17 June 2017 – With hundreds of millions of people around the globe directly affected by desertification &#8211 the degradation of land ecosystems due to unsustainable farming or mining practices, or climate change &#8211 United Nations agencies have called for better management of land so that it can provide a place where individuals and communities &#8220can build a future.&#8221

&#8220Population growth means demand for food and water is set to double by 2050 but crop yields are projected to fall precipitously on drought affected, degraded land. More than 1.3 billion people, mostly in the rural areas of developing countries, are in this situation,&#8221 said Monique Barbut, the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) secretariat, in her message on the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.

&#8220So this year, the Convention is calling for a focus on making the land and life in rural communities viable for young people […] let us give them better choices and options.&#8221

According to estimates, nearly 500 million hectares of once fertile land &#8211 close to two million square miles &#8211 have now been abandoned.

The UNCCD believes that with access to new technologies and to the knowledge, these lands can build resilience to extreme weather-elements like drought and with the right, feed a hungry planet and develop new green sectors of the economy.

&#8220Let us give young people the chance to bring that natural capital back to life and into production [which can then] develop markets for rural products and revitalize communities.&#8221 added Ms. Barbut, calling for increased and relevant investments in land, rural infrastructure and skills development so that &#8220the future can be bright.&#8221

The role of environment change is also increasingly clear in motivating or compelling people to migrate or become displaced.

Desertification is a global phenomenon that threatens everyoneUNESCO chief Irina Bokova

With more land getting lost to desertification, rural populations &#8211 relying on pastoral livelihoods, agriculture and natural resources &#8211 will face additional vulnerabilities, compounding poverty, poor levels of education, lack of investment and isolation, voiced Irina Bokova, the head of UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

To address this growing threat, Ms. Bokova called for a two pronged approach: first, better land management to arrest desertification as well as for preserving its productivity; and second, strengthening resilience of vulnerable populations by supporting alternative livelihoods.

&#8220We must recognise that desertification is a global phenomenon that threatens everyone and we must start to act globally to build a sustainable and stable future for all,&#8221 she underscored.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) also highlighted the challenges noted by Ms. Bokova.

Erik Solheim, the Executive Director of UNEP, added: &#8220[Desertification and land degradation] drives human displacement by threatening lives over the short term and making people’s livelihoods untenable over the long term, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable.&#8221

Given the significant challenges that loss in arable land and their impact in overall socio-economic conditions of affected populations, the subject also features prominently in the 2030 Agenda‘s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Goal 15, in particular, calls for combatting desertification, and undertaking efforts to halt and reverse land degradation.

In August this year, countries from the Latin American region will be meeting in Bolivia’s in Santa Cruz de la Sierra where they will discuss better drought management and preparedness.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) &#8211 the UN agency that closely monitors global weather and climate patterns and provides member States with climate information to make effective decisions &#8211 is one of the organizers of the meeting along with UNCCD.

&#8220Providing state of art climate information [is key] for climate change adaptation in vital sectors such as agriculture, food security and social well-being,&#8221 said WMO Secretary-General Peter Taalas in his message on the World Day, warning: &#8220Increased frequency of droughts can lead to land degradation and eventually, if unchecked, to increased desertification.&#8221

Commemorated annually on June 17, World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought seeks to promote public awareness of land degradation and to draw attention to the implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification &#8211 the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.

This year’s commemoration focuses on the theme &#8220Our Land. Our Home. Our Future.&#8221

16 June 2017 – Despite progress towards peace in Mali, terrorist attacks remain a major obstacle, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping operation there told the Security Council today.

Mahamat Saleh Annadif, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission, known by its French acronym, MINUSMA, reported significant progress on implementing the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation over the past months, but agreed that terrorists and extremists were gaining ground as existing tensions threatened to derail achievements.

&#8220Mali’s central region is a continuing source of concern,&#8221 said Mr. Annadif as he encouraged the Council to focus on the pressing security challenges and &#8220to send a strong message that civilian killings must end&#8221 while considering the renewal of MINUSMA’s mandate.

Since Security Council resolution 2295 (2016) gave the Mission a &#8220robust&#8221 mandate, noted the envoy, &#8220financial support must continue to ensure its ability to maintain its full functions, including the ability to assist Mali’s armed forces.&#8221

While scaling up support for the Agreement, MINUSMA would also continue to assist international mediation efforts and strengthen national capacity, he explained, saying that &#8220although neighbouring countries had committed recently to deploying uniformed personnel and equipment, the lack of escort and convoy battalions was a major roadblock to continued progress.&#8221

Mr. Annadif went on to note that the National Understanding Conference had been held satisfactorily, further indicating that the Charter for Peace, Unity and Reconciliation was being developed. In addition, the interim authorities had been established in the five regions concerned.

&#8220The various operational coordination mechanisms and joint patrols are on track,&#8221 he told the Council, while the process of security sector reform, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration continues, although the pace is slow.

These are, according to Annadif, &#8220among many positive developments, in addition to the institutional and political reforms, that are to be credited to the Government.&#8221

However, he warned, these positive developments risk being annihilated by the tension that has existed for some time between the Azawad Movement Coordination (CMA) and the Platform, which has turned into a conflict Community.

Unfortunately, these practices are the bedrock of terrorists and other extremists, which reinforce each other, both in their operational mode and in the sophistication of the equipment used, Annadif said. More seriously, they extend their areas of influence and influence.

The Mission therefore aims to strengthen its presence in the central region, he said, within the framework of an integrated and multidimensional approach in partnership with other actors such as the European Union. The forthcoming deployment of the rapid reaction force is part of this arrangement.

16 June 2017 – Two United Nations agencies have voiced ‘deep concern’ for the safety of hundreds of migrants and refugees &#8211 including many children &#8211 held captive by smugglers or criminal gangs at an unknown location in Libya after videos showing their abuse was posted on Facebook.

The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) has confirmed that the videos are authentic.

According to the agency, short video clips have also been sent to families of those held captive, threatening that they will be killed if ransoms (ranging between $8,000-$10,0000) are not paid.

&#8220Seeing a Facebook video of innocent migrants and refugees who have been abused and tortured is deeply concerning,&#8221 said Mohammed Abdiker, IOM Director of Operations and Emergencies, in a news release.

&#8220The cruelty of the human traffickers preying on vulnerable refugees and migrants in Libya does not seem to have a limit,&#8221 added Amin Awad, the Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), calling for their immediate release.

Those seen in the video are from Somalia and Ethiopia but other nationalities could also be present, noted IOM.

It added that migrants and refugees travelling to Libya from the Horn Africa, are particularly vulnerable in the Raybana area on the country’s southern border with Sudan, where many are frequently abducted.

Social media and tech firms need to recognize the extreme harm &#8211 IOM official

The agency also drew attention to the increasing trend of abuse of digital and social media platforms by smugglers or criminal gangs and called on such firms to be more vigilant.

&#8220This is a global problem where a smuggler or a criminal gang can easily use digital platforms to advertise their services, entice vulnerable people on the move and then exploit them and their families,&#8221 said IOM’s Mr. Abdiker.

Social media, including Facebook, has a duty to better police content on its channels […] We are not accusing Facebook of complicity [but emphasizing] that these channels are being abused by criminalsLeonard Doyle, chief spokesperson for IOM in Geneva

&#8220It is high time that social media and tech companies recognize the extreme harm that is occurring because of their failure to monitor and react to situations of grave human rights abuses […] that are being shared through their channels,&#8221 he added.

Also today, the head of IOM operations in Libya, Othman Belbeisi, said that the agency is working closely with all partners in trying to locate the migrants.

&#8220[We are] supporting Libyan efforts in the fight against the smuggling networks and we are very concerned about the current situation,&#8221 noted Mr. Belbeisi, adding that IOM would continue to use its staff in the region &#8211 in coordination with the authorities &#8211 to assist in tracing and potentially aiding in the rescue of these victims.

Some of the captives in the videos have been missing for up to six years, according to their families in Somalia, noted IOM.

The videos, made by a journalist based in Turkey (who recorded the call he received from the criminal gang, and posted it on Facebook on 9 June) show hundreds of emaciated and abused male migrants and refugees sitting on the floor in a crowded space.

They said that been beaten and tortured.

Large concrete block placed on a young, starving man as punishment

Some of them also reported that their teeth have been removed, their arms broken, they have not been fed, and that women and girls have been put in different cells, where these men fear they are being abused both sexually and physically.

&#8220I have being here one year. I am beaten every day. I swear I do not eat food. My body is bruised from beating,&#8221 said one of the captives in the video. &#8220If you have seen the life here you wouldn’t stay this world any more. I didn’t eat the last four days but the biggest problem is beating here. They don’t want to release me.&#8221

IOM noted that throughout the video there are exchanges between the journalist and the person moderating on site in Libya.

In one instance, he introduces the journalist to a young visibly starving man with a large concrete block weighing down on his back, as punishment for his family not paying his ransom.

They broke my teeth, they broke my hand…A captive shown in the video

&#8220I was asked for $8,000,&#8221 said the young man, when asked by journalist why the criminal gang were punishing him. &#8220They broke my teeth. They broke my hand. I have being here 11 months […] This stone has been put on me for the last three days. It’s really painful.&#8221

&#8220I was here one year,&#8221 said another captive on the video (from Ethiopia), pleading with the journalist for help.

&#8220We want help. My brother, my brother, we are dead! We are beaten 24 hours a day, brother I am begging you! Brother I beg you, do whatever you can do. I can’t sleep, my chest hurts so much because they beat me with big pieces of steel every hour. They put us out in the sun. They do not give us food for days. Brother, we want you can take us back to our country!&#8221

16 June 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has lauded the vision and tenacity of the former Chancellor of Germany, Helmut Kohl, who died today at the age of 87.

A statement issued by the Secretary-General’s Spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, said Mr. Guterres learned with great sadness of Mr. Kohl’s passing.

Noting that Mr. Kohl was &#8220Germany’s longest-serving chancellor,&#8221 the statement said that he &#8220played an instrumental role in the peaceful reunification of his country, within a year of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and helped set a course for the historic process of Europe’s political and economic integration.&#8221

&#8220Today’s Europe is a product of his vision and his tenacity, in the face of enormous obstacles,&#8221 said the statement, which extended the UN Secretary-General’s condolences to Mr. Kohl’s family and to the Government and people of Germany.

Helmut Kohl (left) meets with former UN Secetary-General Kofi Annan. UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Helmut Kohl (left) meets with former UN Secetary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali. UN Photo

Helmut Kohl (left) meets with former UN Secetary-General Javier Perez de Cuella (center). UN Photo

Helmut Kohl (left) pays courtesy call on former UN Secetary-General Kurt Waldheim. UN Photo

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16 June 2017 – As fighting in and around the Syrian city of Raqqa continues to take a toll on civilians and displaces thousands every day, the United Nations refugee agency has called for greater and sustained access to that it can reach those in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) overland access to more than 430,000 estimated to be in need across the larger Raqqa governorate remains either cut off or extremely difficult, resulting in need airlift supplies &#8211 a costly and complex undertaking.

&#8220With partners we continue to explore all possible supply routes and are working with the authorities to secure greater access to those in need,&#8221 Andrej Mahecic, a spokesperson for the UN agency said earlier this week.

However, the situation on the ground is complicated by the number of locations where those fleeing the fighting are taking shelter and the sheer number of new displacements. Last month alone, at least 100,000 people left their homes in search of safety.

Many have been displaced more than once, and tens of thousands are passing through camps or transit sites and quickly moving on to other areas or returning to their places of origin.

According to Mr. Mahecic, levels of humanitarian access vary for security and logistical reasons.

For example, UNCHR has been able to have regular access to the Mabrouka camp in Hassakeh, where approximately 1,700 people have taken shelter. But the situation is at the Ein Issa camp is much worse.

Located to the north of Raqqa City and housing about 9,000 people, Ein Issa is over five hours by road from UNHCR’s office in Qamishli &#8211 where the agency’s Raqqa response is coordinated from and where the supplies are brought in by air &#8211 and access remains extremely challenging.

Needs in other areas where significant numbers of those displaced are residing is being assed, noted the UNHCR spokesperson.

&#8220In the coming days and weeks, UNHCR along with our partners will continue to provide help for those in need and to step up our response where access and security conditions allow,&#8221 he added.

A conflict zone with mines and unexploded ordnance common

On top of access challenges, humanitarian agencies also have to contend with extremely hazardous conditions as a result of conflict and dangers such as mines and unexploded ordnance.

Resources are also badly-needed.

&#8220Funding is not keeping up with needs on the ground,&#8221 said the UNHCR spokesperson, noting that the agency urgently requires $37 million to continue to respond to fresh displacement.

The inter-agency Raqqa response plan which includes UNHCR and other UN agencies, also remains severely underfunded, having received only $29 million (less than 20 per cent) of the $153 million needed.

&#8220It is vital to have access, resources and security to continue responding to this latest wave of displacement and suffering to hit already beleaguered and terrified civilians,&#8221 underscored Mr. Mahecic.