UN experts welcomed US President Barack Obama’s proposed measures to address what has been described as “consistent allegations of inappropriate policing practices” through trust-building initiatives between police forces and the communities they are assigned to protect.

Eric Garner, Michael Brown cases spark ‘legitimate concerns’ about US policing – UN experts. 5 December 2014 – Grand jury verdicts in the United States which resulted in the decisions to not bring to trial the cases of two unarmed African-American men killed by police forces have sparked “legitimate concerns” regarding policing practices across the country, a group of United Nations human rights experts said today. Michael Brown, an African-American teenager from Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, an African-American man from New York City, were both killed in separate incidents by white police officers after they had reportedly surrendered. Their deaths, and the grand jury decisions which followed them, have set off a wave of protests across the US against what many perceive to be a broader pattern of lethal police brutality directed at minorities, say the UN rights experts. It is clear that, at least among some sectors of the population, there is a deep and festering lack of confidence in the fairness of the justice and law enforcement systems. “There are numerous complaints stating that African-Americans are disproportionally affected by such practices of racial profiling and the use of disproportionate and often lethal force,” the UN Special Rapporteur on racism, Mutuma Ruteere, said in a news release. “African-Americans are 10 times more likely to be pulled over by police officers for minor traffic offences than white persons. Such practices must be eradicated.” The UN experts welcomed US President Barack Obama’s proposed measures to address what has been described as “consistent allegations of inappropriate policing practices” through trust-building initiatives between police forces and the communities they are assigned to protect. But, the experts cautioned, such measures should also “recognize the need for training and to ensure that minorities are recruited into the police in which they are under-represented.” “The Michael Brown and Eric Garner’s cases have added to our existing concerns over the longstanding prevalence of racial discrimination faced by African-Americans, particularly in relation to access to justice and discriminatory police practices,” added human rights expert Mireille Fanon Mendes France, who currently heads the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. “We urge a comprehensive examination of all laws that could have discriminatory impact on African-Americans to ensure that such laws are in full compliance with the country’s international legal obligations and relevant international standards.” The Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák, meanwhile, expressed concern over the grand jury decision to avoid a trial process which, she said, would have ensured that justice take its proper course, particularly in light of the apparent conflicting evidence that exists relating to both incidents. “The decisions leave many with legitimate concerns relating to a pattern of impunity when the victims of excessive use of force come from African-American or other minority communities,” Ms. Izsák explained. Demonstrations in opposition to the grand jury decision on Eric Garner’s death spilled into their second consecutive night last night as protestors fanned out across New York, targeting the city’s most well-known locations, including Brooklyn Bridge and the ferry terminal to Staten Island, where Mr. Garner Lived. While the New York protests have been largely peaceful, according to media reports, confrontations between demonstrators and police in Ferguson have led to eruptions of violence including looting and the burning of cars. Both the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, and the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, urged protestors and police to allow for peaceful demonstrations and refrain from fuelling further violence. The Rapporteurs’ concerns follow a statement made by the UN human rights chief last week in which he expressed deep concern about the “disproportionate number of young African-Americans who die in encounters with police officers, as well as the disproportionate number of African Americans in US prisons and the disproportionate number of African-Americans on Death Row.” “It is clear that, at least among some sectors of the population, there is a deep and festering lack of confidence in the fairness of the justice and law enforcement systems,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said.

UN experts urge Sweden to intensify fight against discrimination of people of African descent

8 December 2014 – The Government of Sweden must do more to end discrimination against people of African descent and increase integration as part of a wider effort in combatting racism and hate speech, a group of United Nations human rights experts urged today following their visit to the European nation. The appeal, launched by the Working Group of Experts of People of African Descent, comes amid a heightened prevalence of xenophobic and racist attitudes against migrants and refugee communities despite the Government’s best efforts to counter racial hate. “Afro-Swedes and Africans with whom we met expressed their experiences of multiple forms of discrimination based on their skin colour, race, religion and sex,” the Working Group declared in a press release. “Racial discrimination is also manifested in lack of equal access to justice, racial profiling and the failure to effectively investigate, prosecute and deter ‘Afrophobic’ hate crimes,” the experts continued. “We are concerned that this creates feelings of mistrust in law enforcement bodies among communities and discourages them from accessing help when they themselves are victims of crime or rights abuses.” The Working Group – which travelled to Sweden from 1-5 December, visiting the cities of Stockholm, Malmö, and Lund – commended the Government’s plan to develop a Human Rights Strategy as well as a policy to accord priority to addressing “Afrophobia” and awareness raising programmes on combating xenophobia and racism. At the same time, however, it voiced concerned about what they described as the “invisibility and lack of recognition of people of African descent as a specific vulnerable group in the country.” “For a country that has been perceived as having a long tradition of tolerance and openness, the relative silence around racism and racial discrimination is surprising and worrying,” the experts pointed out. The Working Group – headed by Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France – will present a final report containing its findings and recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2015. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49547#.VIc_rNLF9hg

DR Congo: UN envoy condemns massacre, urges immediate action to ‘eliminate terrorists’

8 December 2014 – The top United Nations official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today condemned last night’s massacres committed in North-Kivu “aimed at fuelling terror in the region” and called for immediate actions to eliminate these terrorists. “I am deeply shocked by the dreadful massacre committed last night in the localities of Ahili and Manzanzanba,” said Mr. Martin Kobler who heads the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO). “I firmly condemn such heinous acts which are aimed at fuelling terror in the region,” he added. Last night’s attack is the latest in a spate of civilian massacres plaguing the eastern region of the vast country. Some 100 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed on 20 November, bringing the number of victims to more than 200 since mid-October. Mr. Kobler, who is also the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the DRC, called for Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) and MONUSCO to join efforts to end the violence and bring the perpetrators to justice. “Joint actions are a matter of top priority, and I call on all the partners to enhance cooperation in order to facilitate immediate interventions and preventive patrolling,” he insisted. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49538#.VIc-qNLF9hg

Health workers on Ebola response frontlines get boost with donation of protective gear – UN

8 December 2014 – The first of 700,000 sets of protective gear intended for healthcare workers battling on the frontlines of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa arrived today from Japan and were handed over the United Nations, as the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said the crisis has left some 5 million children out of school. Declaring 2014 a “devastating year for children” including those posed by new significant new threats to children’s health and well-being, most notably the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, UNICEF reported today that the epidemic has orphaned thousands and left an estimated 5 million children out of school. The fight against Ebola received a boost today with the arrival of 20,000 sets of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from the Japan Disaster Relief Team. It is the first batch of 700,000 sets of such equipment committed by the Government of Japan to the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER). The equipment committed by the Government of Japan to UNMEER should help provide critical protection to healthcare workers in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali. At the official handover ceremony this morning in Accra, the head of the UN mission Anthony Banbury thanked Japan and stressed the need for contributions from partners around the world to keep up the fight. According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), it is most important to have protective equipment that protects the mouth, nose and eyes from contaminated droplets and fluids. Given that hands are known to transmit pathogens to other parts of the body, as well as to other individuals, gloves are essential, both to protect the health worker and to prevent transmission to others. Face cover, protective foot wear, gowns or coveralls, and head cover are also considered essential to prevent transmission to healthcare workers. Meanwhile, the peacekeeper from the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), who tested positive for the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) on 3 December, was evacuated from the United States-run Ebola Treatment Unit in Monrovia to the Netherlands on Saturday. UNMIL head Karin Landgren said that she was encouraged that the medical evacuation process was organized quickly and efficiently and that the patient, who was in stable condition, will receive the best possible treatment in a Dutch medical facility. WHO, in its latest statistics issued today, said the total number of cases in the worst-affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone rose to 17,800 with 6,331 deaths. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking at the 70th Anniversary session of the International Civil Aviation Organization Council (ICAO), commended the organization for “standing firmly” with the World Health Organization against general bans on travel and trade that block efforts to rush in medical responders and supplies. “When Ebola broke out, ICAO answered fear with facts,” the UN chief said. Mr. Ban also said ICAO advocated measures to make sure that suspected cases are managed safely in ways that stop Ebola from spreading. As part of the global Travel and Transport Force, ICAO is coordinating the international response to Ebola’s impact on travel, trade and tourism. UNMEER, meanwhile, reported that the National Coordinator of Guinea’s National Ebola Response Cell, on instructions from President Alpha Condé, dispatched a number of Cabinet ministers to the field to meet with local authorities and the population in featuring community resistance. “The ministers were instructed to sensitize and inform the population about the government’s response strategy, reinforce the authority of the prefectural Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) response coordinators, and ensure the swifter deployment of comités de veille (community watch committees), which President Condé has criticized as progressing too slowly,” UNMEER reported. WHO had informed that Ebola contact tracing efforts had to be suspended in two locations due to local community resistance, including alleged death threats against Ebola response workers. Meanwhile, in Mali, some 20 UN peacekeepers who had been placed under quarantine after they were potentially exposed to the Ebola virus more than three weeks ago have been released, UNMEER reported. The soldiers were being treated at a clinic in the capital, Bamako, for injuries sustained while serving in the UN mission in Mali, when a nurse working at the facility died of Ebola. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49543#.VIc-MtLF9hg

Syria: UN envoy travels to Turkey for talks on ‘freeze’ of conflict in Aleppo

8 December 2014 – The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura has met officials in Turkey as part of regional consultations related to bringing an end to the nearly four-year Syria crisis. In Istanbul, Mr. de Mistura met yesterday with a delegation of the Syria National Coalition, headed by Hadi Al-Bahra, the president of the Coalition. According to a UN spokesperson, the two exchanged views on his proposal to “freeze” the conflict in Aleppo and on ways to make that plan operational on the ground. The Special Envoy’s plan, first presented to the UN Security Council on 30 October, would initially seek to halt the fighting and create an environment whereby humanitarian aid could reach the beleaguered population in Aleppo. It would also provide visible proof that the on-the-ground narrative can be shifted from a military one to a political one. Mr. de Mistura met separately with the Under Secretary at the Turkish Foreign Ministry and today he travels to Gaziantep, in southern Turkey, to discuss his plan with key rebel groups from Aleppo. The conflict in Syria, which began in March 2011, has led to well over 150,000 deaths, and more than 680,000 people have been injured. At least 10.8 million people are in need of assistance inside Syria, including at least 6.5 million who are internally displaced. The violence has also spawned a refugee crisis flooding neighbouring countries with some 2.5 million people. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49541#.VIc9ANLF9hg

Libya: UN envoy in “intense consultations” to end political crisis, manage transition

8 December 2014 – Ahead of dialogue due to begin tomorrow that is aimed at peacefully resolving the current political crisis in Libya, the top United Nations official in the country, Bernardino Leon, met with Libyan parties. According to the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Mr. Leon met with Nouri Abu Sahmein in the framework of “intense consultations” being held by the Mission to create an environment conducive to the proposed Libya-owned dialogue, which aim to explore ways to identify and agree on mechanisms for the monitoring and implementation of a ceasefire. The dialogue’s primary objective will be to reach agreement on the management of the remainder of the transitional period, until such time that a new permanent constitution is adopted. In particular, discussions will focus on finding consensual solutions to the on-going institutional crisis in the country. “Decisions should be taken by the Libyans after a wide debate, for which the new dialogue session will only be a first gathering. A process should start and the participants in this dialogue should have the opportunity to consult further with their constituencies before decisions are taken,” an UNSMIL statement said. “It is envisaged that these proposals can form the basis for further discussions and consultations outside the immediate framework of the proposed dialogue, and if deemed acceptable to the relevant constituencies, form the basis of a comprehensive political agreement,” the statement continued. UNSMIL has undertaken intense consultations with all major stakeholders to create an atmosphere conducive to agreement and the aim is for the dialogue to provide a forum for the country’s political parties and tribal forces, as well as leaders of armed groups, to discuss consensus solutions to the violence. Throughout those consultations, UNSMIL has stressed the fact that its role will be limited to facilitation of the proposed dialogue and to ensuring a positive and constructive environment in order to reach consensus as early as possible. “UNSMIL’s facilitation of the proposed dialogue is undertaken on the firm understanding that the dialogue process itself and its outcomes will remain Libyan-owned, and will in no way prejudice the Mission’s own absolute commitment to Libya’s sovereignty and independence,” the Mission’s statement read, refuting media allegations about “purported leaked documents or agreements relating to the outcomes of the proposed dialogue.” The Mission also stressed that no conditions would be attached to the dialogue, and that the talks remain the most viable and effective means of addressing with a view to ending the deepening political polarization and raging military hostilities. A spirit of compromise and consensus will be key to ensuring a successful dialogue that lays the ground for a stable and secure Libya. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49546#.VIc6W9LF9hg

UNISDR believes that the Philippine government has done an excellent job of putting into action the lessons learned from Typhoon Haiyan,” declared UNISDR head, Margareta Wahlström

Philippines: as typhoon Hagupit weakens, UN steps into action with emergency response/ As a weakened Typhoon Hagupit continues to sweep across the Philippines, United Nations agencies are quickly responding to the needs of the local population by providing critical life-saving supplies, the Organization announced today as it also applauded the Filipino Government for its swift and efficient first-response efforts which, it said, had saved many lives. Hagupit made landfall over the weekend battering the Philippines’ Dolores municipality with high winds and lashing rains, resurrecting fears of a repeat of the devastation caused by last year’s Typhoon Haiyan. As the weekend progressed, however, the slow-moving typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm amid moderate to heavy rains, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its latest situation report. Nonetheless, OCHA added, an estimated 1 million people remained in 687 evacuation centres throughout the country. Lotta Sylwander, the Philippines Representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), cautioned that despite its downgraded status the storm continued to pose “a serious threat” as tens of thousands of children and their mothers remained in “urgent need of emergency aid.” “The Government’s swift evacuation response has saved many from injury and even death,” Ms. Sylwander said in a press release, “but there are still almost a million people – many still recovering from Haiyan – who have been driven from their homes.” “These people have made enormous progress in rebuilding their lives over the last 12 months, and they need our help to make sure these hard-won gains are not washed away by this new disaster.” UNICEF’s Tacloban office, established after Super Typhoon Haiyan struck the archipelagic nation in November 2013, activated its emergency response plan last week with 54 staff remaining on standby to deploy to affected areas. Among the most pressing threats to children’s health, the UN agency explained, were poor sanitation and unclean water meaning that a restoration of existing water sources is considered a “top priority in the critical days after the storm.” The agency added that it had strategically prepositioned supplies in warehouses in Tacloban, Manila and Cotabato, including water kits, hygiene kits, water pumps, generators, water storage and treatment facilities as well as nutritional therapeutic food items to combat malnutrition, oral rehydration salts and tarpaulins power for at least 12,000 families. Although the full extent of the damage continues to remain unclear in certain provinces due to poor communication, the number of reported casualties appears to be relatively low with media sources citing 21 deaths compared to the more than 6,000 killed by Typhoon Haiyan. In a press release, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) lauded the steps taken by authorities to reduce fatalities caused by the storm, adding that all arms of the Filipino Government had “pulled together to save lives and minimize the damage being inflicted by this disaster event.” “UNISDR believes that the Philippines government has done an excellent job of putting into action the lessons learned from Typhoon Haiyan,” declared UNISDR head, Margareta Wahlström. “We have been telling this story since the Indian Ocean tsunami ten years ago that nations and communities have the power to reduce their losses if they are well-organized, understand the nature of risk and develop the capacity to deliver early warnings and evacuate groups at risk ahead of the disaster event.” http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49536#.VIc3uNLF9hg