UN Daily News Issue DH/7320 Thursday, 5 January 2017

Transcription

1 For updates and alerts, visit UN NEWS CENTRE at UN Daily News Issue DH/7320 Thursday, 5 January 2017 In the headlines: After five years of ruthless war in Syria, 2017 can be a year of diplomacy, says UN envoy Safe water now available for hundreds of thousands affected by Hurricane Matthew UNICEF UN agency data on labour migration shows 150 million migrants in global workforce Climate change will lead to annual coral bleaching, UN-supported study predicts US removal of textbook with distorted depiction of slavery from classrooms applauded by UN experts After five years of ruthless war in Syria, 2017 can be a year of diplomacy, says UN envoy UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura (right) and UN Senior Advisor, Jan Egeland. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré (file) 5 January Looking back over the past month, which saw some of the most difficult challenges for humanitarian workers in Syria but which also witnessed evacuations of thousands of civilians from warravaged eastern Aleppo, United Nations envoys for Syria said today that things have to change in 2017 and that it can change in After five ruthless war years, we can have a year of diplomacy, of conflict resolution, and of protection of civilians, it can happen, and we were heartened to hear that Russia and Turkey both said [that] they will facilitate humanitarian access to all civilians as part of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement that they function as guarantors for, Jan Egeland, a senior UN advisor on Syria, told the media at a briefing at the UN Office at Geneva. us, he added. And we will actively hold them accountable for their promise to help The situation in Syria continues to remain particularly dire, in 2016, on average, relief workers were able to reach only about 21 per cent of the needs in the war-torn country, which while being an improvement of the one per cent figure in 2015, still meant that 79 per cent of those in need could not be provided with assistance. Enormous dramas are unfolding on the ground Jan Egeland On the current situation in the ground, Mr. Egeland reported that enormous dramas are unfolding as we speak. One such place is Damascus, the capital of Syria. For information media - not an official record

2 UN Daily News January 2017 According to the senior UN humanitarian official, about 5.5 million people in the city have been cut off from water because the springs of Wadi Barada located just outside Damascus that accounts for 70 per cent of the water supplies, have been broken. The reason for the supply disruption is yet to be established. The UN has sought permission to visit Wadi Barada to look into the disruption and to explore how the supplies can be restored. It is, meanwhile, undertaking emergency efforts to ensure that schools, hospitals, bakeries and other essential services can get water. We hope Security Council Resolution 2336 succeeds UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura Also speaking at the same briefing, Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, expressed cautious optimism, particularly in light of a recent resolution adopted by the Security Council in which the 15-member body welcomed and supported Russian and Turkish efforts to end violence and jumpstart a political process in Syria. Any initiative such as this one, needs to be supported, and we hope it will succeed and is definitely welcomed, said Mr. de Mistura adding that the UN would support the process, as requested by Member States. Speaking specifically on planned political talks in Kazakhstan s capital, Astana, he added: [We are] looking forward to [the meeting], particularly in the context of our own meeting that will be taking place early in February here. Safe water now available for hundreds of thousands affected by Hurricane Matthew UNICEF 5 January Responding to the humanitarian needs in Haiti, which witnessed massive destruction by Hurricane Matthew in early October last year, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) continues to deliver aid and provide relief to those most affected by the storm. Working with its partners and the Government, UNICEF has provided assistance through which some 280,000 individuals, including more than 118,000 children, have gained access to safe water. It has also contributed to a cholera vaccination campaign in November, that reached more than 800,000 people (including more than 300,000 children between the ages of one and 14), ensuring that information on prevention of cholera is properly disseminated. Three months after [Hurricane] Matthew, we can already see improvements: safe water is increasingly available, the vast majority of schools have reopened as have a number of health facilities; and areas that are the most difficult to access are receiving assistance, said Marc Vincent, UNICEF Representative in Haiti. UNICEF is continuing to fulfil its mandate and obligations to emergency and development efforts, he added. More than two million people, including 900,000 children were affected by the hurricane. Of these people, 1.4 million, including 600,000 children require humanitarian assistance. In addition to the personal losses of homes and crops, more than 716 schools, many health facilities and existing sanitation infrastructure were damaged. The storm also caused significant loss to the agricultural sector and people's livelihoods. Working closely with communities UNICEF and its partners, together with the government of Haiti, have been able to ensure safe water is available daily to over 281,000 individuals, including over 118,000 children, three months after hurricane Matthew struck the country on 4 October Photo: UNICEF/Maxence Bradley

3 UN Daily News January 2017 In response, UNICEF has worked closely with communities on programmes to tackle malnutrition affecting both children and adults. It is also supporting families that have lost their livelihoods to prevent child separation as well as reduce the potential for child abuse and neglect. In the health and education sectors, the UN agency has restored cold-chain systems of 37 health facilities, equipped 35 malnutrition outpatient and two inpatient treatment centres in the Grand'Anse and Sud departments where the storm made landfall. UNICEF has also restored 14 schools, making it possible for 4,200 students to return to classes. Another 107 schools are in various stages of rehabilitation. UNICEF has also established two sub-offices one in Les Cayes (in Sud) and the other in Jérémie (in Grand'Anse) to better deliver its services to the affected population on the ground. However, funding remains a challenge for the agency. As of the end of 2016, its $36.6 million appeal is about 85 per cent funded and UNICEF has called on donors to provide it with the support it needs to enable Haitian children and their families benefit from safe water, sanitation, protection, education and healthcare services. UN agency data on labour migration shows 150 million migrants in global workforce 5 January There are about 150 million migrant workers around the world, according a recent United Nations study, which provides useful labour migration data for policy makers as they seek to make headway on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Decision makers will now have real data on which to base their policies, said International Labour Organization (ILO) Director- General Guy Ryder in a news release. He said that this analysis will help countries deliver on the 2030 Agenda s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly targets within Goal 8 on protecting all workers, including migrant workers, and Goal 10 on the implementation of well-managed migration policies. Migrant workers, like these in northern Thailand, often work in highrisk sectors, such as construction. The ILO works to strengthen national occupational safety and health systems to improve protection of migrant workers. Photo: ILO/John Hulme The report, ILO Global Estimates on Migrant Workers, found that there are 232 million international migrants, of which million are 15 years old and up. Of this working-age migrant population, 72.7 per cent, or 150 million, are migrant workers. And 83.7 million are men and 66.6 million women. Labour migration is a phenomenon that concerns all regions of the world, however, almost half, or 48.5 per cent, of migrant workers are concentrated in two broad regions: Northern America, and Northern, Southern and Western Europe. The Arab States have the highest proportion of migrant workers as a share of all workers with 35.6 per cent. The study also examines the distribution of the migrant workforce in broad industry groupings. The vast majority of migrant workers are in the services sectors, with million workers accounting for 71.1 per cent of the total, followed by industry, including manufacturing and construction, with 26.7 million, or 17.8 per cent, and by agriculture with 16.7 million, or 11.1 per cent. Among all migrant workers, 7.7 per cent are domestic workers. This estimate study shows that the vast majority of migrants migrate in search of better job opportunities, said Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILO s Conditions of Work and Equality Department (WORKQUALITY). By applying a robust methodology we believe it will add significantly to our knowledge base on migration and provide a strong foundation for the development of effective migration policies.

4 UN Daily News January 2017 The report also highlights the significant global numbers of migrant domestic workers and the marked gender disparities in this sector. Domestic work is one of the least regulated sectors of the economy and, as such, is of particular concern to the ILO, the news release said, noting that due to the concentration of migrant women workers and relatively low visibility of the workforce in this sector multiple forms of discrimination often intersect. Of the estimated 67.1 million domestic workers in the world, 11.5 million, or 17.2 per cent are international migrants. About 73.4 per cent, or around 8.5 million, of all migrant domestic workers are women. South-Eastern Asia and the Pacific host the largest share, with 24 per cent of the global number of female migrant domestic workers, followed by Northern, Southern and Western Europe, with 22.1 per cent of the total, and the Arab States with 19 per cent. Climate change will lead to annual coral bleaching, UNsupported study predicts Most of the reefs in the Seychelles have died due to El Niño, bleaching, fishing and the rising temperature of the seawater. Photo: Kadir van Lohuizen/NOOR 5 January If current trends continue and the world fails to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nearly all of the world's coral reefs will suffer severe bleaching the gravest threat to one of the Earth's most important ecosystems on annual basis, the United Nations environment agency today reported. The finding is part of a study funded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners, which reviewed new climate change projections to predict which corals will be affected first and at what rate. The report is published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. Researchers found that the reefs in Taiwan and the Turks and Caicos archipelago will be among the first to experience annual bleaching, followed by reefs off the coast of Bahrain, in Chile and in French Polynesia. Calling the predictions a treasure trove for environmentalists, the head of the UN agency, Erik Solheim said the projects allow conservationists and governments to prioritize the protection reef protection. The projections show us where we still have time to act before it's too late, Mr. Solheim said. On average, the reefs will start to undergo annual bleaching starting in 2014, according to the study. Without the required minimum of five years to regenerate, the annual occurrences will have a deadly effect on the corals and disrupt the ecosystems which they support. However, if Governments act on emission reduction pledges made in the Paris Agreement, which calls on countries to combat climate change and limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius, the corals would have another 11 years to adapt to the warming seas. Between 2014 and 2016, the world witnessed the longest global bleaching event recorded. Among the casualties was the Great Barrier Reef, with 90 per cent of it bleached and 20 per cent of the reef's coral killed.

5 UN Daily News January 2017 US removal of textbook with distorted depiction of slavery from classrooms applauded by UN experts 5 January A team of United Nations human rights experts is supporting a recent decision by a United States school district in Connecticut to remove offensive and inaccurate historical information about slavery from its classrooms. The information was part of a textbook, The Connecticut Adventure, and stated that slaves in the state of Connecticut were often treated like family members, taught to be Christian, and sometimes to read and write. It was taught to students aged nine to 10 until district officials removed it because its depiction of slavery was inaccurate, simplistic, and offensive. The chapter discussing the history of slavery in Connecticut is a distortion of the true nature of enslavement, announced Ricardo Sunga, a human rights expert who is the leader of an expert panel set up by the UN Human Rights Council to study racial discrimination around the world. Enslaved people in Connecticut, like those in the American South before the Civil War, were trafficked against their will, had their fundamental right to life, liberty, and property taken away from them, faced similar levels of exploitation, and were subjected to the most dehumanizing treatment imaginable, said Mr. Sunga. He added that students need to know that enslaved people were never treated as family. Chairperson of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent Ricardo Sunga. UN Photo/Evan Schneider Following the decision by the Norwalk, Connecticut school district, the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent has urged that other districts throughout the US and other countries around the world follow the example of promoting historical accuracy. The Working Group is also urging the US Department of Education and other school districts in the US and other countries to review textbooks and educational materials in order to determine whether they accurately depict slavery. Where appropriate, they urge officials to remove inaccurate or distorted information from classrooms. These deeply offensive texts should be replaced with accurate depictions of history which convey the message of the inherent dignity and equality of all human beings, Mr. Sunga emphasized. Educators and publishers have a responsibility to ensure that textbooks and other educational materials accurately reflect historical facts on tragedies and atrocities in particular, slavery, the transatlantic trade in African people, and colonialism. This will avoid stereotypes and the distortion or falsification of these historical facts, which may lead to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, Afrophobia, and related intolerance, he added. Independent experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. They work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work and are independent from any government or organization, and serve in their individual capacity. The UN Daily News is prepared at UN Headquarters in New York by the News Services Section of the News and Media Division, Department of Public Information (DPI)