"HOMICIDE"

The Vice-President of Brazil, Antônio Hamilton Martins Mourão, flanked by representatives of Albania, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Norway, United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates, expressed concern about the “rapid deterioration of the human rights situation in Haiti,” particularly “reports of sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and sexual slavery.” UNIFEED

UN senior official for Haiti, Helen La Lime, told the Security Council, “the protracted insecurity and prolonged political uncertainty, combined with a dire economic situation and growing humanitarian needs, are severely hindering the country’s socio-economic development, widening economic inequalities, and undermining peacebuilding efforts.” UNIFEED

In Sudan, frequent fighting between farmers and herders over water and grazing land causes injuries and deaths. According to the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), access to water and conflict resolution centres can considerably help address the water wars. IFAD

Small arms trafficking is a “defining factor in undermining peace and security”, the Director of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) told the Security Council during a ministerial debate. UNIFEED

Colombian President Ivan Duque said it was a “moral duty” for the international community “to strengthen multilateralism in the area of health and to make progress in vaccine distribution equity.” UNIFEED

Health, inequality dangerously linked, speakers warn, stressing exclusion, disparity impeding ability to contain COVID-19, on day three of high-level political forum.

Health, inequality dangerously linked, speakers warn, stressing exclusion, disparity impeding ability to contain COVID-19, on day three of high-level political forum.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged all parties to the Ethiopian conflict to “spare and protect the civilian population from the effect of the hostilities,” her spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said. On the killing of João Alberto Silveira Freitas, an Afro-descendent beaten to death by two private security guards in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, the spokesperson said it was “an extreme but sadly all too common example of the violence suffered by Black people in Brazil” UNTV CH

A heavy-handed focus on countering national security threats and illegal drugs has resulted in serious human rights violations in the Philippines, including killings and arbitrary detentions, as well as the vilification of dissent, a new report by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said Thursday. Persistent impunity and formidable barriers to accessing justice need to be urgently addressed, the report said. UNTV CH

Briefing by Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.