NewzIntel.com

Category: Politics

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Venezuela: UN rights office describes pervasive ‘climate of fear’

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Human Rights

    The UN human rights office, OHCHR, reiterated deep concerns on Tuesday over the continuing “climate of fear” in Venezuela, after an arrest warrant was issued for the opposition’s presidential candidate in the country’s recent election.

    “It is a climate of fear in the country at the moment. We are urging the government to ensure that all steps are taken in line with international human rights law with transparency and that steps are taken to resolve this dispute peacefully,” OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva.

    The alert is just the latest of many warnings from the UN, top independent rights experts and independent investigators appointed by the Human Rights Council over the violent repression of dissenting voices in the South American country.

    “People are being detained for expressing their right to political participation, for their freedom of expression, for freedom of assembly,” Ms. Shamdasani said, a day after the authorities called for the detention of Edmundo Gonzalez.

    His campaign proved unsuccessful against President Nicolas Maduro who was announced the winner of the July election, a result contested by opposition supporters who have questioned the absence of voting numbers to back up the victory from official electoral authorities.

    Polling result query

    According to news reports, Mr. Gonzalez’s arrest followed publication by his camp of granular polling data indicating that he had won the election easily. He stands accused of numerous crimes including falsifying documents.

    Although the UN human rights office does not have a presence in Venezuela, Ms. Shamdasani noted that OHCHR still has had “contact” and “engagement” with the authorities in Caracas, amid street protests and online criticism following the election result, which returned Mr. Maduro to power.

    “We still put our concerns to them; we are continuing to urge…all parties to resolve all electoral disputes by peaceful means and there needs to be a climate where there is a full protection of the human rights of all individuals regardless of their political affiliation,” Ms. Shamdasani insisted.

    State-sponsored violence

    According to the Human Rights Council-appointed Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, the election protests were met with “fierce repression by the State, as directed by its highest authorities, inducing a climate of widespread fear. The Mission has recorded 23 deaths, the vast majority caused by gunfire, between 28 July and 8 August in the context of the protests. In 18 of these cases, the victims were men under the age of 30.”

    Echoing those concerns last month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, noted that more 2,400 people have been arrested in Venezuela since 29 July, following the Presidential elections.

    “It is especially troubling that so many people are being detained, accused or charged either with incitement to hatred or under counterterrorism legislation. Criminal law must never be used to limit unduly the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association,” the High Commissioner said. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Today’s challenges are ‘opportunities for transformation’, Somali leader tells UN

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    UN Affairs

    In his address to the UN General Assembly’s annual debate, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre of Somalia highlighted the multitude of challenges facing the world today, including transnational conflicts, humanitarian crises, and the existential threat of climate change. 

    Underscoring the theme of this year’s Assembly session, he said that these challenges come with “an opportunity for transformation” that can only be realized through “closer cooperation, collective resolve, and an unwavering commitment to the principles of humanity and multilateralism.”  

    The Prime Minister addressed the urgency of escalating global conflicts, notably the humanitarian crises in Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine. Denouncing the violence in Sudan, where ongoing conflict has displaced millions and led to severe food insecurity, he urged a cessation of hostilities and the protection of civilians, emphasizing the need for humanitarian access and inclusive dialogue.  

    Turning to Gaza, Mr. Barre said, “The ongoing conflict has not only destroyed the physical infrastructure of Gaza but has also crushed the hopes of an entire generation,” and called for an unconditional ceasefire and the lifting of the inhumane blockade, advocating for a political process that respects the rights of the Palestinian people.  

    He also addressed the ongoing war in Ukraine, again calling for a ceasefire and adherence to international humanitarian law. He stressed the importance of dialogue to achieve a lasting political settlement and prevent further escalation.  

    The Prime Minister noted that while global conflicts demand attention, regional threats should not be overlooked, particularly highlighting the threats posed by Ethiopia’s recent actions, which he described as violations of Somalia’s territorial integrity. He condemned Ethiopia’s attempts to annex parts of Somalia and called for international support to uphold Somalia’s sovereignty.  

    He went on to emphasize the critical need for sustainable funding for peacekeeping, particularly in Somalia, where African Union forces have played a vital role in combating terrorism. He urged the international community to support innovative funding solutions to ensure the success of these missions.  

    Climate change was another focal point of Mr. Barre’s address. He highlighted the severe impacts of climate change on Somalia, including droughts and floods. He noted, “For many developing countries, the reality is that the complex bureaucracy, rigid criteria, and lack of necessary resources often stand in the way of receiving the help they so desperately need” and called for simplified access to international funds to help vulnerable nations build resilience.  

    Mr. Barre also advocated for reforming the UN Security Council to better reflect today’s geopolitical realities, supporting the ‘Ezulwini Consensus’ for a more inclusive Council. He also called for reforms in international financial institutions to create a more equitable global economy, emphasizing the need for accountability and transparency.  

    Highlighting Somalia’s progress, PM Barre celebrated recent milestones, including the completion of debt relief and accession to the East African Community, and emphasized Somalia’s potential for economic growth and development, citing natural resources and a strategic location for trade.  

    Click here for the full statement.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Venezuela: Rights probe points to ‘unprecedented’ repression

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    By Daniel Johnson

    Human Rights

    Violence used against opponents of the Venezuelan authorities has reached unprecedented levels, a top independent human rights probe alleged on Tuesday, citing arrests, sexual abuse and torture as just some of the methods used by the Government of President Nicolas Maduro to stay in power.

    In a new report, the Human Rights Council-mandated investigators described how security forces had raided dozens of homes of suspected critics of the Government “just using social media videos as the only evidence to arrest people”.

    Violence and threats

    Victims’ testimonies gathered either side of the disputed Presidential election on 28 July which returned Mr. Maduro to office for the third time pointed to “one of the most acute human rights crises in recent history”, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela further maintained.

    Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Marta Valiñas, Chair of the investigation, insisted that that its latest findings were “overwhelming: not only have there been no improvements, but the violations have intensified, reaching unprecedented levels of violence”.

    The independent rights expert described “an intensification of the State’s repressive machinery” with regard to its critics which represented “a continuation of previous patterns” that the independent rights panel had already condemned as likely crimes against humanity.

    Following the re-election of Mr. Maduro – whose victory announcement prompted widespread protests across Venezuela – Ms. Valiñas said that the probe had confirmed 25 fatalities.

    Grisly findings

    Most of the victims were “young people under 30 years old from popular neighbourhoods. There are two children among them,” she said. One of the deceased was a member of the Bolivarian National Guard, Ms. Valiñas noted, before adding that 24 “died from gunshot wounds [and] the other was beaten to death”.

    The fact-finding mission’s latest report examines the human rights situation in Venezuela between September 2023 and August 2024. It points to a further deterioration of the rule of law following the presidential elections, while public authorities “have abandoned all semblance of independence”, leaving citizens “helpless” against the “arbitrary exercise” of power.

    “We documented more than 40 cases in which the security forces entered private homes without warrants, just using social media videos as the only evidence to arrest people who they thought had participated in protests or who had expressed criticism in social media,” explained Francisco Cox Vial, Member of the fact-finding mission that was created by the Human Rights Council in 2019.

    Children among those arrested

    According to the independent investigators, more than 120 people were arrested in July in the context of opposition campaign events. In the first week of protests following the elections, based on figures released by the authorities, more than 2,000 people were detained.

    Individuals included more than 100 children, some with disabilities, who faced accusations of terrorism and incitement to hatred and serious violations of due process, the investigators added.

    “Of the people detained in this period, many were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as sexual violence which was perpetrated against women and girls, but also against men with reported electric shocks, beating with blunt objects, suffocation with plastic bags, immersion in cold water and forced sleep deprivation,” said Patricia Tappatá Valdez, member of the fact-finding mission.

    “We had been able to verify that at least 143 of these arrests involved members of seven opposition parties, including 66 leaders of political movements,” she noted.

    According to the rights probe, from December 2023 to March 2024, at least 48 people were detained on the grounds of “so-called conspiracy theories” against the Government, with arrest warrants issued for others. The individuals included military personnel, human rights defenders, journalists and political opposition representatives, the fact-finding mission said.

    “We cannot ignore that these violations represent a clear and deliberate line of conduct by the authorities of politically motivated persecution,” said Mr. Cox Vial. “We have come to the conclusion that many of these allegations constitute crimes against humanity.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Attempt to defeat Russia a ‘suicidal escapade’, Lavrov warns Ukraine and the West

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    UN Affairs

    Ukraine’s hope of defeating Russia on the battlefield is senseless given that Moscow holds nuclear weapons and any effort by the NATO alliance to keep aiding Kyiv will prove to be a “suicidal escapade”, Russia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs told the UN General Assembly on Saturday.

    Sergey Lavrov said criticism of Russia’s “special operation” based on the UN Charter and Ukraine’s territorial integrity, ignored the fact that the UN’s founding document also “declares the obligation to respect the principles of the equality and self-determination of peoples”, he said, arguing that this had after all been the basis for ongoing decolonisation efforts.

    “The rights of Russians and those that feel they are part of Russian culture following the coup d’etat in Kyiv have methodically been exterminated,” he declared, and this poses a threat to Russian and wider European security.

    Mr. Lavrov said President Vladimir Putin had a “realistic settlement plan” and was prepared to negotiate, blaming the West for sabotaging previous attempts.

    He said the attempt by the Washington-London-Brussels axis to defeat Russia was nullifying the UN’s attempts to enhance global cooperation through agreements such as Sunday’s Pact for the Future – which Russia refused to back – and was “blocking the functioning of the entire system of global governance, including the Security Council.”

    “That’s not something we chose and we’re not responsible for the consequences of this dangerous course,” he added.

    He accused the West of “steadily destroying the model of globalisation that they themselves created”, warning that other regions of the world were forging their own alliances, inviting all of Europe and Asia to join a “single Eurasian space” separate from Washington’s influence.

    Addressing the Middle East crisis, Mr. Lavrov said there was no justification for the terror attacks by Hamas and others of 7 October but the “mass collective punishment” of Palestinians since then had created an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”

    He bemoaned the rise of “the now almost commonplace practice of political killings” and noted the reported killing of a Hezbollah leader on Friday in Beirut.

    “Security can be either equal and indivisible for all, or it won’t be for anyone”, he told delegates, returning to the theme of NATO’s “exceptionalism and impunity”.

    The Russian Foreign Minister said the UN itself needed to be more even-handed in investigating “terrorist methods” used by Israel, the US and others, such as during the wireless device attacks in Lebanon last week.

    Moreover, the UN needed to “avoid the temptation to play into the hands of individual States, particularly those that are actively calling not for cooperation but to divide the world into the flowering garden and the jungle – or to those sitting around the table of democracy, and those that are on the menu.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Stories from the UN Archive: Roots of ‘no justice, no peace’

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    By Eileen Travers

    Human Rights

    As the United States marks Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we’re looking back this Monday at a story we produced last year examining the roots of the civil rights’ icon’s powerful call to action – “no justice, no peace”.

    Read our story here:

    When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, visited UN Headquarters in the 1960s to protest the Viet Nam conflict, the civil rights leader likened the anti-war movement to the struggle for equality for Black people in the US, declaring then what has today become a rallying cry in the continuing battle against racism.

    On 15 April 1967, a delegation led by Dr. King held a meeting with the legendary Ralph Bunche and other top UN officials. Mr. Bunche was the first African American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and Dr. King was the second.

    Watch our report from the archives about UN legend Mr. Bunche, here.

    During the meeting, Dr. King presented a petition, calling for an immediate and peaceful solution to the Vietnam conflict (1961-1975). Earlier that day, he had marched alongside 125,000 protesters in what was the first of many mass marches in opposition to the war.

    Watch UN Video’s Stories from the UN Archive episode on the world-renowned civil rights advocate below:

    ‘No justice without peace, no peace without justice’

    Outside UN Headquarters in the spring of 1967, Dr. King read aloud a powerful petition for peace amid turbulent times.

    “From towns and villages, cities, campuses and farms, we have come in tens of thousands to march and rally at the United Nations in New York and at the birthplace of the world organization in San Francisco on the 15th day of April 1967,” he said. “We the participants in today’s unprecedented national peace demonstration, although of many national origins, faiths and shades of political opinion, are united in our conviction of the imperative need for an immediate, peaceful solution to an illegal and unjustifiable war.”

    “We are determined that the killing be stopped and that a nuclear holocaust be avoided,” he said. “We rally at the United Nations in order to reaffirm our support of the principles of peace, universality, equal rights and self-determination of peoples embodied in the Charter and acclaimed by mankind, but violated by the United States.”

    In terms of the priority of the peace movement and the civil rights movement, Dr. King said “from a content point of view, the issues are inextricably tied together”.

    “In the final analysis, there can be no peace without justice, and there can be no justice without peace,” he said.

    UN Photo/Teddy Chen

    Dr. King speaks to the press at UN Headquarters in New York in 1967. (file)

    Inspiring future generations

    The civil rights leader continued to advocate for peace throughout the last year of his life before he was assassinated in 1968, exactly one year after he visited UN Headquarters. His anti-war activism reinforced the connection between the conflict abroad and injustice at home in the US.

    Dr. King’s lifetime efforts, from the March to Montgomery to his iconic I Have a Dream speech in Washington, have inspired future generations, including his own granddaughter. Earlier this year, 15-year-old activist Yolanda Renee King addressed an audience in the General Assembly Hall at a special commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, marked annually on 25 March.

    “I stand before you today as a proud descendant of enslaved people who resisted slavery and racism like my grandparents, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King,” she said from the green marbled podium in the Assembly Hall.

    “My parents, Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King, have also dedicated their lives to putting an end to racism and all forms of bigotry and discrimination,” said the author of the children’s book We Dream a World, which pays tribute to her celebrated grandparents.

    “Like them, I am committed to the fight against racial injustice and to carrying on the legacy of my grandparents who championed social justice and equality,” Ms. King said, calling on young people around the world to take action.

    “We must connect via the internet and organise across national boundaries around the world. This will open up new possibilities for global campaigns to advance human rights and social justice in all nations. I hope that my family’s legacy of social justice advocacy will inspire my generation to action and to confront issues affecting our world.”

    Watch her full statement below:

    Stories from the UN Archive

    UN News is showcasing epic moments across UN history, cultivated from the UN Audiovisual Library’s 49,400 hours of video and 18,000 hours of audio recordings.

    Catch up on UN Video’s Stories from the UN Archive playlist here and our accompanying series here.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Saints and liars: The story of American aid workers who helped Jewish refugees escape the Holocaust

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    By Tracey Petersen

    Human Rights

    Long before the United States entered the Second World War in December 1941, American aid workers were fanning out across territory occupied by the Axis powers, attempting to help Jews escape, as their grip tightened.

    A new book on their work underlines the chaos of the time, and the difficult decisions they had to make, knowing that for every person they saved, many more would be killed.

    Saints and Liars, by Debórah Dwork, the Director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at the City University of New York Graduate Center, tells the stories of rescue workers in five key cities as the situation on the ground grew increasingly dire.

    At the launch ahead of the  International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust marked annually on 27 January, Tracey Petersen, the manager of the UN Holocaust Education Outreach Programme, interviewed Debórah Dwork at UN Headquarters, and began by asking her about the book’s title.

    This interview has been edited for clarity and length

    Debórah Dwork: I called it Saints and Liars because that’s what these people were. They did amazing things, in a non-religious sense. They did miraculous things. They saved people either by helping them to move on, get to sea, find a safe harbour, or by feeding, clothing and sheltering them.

    And at the same time, nearly all of them lied. They broke rules and played fast and loose with the truth in order to accomplish their goals.

    Tracey Petersen: Why did you write this book?

    UN Publications/Steven Bornholtz

    Debórah Dwork (r) author of Saints and Liars.

    Debórah Dwork: I wanted to tell the story of Americans who went to Europe when everyone who was worried about danger was trying to go in the opposite direction. Their first idea was relief activities, but their mandate morphed to trying to effect rescue. I wanted to know who they were and what prompted them.

    We start in Prague, 1939, before the war was declared and well before the United States entered the war. What prompted Waitstill and Martha Sharp? They were a pair of married Unitarians sent to Czechoslovakia by their church.

    The situation grew worse and worse for political opponents of the Nazi regime and for Jews. And yet the Sharps stayed on to help and began to engage in illegal activities in the hope of saving lives.

    Soundcloud

    Tracey Petersen: Did the outside world in general know what was happening in Czechoslovakia at that time?

    Debórah Dwork: The loss of the Sudetenland region was part of the Munich Pact, an agreement signed by the major leaders of Europe, who gave away a whole chunk of Czechoslovakia without a single shot being fired.

    As you can imagine, this was the stuff of headlines, and it was the Munich Pact which first galvanized the Unitarian leadership in Boston to say “we’ve got to do something: the Germans have taken Sudetenland. Refugees are fleeing into Prague. They need help. They need clothing. They need shelter. They need medical care. They need food”.

    Tracey Petersen: How dangerous was the work of these American aid workers?

    Debórah Dwork: Waitstill Sharp said that Yankees like to skate on thin ice. Just one of the ways in which his work endangered him was that he did illegal currency transactions, because raising money to pay for the rescue activities was very difficult. But if the regime had learned about this he would have been at least imprisoned and probably tortured.

    Tracey Petersen: Why did refugees go to Shanghai and where were they coming from?

    Debórah Dwork: Even before the war, Jews and political dissidents in Germany and Nazi-occupied Austria and Czechoslovakia sought desperately to leave Europe and to get to some place of safety.

    As it happened, Shanghai was just such a place because no visa was required for them to land there. So, by the time war did break out in January, in September 1939, some 20,000 refugees had collected in Shanghai, which had been under Japanese rule since 1937.

    US Holocaust Memorial Museum/Yad Vashem

    Jews from Subcarpathian Rus are subjected to a selection process on a ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland.

    The US State Department and American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) sent Laura Margolis to Shanghai to help them move on to their next destination, but the war intervened, and she ended up staying in a city under occupation with very few resources to help them meet their needs. They needed medical care, food and shelter. The children needed education. Somehow, she had to try to meet the needs of this community that was cut off from the rest of the world

    Tracey Petersen: The numbers are staggering. You had women, children, refugees, incredible terror, anxiety, being turned down for visas… did the aid workers reflect on whether they were possibly being swayed by their emotions and maybe helping some people when they should have been helping others? Is there any sense of their turmoil?

    Debórah Dwork: Definitely. There were thousands upon thousands of people who needed help. When you wake up in the morning, whose case are you going to attend to? What were the criteria?

    The Unitarians did have specific criteria: they wanted to rescue people who would help to reestablish democratic governments after the war was over. Of course, they were mostly male, mostly middle class or upper middle class. Mostly well-educated. That was the idea. But life on the ground had its own dynamic. And in Prague Martha and Waitstill ended up helping all manner of people.

    The Quakers, by contrast, had no such calculus. Their goal was to help everyone who required help. This was a sharp and distinct difference between the Unitarians agenda and the Quakers agenda. In fact, they annoyed each other with the Unitarians saying the Quakers had no principles, and the Quakers saying the Unitarians had no principles.

    Tracey Petersen: In many ways these stories reveal that a successful rescue is sometimes just a question of luck and timing.

    Debórah Dwork: We all know the degree to which the unpredictable and the irrational affect our lives. Luck, timing, fortuitous circumstances, passion, sympathies, antipathies. But when we think about the past, we strip those factors away. We think things happened for a reason. Sometimes they did happen for a reason, but sometimes they happened by accident.

    Let’s hope that we can learn from these events and say action is possible, activities are possible, initiative is possible. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Iran: UN experts alarmed as Supreme Court upholds death sentence of Kurdish woman activist

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Human Rights

    Independent UN human rights experts on Tuesday expressed grave concern over the Iranian Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the death sentence of Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish woman activist and social worker.

    “The charges against Ms. Pakhshan Azizi do not meet the threshold of ‘most serious crimes’ required by international law for the death penalty,” the Human Rights Council-appointed experts stated. “Her death sentence constitutes a serious violation of international human rights law.”

    Solitary confinement

    Ms. Azizi was arrested in Tehran on 4 August 2023, by Iranian intelligence services and held in solitary confinement in the notorious Evin Prison for five months.

    On 23 July 2024, the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced her to death for “armed rebellion against the state” and “membership of opposition groups,” along with a four-year prison term for alleged membership of in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK).

    The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence last week.

    “Ms. Azizi’s arrest and sentencing appear to be solely related to her legitimate work as a social worker, including her support for refugees in Iraq and Syria,” the independent experts noted.

    Reports indicate that Ms. Azizi was subjected to severe psychological and physical torture in solitary confinement to extract a confession. She was also denied access to family visits and legal representation of her choice.

    Family members detained

    Several members of Azizi’s family were temporarily detained and have faced national security charges, presumably to pressure her to confess, the experts noted.

    “The use of torture to extract confessions and the denial of fair trial rights render the death sentence against Ms. Azizi arbitrary in nature,” the experts said.

    The experts highlighted that the number of executions in Iran surpassed 900 in 2024, with an increase in the number of women put to death.

    They have called for Iran to stop executions that violate international law and fundamental human rights.

    End targeting of Kurdish women activists

    “We are deeply concerned by the specific targeting of Kurdish women activists with politically motivated charges,” they said.

    “Ms. Azizi’s prosecution reflects the heightened persecution that minority women activists face in Iran and the continued intention to punish and silence them by creating a climate of fear.”

    The experts urged Iranian authorities to revoke Ms. Azizi’s death sentence, investigate allegations of torture and denial of fair trial rights, and end the harassment and targeting of women activists in Iran.

    Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups who report on and monitor allegations of rights abuses are not UN staff and are independent of any government or organization. They serve in their individual capacity and receive no salary.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: The climate crisis: 5 things to watch out for in 2025

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    By Conor Lennon

    Climate and Environment

    The Amazonian city of Belém, Brazil, will be the global focus of efforts to tackle the climate crisis in November 2025, when it hosts one of the most significant UN climate conferences in recent years. 

    However, throughout the years there will be plenty of opportunities to make important progress on several climate-related issues, from the staggering levels of plastic pollution to financing the shift to a cleaner global economy.

    1 Can we keep 1.5 alive?

    “Keep 1.5 alive” has been the UN’s rallying cry for a number of years, a reference to the goal of ensuring that average global temperatures don’t soar beyond 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial levels. The scientific consensus is that a lack of action would have catastrophic consequences, not least for the so-called “frontline States”, such as developing island nations which could disappear under the ocean, as sea levels rise.

    © UNICEF/Lasse Bak Mejlvang

    A man fishes sitting on sandbags which protect the Pacific Ocean island nation Tuvalu against sea erosion.

    At COP30, the UN climate conference scheduled to take place between 10 and 21 November 2025, mitigation (in other words, actions and policies designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to rising temperatures) is likely to a key focus.

    The nations of the world will arrive with upgraded, more ambitious commitments to lowering greenhouse gases. This is both a recognition that existing pledges are wholly inadequate, in terms of getting temperatures down, and part of the deal that Member States signed up to in 2015 at the Paris COP (nations are expected to “ratchet up” their commitments every five years. The last time this happened was at the 2021 Glasgow COP, delayed by one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

    2 Protecting nature

    Holding COP30 in the Amazonian rainforest region of Brazil is of symbolic importance. It harks back to the early days of international attempts to protect the environment: the pivotal “Earth Summit”, which led to the establishment of three environmental treaties on climate change, biodiversity, and desertification, took place in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

    © Unsplash/Sreenivas

    A parrot stands on a tree branch in Maharashtra, India.

    The location also highlights the role that nature has to play in the climate crisis. The rainforest is a massive “carbon sink”, a system that sucks up and stores CO2, a greenhouse gas, and prevents it from entering the atmosphere, where it contributes to warming.

    Unfortunately, rainforests and other “nature-based solutions” face threats from human development, such as illegal logging which has devastated huge swathes of the region. The UN will continue efforts begun in 2024 to improve the protection of the rainforest and other ecosystems, at biodiversity talks due to be resumed in Rome in February.

    3 Who’s going to pay for all this?

    Finance has long been a thorny issue in international climate negotiations. Developing countries argue that wealthy nations should contribute far more towards projects and initiatives that will enable them to move away from fossil fuels, and power their economies on clean energy sources. The pushback from the rich countries is that fast-growing economies such as China, which is now the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, should also pay their share.

    © UNFCCC/Habib Samadov

    Activists protest against fossil fuels at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

    At COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, a breakthrough of sorts was made, with the adoption of an agreement to triple the amount of climate finance paid to developing countries, to $300 billion per year, by 2035. The deal is a definite step forward, but the final sum is far less than the $1.3 trillion that climate experts say these countries need in order to adapt to the crisis.

    Expect more progress to be made on financing in 2025, at a summit in Spain at the end of June. The Financing for Development conferences only take place once every 10 years, and next year’s edition is being billed as an opportunity to make radical changes to the international financial architecture. Environmental and climate concerns will be raised, and potential solutions such as green taxation, carbon pricing and subsidies will all be on the table.

    4 Laying down the law

    When the attention of the International Court of Justice turned to climate change in December, it was hailed as a landmark moment with regards to States’ legal obligations under international law.

    © UNDP/Silke von Brockhausen

    Vanuatu often experiences destructive extreme weather, such as typhoons, which are being exacerbated by climate change.

    Vanuatu, a Pacific island state particularly vulnerable to the crisis, asked the court for an advisory position, in order to clarify the obligations of States with regard to climate change, and inform any future judicial proceedings.

    Over a two-week period, 96 countries and 11 regional organizations took part in public hearings before the Court, including Vanuatu and a group of other Pacific islands States, and major economies including China and the USA.

    The ICJ will deliberate for several months before delivering its advisory opinion on the subject. Although this opinion will be non-binding, it is expected to guide future international climate law.

    5 Plastic pollution

    UN-convened talks on getting to grips with the global epidemic of plastic pollution edged closer to a deal during negotiations in Busan, South Korea.

    Some key advances were made during the November 2024 talks – the fifth round of negotiations following the 2022 UN Environment Assembly resolution calling for an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.

    Agreement on three pivotal areas needs to be ironed: plastic products, including the issue of chemicals; sustainable production and consumption; and financing.

    UNDP India

    Plastic bottles are collected for recycling in India.

    Member States are now charged with finding political solutions to their differences before the resumed session begins, and with landing a final deal that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics and delivers on the growing global momentum to end plastic pollution.

    “It is clear that the world still wants and demands an end to plastic pollution,” said UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen. “We need to ensure we craft an instrument that hits the problem hard instead of punching below its potential weight. I call on all Member States to lean in.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Confirmed: 2024 was the hottest year on record, says UN weather agency

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Climate and Environment

    UN weather experts from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed on Friday that 2024 was the hottest year on record, at 1.55 degrees Celsius (C) above pre-industrial temperatures.

    “We saw extraordinary land, sea surface temperatures, extraordinary ocean heat accompanied by very extreme weather affecting many countries around the world, destroying lives, livelihoods, hopes and dreams,” WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis said. “We saw many climate change impacts retreating sea ice glaciers. It was an extraordinary year.”

    Four of the six international datasets crunched by WMO indicated a higher than 1.5℃ global average increase for the whole of last year but two did not. 

    The 1.5℃ marker is significant because it was a key goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement to try to ensure that global temperature change does not rise more than this above pre-industrial levels, while striving to hold the overall increase to well below 2℃.

    Climate deal under pressure

    The Paris Agreement is “not yet dead but in grave danger”, the WMO maintained, explaining that the accord’s long-term temperature goals are measured over decades, rather than individual years.

    However, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo insisted that “climate history is playing out before our eyes. We’ve had not just one or two record-breaking years, but a full ten-year series. “It is essential to recognize that every fraction of a degree of warming matters. Whether it is at a level below or above 1.5C of warming, every additional increment of global warming increases the impacts on our lives, economies and our planet.”

    LA fires: climate change factor

    Amid still raging deadly wildfires in Los Angeles that weather experts including the WMO insist have been exacerbated by climate change – with more days of dry, warm, windy weather on top of rains which boosted vegetation growth – the UN agency said that 2024 capped a decade-long “extraordinary streak of record-breaking temperatures”.

    © CAL FIRE

    A bank building burns in Los Angeles, California.

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the WMO’s findings as further proof of global warming and urged all governments to deliver new national climate action plans this year to limit long-term global temperature rise to 1.5C – and support the most vulnerable deal with devastating climate impacts.

    “Individual years pushing past the 1.5℃ limit do not mean the long-term goal is shot,” Mr. Guterres said. “It means we need to fight even harder to get on track. Blazing temperatures in 2024 require trail-blazing climate action in 2025,” he said. “There’s still time to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. But leaders must act – now.”

    The datasets used by WMO are from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the Japan Meteorological Agency, NASA, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the UK Met Office in collaboration with the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (HadCRUT) and Berkeley Earth.

    Listen back to an interview climate scientist Alvaro Silva at the WMO, following the heat alert in the United States at the end of June: 

    Soundcloud

    Ocean warming

    Highlighting a separate scientific study on ocean warming, WMO said that it had played a key role in last year’s record high temperatures.

    “The ocean is the warmest it has ever been as recorded by humans, not only at the surface but also for the upper 2,000 metres,” the UN agency said, citing the findings of the international study spanning seven countries and published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

    WMO noted that about 90 per cent of the excess heat from global warming is stored in the ocean, “making ocean heat content a critical indicator of climate change”.

    To put the study’s findings into perspective, it explained that from 2023 to 2024, the upper 2,000 metres of ocean became warmer by 16 zettajoules (1,021 Joules), which is about 140 times the world’s total electricity output.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Climate emergency: 2025 declared international year of glaciers

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    By Pia Blondel

    Climate and Environment

    As glaciers disappear at an alarming rate due to climate change, the UN General Assembly has declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation (IYGP).

    Co-facilitated by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), this global initiative seeks to unite efforts worldwide to protect these vital water sources, which provide freshwater to more than 2 billion people.

    Glaciers and ice sheets hold around 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater and their rapid loss presents an urgent environmental and humanitarian crisis.

    WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo emphasised this urgency, saying “Melting ice and glaciers threaten long-term water security for many millions of people. This international year must be a wake-up call to the world.”

    Alarming data

    In 2023, glaciers experienced their greatest water loss in over 50 years, marking the second consecutive year in which all glaciated regions worldwide reported ice loss.

    Switzerland, for instance, saw their glaciers lose 10 per cent of their total mass between 2022 and 2023, according to the WMO.

    Dr. Lydia Brito, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, explained during the launch event in Geneva that the “50 UNESCO heritage sites with glaciers represent almost 10 per cent of Earth’s glacier area.” However, a recent study warned that glaciers in one-third of these sites are projected to disappear by 2050.

    With 2024 confirmed as the hottest year on record, the need for immediate and decisive action has never been more critical.

    2025 key initiatives

    A key focus, the panel explained, is raising global awareness about the essential role glaciers, snow and ice play in regulating the climate and supporting ecosystems and communities.

    “Glaciers don’t care if we believe in science – they just melt in the heat,” said Dr. Carolina Adler of the Mountain Research Initiative.

    The initiative also aims to enhance scientific understanding through programmes like the Global Cryosphere Watch, ensuring that data guides effective climate action.

    Strengthening policy frameworks is another priority, with the integration of glacier preservation into global and national climate strategies, such as the Paris Agreement.

    Mobilising financial resources is another priority – essential to support vulnerable communities and fund adaptation and mitigation efforts – alongside engaging youth and local communities.

    Milestones on climate

    The first World Glacier Day will be celebrated on 21 March 2025, coinciding with World Water Day, coming a day later.

    In May, Tajikistan will host the International Glacier Preservation Conference, bringing together scientists, policymakers and community leaders to discuss solutions and form partnerships.

    “Tajikistan is immensely proud to have played an instrumental role in advocating for this resolution,” said Bahodur Sheralizoda, Chair of Tajikistan’s Committee of Environmental Protection.

    “Let us be clear, the only way to preserve glaciers as an important resource for the entire planet is for all governments to collectively course correct with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) fully consistent with the 1.5°C Paris Agreement limit,” he underscored.

    Challenges ahead

    According to the policy brief on the IYGP, “Some level of glacier loss remains inevitable given current loss rates, which modelling shows will continue until temperatures stabilise.”

    “We must prepare for cryospheric destruction through urgent policy changes,” explained Dr. John Pomeroy from the University of Saskatchewan.

    These efforts will require global cooperation, particularly in regions like Central Asia, where glacier loss has led to significant water security challenges.

    “In Tajikistan alone nearly 1,000 glaciers have melted, accounting for one-third of the country’s glacier volume,” Dr. Brito highlighted.

    A shared responsibility

    The IYGP seeks to unite nations, organizations and individuals in a common mission.

    “[It] provides a mechanism to kick start both renewed efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the science and adaptation necessary to prepare for a warmer, less icy world,” said Dr. Pomeroy

    “History will record that 2025 was the tipping point where humanity changed course and eventually saved the glaciers, ourselves and our planet,” he concluded.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Miske Enterprise Member Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    HONOLULU – Acting United States Attorney Kenneth M. Sorenson announced that John B. Stancil, 37, of Waimanalo, was sentenced today in federal court by U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson to 240 months of imprisonment (the statutory maximum) followed by 3 years of supervised release for racketeering conspiracy. Stancil pled guilty on January 22, 2024, in the middle of jury selection, to conspiring to conduct and  participate in the conduct of the affairs of a racketeering enterprise, the “Miske Enterprise,” through racketeering activity that included participating in the commission of murder-for-hire and acts relating to chemical weapons.

    In his plea agreement, Stancil admitted that he and other members of the Miske Enterprise participated in chemical weapon attacks on two Honolulu nightclubs in March 2017, carried out on the orders of codefendant Michael J. Miske. Stancil provided the toxic chemical used in the attacks – a substance called chloropicrin, which can cause death, temporary incapacitation, or permanent harm to humans. Stancil also admitted to joining a murder-for-hire conspiracy with Miske and other Enterprise members. Miske put a murder contract out on an individual he believed was cooperating with law enforcement. Stancil then provided details of where the victim lived to another co-conspirator who agreed to carry out the murder until Miske eventually rescinded the contract. Stancil also admitted he served as the getaway driver for multiple assaults ordered by Miske and on behalf of the Miske Enterprise. According to other information provided to the Court, Stancil also coordinated and participated in numerous robberies on behalf of the Miske Enterprise.

    Stancil was charged alongside twelve other defendants, all of whom pled guilty except for Michael J. Miske who proceeded to trial and was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy, murder, and 11 other felony charges on July 18, 2024. Seven other members and associates of the Miske Enterprise pled guilty to various offenses in related cases.

    “You cannot run from the facts,” Judge Watson advised Stancil during today’s sentencing before reciting the litany of racketeering acts for which the Court found Stancil responsible. Judge Watson found Stancil to be  “among the most culpable” of those in the Miske Enterprise, describing him as one of Michael Miske’s “key confidantes and lieutenants” and a “key player in terrorizing the citizenry of this city and county for years.” Judge Watson further noted that Stancil deserved an even higher prison sentence that the Court was not permitted to impose by statute.

    “Today’s sentence represents the culmination of years of tireless, dogged, skilled, and innovative work on the part of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii and our outstanding law enforcement partners, the Honolulu Division of the FBI, Internal Revenue Service, and Homeland Security Investigations, among others,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson. “The court was deprived of the opportunity to sentence Michael Miske due to his untimely death following his guilty verdicts at trial for racketeering and other crimes. But today’s sentence, along with the 18 convictions we have secured against Miske’s henchmen and violent thugs, demonstrates our strong commitment to investigating, prosecuting, and convicting those who violate the law and endanger the safety and welfare of Hawaii’s citizens. Let today’s sentence and the convictions in these cases serve as a stark reminder to those who operate criminal enterprises in Hawaii that we have the tools, expertise, and resolve to bring them to justice.”

    “Mr. Stancil was a key member of the Miske Enterprise, actively participating in a longstanding pattern of racketeering activity involving murder-forhire, robbery, and use of chemical weapons,” said FBI Honolulu Special Agent in Charge David Porter. “This sentencing reflects years of collaboration between FBI Honolulu and our law enforcement partners. The FBI remains steadfast in its commitment to dismantle violent criminal enterprises, hold their members accountable, and pursue justice for victims.”

    “Mr. Stancil’s racketeering charge reminds us that organized crime threatens innocent lives for money,” said Adam Jobes, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation’s Seattle Field Office. “Our agency follows the money so we can cut off organized crime at its roots.” 

    “HSI is committed to ending organized crime in Hawaii. The sentencing of Mr. Stancil underscores the importance of leveraging law enforcement partnerships to safeguard our community,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Lucy Cabral-DeArmas. “Our dedication to this cause is unwavering, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that these criminals are held accountable for their actions.”

    This prosecution was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligencedriven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

    This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the Criminal Investigation Division of the Environmental  Protection Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, with assistance from the Honolulu Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the United States Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, the Cybercrime Lab of the Department of Justice Criminal Division Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, the Honolulu Fire Department, the Hawaii National Guard, 93rd Civil Support Team, the Office of Investigations–Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Inciong, Michael Nammar, KeAupuni Akina, and Aislinn Affinito prosecuted the case.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Twenty Defendants Indicted in Akron Drug Trafficking and Firearms Conspiracy

    Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)

    AKRON, Ohio – A 51-count superseding indictment was unsealed today charging 17 Ohio residents of operating a large-scale drug trafficking scheme based in Akron. The Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) is alleged to be responsible for trafficking distribution quantities of controlled substances in the Summit County, Ohio area including methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine, as well as Alprazolam, which is more commonly known under the brand name Xanax. Three other defendants were indicted separately for their involvement in the conspiracy.

    According to court documents, the investigation that led to the indictment began in December 2023 and continued to around August 2024. The alleged leader, Joe Nathan Sanders-Taylor, 41, of Akron, was believed to be the center of the DTO that distributed illegal drugs throughout Northeast Ohio. He was regularly supplied by co-conspirators who funneled drug inventory from sources connected to the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG or Jalisco Cartel). Sanders-Taylor developed a drug distribution process that employed a number of individuals to serve as drug dealers throughout the Northeast Ohio region.

    Court documents show that Sanders-Taylor used a network of associates to re-sell the drugs, assist with financial transactions, or act as lookouts while drug deals took place. Several co-defendants and other members of the conspiracy maintained and used residences in Summit County, Ohio, to store and distribute their drug supplies, or to manufacture controlled substances. Members of the conspiracy also possessed firearms to further their illegal business activities and protect their drug inventory.

    Sanders-Taylor was arrested on June 10, 2024, after he engaged in a pursuit by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on Interstate 77 in Summit County. As he fled from police, he threw two loaded firearms with high-capacity magazines from the vehicle. Sanders-Taylor crashed the vehicle and then fled on foot and attempted to carjack two separate vehicles with people still inside. Sanders-Taylor was later discovered to have prior federal convictions which prohibits him from possessing firearms. Further investigation of the incident determined that he also possessed distribution amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl. The remaining defendants were apprehended in a series of coordinated arrests.

    The superseding indictment charges the following 17 defendants:

    • Joe Nathan Sanders-Taylor, aka Red, 41, Akron
    • Brooke Marie Logan, aka Bee, 29, Akron
    • Tyrell Jerome Jennings, aka 50, 35, Cleveland
    • Christopher Michael Andrews, aka Blondy, 28, Akron
    • Crystal Marie Harris, 50, Akron
    • Ronald Oscar Clark, 58, Akron
    • Chelsey Marie Connelly, 35, Akron
    • Angela Grace Wade, 47, Akron
    • Demardre Leshawn Johnson, aka Icey, 37, Akron
    • Denetris Condra May, aka D-May, aka Mayday, 38, Akron
    • John P. Burton, 41, Akron
    • Brian Keith Hinkle, aka Hizzle, 38, Akron
    • Joshua Lee Hackney, aka Country, 38, Akron
    • Matthew Dion Inman, 54, Akron
    • Thomas Franklin Casanova, 27, Akron
    • Donnie Keith Eugene Schaffer, 30, Akron
    • Julia Francesca Stavole-Habimana, 26, Richfield

    The superseding indictment alleges that the defendants did unlawfully, knowingly, and intentionally combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with each other to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine, all Schedule II controlled substances, and Alprazolam, a Schedule IV controlled substance.

    In addition, three other defendants involved with this drug trafficking and firearms conspiracy were charged in a separate superseding indictment:

    • Robert Parham, 54, Akron
    • Laverne Fortson, 50, Akron
    • Jeffery Goldbach, 54, Ravenna

    According to court documents, in July 2024, Parham had 28 firearms, which included a machine gun, distribution amounts of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine in his possession at his apartment in Akron. Fortson and Goldbach also possessed distribution amounts of narcotics at their residences.

    An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Defendants are entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

    If convicted, each defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including each defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum, and, in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.

    The investigation preceding the superseding indictment was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the FBI Akron Field Office, with assistance from the Akron Police Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Portage County Sheriff’s Office, Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Girard Police Department, Barberton Police Department, Liberty Police Department, and the University of Akron Police Department.

    This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Dangelo for the Northern District of Ohio.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Deadly floods in Spain highlight need to cut greenhouse gas emissions

    Source: United Nations 2

    Climate and Environment

    The record-breaking rainfall and deadly flash floods that hit Spain this week underscore why saving lives as climate change turbocharges extreme weather must be a top priority, the World Meteorological Office (WMO) said on Friday. 

    The UN weather agency is highlighting the importance of early warning systems for all corners of the planet and reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

    “The flooding that we’re seeing in Spain is just one of many, many, many, extreme weather and water-related disasters that have been taking place around the world this year. Almost every week we’re seeing such shocking images,” spokesperson Clare Nullis told journalists in Geneva. 

    Lives lost as rains continue

    More than 150 people have been killed in Spain, where a massive search and rescue operation is ongoing even as the rains continue. 

    The Valencia region was worst affected, and “some areas received more than the equivalent of a year’s amount of rainfall in the space of eight hours.” 

    Spain’s meteorological and hydrological service, AEMET, has been issuing constant advisories and alerts throughout the week via the common alerting protocol, she said, referring to the standardized message format for all media, all hazards, and all communication channels.

    A red alert – the top level – was issued on Friday in the southwest province of Huelva, “so, unfortunately, this episode is not finished yet”.

    Extreme weather increasing

    Ms. Nullis recalled that other areas in Europe have been badly affected by floods this year. In mid-September, parts of Central Europe experienced very heavy rainfall, breaking local and national records.

    “According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, extreme weather events causing highly impactful floods and droughts have become more likely and more severe due to anthropogenic climate change,” she said.

    She pointed to WMO’s recently released report on the State of Global Water Resources. Commenting at the time, the agency’s chief, Celeste Saulo, said that the hydrological cycle has accelerated due to rising temperatures.  

    As a result, the world is facing growing problems of either too much or too little water. Furthermore, a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which is conducive to heavy rainfall.

    Ms. Nullis said this is what is happening in Spain.

    “As the air warms, it becomes more moist. So, every additional fraction of warming increases the atmospheric moisture content, and this increases the risk of extreme precipitation, flooding,” she explained.

    World must act now 

    Asked what action can be taken to avoid the devastation caused in Spain and elsewhere, Ms. Nullis said the international community “can make a good start by reducing greenhouse gas emissions which are the driver behind this.”

    Countries also “need to ensure that early warnings lead to informed early action.”

    WMO will publish its latest State of the Global Climate update at the COP29 UN climate change conference in Azerbaijan later this month.  The report will provide more details about extreme events around the world over the past year. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Crapo, Risch Join REINS Act to Put Power Back in the People’s Hands

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Idaho Mike Crapo
    Washington, D.C.–U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) joined in co-sponsoring the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act to help reduce overly-burdensome major federal rules.
    “While, thankfully, the current Administration is receptive to eliminating over-reaching federal regulation to help American businesses expand and increase jobs, that has not always been the case,” said Crapo.  “We have been working on this legislation for years, and I welcome the reintroduction of the REINS Act that would allow more scrutiny of new regulations and provide cleanup of current overregulation.”
    “Federal bureaucrats and excessive red tape have burdened Idahoans’ lives for too long,” said Risch.  “The REINS Act restores accountability by requiring Congress to review costly regulations and stop bureaucratic overreach.  We must get the federal government out of the way and restore the freedoms guaranteed to Idahoans by the Constitution.”   
    Under the REINS Act, once major rules are drafted, both chambers of Congress would need to approve them and the President sign them into law.  This would satisfy the bicameralism and presentment requirements of the U.S. Constitution.  Currently, federal agency regulations ultimately take effect unless Congress specifically disapproves.
    The bill defines a “major” rule as one that the Office of Management and Budget determines may result in an economic impact of $100 million or greater each year; “a major increase in costs or prices” for American consumers, government agencies, regions, or industries; or “significant adverse effects” on the economy.
    The REINS Act also includes the following changes from the original bill Crapo and Risch co-sponsored in past Congresses:
    New Defense for Individuals: Individuals can argue that the average person would not have known their actions violated federal law if the statute did not clearly state it.
    Right to Sue: People can sue to stop enforcement if an agency implements a major rule without getting congressional approval.
    LIBERTY Act: Agency guidance with an economic impact of $100 million or more needs congressional approval just like major rules.
    Deregulatory Actions Exempted: Agencies do not need congressional approval to withdraw costly or burdensome rules
    Access full bill text HERE.
    Additional co-sponsors include U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), Rick Scott (R-Florida), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), Tim Sheehy (R-Montana), Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) and Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri ).

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN expert calls for action as Marshall Islands faces dual displacement crisis

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Human Rights

    An independent UN expert on Thursday called on the international community to fulfill its “urgent moral obligation” to support the Marshall Islands in addressing displacement challenges stemming from the impacts of historical nuclear testing and the growing threat of climate change. 

    The appeal from Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, comes as the Pacific nation grapples with generational displacement and the threat posed by rising sea levels and unprecedented global heating.

    The Marshall Islands, a frontline nation in the fight to slow global warming, faces unique challenges.

    As one of the small island developing States (SIDS), it has played a significant role in international climate action. Under the Paris Agreement of 2015, the Marshall Islands was instrumental, along with other SIDS, in advocating strongly for the inclusion of the 1.5 C temperature goal.

    The nation also submitted one of the first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCS) under the agreement.

    The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) identifies the Marshall Islands as particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, with rising sea levels posing an existential threat.

    Despite these challenges, the agreement on ‘Loss and Damage funding’ at COP27,  marks a critical development for vulnerable nations like the Marshall Islands. This mechanism aims to provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable nations impacted by climate change effects.

    Nuclear testing threatens communities

    Beyond environmental challenges, research conducted by the UN human rights office, OHCHR, revealed that 67 nuclear tests performed between 1946 and 1958 by the United States Government in the Marshall Islands left communities displaced and contributed to radioactive land and sea pollution.

    “Legacies of nuclear testing and military land requisitions by a foreign power have displaced hundreds of Marshallese for generations,” while the adverse effects of climate change threaten to displace thousands more,” said Ms. Gaviria Betancur, following her 10-day visit to the country.

    The UN Human Rights Council-appointed expert who receives no salary and represents no government or organization, welcomed Marshall Islanders’ efforts to seek remedy and solutions for displaced persons while emphasizing that the “situation has been largely driven beyond the country’s control”.

    Indigenous rights

    During her visit, Ms. Gaviria Betancur emphasized the profound impact of displacement on Marshallese communities.

    “Many Marshallese I spoke with recounted the profound sense of dislocation they feel as a result of their displacement from lands deeply intertwined with their sense of culture and identity as Indigenous Peoples,” she reported.

    She congratulated the Marshall Islands on its recent election to the Human Rights Council and its introduction of a resolution addressing the human rights implications of the nuclear legacy.

    She also outlined specific recommendations for the government, stating, “the Government should adopt a comprehensive, rights-based policy on displacement, promote greater transparency around laws and policies relevant to displaced persons and continue working with traditional leaders”.

    International Responsibility

    Addressing historical responsibility, the expert noted that displacement occurred while the Marshall Islands were under US administration as a Strategic Trust Territory of the United Nations. She urged the United States to provide complete information about the displacement and health risks to affected communities, ensure meaningful remedy, and seek full consent from those with traditional rights to lands it currently occupies for military purposes.

    “While current compensation agreements may have been put in place after independence, these aims to codify displacement that took place when those displaced could not reasonably have provide free, prior and informed consent in line with Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination,” she stated.

    Ms. Gaviria Betancur called on the international community to provide more support for the Marshall Islands’ climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, highlighting the countries minimal contribution to global emissions. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Underinvestment threatens universal health coverage goals

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Health

    Coinciding with Universal Health Coverage Day on Thursday the World Health Organization (WHO) released its 2024 Global Health Expenditure Report, revealing troubling declines in government health spending.

    The report, titled Global Spending on Health: Emerging from the Pandemic, shows a reduction in per capita government health expenditures in 2022 across all income groups, following a surge during the early COVID-19 pandemic years.

    This concerning trend undermines progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), a goal enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the agency said.

    This year, Universal Health Coverage Day emphasises the urgent need for governments to prioritise financial protection, ensuring access to essential health services for all without risking financial hardship.

    A global health emergency

    The statistics are stark: 4.5 billion people worldwide lack access to basic health services, and 2 billion experience financial hardship from healthcare costs.

    For many, the high price of medical care presents impossible choices between vital treatments and necessities like food and housing.

    These challenges disproportionately impact vulnerable populations, including women, children, and adolescents, who face the greatest barriers to healthcare access.

    “While access to health services has been improving globally, using those services is driving more and more people into financial hardship or poverty,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

    “Universal Health Coverage Day is a reminder that health for all, means everyone can access the health services they need, without financial hardship,” he added.

    The cost of inaction

    Reduced government health investments can have far-reaching consequences.

    Without sufficient funding, health systems waver, leaving populations vulnerable in both their routine health needs and crises.

    The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on the connection between UHC and health security, underscoring the need for resilient health systems that protect everyone, everywhere.

    Investing in health is not just a moral imperative but an economic one.

    Access to affordable healthcare improves workforce participation, boosts productivity, and fosters social cohesion.

    On the contrary, when healthcare costs force people into poverty, the economic ripple effects can be devastating.

    UHC Day 2024: A call to action

    Since the UN General Assembly’s endorsement of UHC in 2012, global leaders have reaffirmed their commitments in multiple declarations. Yet, financial protection has worsened over the last two decades.

    This Universal Health Coverage Day, advocates are urging governments to meet their commitments by prioritising health funding in national budgets.

    The 2024 UHC Day theme, “Health: It’s on the Government”, underscores the role of governments in ensuring equitable and affordable healthcare for all.

    Advocates are calling on leaders to protect the poorest and most vulnerable from impoverishing health costs and to ensure no one has to choose between healthcare and basic needs.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Terrorists and their foreign sponsors, though ‘weakened’ still pose a threat, Mali minister warns

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    UN Affairs

    The Deputy Prime Minister of Mali outlined on Saturday the steps the Government has taken to rebuild trust among the country’s diverse communities and push back against terrorism, but he warned that “opportunistic’ terrorist groups, and their foreign sponsors threatened toundo  this work.

    Addressing the UN General Assembly’s annual debate, Abdoulaye Maiga said that since 2012, Mali had been experiencing a multifaceted crisis that led to the loss of more than half its territory and countless civilian lives.

    This was largely due to violence perpetrated by an “opportunistic and incestuous association” of terrorist groups and other armed fighters. NATO’s “haphazard” military intervention in Libya had also played a part in worsening the situation throughout the Sahel.

    Indeed, terrorist activities, instigated by sponsors inside and outside the region, had a dire impact on Mali’s security and stability due to rising violence, “all kinds of trafficking, money laundering and community conflicts,” the Deputy Prime Minister explained.

    Having witnessed the failure of international forces on its territory since 2013 to deal with these issues, Malian authorities decided to “take their fate in their own hands.” Since 2021 Mali had launched a vast campaign to re-equip and reorganize the Malian defense and security forces.

    After a subsequent national assessment, Malian authorities and citizens had together concluded that their country, its people and its defense and security forces had been “left pillaged and polluted; battered and humiliated; high and dry and stabbed in the back,” by parties that had instigated violence, and looted the country’s raw materials for their own gain. Such was the case for much of Africa.

    Considering this “ruthless reality of international relations”, especially as it pertains to Africa, Mali’s president had earlier this year launched a ‘national programme for education on values’ aiming for Malians to recommit to their origins, “without which it would be difficult to image a bright future for our country in its legitimate quest to restore its sovereignty,” Mr. Maiga explained.

    As for Mali’s ongoing political transition, he recalled that the Malian people had chosen to undertake political reforms before holding elections to establish good governance, among other goals. In addition, to further foster national unity, “which is the basis for all development efforts”, the president, on 31 December 2023, the holding of the three phase inter-Malian dialogue for peace and reconciliation. The aim is to allow the nation to seek Malian solutions for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.

    “We call on all Malians to support this trend towards reconciliation, a key step towards returning to constitutional order,” Mr. Maiga said, going on to note that while the outcomes of the reconciliation process were still a guiding principle, the newly reinvigorated security forces had been successful in, among others, efforts to recover all regions form the hands of terrorist groups, particularly in Kidal.

    Even though the terrorist groups had been “severely weakened” as Malian defense forces have been deployed throughout the country, those “criminals” continued “desperate attempts to undermine Mali’s territorial integrity, he said, denouncing the support of such actors by “foreign State sponsors”.

    Mr. Maiga also recalled that, earlier this year, the member States of the Confederation of the States of the Sahel sent a joint letter to the Security Council to condemn Ukrainian authorities’ support for international terrorism; denounce the aggression against Mali; and demand that the Council take appropriate measures against the Ukrainian Government. 

    He also criticized France for its acts of aggression against Mali and its involvement in promoting terrorism in the Sahel through armed, economic and media terrorism.

    Finally, the Deputy Foreign Minister expressed surprise at the “fierce hostility” from some officials of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) “who are acting on orders of imperialists and neocolonial entities”. 

     Click here for the full statement (in French).

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Chagos Islands: UK’s last African colony returned to Mauritius

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    UN Affairs

    The United Kingdom announced on Thursday that agreement has been reached to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending decades of dispute and negotiation over Britain’s last African colony.

    The agreement follows 13 rounds of talks that began in 2022 after Mauritian calls for sovereignty were recognised by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the UN General Assembly in 2019 and 2021.

    The world court, as the ICJ is known, is the principle judicial organ of the UN which adjudicates disputes between nations.

    Before granting independence to Mauritius in 1968, Britain was found to have unlawfully separated it to form a new colony on the Chagos archipelago named the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).

    The UK had initially dismissed UN rulings and court judgements demanding it return the islands to Mauritius, arguing that the ICJ ruling was merely an advisory opinion.

    Forced displacement of islanders

    In splitting the islands from Mauritius, the UK expelled between 1,500 and 2,000 islanders so that it could lease Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos islands, to the United States for military use which the two allies have since operated jointly.

    According to news reports, the UK falsely declared that Chagos had no permanent population so that it would not have to report its colonial rule to the UN. In reality, the Chagossian community had lived on Chagos for centuries.

    The UK and US governments forcibly displaced the Chagossian population between 1967 and 1973 not only reportedly on Diego Garcia, but also Peros Banhos and Salomon.

    The campaign challenging British ownership of the Chagos archipelago included the Mauritian ambassador to the UN, Jagdish Koonjul, raising his country’s flag above the atoll of Peros Banhos in a ceremony in February 2022 to mark the first time Mauritius had led an expedition to the territory since the expulsions.

    The new agreement

    Under Thursday’s agreement, the UK will still retain control of the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.

    The UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said the UK government had secured the future of the military base “as well as guaranteeing our long-term relationship with Mauritius, a close Commonwealth partner”.

    However, many Chagossians are still frustrated by the UK government’s lack of consultation with them before Thursday’s announcement, according to news reports.

    Chagossian Voices, a community organisation for Chagossians based in the UK and several other countries where islanders have settled, deplored “the exclusion of the Chagossian community from the negotiations”, leaving them “powerless and voiceless in determining our own future and the future of our homeland”.

    “The view of Chagossians, the Indigenous inhabitants of the islands, have been consistently and deliberately ignored and we demand full inclusion in the drafting of the treaty,” they added.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: The week the world comes to Manhattan: Looking back at UNGA79

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    UN Affairs

    Every September when UN Headquarters in New York is swamped – massive motorcades, intense security, snipers on rooftops and world leaders descending along with throngs of diplomats, media and celebrities – it’s not easy to grasp what exactly is going on or what was achieved. 

    Let’s try to unscramble those 10 days for you. This year, some 235 events and hundreds of speakers later, the spotlight was shone on what the world was facing – how to move towards a revamp of an outdated global economic order, forging new pathways to peace, and finding solutions to the growing threat of nuclear war, global public health challenges, climate disruption and dangerous levels of impunity, inequality and uncertainty.

    Kicking off the Summit of the Future (22-23 September) ahead of the General Assembly’s annual high-level week, Secretary-General António Guterres’ clarion call for change made the stakes plain: “We cannot build a future fit for our grandchildren with systems built for our grandparents.” 

    More than 140 leaders spoke in the action-packed gathering while the UN was taken over by youth and civil society. The end-goal? Torchbearers of change trying to chart a course to rejig a UN that can be fit for purpose and ready to meet 21st century challenges with modernized, upgraded institutions that do not reflect the world of 1945.

    The good news is they agreed on a rescue plan to steer the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) back on track, a groundbreaking Pact for the Future that now needs to be implemented. Despite a last-minute challenge from a group of countries opposed to the pact, UN Member States actually inked a deal – and agreed on the need for justice and reform.

    Soundcloud

    The big wins? Economic justice pledges included a promise to overhaul the international financial architecture so that developing countries reeling under a debt burden can begin to invest in development and not be crippled by debt repayments. Security Council reform saw a groundswell of support to expand and balance rights of membership. Strong backing was expressed for Africa to have permanent representation in the Security Council – along with other contenders like Brazil, India, and Japan. South African Prime Minister Cyril Ramaphosa called for the Security Council to be “more representative and inclusive,” noting that Africa and its 1.4 billion people remain excluded from this key decision-making structure.

    A group of experts delivered findings on the critical need to embrace digital innovation and harness how artificialintelligence could transform our world; but equally to close the digital divide and ensure guardrails around a responsible advance for humanity. 

    A Global Digital Compact was agreed, with the aim of opening the doors to a brave, new and accountable digital world order.

    On the sidelines, a dark moment was captured in a conversation on the future of women in Afghanistan – actress Meryl Streep questioned how it was possible that cats and birds had more freedom in the country where girls were banned from education. “A cat may go sit on her front stoop and feel the sun on her face. She may chase a squirrel into the park. A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today because the public parks have been closed to women and girls by the Taliban,” Streep said. “This is a suppression of the natural law.”

    In a devastating testimonial during a ministerial meeting “The Cost of Inaction in Sudan”, Sudanese activist Nisreen al-Saem lamented that the war in her country was a “war on women” and appealed: “Oh, Burhan and Hemediti, we’re tired, unite the Sudanese people and lay down your arms”.

    As the General Assembly began its 79th session, 190 countries out of 193 Member States spoke in what is not a debate at all – but a chance for governments to speak their mind on the state of the world or their region or pressing global problems. Highlighting an ignominious fact, Iceland’s Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir – as one of only 19 women speaking in the hallowed hall – chastised: “I thought we had come further than this.”

    Another female leader, the outspoken premier of Barbados, Mia Mottley, a fierce advocate of the Bridgetown Initiative which aims to kickstart global financial restructuring exhorted global institutions to give developing countries – especially small vulnerable ones – “seats at the tables of decision-making”. 

    The chorus was loud on the need for institutional reform at the UN, stoked by fears of an outdated and archaic institution unable to keep pace with a world that has changed profoundly. 

    If the UN is to become a “central platform for finding common ground” according to the Minister for External Affairs of India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, “it cannot, by remaining anachronistic.” In his swansong speech, US President Joe Biden reminded fellow leaders: “Never forget we are here to serve the people, not the other way around.” 

    Soundcloud

    The eclipse of multilateralism and international law bubbled up repeatedly – Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, warned that multilateralism is not an option but an existential necessity while Amery Browne, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago wagged his finger at the selective respect for international law.

    A refrain heard repeatedly on the war in Ukraine and Gaza was captured by Denmark’s Foreign Minister, Lars Rasmussen, who worried that the respect for international law is slowly being undermined and flagged that, “Wars of aggression and altering borders is — and should remain — a thing of the past.”

    Many sounded the alarm on the climate-security nexus with President Ramkalawan of the Seychelles flagging this as an existential issue that would plague future generations – a sentiment widely echoed by the young activists who flocked to the UN.

    As nation after nation spoke out about the unimaginable destruction and devastation in Gaza following the terror attacks launched by Hamas on 7 October 2023, and with the drumbeat of war growing in the region, Brazil’s President Luiz Ignacio Lula had warning words: “The right to defense has become the right to vengeance.”  While committing to sending forces to counter the deteriorating security in Haiti, President William Ruto of Kenya regretted that the Charter’s foundations have been shaken. 

    The President of the General Assembly, Philemon Yang pleaded for an end to the spiralling conflict and retribution between Israel and Gaza and a return to a solution grounded in international law for the good of Israelis and Palestinians. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the UN to “set the record straight” in a session that was sparsely attended because of a walkout – but his speech was watched by record numbers online illustrating how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dominated the discussions.

    The entire General Assembly session was supposed to be about the future, devoted to uplifting commitments to reset the world on the path to sustainable development, to rethink how we can make the world more equitable and efficient, find ways to tackle public health threats like Anti-Microbial Resistance and to showcase how the world can leverage the potential of new technologies. Yet, the focus inevitably ended up on what the Secretary-General called “the purgatory of polarity” and the threat of an “age of impunity.”

    In the spirit of the Pact for Future Generations, heartwarming moments came from youth who showed up for the Action Days and the SDG Media Zone. Sanjana Sanghi, a UN Development Programme climate activist from India, praised the positivity of the younger generation that inspired hope. She summed up the buzz felt around the UN campus: “I am deeply inspired by these young changemakers who are passionately working to address climate issues and secure a sustainable future for everyone.” 

    *This is not an official record. It is a snapshot of this year’s General Assembly High-Level Week.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: ‘Turning the tide’ on childhood violence

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Law and Crime Prevention

    More than 100 governments made historic commitments to end childhood violence on Thursday at a landmark event in Bogotá, Colombia.

    Among the pledges, nine countries pledged to ban corporal punishment – an issue that affects three out of every five children regularly in their homes.

    “Despite being highly preventable, violence remains a horrific day to day reality for millions of children around the world – leaving scars that span generations,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General.

    “Today countries made critical pledges that, once enacted, could finally turn the tide on childhood violence,” he added.

    One billion children affected

    Over half of all children aged two to 17 worldwide – some one billion – are estimated to suffer some form of violence, such as child maltreatment (including corporal punishment, the most prevalent form of childhood violence), physical or emotional abuse and sexual violence.

    Some three in five children are regularly punished by physical means in their home, and one in five girls and one in seven boys experience sexual violence.

    For some of these children, violence results in death or serious injury. Every 13 minutes, a child or adolescent dies as a result of homicide – equating to around 40,000 preventable deaths each year. Moreover, violence, often involving firearms or other weapons, is now the leading cause of death among adolescent males.

    For others, experiencing violence has devastating and life-long consequences. These include anxiety and depression, risky behaviours like unsafe sex, smoking and substance abuse and reduced academic achievement.

    Violence against children is also often hidden, with WHO estimates that fewer than half of affected children tell anyone they experienced violence and under 10 per cent receive any help.

    Enacted prevention strategies

    At the Bogotá conference, countries committed to a range of evidence-based strategies aimed at preventing childhood violence.

    Key measures include expanding parenting support programmes to encourage positive, non-violent discipline. School-based programmes targeting bullying and enhancing social skills also play a crucial role in fostering safer learning spaces.

    Additionally, governments pledged to improve child-friendly health and social services to support young survivors, while new digital safety initiatives aim to protect children from online exploitation.

    Research shows that implementing these strategies could reduce violence against children by 20 to 50 per cent, underscoring the importance of these new commitments in turning the tide on childhood violence.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Transnational organised crime: ‘It’s time we pull together to push back’

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Law and Crime Prevention

    Marking the inaugural International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organised Crime on Friday, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has called for unified global efforts to counter these pervasive threats.

    Proclaimed by the General Assembly in March 2024, the observance honours victims of organised crime – including law enforcement and judicial personnel who have lost their lives in pursuit of justice.

    The inaugural theme: Organised crime steals, corrupts and kills. It’s time we pull together to push back, underscores the urgency of collective action.

    Speaking to UN News, Candice Welsch, UNODC Regional Representative for the Andean Region and southernmost areas of South America, emphasised the global nature of the threat: “Almost all organised crime is transnational, it does not take place within a single country, but often crosses borders within regions and even beyond.”  

    “Therefore, this UN observance aims at boosting action by governments, the private sector, civil society and the public,” she said.  

    Pillar of international cooperation       

    The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime adopted in 2000 and ratified by 192 States, serves as the cornerstone of UNODC’s efforts to combat and eventually eliminate the scourge of transnational organised crime.

    “We are working hard to strengthen cooperation between countries so that they can share information and intelligence between police forces, or so that border agencies and prosecutors can conduct joint operations,” said Ms. Welsch.  

    UNODC’s efforts include bolstering local, national and international capacities to better understand and combat these challenges.

    UN Video | United Nations takes on organized crime

    Cocaine, deforestation, community impact

    In the Andean region, Colombia and Ecuador face significant challenges with transnational criminal groups. Colombia’s coca cultivation reached 253,000 hectares in 2023, yielding an estimated 2,664 metric tons of cocaine in 2022, according to UNODC data.

    However, the issue is not confined to drug trafficking. Illegal mining, deforestation and wildlife trafficking – particularly in the Galapagos Islands – are also on the rise.

    These activities disrupt security for communities, exacerbate gang violence and contribute to high homicide rates, impacting indigenous communities and young people who face recruitment risks. Migrant flows through the region also make vulnerable populations susceptible to human trafficking and other abuses.

    To address these challenges, UNODC supports alternative development programmes for farmers reliant on coca cultivation. These initiatives promote legal crops such as coffee, cocoa, vanilla and sacha inchi, a nutrient-rich Amazonian plant.

    “What we are trying to do with alternative development programmes is to offer these communities ways to move towards licit economies and a more secure future,” said Ms. Welsch.

    UN News / David Mottershead

    A former opium poppy farmer cultivating tomatoes in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. (file)

    Opium resurgence in Afghanistan

    Despite a 2022 Taliban ban that initially reduced opium cultivation by 95 per cent, 2024 saw a 19 per cent resurgence driven by economic hardship and rising prices.

    Since 2016, UNODC has aided over 85,000 households through alternative development initiatives, such as poultry farming projects that provide both food security and income generation for families affected by drugs.

    Southeast Asia: The Golden Triangle’s drug economy

    Myanmar has surpassed Afghanistan as the world’s leading opium producer, with production rising 36 per cent in 2023.

    Collaborating on security issues can be challenging for states, but the UN plays a crucial role in fostering dialogue
    – Jeremy Douglas, UNODC

    The country also leads global methamphetamine production, which has become the dominant drug according to UNODC data, with seizures quadrupling between 2013 and 2022.

    Furthermore, criminal groups in the Golden Triangle – Myanmar, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Thailand – have expanded into online scams, wildlife trafficking, money laundering and human trafficking.

    In response, UNODC has promoted regional cooperation through the establishment of approximately 120 border liaison offices to facilitate intelligence sharing and coordinated action.

    “Collaborating on security issues can be challenging for States, but the UN plays a crucial role in fostering dialogue,” said Jeremy Douglas, former UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific and now Chief of Staff and Strategy Advisor to the Executive Director.

    UN News/Daniel Dickinson

    Goods being loaded onto a boat in Lao People’s Democratic Republic to be transported across the Mekong river to Thailand. (file)

    Global drug crisis

    The impact of transnational crime extends far beyond producer countries.

    New synthetic drugs are on the rise, particularly in North America, which faces a fentanyl crisis, as well as in areas of Asia and Africa.

    Western and Central European countries, particularly those with a North Sea coastline, also face considerable challenges, with their ports becoming major entry points for cocaine.

    In the Sahel, illicit gold and fuel trafficking undermine governance and security and complicates sustainable development, depriving the nation of critical income.

    Wildlife crimes, gold smuggling, and organised fraud are just a few examples of how these crimes converge, exploiting fragile ecosystems and vulnerable communities worldwide.

    Nevertheless, UNODC remains committed to supporting global efforts.

    People-centred approach

    “Despite these challenges, there is hope,” Ms. Welsch said.

    She highlighted the importance of public awareness campaigns targeting youth and community programmes involving parents and teachers, as well as the need to ensure that everyone who requires treatment for drug abuse can access it.

    “The only way to overcome global problems is to galvanise international action. That is why UNODC is joining forces with partners to help secure our common future,” she concluded.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Rights expert demands release of Russian doctor jailed for anti-war views

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Human Rights

    A UN human rights expert on Friday strongly condemned the jailing of a 68-year-old paediatrician in Moscow, describing the case as another example of Russia’s “systematic suppression of dissenting voices”.

    Dr. Nadezhda Buyanova was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for allegedly making anti-war remarks concerning Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, during a private medical consultation.

    “It is appalling to sentence a doctor for unproven private comment in the course of her professional duties,” said Mariana Katzarova, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation.

    The case originated when the widow of a Russian serviceman killed in Ukraine filed a complaint alleging that Dr. Buyanova made derogatory statements about her deceased husband during their child’s medical appointment.

    Russia the aggressor

    According to the complaint, the doctor allegedly described the father as a “legitimate target for the Ukrainian army” and stated that “Russia is to blame as it is the aggressor”.

    The court reportedly relied on a pre-trail interview with the seven-year-old and the advanced phrasing involved suggested the testimony had likely been scripted. The child was not allowed to be cross-examined, undermining the fairness of proceedings, said the independent Human Rights Council-appointed expert.

    Trial concerns

    Dr. Buyanova, who was born in Lviv, Ukraine, has rejected the allegations against her. Responding to accusations of anti-Russian bias, she stated, “I am related to three ethnicities: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. I don’t want to have to choose between them”.

    “This rushed trial based primarily on the testimony of a seven-year-old child, is yet another example of sham trials in Russia, targeting individuals simply for their anti-war stance,” Ms. Katzarova said.

    The proceedings have raised concerns regarding unfairness for relying on the child’s testimony whose statement contained advanced phrasing, while denying the defence of any opportunity for cross-examination.

    Systemic repression

    The case has sparked widespread protest within Russia’s medical community, with more than 1,000 doctors signing an open letter advocating for Dr. Buyanova’s release.

    Their protest emerges against a backdrop of intensifying repression, with current estimates indicating between 1,372 and 1,700 political prisoners detained in Russia, many for opposing the war in Ukraine.

    “This case reflects the pattern of widespread and systemic suppression of any peaceful anti-war expression, targeting human rights defenders, political opposition and ordinary citizens for expressing views challenging state narratives,” Ms, Katzorva said.

    In her September report to the UN Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur urged the Russian Government to cease using its judicial system as a political tool to silence civil society and dissenting voices.

    “Buyova’s case is yet another emblematic case in Russia meant to gag war critics and instil fear among the Russian people,” Ms. Katzarova concluded.

    “Buyanova must be released immediately and all charges against her dropped. Laws that stifle freedom of expression such as ‘war-censorship’ laws should be urgently repealed”.

    Special Rapporteurs and other independent rights experts work on a voluntary basis, are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. The belong to no organisation or government, serving in a purely individual capacity.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: ICC Prosecutor appeals for global support to bring Libyan war criminals to justice

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    By Vibhu Mishra

    Law and Crime Prevention

    The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday called on the UN Security Council to help execute arrest warrants against suspects allegedly linked to a brutal Libyan militia blamed for committing atrocity crimes in the town of Tarhuna, where mass graves were discovered in 2020.

    The six who remain at large were either key members or associated with the Al Kaniyat militia that controlled Tarhuna from at least 2015 to June 2020, when government forces ousted them from the city, which is located about 65 kilometres (about 40 miles) southeast of Tripoli.

    The arrest warrants against Abdurahem Khalefa Abdurahem Elshgagi “Al Khani”,  Makhlouf Makhlouf Arhoumah Doumah “Douma”,  Nasser Muhammad Muftah Daou “Al Lahsa”, Mohamed Mohamed Al Salheen Salmi “Salheen”, Abdelbari Ayyad Ramadan Al Shaqaqi “Al Shaqaqi” and Fathi Faraj Mohamed Salim Al Zinkal “Al Zinkal” were unsealed last month.

    Since June 2020, hundreds of bodies have been exhumed from mass graves in and around Tarhuna, allegedly victims of crimes amounting to war crimes, including murder, torture, sexual violence and rape.

    Dignified, steely determination

    Briefing ambassadors on the Security Council from the Libyan capital Tripoli, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan spoke of his meetings and interactions with families of the victims.

    “Today, one individual said something very simple and very true, that every household in Tarhuna has a victim. Every person that detailed a loss has suffered an end to their universe, and heartbreak was palpable and sincere,” he said.

    He also relayed their “steely determination”.

    “They have a clear conviction – the justice and accountability and fair processes are essential for themselves, their families, their community and for Libya at large,” he added, stressing the importance of international support to execute the warrants.

    He called for the assistance of the Security Council, State Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC, and other non-State Parties to ensure that the suspects are apprehended and brought to justice, in an independent, free and fair trial.

    New paradigm shift

    Mr. Khan also highlighted a “new paradigm shift” that progress is possible, discernible and can be identified.

    He noted significant progress in investigations related to detention facility crimes and crimes committed between 2014 and 2020, adding that further applications for arrest warrants are expected over the coming months.

    Some of the applications may be secret to seize arrest opportunities, he said.

    Mr. Khan also highlighted the need for continued partnership with Libyan authorities to achieve these goals, citing positive outcomes of his meetings with Libyan officials, including the Attorney General and the establishment of a new mechanism to coordinate investigations and prosecutions.

    The ICC team has also intensified engagement with civil society organizations, noting that his team met with over 70 Libyan civil society groups and human rights defenders and discussed their expectations.

    “[They] are not an appendage [but] at the heart of our discussions,” Mr. Khan said.

    UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

    Karim Khan (on screen), Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), briefs the Security Council meeting on the situation in Libya.

    Plans are working

    In conclusion, he recalled the roadmap for completing the investigative stage of the judicial process.

    “I believe, collectively through these combined activities, these plans are working,” he said, stressing that the “hopes, expectations and steely determination of victims need to be at the forefront.”

    While there are many challenges and the next steps will not be straightforward, he expressed his belief that there is space to develop solutions to problem that has plagued Libya for over 13 years.

    Security Council referral

    While not a UN organization, the ICC has a cooperation agreement with the United Nations. When a situation is not within the Court’s jurisdiction, the Security Council can refer the situation to the ICC granting it jurisdiction.

    The situation in Libya was referred to the ICC Prosecutor by the Security Council in resolution 1970, adopted in February 2011. In March, the Prosecutor announced the decision to open an investigation.

    In that resolution, the Council also imposed targeted sanctions, including a travel ban on President Muammar Al-Qadhafi and other senior figures in his administration, including some family members.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN rights expert calls for end to Russia’s crackdown on lawyers

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Human Rights

    A UN independent human rights expert on Tuesday called for an end to Russia’s severe crackdown on the legal profession, condemning the prison sentences handed down to three lawyers last week who defended the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

    Mariana Katzarova, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, urged Russian authorities to release lawyers Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin, who were sentenced on 17 January to prison terms on “extremism” charges.

    Their trial, held in the Petushki district court of the Vladimir region, was criticized as a sham.

    “This week, when we mark the International Day of the Endangered Lawyer, the Russian Government continues reprisals against lawyers for carrying out their professional duties,” Ms. Katzarova said.

    She called for the immediate release of three lawyers, and for the verdict against them to be annulled.

    Chilling effect

    The sentencing of Mr. Kobzev, Mr. Liptser and Mr. Sergunin serves as a “chilling warning” to lawyers considering politically sensitive cases in Russia, Ms. Katzarova said, describing the charges as baseless under international law.

    “The term ‘extremism’ has no foundation in international law and constitutes a violation of human rights when used to trigger criminal liability,” she said.

    The trial took place behind closed doors, although around 50 people were allowed into the courtroom as the verdict was handed down, including journalists and lawyers, according to a news release issued by the Special Rapporteur.

    Five others, four of them journalists, were arbitrarily detained, apparently to prevent them from attending the hearing. They were later released.

    “The persecution of lawyers and journalists is part of an alarming pattern of targeted repression and State control that is silencing independent media and the legal profession throughout Russia,” Ms. Katzarova added.

    Escalating repressions

    The Special Rapporteur’s 2024 report to the UN Human Rights Council documented continuing attacks on the legal profession in Russia.

    “Lawyers have been imprisoned, prosecuted, disbarred and intimidated simply for carrying out their professional duties,” Ms. Katzarova said.

    She noted “widespread use” of vague legal definitions and unpredictable, often abusive, interpretations, as well as closed trials which have allowed Russian authorities to misuse and instrumentalise counter-extremism, counter-terrorism and national security legislation to stifle critics, ban anti-war speech, imprison legitimate political opponents and punish and endanger their defence lawyers.

    “This practice must end,” she added.

    Independent expert

    The mandate of the Special Rapporteur was established by the Human Rights Council in October 2022, and subsequently extended.

    Ms. Katzarova was appointed as the Special Rapporteur by the Council in April 2023 and assumed her function on 1 May 2023. She is not a UN staff member, does not draw a salary, and serves in her individual capacity, independent of the UN Secretariat.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: World News in Brief: Hostilities in northeast Syria, response plan in Mali, Uyghur deportations in Thailand

    Source: United Nations MIL OSI

    Humanitarian Aid

    The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued an alert on Tuesday over intensifying hostilities in the northeast in recent days. 

    Between 16 and 18 January, at least three civilians were killed and 14 injured in shelling and other attacks impacting Manbij, Ain al-Arab and other villages near the Tishreen Dam in the eastern Aleppo region.

    UN partners also reported that shops in the main market were damaged when an improvised bomb detonated inside a car in Manbij.

    These incidents have forced people from their homes and obstructed aid access, OCHA reported after sending a mission to the city on Monday.

    The mission visited the Manbij National Hospital and met with local officials, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and local non-governmental organizations to identify and address the issues at stake, according to Farhan Haq, the Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General.

    OCHA and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also completed a monitoring mission on Monday to the Ain Al Bayda water station in eastern Aleppo.

    Deadly remains

    UN partners have recorded 69 explosive ordnance incidents over the first two weeks of January due to contamination, in which 45 people were killed and 60 others wounded.

    “Since 26 November, a total of 134 new areas with explosive remnants of war have been identified by partners across five governorates – Idlib, Aleppo, Hama, Deir-ez-Zor and Latakia,” said Mr. Haq.

    As people continue to move and return to their communities, UN partners are calling for increased and flexible funding for mine action, including risk education and emergency clearance.                   

    Meanwhile, with water and sanitation services suspended in many displacement camps due to funding gaps affecting more than 635,000 people, OCHA asked for increased funding to ensure the continuation of its services.

    $770 million response plan launched in Mali

    On Tuesday, the UN in collaboration with Mali’s transitional authorities, launched a $770 million humanitarian needs and response plan in the capital Bamako to support millions of people across the country this year.

    © UNFPA Mali/Amadou Maiga

    Two girls at the Barigondaga displacement site in Mali.

    The plan aims to address the urgent needs of 4.7 million people affected by conflict, displacement, health emergencies and climate shocks, according to the Deputy Spokesperson.

    Mostly women and children

    Nearly 80 per cent of the people to be reached with aid are women and children who are in need of food, water, healthcare and protection support.

    Last year, UN partners mobilised nearly 40 per cent of what was required – just over $270 million – enabling lifesaving assistance and protection to reach 1.8 million people.

    The Acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator on the ground, Khassim Diagne, said it is urgent that the entire humanitarian community and donors renew their commitment to addressing essential needs in the region.

    UN rights experts urge Thailand to halt Uyghur deportations

    Independent UN human rights experts have called on Thailand to immediately stop the deportation of 48 Uyghurs to China, citing serious concerns over potential torture and inhumane treatment.

    “The treatment of the Uyghur minority in China is well-documented,” the Human Rights Council-appointed experts stated. “We are concerned they are at risk of suffering irreparable harm.”

    The experts emphasised the international prohibition on refoulement, which forbids returning individuals to countries where they face real risks of torture or cruel treatment. They urged Thailand to provide urgent medical care to the mostly Muslim Uyghurs being held.

    The 48 individuals are part of a larger group of around 350 Uyghurs detained in Thailand since 2014 after crossing the border irregularly. They have reportedly been held incommunicado for over a decade, without access to legal representation, family members or UN officials.

    No return

    “It is our view that these persons should not be returned to China,” the experts said. “They must be provided with access to asylum procedures and humanitarian assistance, including medical and psycho-social support.”

    The experts highlighted that 23 of the 48 Uyghurs held suffer from severe health conditions, including diabetes, kidney dysfunction and paralysis. “It is essential they receive appropriate medical care,” the experts added.

    Thai authorities were reminded of their obligation to treat all detainees humanely and with dignity, ensuring access to legal representation, medical assistance and the ability to communicate with lawyers and family members.

    The plea underscores the urgent need for Thailand to uphold international human rights standards and protect the Uyghur detainees from potential harm.

    Special Rapporteurs and other experts are not UN staff, receive no salary for their work and are fully independent of any government or organization. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN underlines solidarity with Ukraine 1,000 days into Russian invasion

    Source: United Nations 2

    Humanitarian Aid

    The international community must continue to show solidarity with Ukraine, a senior UN aid official said on Tuesday, marking 1,000 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country. 

    The “grim milestone” fell as Ukraine fired long-range American-made missiles into Russia for the first time, according to media reports.

    ‘Not just numbers’

    Conflict erupted in Ukraine over a decade ago following Russia’s occupation of Crimea in the east and escalated on 24 February 2022 with the full-scale assault on the country.

    The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, detailed the death and destruction that has occurred since then.

    More than 39,000 civilians have been killed or injured, and over 3,400 schools and hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, while 10 million people have fled their homes.

    “These are not just numbers; each one of them represents countless stories of individual unimaginable pain for the people of Ukraine,” he said.

    Stand with Ukraine

    Although the UN “cannot erase the horrors of the war”, Mr. Schmale said it has worked with national and international organizations and the Government to address the acute needs of the most vulnerable, which includes people with limited mobility and older persons.

    “As Ukrainians brace for another winter of war, the UN’s support and the solidarity of the international community must remain firm,” he said.

    “I urge the international community to stand with Ukraine and to continue recognizing and supporting the heroic work of the many first responders, including volunteers.”

    Pain, suffering and rights violations

    The UN human rights office, OHCHR, provided further information on the war’s toll in a statement marking the “grim milestone”.

    OHCHR has verified that at least 12,162 civilians, including 659 children, have been killed since 24 February 2022, while at least 26,919 have been injured.

    “As the High Commissioner has said, it has been 1,000 days too many of senseless pain and suffering. Violations of human rights have become the order of the day, both in the conduct of hostilities and in areas under occupation,” Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told journalists in Geneva.

    © UNOCHA/Dmytro Filipskyy

    Strikes in Kharkiv in September left dozens of families homeless and caused multiple injuries.

    Airstrikes continue

    He said that over the past two days, at least 30 civilians have reportedly been killed in a series of deadly strikes in residential areas in Sumy City, Odesa and Hlukhiv.

    “In the very latest attack on Hlukhiv, which occurred late last night, nine civilians, including a child, were reportedly killed, and 11, including two children, injured,” he said, noting that search and rescue operations are ongoing.

    He added that the Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Danielle Bell, visited several locations in Zaporizhzhia on Monday that had recently been struck by Russian glide bombs.

    The locations included an oncology centre which was hit on 7 November as cancer patients were receiving chemotherapy, and an apartment building where half the structure was destroyed by another glide bomb the same day. Ten people were killed.

    Stop the violence

    “We call on all parties to ensure the safety and protection of civilians. Effective measures must also be taken to fully and impartially investigate where there are credible allegations of violations,” said Mr. Laurence.

    “The violence must stop – for the sake of the people of Ukraine, the people of Russia, and the world.”

    Separately, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine highlighted the immense suffering caused by Russia’s violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

    Widespread, systematic torture

    These include the indiscriminate use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, the targeting of civilian objectives, “massive waves of attacks” on energy infrastructure, and the forced transfer and deportation of children.

    The Commission drew attention to its report issued last month which concluded that torture committed by Russian authorities against Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war amounts to a crime against humanity. 

    “Such crimes are among the most serious under international law,” members said, adding that torture “has been widespread, systematic, and committed as a coordinated state policy.”

    Warmth and dignity in winter

    Meanwhile, 1,000 days of war have left more than 14.6 million Ukrainians in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, including 3.5 million displaced within the country, said Amy Pope, Director General of UN migration agency, IOM.

    “As winter arrives, the persistent attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – decimating 65 per cent of the country’s generation capacity – have left communities struggling without adequate electricity, heating, or water,” she said

    “This is a matter of survival for millions of people and requires the international community to stand together in solidarity.”

    Ms. Pope called on governments, private sector leaders, and people worldwide to sustain their support for those in greatest need.  

     “Together, we can ensure that even in the darkest of winters, there is warmth, dignity, and the promise of a peaceful future,” she said. 

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy system risks nuclear disaster: Rights experts

    Source: United Nations 2

    Human Rights

    Independent UN human rights experts have warned of an escalating risk of nuclear disaster in Ukraine following Russia’s continued attacks on the country’s electrical infrastructure, with the most recent strike occurring on 17 November.  

     Their warning comes amid growing international concern about the vulnerability of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities which rely on a stable power grid to maintain critical safety systems. 

    “The latest large-scale Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s electricity system has led to further significant damage to electric substations that are essential to the operation of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants,” the experts emphasised.

    Severe damage, civilian casualties

    The strikes occurred overnight and reportedly caused severe damage, power outages and civilian casualties. The timing of this attack raises additional concerns as Ukraine enters the winter months, when power demands typically surge.  

    This latest assault came despite earlier warnings from 13 UN Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups, who had formally communicated with Moscow on 22 October about the prohibition of such attacks under international humanitarian law.  

    Further, the attacks occurred despite earlier arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in June 2024 for high-ranking Russian government officials specifically related to strikes against Ukraine’s electric power infrastructure.

    Adding to the nuclear safety concerns, the UN Human rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented extensive civilian harm from these long-range attacks on the power system.

     Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant concerns

    The experts further recalled credible allegations of Russian forces subjecting staff at Europe’s biggest nuclear energy facility, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP),  to intimidation, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and torture.  

    “Having reportedly lost two-thirds of its power generation capacity, further damage to Ukraine’s electricity system could lead to an electricity blackout which would increase the risk of operating nuclear reactors losing access to the grid for powering their safety systems,” the experts cautioned.  

    They warned that such a scenario could trigger a nuclear disaster potentially exceeding both the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine.  

    While the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agreed to expand its mission to Ukraine to include inspection of electric substations, progress has been limited.  

    “Despite the urgency of the situation, full implementation of an expanded monitoring mission had yet to be announced by the IAEA,” the experts noted. Only one mission was completed in October 2024, with no subsequent missions scheduled.  

    Stop attacks, avert risk

    “We reiterate our urgent appeal for Russian armed forces to immediately cease their attacks against Ukraine’s power generation plants, substations, transmission and distribution lines and other energy infrastructure and to avert the risk of nuclear disaster,” the experts concluded, emphasising the immediate need for action to prevent catastrophic consequences.

    Independent experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor and report on specific country situations or thematic issues. They work on a voluntary basis, are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.

    Hostilities ongoing

    Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA said attacks and hostilities across Ukraine continued over the weekend and on Monday

    The attacks resulted in scores of casualties, including children, and significantly damaged civilian infrastructure, particularly in Kharkiv, in Odesa and Zaporizhzhia, according to local authorities and UN partners on the ground.

    As a result of the damage, nearly 150,000 families, as well as hospitals, schools and businesses, are currently without heating in the Dnipro and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, where temperatures have dropped below zero degrees centigrade, OCHA said, citing local authorities.

    Humanitarian organizations mobilized swiftly and provided emergency assistance in Kharkiv and Odesa, among other affected areas, delivering food, repair materials and psychosocial support.     

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Rights chief calls on Georgian authorities to protect basic freedoms

    Source: United Nations 2

    Human Rights

    The UN human rights chief on Monday urged Georgian authorities to respect and protect rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, following four nights of protests marred by violence.

    The legitimate protests were dispersed using disproportionate and, in some cases, unnecessary force by the police in the capital, Tbilisi, according to the statement from High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

    Dozens of protesters and media workers were reportedly injured during the demonstrations sparked by a prime ministerial announcement postponing negotiations on joining the European Union.

    Security forces reportedly used pepper spray, water cannons and chemical irritants against protesters and journalists. Some were also reportedly chased and beaten by unidentified assailants.

    “The use of unnecessary or disproportionate force against protesters and media workers is extremely worrying,” said Mr. Türk. “All Georgians from across the political spectrum should be able to express their views about the future of their country freely and peacefully.”

    International human rights standards stipulate that States must promote an enabling environment for the exercise of right, including peaceful assembly, without discrimination, said UN rights office OHCHR.

    Any use of force by security personnel must remain “an exception and comply with the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, precaution and non-discrimination.”

    Protesters must show restraint

    High Commissioner Türk also called on protesters to exercise their rights peacefully. Reports indicate rocks, fireworks and bottles were thrown at security forces, in addition to causing damage to the parliament building. The Ministry of Interior said at least 113 of its staff were injured.

    The Special Investigation Service of Georgia – an independent institution accountable to Parliament that investigates allegations against law enforcement officials – announced that it has launched a probe into the abuse of official authority by police officers.

    “All those found responsible for violations should be held accountable, and allegations of ill-treatment of detainees should also be investigated,” the High Commissioner said.

    Individual officers from riot control squads or special police units, lack individual identification numbers or nametags – making accountability more difficult.

    “These incidents underscore once again the need to address this long-standing concern when it comes to establishing individual responsibility of law enforcement officers in Georgia,” said the rights chief.

    According to the Guide on Less Lethal Weapons in Law Enforcement, issued by OHCHR in 2020, authorities should ensure that “law enforcement officials be identifiable, for example by wearing nametags or individually assigned service numbers”.

    Scores detained

    Latest figures from the Ministry of Interior indicate that at least 224 people were detained during the four nights of protests. They face charges of petty hooliganism and disobeying lawful police orders. “Reports that a number of children are among those detained are particularly worrying,” Mr. Türk said. “All their rights must be fully respected.”

    He added that all those detained for the legitimate exercise of their rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly must be freed “immediately and unconditionally.”

    “Those facing other charges should be guaranteed all their rights to due process, presumption of innocence, legal counsel, as well as the right to challenge the lawfulness of their pre-trial detention, and adequate medical care if needed.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN envoy urges responsible leadership amid Kosovo-Serbia tensions

    Source: United Nations 2

    By Vibhu Mishra

    Peace and Security

    As tensions mount between Pristina and Belgrade, the UN’s top official in Kosovo called for “responsible leadership” from all parties to protect human rights and foster constructive political dialogue.

    Caroline Ziadeh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), briefed ambassadors in the Security Council on recent developments, calling for greater cooperation to stabilize the region and safeguard fundamental freedoms.

    She highlighted the situation in northern Kosovo, where civil society groups, political figures and residents are increasingly worried about the impact of unilateral political moves that have disrupted their daily lives.  

    During a visit in September, local stakeholders told her that closures of Belgrade-run Post of Serbia branches and municipal offices have limited access to essential services, especially for the Kosovo Serb community.  

    “These community members further voiced anxiety over indications that the Pristina authorities may attempt to assert control over the Serbia-funded education and health institutions.”

    Safeguarding human rights

    Ms. Ziadeh further emphasised that advancing and safeguarding human rights “is at the very core of our mission in Kosovo,” noting a recent uptick in civic activism but also raising alarm over arrests related to freedom of expression and assembly.

    The Police Inspectorate of Kosovo is investigating allegations of excessive force and mistreatment in police custody, she added, as she suggested that publishing the Inspectorate’s findings could enhance transparency and help rebuild trust in public institutions.

    She also welcomed recent progress made by the Working Group on Missing Persons and continued efforts to meet the expectations of families, “whose ongoing grief deeply continues to weigh heavily on the social fabric”.

    Kosovo and Serbia dialogue

    Ms. Ziadeh also addressed recent developments in the European Union (EU)-facilitated dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia.

    She welcomed the setting up of a working group to ease the entry of certain perishable goods and to advance energy connectivity, the lifting of restrictions on Serbian goods, as well as nine key trade agreements under the Central European Free Trade Agreement.

    “It is imperative that the current bottlenecks will be expeditiously addressed. This recent progress underscores the potential for deeper work toward regional integration via constructive diplomatic compromises,” she said.

    Upcoming elections

    With Kosovo approaching a pre-election period, Ms. Ziadeh urged political leaders to create an environment that supports the right to vote and encourages peaceful participation in public affairs.

    Emphasising the need for responsible leadership, she urged the Security Council and international partners to support Kosovo in fostering dialogue, protecting fundamental rights, and promoting lasting stability.

    “By working together, we can propel constructive political dialogue, protect fundamental rights and promote a more lasting security and prosperity for all,” she said.

    SRSG Ziadeh briefs the Security Council.

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Wyden, Merkley, Colleagues Urge Trump Administration to Exempt Seasonal Firefighters from Federal Hiring Freeze

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore)
    February 11, 2025
    Washington D.C. — U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today joined their Senate colleagues to urge the Trump Administration to exempt seasonal firefighters from the federal hiring freeze that’s reportedly preventing the hiring and onboarding of seasonal firefighters, a workforce that already struggles with recruitment and retention. 
    “We write today following reports that hiring and onboarding for federal seasonal firefighters has stopped due to the Trump Administration’s federal hiring freeze,” wrote the senators. “We are extremely concerned to hear that this is happening across the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service ahead of what’s expected to be another devastating wildfire year.”
    “Although there is an urgent need to hire more federal firefighters, the Trump Administration’s hiring freeze does the opposite and is pausing hiring at a critical time for this already understaffed workforce,” they continued. “We urge you to put the safety of families and communities across the country first and allow the federal seasonal firefighter hiring process to continue without delay.”
    The letter was led by U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and along with Wyden and Merkley, the letter was co-signed by U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Angus King, I-Maine, Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.
    Wyden and Merkley have been champions for wildland firefighters. In January, Wyden joined Senate colleagues in reintroducing legislation to expand access to federal support for the families of firefighters and other first responders who died or became permanently disabled from service-related cancers. When he was Chair of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee – which funds the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service – Merkley wrote government funding legislation that honors the courageous work of federal wildland firefighters by establishing a permanent fix to prevent a devastating pay cut and providing additional support. In 2023, Wyden and Merkley urged the Senate to prioritize permanent, comprehensive pay reform for wildland firefighters in Oregon and nationwide.
    Full text of the letter is here.

    MIL OSI USA News –