Unifeed

UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philip Alston said the contrast in the United States is “striking” as the country has 25 percent of the world’s billionaires and a “massive tax break which has made the wealthy much richer than they were before, but at the same time you have 40 million people living in poverty.” UNTV CH

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said today (22 Jun) “credible, shocking accounts of extrajudicial killings” and impunity for perpetrators indicate that the rule of law “is virtually absent” and called for an international inquiry into the alleged violations. UNTV CH

Addressing the United Nations Chiefs of Police Summit in New York, the Secretary General’s Chef de Cabinet, Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, said “police personnel and policing assistance have made immense contributions to peace and stability.” She called for an increase in the participation of women police officers in peacekeeping, “both in numbers and in leading positions.” UNIFEED

Top United Nations official in the Central African Republic (CAR) told the Security Council today that “the risk of escalating violence in the Central African Republic and the unnecessary suffering inflicted on the population demand our full attention and support.” UNIFEED

UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression David Kaye said Governments and private companies policing online content must ensure it is done transparently using existing legal processes. OHCHR

Calling from the International Space Station (ISS) via videolink into an event on space taking place in Vienna today, Commander Drew Feustel said that the goal for space exploration should not necessarily be to dominate it, but to help facilitate access so that humankind as a species, can continue on the path to the future. UNIFEED

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2018 report, “shows that people are indeed living better lives than they were a decade ago, even in the regions facing the greatest development challenges,” a UN official said today. UNIFEED

International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda called on the Security Council and the international community to support arrest of suspects in the Darfur situation and asked, “How much longer should victims of the alleged atrocity crimes in Darfur suffer in silence or wait to have their torment acknowledged through concrete results?” UNIFEED

As the United Nations today marks the World Refugee Day, the United Nations Childre's Fund (UNICEF) warned there are now more children forcibly displaced by conflict – an estimated 30 million – more than at any other time since the Second World War. UNICEF

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi travelled overnight to Niger with more than 100 refugees, mostly women and children, as they were evacuated out of Libya, where they had been held in detention. A total of 121 refugees, many from Eritrea, arrived in Niamey, from where they will be resettled to other host countries under a new international program designed to urgently protect the most vulnerable refugees in Libya. News coverage from detention center, airport and flight to Niamey. UNHCR