NEWS

More than two weeks after deadly Cyclone Mocha hit Myanmar, aid access is uncertain, disease is spreading and a major food crisis remains a very real threat, the UN said on Friday. UNTV CH

The UN Human Rights Office is “deeply troubled by the detention of prominent environmental human rights defender Hoang Thi Minh Hong in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, on Wednesday this week”, spokesperson Marta Hurtado said. UNTV CH

The UN Human Rights Office has “growing concerns that the authorities in Nicaragua are actively silencing any critical or dissenting voices in the country and are using the justice system to this end,” spokesperson Marta Hurtado said. UNTV CH

The trafficking of illegal narcotics, precursor chemicals, timber and wildlife, people and illicit goods across Southeast Asia is being tackled thanks to the support of the specialized UN agency focusing on drugs and crime (UNODC). UNIFEED

Announcing the United Arab Emirates’ priorities for its presidency of the Security Council for the month of June, Permanent Representative Lana Zaki Nusseibeh said that her country wants to “underscore how climate change has been, is and will continue to directly impact the Council's ability to carry out its mandate.” UNIFEED

Head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, told reporters that finding a solution to "UNRWA chronic financial problem requires political will to match the support for the mandate with sufficient resources," adding that the problem lays at a discrepancy between what UNRWA is expected to deliver and the resource being made available. UNIFEED

The United Nations is concerned about the continuous slowdown of the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative, observed particularly in the months of April and May, a UN Spokesperson said. UNIFEED

Member States today elected Ambassador Dennis Francis from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago as the President of the 78th session of the General Assembly. UNIFEED

After Security Council consultations on the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), Secretary-General António Guterres expressed “full confidence in Volker Perthes as Special Representative of the Secretary-General,” and said it was “up to the Security Council” whether it “supports the continuation of the Mission for another period or whether the Security Council decides that it is time to end it.” UNIFEED

The Secretary-General takes note of the appeal judgement in the case against Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović and extends his thoughts to the victims, and survivors and their families who have suffered from the crimes for which both defendants have been found guilty, a UN Spokesperson said. The judgement marks the conclusion of the last case relating to core crimes that the Mechanism inherited from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. UNIFEED