11 May 2017 – Against the backdrop of a continuingly complex humanitarian scenario in the Central African Republic (CAR) – marked by multiplication of hotspots, increased displacement and growing needs – the head of United Nations humanitarian operations in the country today released $9 million for the most urgent and critical relief operations.

However, even with this new funding, overall resources in the country remains a mere 14 per cent, said the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in a news release today.

“An adequate level of funding of humanitarian activities remains an absolute priority, otherwise, CAR risks relapsing into an acute crisis,” warned the UN humanitarian wing.

In the news release, Najat Rochdi, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the country, who released the funds thanked the donors who haves supported response and reiterated her call for increased resources.

“It is the peace process consolidation which is at stake,” she noted.

The latest tranche will support efforts in Basse Kotto, Mbomou, Nana Gribizi, Ouaka and Ouham-Pendé provinces, where between September 2016 and March 2017, flare-ups in the situation have resulted in massive displacements and severe challenges, including for protection of civilians.

The projects targeted in the latest release include responses in the education, protection, health, nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene sectors as well logistics, shelter and non-food items, coordination and site management.

In the Humanitarian Response Plan for CAR, UN and relief partners had appealed for nearly $400 million to support more than half the country’s population who are dependent on humanitarian assistance for their survival.

According to UN figures, between February and March this year, the African nation has seen a nearly 6 per cent increase in the number of newly displaced people from 401,072 to 426,100.

The security situation in the country too has seen a rapid deterioration. On 8 May, eight peacekeepers from the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission, known by its French acronym MINUSCA, were killed when their convoy was attacked by suspected anti-Balaka elements near Bangassou, about 474 kilometres east of the nation’s capital, Bangui.

Clashes between the mainly Muslim Séléka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian, plunged the country of 4.5 million people into civil conflict in 2013.

11 May 2017 – Opening a major conference on Somalia, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today urged the international community to support security efforts in the country battling Al-Shabaab and aid the more than six million Somalis affected by the violence and a deadly drought.

“We are here to listen to Somalia’s leadership – and to agree on a framework for cooperation,” Secretary-General António Guterres told the heads of State and Government from across East Africa and other key partners at the London Somalia Conference 2017.

Mr. Guterres noted that Somalia is at a moment which is both “tragic and hopeful” and “can be in the near future the kind of good news that we badly need” in the world.

A legitimate Federal Government was established in 2012 in Somalia, and Al-Shabaab was pushed out of several key cities by the UN Security Council-mandated African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM).

Fighting continues to devastate the country, however, with violations of human rights and international humanitarian law occurring with impunity, Mr. Guterres noted.

He highlighted the need for predictable funding for AMISOM, and suggested the possibility of assessed contributions. The AU force was created 2012 and began fighting before it had helicopters, night vision systems or armoured vehicles.

Somalia is facing prolonged drought which has left more than half the population of the country in need of humanitarian assistance. The situation continues to deteriorate and the possibility of famine in 2017 remains very real, despite an already massive scale-up of assistance since the beginning of the year.

The ongoing conflict is exacerbating the drought, leading to what could be one of the biggest humanitarian disasters since World War II.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Guterres called for an additional $900 million to aid the 6.2 million people whose crops have withered, livestock has died and waterholes have dried up.

Some 275,000 malnourished Somali children are currently at risk of starvation, according to UN figures.

“If there is an image that I will never forgetin my life it is [the one] of children dying already, where they could [have been] assisted because they just arrived too late,” Mr. Guterres said speaking at an event on a response to the humanitarian crisis.

RELATED: ‘The world must act now to stop this,’ UN chief Guterres says on visit to drought-hit Somalia

The UN chief had travelled two months ago to the capital, Mogadishu, and Baidoa, in the south-western Bay region, to ask the people in Somalia if they were receiving aid and to appeal for more support from the international community.

“Somalia now hangs in the balance between peril and potential. Here in London, we can tip the scales from danger to safety,” said Mr. Guterres.

11 May 2017 – The United Nations human rights chief today announced that the Central Asian branch of his Office will extend its coverage to Uzbekistan now that an agreement is in place, highlighting that the country is “at a crossroads.”

“After my meeting with the President yesterday, we have a clear agreement that our Regional Office will from now on work closely with all five Central Asian Republics,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, told a press conference in Tashkent, the country’s capital.

“I am extremely happy that I myself, my Office and my staff are now set to play an active role in trying to secure a future where every citizen and resident of Uzbekistan has their human rights observed, and state-sponsored violations become a distant memory,” Mr. Zeid added.

He recalled that when the Regional Office was established in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, in 2008, Uzbekistan made it clear that the office covered four countries, not five.

Citing a series of recent Government initiatives, Mr. Zeid said that human rights figure prominently across the five sets of priorities laid out in President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s 2017-21 Action Strategy.

The five priorities are: improving the public administration system; ensuring rule of law, and reform of the justice system; developing and liberalizing the economy; developing the social sector; and security, religious tolerance and inter-ethnic harmony, and constructive foreign policy.

“The successful implementation of those reforms could have a transformational impact on the country’s future,” Mr. Zeid said. “It is going to be a long and difficult road to get near that point, with obstructions and setbacks, but I do believe the journey has begun.”

He said he encouraged the Government to monitor actual human rights results as part of the High Level Government monitoring of the implementation of the Action Strategy.

“Needless to say, frameworks and plans are one thing, and results are another – especially when it comes to human rights, when States often make fine promises but fail to back them up with real change,” Mr. Zeid said.

He also said he has raised with the authorities the need to continue with the release of more political prisoners, and suggested the Government ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, as it would greatly enhance and accelerate the effort to end torture, one of the issues that has been most damaging to Uzbekistan’s international reputation over the years.

He is also recommending – and the Government itself is proposing – closer cooperation with the other parts of the UN human rights system, including the treaty bodies and special procedures, welcoming an intention to invite the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of religion or belief to visit the country.

This was the first-ever visit to Uzbekistan by any of the six UN High Commissioners for Human Rights, since the Office of the High Commissioner was established in 1993.

“Uzbekistan is, in my view, at a crossroads,” Mr. Zeid said.

11 May 2017 – The United Nations agriculture agency and the World Bank have opened a new chapter in their longstanding partnership by further strengthening their cooperation to end hunger and poverty at global and national levels.

The two organizations have signed a new agreement to work closely together supporting the member countries in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), improve rural livelihoods, enhance efficiency of food production and distribution, and ensure sustainable management of natural resources worldwide.

The framework agreement &#8211 which enables the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to provide technical expertise to governments for projects funded by the World Bank -&#8211 was signed yesterday in Rome by Daniel Gustafson, FAO Deputy Director-General for Operations, and Hartwig Schafer, the Vice-President of the World Bank’s Operations Policy and Country Services.

This enhanced partnership realizes faster mobilization of FAO assistance to member countries in order to advance the 2030 Agenda for and its corresponding SDGs.

&#8220The tools […] will increase financial resources for development, especially in situations of protracted crises and fragile States,&#8221 says to Mr. Gustafson in a response during the signing ceremony.

For his part, Mr. Schafer stressed that the new agreement is about joining forces on the front lines of crises and building on each organization’s comparative advantages, adding that it &#8220becomes even more relevant in the context of emergency response, fragility and limited capacity to implement critical development programs in the countries.&#8221

The new agreement will go beyond FAO and World Bank investment programmes, says Mr. Schafter in a video interview. Through the FAO Investment Centre both international bodies have been working together for over 50 years providing development support to invest in agriculture and rural development. The Centre has contributed to over $100 billion worth of investments worldwide.

11 May 2017 – Raising alarm over the impact of internet and social media restrictions imposed by authorities in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, United Nations human rights experts have called on the Government to protect the right to freedom of expression and to pursue an open and democratic dialogue to address the region’s social and political conflicts.

In a news release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression and Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders stressed that the scope of the restrictions also undermined &#8220the Government’s stated aim of preventing dissemination of information that could lead to violence.&#8221

&#8220The internet and telecommunications bans have the character of collective punishment [and] fail to meet the standards required under international human rights law to limit freedom of expression,&#8221 said Mr. Kaye in the news release.

&#8220Denying such access disrupts the free exchange of ideas and the ability of individuals to connect with one another and associate peacefully on matters of shared concern,&#8221 added Mr. Forst.

The ban was imposed on 17 April following widespread student demonstrations.

According to information from the media and individuals in Kashmir, the Government blocked access to 22 websites and applications, including the messaging service WhatsApp, and social media Facebook and Twitter, noted the news release.

Denying such access disrupts the free exchange of ideas and the ability of individuals to connect with one another and associate peacefully on matters of shared concernSpecial Rapporetur Michel Forst

3G and 4G internet data services for mobile phones and other devices have also been suspended.

The news release also noted that since 2012, there have been an estimated 31 reported cases of social media and internet bans in the Indian state and such developments seemed to be a worrying pattern aimed at curbing protests and social unrest in the region.

&#8220We call on the Indian authorities to guarantee freedom of expression in Jammu and Kashmir and to seek a solution for the social and political conflicts of the region through an open, transparent and democratic dialogue,&#8221 the experts said.

Further in the release, the human rights experts also recalled the concerns raised by the UN Human Rights Council &#8211 the central inter-governmental body within the UN system responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe &#8211 over online disruptions and the call upon UN Member States to avoid such shutdowns.

Special Rapporteurs 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.