Category: Europe

Mr. Bialiatski, a veteran rights campaigner and founder of Viasna (or “spring”) civil society group, was arrested in July 2021 on tax evasion charges, along with two other activists, and reportedly held in dreadful conditions in a prison in Minsk. Their trial began on Thursday. “We are gravely concerned by the trial of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski which… Read More

And as a growing number of European ski resorts at lower altitudes struggle to provide adequate snow cover for their early-season visitors, the WMO pointed to widely accepted peer-reviewed scientific data from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicating that the frequency of cold spells and frost days “will decrease”. “Strong declines in glaciers, permafrost, snow cover extent,… Read More

With funding from the European Union, the project will help sustain agricultural production in Ukraine, after Russia’s full-scale invasion last February forced many rural producers to scale down or abandon their activities, amid the destruction of crops and farm equipment, and disruption to supply chains. Some 13 million people living in rural areas rely on Ukraine’s farming sector, according to… Read More

Citing UN humanitarian colleagues, he informed the media at the regular daily press briefing that intensified violence in different regions of the war-torn country caused “multiple civilian casualties”, which included children and journalists.   “Ukrainian authorities reported more than 50 civilian casualties on December 31st alone”, said Mr. Haq.  Mounting casualties  The latest attacks on the capital Kyiv, damaged a hotel,… Read More

Humanitarian funding from the European Union (EU), is enabling the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to support over 700,000 Ukrainians with multi-sectoral assistance this winter, which is set to be “the most challenging season yet for the country”. “Displaced and war-affected people will face new and growing challenges as the war drags on and winter grips Ukraine”, said Anh Nguyen, IOM’s mission chief in… Read More

Speaking in Kyiv, at the end of a four-day official visit, Martin Griffiths described the deadly threat from daily artillery attacks on the southern port city of Kherson. Today, more than 18 million people in Ukraine need humanitarian aid, according to UN humanitarians. Some 7.83 million have fled the country and 6.5 million are internally displaced. Mykolaiv suffering Mr. Griffiths… Read More

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill was introduced in Parliament in May and passed a second reading in the House of Lords last month.   Further review is set to take place in January.  Little access to remedy  The UN experts are concerned that the Bill bans, and in some cases unduly restricts, conflict-related civil actions, coronial inquests,… Read More

The findings revealed that one in every four of the 5,200 respondents had reduced or stopped agricultural production because of the conflict.   “The report indicates that 25 per cent of the Ukrainian rural population involved in agriculture stopped their activities or reduced their output due to the war”, said Pierre Vauthier, head of FAO’s Ukraine Country Office.   “The situation is… Read More

António Guterres was addressing a one-day international summit in Paris, with leaders from around 50 nations reportedly in attendance, where agreement was reached to deliver some €1 billion in new financing to help repair the energy grid, water systems and health facilities, damaged by Russian missile attacks. The Secretary-General said that around 10 million consumers were without electricity with millions… Read More

Briefing reportedly at the request of Russia on “supplies of lethal weapons to Ukraine and their consequences”, Izumi Nakamitsu reminded ambassadors that she had already addressed the issue in September. Risk of diversion The UN Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) chief repeated what she had said then, that a large-scale influx of weapons into any battle-zone, “raises many concerns for peace and security”… Read More