineffective.”

Following are brief summaries of some of today’s news stories from around the UN system. Click on the links provided for more detailed coverage.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the killing of a peacekeeper from South Africa deployed with the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in North Kivu earlier today.

Amid growing tensions and increasing despair among South Sudan’s population, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today warned that the international community’s failure to act now could put the country on a trajectory towards mass atrocities.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today commended decisions by a bloc of West African countries to take all necessary actions to enforce the outcome of the presidential election in Gambia, guarantee the protection of President-elect Adama Barrow, and attend the new leader’s inauguration ceremony on 19 January 2017.

Strongly condemning the assassination today of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov in Ankara, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations Security Council emphasized that there is no justification for targeting diplomatic personnel and civilians.

Following an official visit to the United States, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons is calling for improvements to legislation and additional resources to combat cases of forced labour and labour exploitation.

Countries attending the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Mexico reached agreements on actions to integrate biodiversity in forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and tourism sectors and to achieve the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

The United Nations envoy for Afghanistan today called on the Taliban to participate in peace talks with the national Government, stressing that the conflict in the country has no military solution and the only path to a meaningful peace is through intra-Afghan dialogue.

The United Nations and the State of Palestine today jointly launched an appeal seeking $547 million in funding for 2017 to support the humanitarian needs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Raising alarm over “double standards” applied by the authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – allowing pro-government youths to conduct public political activities while repressing dissenting voices – a group of United Nations rights experts today called on the Government to end the “targeted repression” and to guarantee conditions that allow fundamental rights and freedoms to be exercised peacefully.

Following a major measles outbreak in Somalia, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners supported a swift delivery of 55,000 doses of measles vaccine to Kismayo along with Vitamin A supplementation to boost the immunity of the some 54,000 children under the age of 10 that are expected to be vaccinated.

Alarmed at the &#8220devastating&#8221 humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, where perhaps thousands of civilians remain trapped, the Security Council today requested the United Nations and other relevant institutions to carry out &#8220adequate, neutral monitoring and direct observation on evacuations from the eastern districts&#8221 of the war-battered city.