30 October 2017 – Two-thirds of the nearly 3,000 unaccompanied refugee and migrant children currently in Greece are not receiving proper shelter and care, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned.

&#8220Children stranded without families should have proper shelter, care and protection, and there are solutions that could make this a reality for them,&#8221 said Laurent Chapuis, Country Coordinator for UNICEF’s refugee and migrant response in Greece in a press release issued over the weekend.

The solutions include transfer these children to shelters on the mainland without delays, devote available funding to existing shelters with the right standards, and put more foster care or supervised living schemes in place, he added.

Although the Greek authorities and their partners have made tremendous efforts in responding to the needs of children and families, the recent surge in the refugee and migrant arrivals has led to further overcrowding and deteriorating living conditions in island camps, with some reception facilities hosting twice as many as they were designed for.

In September, there were more than 5,700 arrivals in Greece compared to an estimated 3,080 arrivals a year earlier.

There are now some 1,800 unaccompanied children waiting for a place in shelter, living in open sites, reception centres, or who are otherwise stranded on the islands or in de facto detention centres. Some of these children are even living on the streets, and the approaching winter is adding to the risk.

Children are particularly vulnerable at night without proper safeguards in place. Delays of up to five months in transferring children from the islands to the mainland are compounding their emotional and mental strain.

UNICEF is also calling for urgent policy and legal reforms to strengthen community-based care after years of economic hardship in Greece. For those children who have family elsewhere in Europe, UNICEF is urging other European countries to step up family reunification.

30 October 2017 – More than one thousand business leaders, government officials and academics will converge at a United Nations forum Tuesday in Bahrain to strengthen global partnerships, entrepreneurship and investment for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

&#8220As our world gets more interconnected, no one country or region can meet development challenges on its own,&#8221 the President of the General Assembly, Miroslav Lajčák &#8211 who will be attending the World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum &#8211 told UN News.

&#8220The Forum offers a unique opportunity to promote entrepreneurship and innovation &#8211 both of which can help us build momentum to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),&#8221 he added.

Being organized from 31 October to 2 November by the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in partnership with the Government of Bahrain, the World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum has the overarching theme of achieving the SDGs through promoting entrepreneurship and innovation.

At this time of global economic uncertainty, enhanced international development cooperation is more important than ever […] world leaders need to deliver on their promise to lift people from poverty, ensure sustainability and make sure that no one is left behind President of the General Assembly Miroslav Lajčák

The three day Forum also includes a number of key events on the Maritime-Continental Silk Road; investing for global impact; women in industry; private sector engagement for implementing SDGs; promoting inclusive investment in Africa; and forging partnerships between entrepreneurs.

Highlighting, in particular, the focus on the role of female entrepreneurs and the challenges they face in industry, Hashim Hussein, the Head of UNIDO Investment, Technology and Promotion Office in Bahrain (ITPO-Bahrain) said that the percentage of women holding senior positions &#8211 below 10 per cent worldwide and challenges relating to issues such as maternity leave and working hours &#8211 are indicative of the challenges they face at work.

The Forum will, therefore, discusses addressing these challenges and explore opportunities for women to be more active in the industrial arena and promote women entrepreneurship, including through access to finance and new technologies, building support networks, and managerial skills.

It will focus on the role of female entrepreneurs, partnerships for development, and the implications for achieving the 2030 Agenda, in particular SDG 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure.

It will also recognize the contributions made by prominent women entrepreneurs from different parts of the world.

Linked to the World Forum, UNIDO organized a training on understanding links between gender equality and industrial development, and designing programmes and policies that promote women’s economic empowerment.

Concluding later today, key issues and challenges identified at the training will feed into one of the Forum’s plenary sessions, informed Mr. Hussein.

Also on the agenda for the Forum is the inauguration of the Bahrain Entrepreneurs Exhibition, launch of the Maritime-Continental Silk Road Entrepreneurs Alliance and Action Plan, and the unveiling of the Coding for Girls joint initiative between the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UNIDO ITPO-Bahrain, Microsoft and the Bahrain Supreme Council for Women.

UN News is on location in Manama, Bahrain, covering the Forum and its associated events. Follow @UN_News_Centre and @UNNewsArabic to stay updated on news and highlights from WEIF 2017.

29 October 2017 – Visiting Iran, the head of the United Nations atomic energy agency on Sunday reiterated that the commitments undertaken by the country under the nuclear accord of 2015 are being implemented.

According to the press release issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), its Director General Yukiya Amano met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Vice-President and President of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, during a visit to the capital, Tehran.

Since January 2016, the IAEA has been verifying and monitoring Iran’s implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council in 2015.

The accord between its five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), plus Germany, the European Union (EU) and Iran, set out rigorous mechanisms for monitoring limits on Iran’s nuclear programme, while paving the way for lifting UN sanctions against the country.

The release said that the IAEA’s verification and monitoring activities are conducted in an impartial and objective manner and in accordance with the modalities defined by the JCPOA and standard safeguards practice.

Mr. Amano reiterated that the JCPOA represents a clear gain from a verification point of view, and stressed the importance of full implementation by Iran of its nuclear-related commitments in order to make the JCPOA sustainable.

28 October 2017 – At the end of a five-day mission to conflict-torn Yemen, the United Nations humanitarian chief on Saturday stressed the need for more funding and better humanitarian access to help the population in need.

&#8220It has been shocking to see the terrible impact of this man-made conflict,&#8221 UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said in a press release issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

&#8220In Aden and Sana’a, and during my visits to Lahj, Hudadydah, Hajjah, and Amran governorates, I have met hundreds of Yemenis, and listened to their stories of atrocious suffering,&#8221 he added.

Plunged into civil war between Houthi rebels and supporters of Yemen’s internationally recognized Government in 2015, Yemen has faced one of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, including the fastest growing cholera epidemic ever recorded, the world’s largest food emergency and widespread population displacement.

Mr. Lowcock, who is also Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that the UN and partners have the capacity to further scale up their work but more generous and timely donor financing is needed and all parties must help facilitate and never hinder humanitarians’ work.

During this visit, his first to the country since his appointment on 1 September 2017, Mr. Lowcock held frank discussions with the Government in Aden and those in positions of authority in Sana’a on ways to alleviate the suffering of the population and address the challenging operating environment.

In Aden, he asked Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Dagher, among other things, to ensure progress on paying salaries to health workers, teachers and other civil servants, to get Sana’a’s airport reopened for commercial and humanitarian flights and to improve the operation of the ports, especially Al-Hudaydah.

In Sana’a, he raised serious concerns about the operating environment facing the UN and other humanitarian agencies.

&#8220I am concerned about the increasing levels of interference in the work of the humanitarian agencies, including delays in granting and denial of visas, delays of essential equipment and supplies at the ports, bureaucratic impediments affecting NGOs and preventing essential assessments of needs so that we can target our assistance most effectively,&#8221 he said.

Mr. Lowcock stressed that the end to the horrendous suffering in Yemen requires an end to the conflict, for which a political resolution is needed.

&#8220In the absence of substantial progress on all these points, the already dire situation will continue to deteriorate. The human suffering, already extreme, will grow and grow,&#8221 he said.

Despite challenging conditions and lack of funding, UN and humanitarian parties are providing direct assistance to more than 7 million people each month.

27 October 2017 – The international security crisis over the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) must not overshadow the human rights situation of millions of ordinary citizens in the country, a United Nations human rights expert has said.

“While the current tensions divert our attention to the authorities, we should not forget that behind the Government there are ordinary citizens whose human rights need protection, more so than ever,” Tomás Ojea Quintana, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Asian country, told reporters in New York today.

Earlier this week, the Special Rapporteur appealed to the UN General Assembly’s main body dealing with human rights and social and humanitarian issues (Third Committee) to ensure that human rights were not overlooked amid the unprecedented tensions over the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme.

He said the wider sanctions on coal, iron and seafood imposed by the UN Security Council in September may have a negative impact on the population, citing reports that sanctions may have prevented cancer patients from access to chemotherapy and blocked the import of disability equipment.

In his full report to the General Assembly, the expert said DPRK citizens continued to suffer patterns of “grave violations” of their human rights, citing concerns over the situation of prisoners and abductees, access to food, corruption and freedom of information.

The expert reported on the testimonies of those who had told him of their fear of being sent to a political prison camp, as well as of those who were detained in inhumane conditions in holding centres near the border with China. He was also informed of the challenges people met to circumvent the country’s system of surveillance.

The situation of family members who were forcibly separated during the Korean War, or as a result of abduction by the DPRK, was highlighted in the report as requiring urgent action to restore those family links.

Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.