Europe

Vulnerable children face ‘dire and dangerous’ situation on Greek island reception centres, UNICEF warns

Overcrowding in Greek island reception centres for refugees and migrants has made conditions for children there increasingly “dire and dangerous”, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday, warning that “severe emotional distress” affects many and that self-harm is a “possibility”.

source: Europe

Hungarian government ‘fuels discrimination against migrants’, say UN human rights experts

New laws in Hungary, and Government attacks on civil society in the country, fuel “hostility, xenophobia, and discrimination against migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and all those trying to provide them support”, say a team of independent human rights experts mandated by the UN Human Rights Council.

source: Europe

Russian operatives carried out Salisbury chemical attack alleges UK; accusations part of ‘post-truth world’ asserts Moscow

The United Kingdom and Russia traded a volley of words at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, with the former laying out information which, it alleges, clearly places two Russian military intelligence operatives behind the deadly nerve-agent attack in the English city of Salisbury on 4 March.

source: Europe

Refugees overcrowded to ‘boiling point’ on Greek island, warns UN agency

The Government of Greece has been urged by the United Nations to do more to help thousands of asylum-seekers and migrants who have been “crammed” into island reception centres, amid reports that children have tried to take their own lives there.

source: Europe

‘Step backwards’ for Bosnia’s autonomous Serb region as assembly reneges on Srebrenica genocide report

The Republika Srpska National Assembly in Bosnia and Herzegovina drew concern from the top United Nations expert on the Prevention of Genocide on Thursday, over its decision this week to revoke its endorsement of the 2004 Srebrenica Commission Report acknowledging genocide during the Bosnian war of the 1990s.

source: Europe

UN rights experts call on Russia to release Ukrainian film-maker whose life is in ‘imminent danger’

A Ukrainian film-maker whose outspoken criticism of Russia’s continued annexation of Crimea has landed him in jail, prompted United Nations human rights experts to call on Russian authorities for his immediate and unconditional release on Wednesday.

source: Europe

UN chief calls for ‘increased commitment’ to resolution on 10th anniversary of Georgia conflict

Ten years after conflict involving Georgia, Russia and the South Ossetia region broke out, United Nations chief, António Guterres said on Tuesday that “increased commitment” is needed by “relevant actors” to advance the on-going reconciliation and peace process.

source: Europe

Proposal for Spain to reckon with its past during Franco era, welcomed by UN rights experts

A group of UN human rights experts has welcomed the announcement earlier this month by the Spanish Minister of Justice that the Government is paving the way for a Truth Commission to investigate violations that occurred during the civil war and the era of dictatorship under General Francisco Franco that followed.

source: Europe

UNHCR welcomes deal to end latest migrant stand-off in Mediterranean Sea

UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi, on Thursday gave a cautious welcome to the decision by several EU countries to take in some 450 migrants who have been stranded at sea for days, warning that a “ship-by-ship” arrangement was not sustainable.

source: Europe

UN experts urge Ukraine to stop ‘systematic persecution’ of Roma minority

Ukraine must take immediate action to stop what amounts to a “systematic persecution” of the country’s Roma minority, who have been targeted in a series of violent attacks allegedly perpetrated by members of extreme right-wing groups, United Nations human rights experts have said.

source: Europe

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