Tag: Un

GENEVA - The UN human rights chief on Tuesday warned Yemeni authorities against the violent repression of peaceful protests, saying that people have the right to express their grievances.
"People have the legitimate right to express their grievances and demands to their government," Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. "We have seen over and over again in the past few weeks that violent responses, in breach of international law, do not make the

GENEVA - The UN human rights chief on Monday called on the international community to support reforms in the Middle East and urged vigilance in Libya amid fears of violent reprisals. "The international community bears the great responsibility of extending its support in words and deeds to assist such indispensable reforms.
It must do so with dispatch and firmness," said High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. She told the UN Human Rights Council that it should remain

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions against Moamer Gaddafi in a new bid to halt the bloodshed in Libya while ordering a crimes against humanity investigation into his crackdown on opponents. A vote by the 15-nation body at a solemn Saturday night meeting called for a travel ban and assets freeze against Gaddafi and his family and associates and an arms embargo against Libya, where the UN says more than 1,000 people have been killed.
The council united

GENEVA - The UN rights chief decried Moamer Gaddafi regime's "callous disregard" for Libyans during a special Human Rights Council session on the crisis on Friday, amid calls for an international probe into the violence. Western nations also led a call for the country to be excluded from the council, but Cuba opposed the move while China and Russia expressed reservations.
Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned the 47 member council that thousands may have been

KARACHI - Balochistan National Party (BNP) President Sardar Akhtar Jan Mangal has appealed to the Untied Nations and the international community to help them against violation of human rights and public killings of people in Balochistan.
In telephonic address to a public protest rally against missing people and army operation in the province outside the Karachi Press Club, Mengal said the worst operation of the history was underway in the province and the media was neglecting the

VIENNA - The UN atomic watchdog may soon spell out in more detail its concerns about possible military aspects to Iran's disputed nuclear programme, Western diplomatic sources say. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is considering including an annex on the issue in its next regular report on Iran's atomic activities due this month, ahead of a meeting in early March of its 35-nation governing board, one source said.
Such a move would signal the UN body's growing

RAMALLAH - The Palestinians plan to make another attempt to seek United Nations condemnation of Israeli settlement, after the US torpedoed a motion at the Security Council, a senior official said on Saturday. Yasser Abed Rabbo, general secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organisation said that Palestinian leaders had decided to take a fresh bid before the world body's General Asembly, which convenes in New York in September.
"Our decision now is to go to the General Assembly of

LAHORE - Eid Milad un Nabi is set to be celebrated with enthusiasm and solemnity today (Wednesday). Special activities including reciting of the Holy Quran, Mehfil-i-Naat and special prayers have been arranged. Several hundred processions will be taken out in the city to mark the birthday of The Holy Prophet (PBUH).
The provincial metropolis wore a festive look on Tuesday, as thousands of devotees in their respective areas remained busy to decorate and illuminate mosques,

VIENNA - Syria has snubbed a request by UN atomic watchdog chief Yukiya Amano for prompt access to a suspect nuclear site and a number of other locations, diplomats said on Tuesday. After more than two years of deadlock on the issue, Syria could find itself under intensified scrutiny at a meeting of the 35-member board of governors of Viennna-based International Atomic Energy Agency next month.
A number of countries could start even pushing for a possible resolution against

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia said it would ask the UN Security Council to help secure a "permanent ceasefire" with Thailand as both countries prepared to brief the world body on Monday about a deadly border dispute. The Security Council is set to hold a closed-door meeting in New York with the foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand to discuss four days of fighting near an 11th-century temple that left at least 10 people dead earlier this month, according to a new toll.
Both sides

ISLAMABAD - The United Nations refugee agency warned on late Friday that military operations against the insurgents in Pakistan's Mohmand agency could displace up to 90,000 people by the end of February if the fighting intensifies. According to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which aims at safeguarding the rights and well-being of refugees worldwide, fighting has already displaced some 25,000 people over the past week.
UNHCR has

ROME - United Nations food agencies on Friday warned that record-high prices for basic commodities are helping generate unrest around the world and contributed to the ousting of the Tunisian president last month. "Not only is there a risk, but there have already been riots in some parts of the world because of rising prices," Jacques Diouf, head of the UN's Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told reporters.
"Some governments have found themselves in difficult

GENEVA - Some 25,000 people have fled in just a week from the Tribal Areas following a military campaign launched against the militants, a UN official said on Friday. Should the fighting intensify against the insurgents in the region, up to 90,000 people could be driven out of their homes by the end of February, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Adrian Edwards said.
The UN built two new camps to host people fleeing the Sagi and Dawezai areas since

KARACHI - The Consul General of Switzerland in Karachi Didier Boschung, organised an event for the heads of the Bilateral Business Forums in Karachi to introduce them to the UN Global Compact Pakistan Local Network (UNGCPLN).
The event was attended by Business Forums of Switzerland, Japan, Belgium, USA, France, Thailand, Russia, Sri Lanka and the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Introducing the UN Global Compact to the audience, the Swiss envoy said that it

ISLAMABAD - Adviser to prime minister Ghazanfar Gul told the National Assembly that the government distributed Rs 32 billion among flood survivors from Prime Minister's Flood Relief Fund through the Watan Cards.
Responding to a calling attention notice regarding un-utilisation of flood-funds, Gul said that there was only Rs 6.6 billion left in the fund that too would be distributed soon among the flood-victims. "There is no massive un-utilised fund and the government has

GENEVA - Congolese soldiers raped 67 women in two separate incidents in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in early January, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday.
"Two separate investigations by MONUSCO and UNJHRO on villages in North Kivu and South Kivu have shed light on the extent of violations committed by FARDC soldiers over the New Year period," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner. MONUSCO is the UN mission in DR

SEOUL - South Korea made a fresh call on Tuesday for the United Nations Security Council to debate North Korea's uranium enrichment programme, which according to experts could produce more nuclear weapons.
The issue of UN referral will be discussed intensively when US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg visits Seoul on Wednesday, said Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan. He said it would also be raised when Alexei Borodavkin, Russia's chief negotiator to stalled six-party talks