21 August 2017 – The United Nations labour agency has launched a high-level international body that will chart the course towards a future of decent and sustainable work opportunities for all, and to tackle the challenges of delivering social justice in today’s rapidly transforming world of work.

&#8220It is fundamentally important that we confront these challenges from the conviction that the future of work is not decided for us in advance,&#8221 said Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) at the launch of the Global Commission on the Future of Work.

According to ILO, the global body is expected to undertake an in-depth examination of the future of work that can provide the analytical basis for the delivery of social justice in the 21st century. It will in particular on the relationship between work and society, the challenge of creating decent jobs for all, the organization of work and production, and the governance of work.

Mr. Ryder reminded the audience attending the launch ceremony in Geneva that these are key issues of our time, which increasingly occupy political life and define hopes, and sometimes fears, of families across the world.

&#8220It is a future that we must make according to the values and preferences that we choose and through policies that we design and implement,&#8221 he added.

Co-chairs Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, the President of Mauritius, and Stefan Löfven, the Prime Minister of Sweden, announced the 20 members of the Commission, as the ILO chief underscored that the membership &#8220reflects a balance of geographical regions, of different disciplines. There is gender balance and there is representation of workers and employers.&#8221

The Commission was set up under the ILO’s Future of Work Centenary Initiative launched in 2013 by Mr. Ryder.

Over the past 18 months, in the run-up to the launch of the Global Commission, the ILO’s tripartite constituents &#8211 governments, employer and worker organizations &#8211 have held national dialogues in over 110 countries. Their outcome will feed into the independent report that will be submitted to the Centenary Conference of the ILO in 2019.

21 August 2017 – The United Nations health agency is working closely with the Government of Sierra Leone to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as malaria and cholera in the wake of last week’s mudslides and flooding in the country’s capital, Freetown.

&#8220The mudslides have caused extreme suffering and loss of life, and we must do all we can to protect the population from additional health risks,&#8221 said Alexander Chimbaru, Officer in Charge of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Sierra Leone, in a press release.

With damage to water and sanitation facilities, residents of affected areas are particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of pre-existing infectious diseases including malaria and diarrheal conditions such as typhoid and cholera. The most recent cholera outbreak in the country occurred in 2012.

Cholera response kits, including rapid testing tools, are being distributed to areas at risk, while health and community workers are being trained to recognize the signs of priority diseases.

&#8220While the Government and WHO are working hard to strengthen health services in the affected areas, we also urge the population to take the following precautions to help avoid a possible outbreak: hand washing, drinking only water that has been properly boiled or treated, use of latrines for sanitation, and adherence to good food hygiene practices,&#8221 added Dr. Chimbaru.

Around 500 people are known to have died as a result of the flooding and mudslides that devastated whole communities in and around Freetown, and hundreds more are still missing.

21 August 2017 – El Salvador is suffering a ‘hidden tragedy’ due to gang-related violence, an independent United Nations human rights expert today said, urging national authorities to intensify efforts to help and protect people affected by gangs.

&#8220El Salvador is suffering a hidden tragedy of people who have had to leave their homes because of the high levels of gang-related violence,&#8221 said Special Rapporteur Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, who examines the human rights of internally displaced persons, after visiting violence-hit areas including Mejicanos in San Salvador.

&#8220The problem is more significant and widespread than the Government is currently accepting,&#8221 she added. &#8220The Government needs to acknowledge the full extent of internal displacement and act to tackle it and the gang violence which is driving it.&#8221

The UN expert noted that gangs dominate people through threats, intimidation and &#8220a culture of violence&#8221 that infects entire communities and every day interactions.

&#8220Killings are commonplace and extortion is widespread. If people are under threat from gangs, they and their families leave their homes to seek safety elsewhere,&#8221 she said.

Young people, women and girls are particularly vulnerable to such violence, including also rape, as are members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex communities.

&#8220Young people are particularly affected by violence,&#8221 said Ms. Jimenez-Damary who visited El Salvador at the invitation of the Government.

&#8220One young woman told me: ‘It is a crime and dangerous to be a young person in El Salvador today’. This situation is due not only to the gang violence, but in some cases is the result of oppressive police and military operations.&#8221

During her five-day visit, from 14 to 18 August, the expert met senior State and Government officials, United Nations and other humanitarian partners, representatives of civil society organizations, and people who had fled their homes.

Her full findings and recommendations will be included in a report to the Human Rights Council in June 2018.

UN Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based 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.

21 August 2017 – The top United Nations humanitarian official in Iraq has warned against the consequences of displacement as thousands of civilians are expected to flee from Tal Afar and surrounding communities during the Iraqi military operation to retake these areas from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) terrorist group.

&#8220Thousands of people are fleeing Tal Afar for safety,&#8221 said Lise Grande, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, in a press release issued yesterday. &#8220Families are trekking for 10 to 20 hours in extreme heat to reach mustering points. They are arriving exhausted and dehydrated.&#8221

More than 30,000 people have already fled the district, said Ms. Grande, noting that it is not known how many civilians are still in the areas where fighting is occurring, but preparation is under way for thousands more to flee in coming days and weeks.

&#8220Food and water are running out, and people lack the basic necessities to survive,&#8221 she said, stressing that nothing is more important than protecting civilians during the conflict while urging the parties to the conflict to avoid civilian casualties.

&#8220The Government is leading the humanitarian operation, providing transport and aid. Humanitarian partners are helping to cover gaps by providing life-saving assistance at mustering points and supporting families when they reach emergency sites and camps,&#8221 said Ms. Grande.

As of 20 August, less than 50 percent of the funding requested in the 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan for Iraq has been received, she said, underscoring the need for additional resources.

19 August 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today condemned the terrorist attack in south-western Finland which killed at least two people.

&#8220The United Nations stands in solidarity with the Government of Finland in its fight against terrorism and violent extremism,&#8221 the Secretary-General said in a statement from his spokesperson.

He extended his heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Finland, and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

According to media reports, an assailant killed at least two people and wounded a half-dozen others on 18 August in an attack in Turku, Finland.