TWO KILLED AS KENYAN POLICE TRY TO QUELL RIOT IN OVERCROWDED REFUGEE CAMP – UN

TWO KILLED AS KENYAN POLICE TRY TO QUELL RIOT IN OVERCROWDED REFUGEE CAMP – UN
New York, Jul 1 2011 1:10PM
Two refugees were killed when Kenyan police tried to quell a riot that broke out in a part of the world's biggest refugee camp where the number of mostly Somali residents has swelled to more than 370,000, spawning overcrowding problems, the United Nations <"http://www.unhcr.org/4e0ddb866.html">reported today.

The unrest erupted yesterday when residents of Dagahaley refugee camp, one of the three that comprise the Dadaab complex of camps in Kenya's North-eastern province, gathered to protest an attempt to demolish illegal structures around a food distribution point, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Adrian Edwards, <"http://www.unhcr.org/4e0da1499.html">told reporters in Geneva.

Police initially used tear gas in an effort to disperse the crowd but reportedly resorted to live ammunition later, killing the two refugees and wounding about a dozen others.

"Sadly, this incident is symptomatic of the pressures at the camp amid overcrowding compounded by the very high number of arrivals we have been seeing recently from Somalia," said Mr. Edwards.

More than 61,000 Somalis fleeing violence and severe drought in Somalia have sought safety and succour in Kenya since the beginning of the year.

"As of 6 June, we had opened three emergency centres in Dadaab, [and] since then a further 27,000 people have approached the reception centres at these sites," said Mr. Edwards, adding that the total number of refugees in Dadaab surpassed 370,000 last week.

Somali refugees have also been moving into Ethiopia, with 55,000 have arrived since the start of the year. Twenty-six per cent of the newly arrived people are malnourished, with the malnutrition rate among children estimated at three in five. UNHCR has introduced a blanket feeding programme for young children and additional funding is required to keep the nutrition programmes going.

The two established refugee camps in Ethiopia's south-east – Bokolmanyo and Malkadida – which were opened in April 2009 and February last year respectively, accommodate more than 70,000 refugees and have reached their full capacity. A new camp was opened last Friday at Kobe and 7,500 Somalis had been transported to the site by yesterday, according to Mr. Edwards. Ethiopia hosts a total of 130,000 Somali refugees.

Kenya is itself facing a humanitarian crisis as a result of the severe drought ravaging large swathes of the Horn of Africa. In drought-affected areas, monthly hospital admissions for severe malnutrition are 78 per cent higher than last year, Marixie Mercado, a spokesperson for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), told reporters in Geneva.

In Turkana district in the northwest, acute malnutrition rates are the highest ever recorded in the area, at 37.4 per cent.

Mr. Edwards cited aid agencies inside Somalia as saying they remain concerned about landmines and other security threats which are making access extremely dangerous.

"We are also receiving reports that people displaced by drought, lack of food and insecurity in the Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions [of Somalia] are arriving in Mogadishu in search of food and other humanitarian assistance," he added.

Humanitarian conditions in Somalia, particularly the southern region, are at their worst in a decade. A total of 2.85 million people, or one in three Somalis, are said to be experiencing food crisis and in need of other forms of assistance, including water, sanitation and health care, according to Ms. Mercado.

UNHCR has also distributed shelter materials, blankets, mattresses, basic household goods and hygiene items, to people displaced by fighting in the Belet Hawo area in Gedo region.

In total, there are more than 750,000 Somali refugees in countries in the wider region, mostly in neighbouring Kenya (which hosts 405,000), Yemen (187,000) and Ethiopia (130,000). Another 1.46 million people are displaced within Somalia.
Jul 1 2011 1:10PM
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UNESCO DEPLORES KILLINGS OF JOURNALISTS IN DR CONGO, IRAQ AND MEXICO

UNESCO DEPLORES KILLINGS OF JOURNALISTS IN DR CONGO, IRAQ AND MEXICO
New York, Jul 1 2011 1:10PM
The United Nations agency tasked with defending and promoting press freedom today voiced outrage at the recent killings of journalists working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iraq and Mexico.

Witness-Patchelly Kambale Musonia, who hosted a news show on Radio Lubero Sud, was shot dead on 22 June near his home in Kirumba in North Kivu province on the DRC.

His killers remain unidentified, but Mr. Kambale Musonia – the sixth journalist to be killed in the DRC's troubled east since 2007 – had recently reported on the activities of gangs of armed bandits in Kirumba, according to a <"http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/unesco_director_general_condemns_killing_of_congolese_journalist_witness_patchelly_kambale_musonia/">statement from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The agency's Director-General Irina Bokova condemned the murder and urged Congolese authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"Such crimes affect society's ability to enjoy the basic human right of freedom of expression," she said. "The death of a journalist in violent circumstances is an attempt to silence the all-important voice of the press."

Ms. Bokova also <"http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/unesco_director_general_deplores_death_of_iraqi_cameraman_alwan_al_ghorabi/">deplored the death on 21 June of cameraman Alwan al-Ghorabi, who died in a car bomb explosion in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniyya, becoming the fourth journalist to be killed in that country this year.

Mr. al-Ghorabi, who worked for the Afaq satellite television channel, was reportedly with several other journalists at the entrance of a Government building when the bomb exploded.

Ms. Bokova said this latest death is a reminder of how precarious the security situation still is in Iraq.

"Media professionals, working to keep citizens informed, are particularly exposed," she noted.

In addition, the Director-General has hit out at the death of a Mexican newspaper columnist, Miguel Angel Lopez Velasco, who was murdered – along with his wife and 21-year-old son – by unknown assailants at their home in the eastern city of Veracruz on 20 June.

The deputy director of <i>Notiver</i>, a daily newspaper, Mr. Lopez Velasco wrote a regular column about security, drug trafficking and corruption. He is the 13th journalist to have been slain in Mexico since last year.

"Such barbaric attempts to silence the media – and, by extension, the voices of citizens and communities – must be firmly condemned and punished," Ms. Bokova <"http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/unesco_director_general_condemns_murder_of_mexican_journalist_miguel_angel_lopez_velasco/">said.

"We must stand clearly alongside those courageous journalists who, at great risk to themselves and those close to them, are working to keep citizens informed about the forces and events influencing their society."

UNESCO, which began work in 1946, has a specific mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom.
Jul 1 2011 1:10PM
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ASIA-PACIFIC STATES AGREE AT UN MEETING TO COOPERATE ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

ASIA-PACIFIC STATES AGREE AT UN MEETING TO COOPERATE ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
New York, Jul 1 2011 1:10PM
Ministers and senior government officials from 31 countries, meeting at a United Nations-supported conference in Bangkok, have agreed to work more closely together on disaster risk reduction and make it central to national development strategies, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) reported today.

The participants at a session of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction, a subsidiary of ESCAP, "have asked the UN to help promote regional cooperation to minimize the adverse socio-economic and environmental impact of disasters," the agency said in a press statement.

"Reliable and quality data are crucial for effective disaster preparedness and Asia-Pacific countries have asked ESCAP to support national capacity building in the collection and analysis of disaster data for better disaster preparedness and vulnerability assessments, and to provide training on disaster assessment methodologies," ESCAP said.

Asia-Pacific countries which are most vulnerable to nature's fury have also agreed to speed up implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015, which calls for making disaster risk reduction a national development priority, ESCAP said.

Recurring and increasingly severe natural disasters striking the Asia-Pacific region have become a serious obstacle to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and slowed down the pace of economic development in the region.

ESCAP, with the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and other regional partners, have been requested to build regional knowledge through the publication of the Asia-Pacific Disaster Report and the development of the web-based Asia-Pacific gateway for disaster risk reduction and development, the agency said.
Jul 1 2011 1:10PM
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YEMEN: UN FACT-FINDING MISSION GAINING FULL ACCESS TO PROTESTERS, OPPOSITION FIGURES

YEMEN: UN FACT-FINDING MISSION GAINING FULL ACCESS TO PROTESTERS, OPPOSITION FIGURES
New York, Jul 1 2011 12:10PM
The United Nations human rights mission to Yemen is gaining access to protesters and opposition leaders, has the cooperation of the Government and is generally "going well," the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported today.

"The OHCHR mission to Yemen is going well so far with cooperation from the Government, which has allowed our team full access," Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for the office, <"http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11199&LangID=E">told a news briefing in Geneva.

The team of three experts flew to Yemen on Monday and is expected to return on 6 July.

"The team met the Vice-President in Sana'a [the capital] as well as opposition leaders, NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and protesters in Sana'a and Taiz. They have conducted interviews, collected documents and visited the two key protest locations in Sana'a where anti-Government and pro-Government protesters have been gathering," Mr. Colville said.

"The Government informed our team about the process they are undertaking to restart political dialogue," he said.

The group visited two hospitals that were looted amid violence in late May, and are due to visit prisons and speak to internally displaced persons (IDPs), he said.

Yemen is one of many countries across North Africa and the Middle East where members of the public have held large-scale protests this year calling for greater democracy and freedoms.

Jul 1 2011 12:10PM
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UN SPEAKS OUT AGAINST PENDING EXECUTION OF MEXICAN NATIONAL IN UNITED STATES

UN SPEAKS OUT AGAINST PENDING EXECUTION OF MEXICAN NATIONAL IN UNITED STATES
New York, Jul 1 2011 11:10AM
The top United Nations human rights official has appealed to a state governor in the United States to commute the death sentence of a Mexican national scheduled to be executed for murder next week, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported today.

The plea from Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is also supported by two UN rights experts who have urged the US Government to stop the execution for the same reason: the convicted murderer was not granted access to a Mexican consular official at the time of his arrest.

Ms. Pillay wrote directly to Texas Governor Rick Perry asking him to order a life sentence for Humberto Leal Garcia, who was condemned to death for the 1994 murder of a 16-year-old girl, according to Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for OHCHR.

"Over and above the normal UN position opposing the death penalty, this case raises particular concerns, as Mr. Leal Garcia was not granted consular access, which, as a foreign national, is his right under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations," Mr. Colville <"http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11198&LangID=E">said.

"The lack of consular assistance and advice raises concerns about whether or not Mr. Leal Garcia's right to a fair trial was fully upheld," he said.

"We understand that Mr. Leal Garcia is due to be executed next Thursday, 7 July, but that the Governor of Texas has the power to commute the sentence to life imprisonment. The High Commissioner has written to him directly requesting him to do so."

The spokesperson said that the case also "raises questions" regarding compliance with a 2004 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that the US breached its obligations under an international convention to 51 Mexicans on death row in US jails when it did not inform them of their right to contact their consular representatives "without delay" after their arrests.

In that judgment the ICJ ruled that, as a remedy for the violations of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the US must provide "review and reconsideration" of Mr. Leal Garcia's conviction and sentence, Mr. Colville said.

Meanwhile, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Méndez, called on the US Government to cancel the execution.

"If the scheduled execution of Mr. Leal García goes ahead, the United States Government will have implemented a death penalty after a trial that did not comply with due process rights," Mr. Heyns said. "This will be tantamount to an arbitrary deprivation of life."

"Conditions in death row during those 17 years are such that they amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment according to well-established standards in international law," Mr. Méndez said.

Mr. Heyns and Mr. Méndez are independent, non-paid specialist reporting to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Jul 1 2011 11:10AM
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UN TEAM CONFIRMS MASS RAPES OCCURRED IN REMOTE VILLAGES IN EASTERN DR CONGO

UN TEAM CONFIRMS MASS RAPES OCCURRED IN REMOTE VILLAGES IN EASTERN DR CONGO
New York, Jul 1 2011 11:10AM
A joint United Nations assessment mission has confirmed that Government troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) committed mass rape and acts of pillaging in several remote villages in the country's east last month.

Residents of Nyakiele in the province of South Kivu told UN staff that troops serving with the Congolese armed forces, known as the FARDC, raped at least 121 women and subjected villagers to cruel and degrading treatment during the attacks, which took place around 11 June.

The troops – who attacked at least one other village in the area, which is covered in thick forest – also stole the equivalent of about $90,000 in cash and gold, as well as 157 goats, and forced some of the villagers to transport the looted goods for them.

An assessment team comprising UN human rights and humanitarian officials, as well as provincial authorities and a staff from a non-governmental organization (NGO), travelled to Nyakiele after reports emerged of the attacks.

Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), <"http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11199&LangID=E">told reporters today in Geneva that more in-depth investigations will now take place to further verify the details and identify the perpetrators.

He voiced outrage at the attacks, echoing the recent remarks of the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallström.

Jul 1 2011 11:10AM
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