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Tag: UN

  • Tweet: UN calls for release of Saudi woman jailed for 34 years

    Tweet: UN calls for release of Saudi woman jailed for 34 years

    The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday expressed outrage over a 34-year prison sentence handed down to a Saudi woman, Ms Salma Al-Shehab charged with following and retweeting so-called dissidents and activists.

    Doctoral student Al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in jail, followed by a 34-year travel ban in connection with a series of tweets and retweets on political and human rights issues in Saudi Arabia,

    “We urge the Saudi authorities to quash her conviction and release her immediately and unconditionally.

    “She should never have been arrested and charged in the first place for such conduct,” OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell said in a statement.

    According to the statement, the extraordinarily lengthy sentence adds to “the chilling effect” among Government critics and civil society at large.

    It described it as yet another example of Saudi authorities weaponising the country’s counter-terrorism and anti-cybercrime laws to target, intimidate and retaliate against human rights defenders and those who voice dissent.

    The mother of two young children, Ms Al-Shehab, 34, was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2021 while on holiday from her studies at Leeds University in the UK.

    She was accused of spreading false information and aiding dissidents seeking to disrupt public order with her tweets, retweets and follows on Twitter.

    News reports have pointed out that the case marks the latest example of how the country has targeted Twitter users in a campaign of repression, while simultaneously controlling a major indirect stake in the United States social media company.

    Journalists have also observed that the sentencing by Saudi’s special terrorist court was handed down weeks after U.S. President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia, which human rights activists had warned could embolden the kingdom to escalate its crackdown on dissidents and other pro-democracy activists.

    “Saudi Arabia must not only release Al-Shehab so that she can re-join her family, but also review all convictions stemming from free expression against human rights defenders.

    “The government should release those jailed, including women who were jailed after they legitimately demanded reforms of discriminatory policies, as well as religious leaders and journalists,” Throssell said.

    OHCHR also urged the Saudi Government to establish “a robust legislative framework in line with international human rights law” to uphold the rights to freedom of expression and association, and the right of peaceful assembly for all.

  • UN chief, António Guterres appoints Nigerian Gbenga Sesan on Internet Governance Forum

    UN chief, António Guterres appoints Nigerian Gbenga Sesan on Internet Governance Forum

    UN Secretary General António Guterres has appointed a Nigerian social entrepreneur, Gbenga Sesan to serve on his inaugural Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Leadership Panel.

    The UN chief also appointed nine other high-level and eminent persons to serve on the IGF Panel for two-year term during the 2022 to 2023 IGF cycles.

    Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Mr Stéphane Dujarric announced this at a news conference on Tuesday at UN headquarters in New York.

    Dujarric said Guterres established the Panel to support and strengthen the IGF, an annual meeting to discuss public policy issues pertaining to the Internet.

    “Panel members will address strategic and urgent issues and highlight Forum discussions, as well as possible follow-up actions, to promote greater impact and dissemination of IGF discussions, according to its Terms of Reference.

    “They were appointed by the Secretary-General following an open call for nominations, and in line with “an equitably distributed, multistakeholder configuration” of representatives from Government, the private sector, civil society and the technical community, as well as prominent persons in the field of digital policy.’’

    The spokesman said the Panel also consists of five ex-officio members: senior representatives of the current, immediately previous, and immediately upcoming IGF host countries; the Chair of the Forum’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group, as well as the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, Mr Amandeep Singh Gill.

    The Internet Governance Forum is an outcome of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WISS) that took place in 2005.

    The first phase was held in Geneva in December 2003.

    In the Tunis Agenda, Governments asked the UN Secretary-General to convene a “new forum for policy dialogue” to discuss issues related to key elements of Internet governance.

    The Forum’s mandate was extended for another 10 years in December 2015, during the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of WISS outcomes.

    The 17th edition of the IGF will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2.

  • UN Chief Guterres congratulates Kenya on peaceful elections

    UN Chief Guterres congratulates Kenya on peaceful elections

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres has congratulated the people of Kenya for the peaceful voting during the general elections on August 9.

    Mr Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General said this at a news conference on Thursday at UN headquarters in New York.

    “He trusts that all political stakeholders and the Kenyan people will continue to demonstrate the same level of calm.

    “That they will continue to demonstrate same level of calm, patience and respect for the electoral process as they await the announcement of the results of the polls in accordance with the legal timeframe,’’ Dujarric quoted Guterres as saying.

    He notes the important work done by the Kenyan authorities and electoral management bodies, the active engagement of numerous national stakeholders and the unwavering commitment of the voters to duly exercise their constitutional right to vote.

    The secretary-general reiterates the availability of the United Nations to continue to support the efforts of the Kenyan authorities and people in the advancement of the democratic process in Kenya.

    The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairman Wafula Chebukati said in an update on Tuesday evening that voting had been concluded in all polling stations across the country and counting started.

    Chebukati noted that the tallying was being done at three levels namely polling centres, constituencies and at the national stage.

    At the national tallying centre, he said they are verifying transmitted images of the forms used in capturing results.

    The forms are being transmitted from polling centre

    However, two days after the general election, officials are yet to announce who is leading the presidential race in East Africa’s regional powerhouse.

    Yet, confused citizens were seen struggled to make sense of divergent tallies from the media in a nail-bitingly close race.

    Media houses are compiling results from images of forms that the election commission uploaded on to its website from more than 46,229 polling stations, a mammoth task that means their tallies lag far behind the amount of raw data available.

    Meanwhile, some citizens were worried that the media’s differing tallies could inflame claims of rigging, which had sparked violence in past elections; many urged fellow citizens to wait for the official results.

    “There is so much impatience due to media reports, because they are varying. Given the experience that we have in Kenya, we have to be patient and just wait,’’ said Ongao Okello, as he scrutinised newspapers being sold on a street corner in the western town of Eldoret.

    Veteran opposition leader and former political prisoner Raila Odinga, 77, is making his fifth stab at the presidency. He is neck and neck with Deputy President William Ruto, 55.

    The outgoing President, Uhuru Kenyatta has reached his two-term limit, he has endorsed Odinga for president after falling out with Ruto after the last election.

    Kenyan election authorities have proceeded with tallying cautiously, wary of the mistakes that caused the Supreme Court to nullify the results last time and order a re-run.

    Media houses have filled the information gap by recruiting hundreds of people to manually input results from the images of results forms into spreadsheets.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that general elections were held in Kenya on Aug. 9.

    Voters elected the President, members of the National Assembly and Senate, county governors of Kenya and members of the 47 county assemblies of Kenya. General elections in Kenya are held every five years.

  • Hiroshima bombing @77: UN chief calls for global nuclear disarmament

    Hiroshima bombing @77: UN chief calls for global nuclear disarmament

    UN Secretary General António Guterres on Saturday called for global nuclear disarmament, saying it is totally unacceptable for states in possession of nuclear weapons to admit the possibility of a nuclear war.

    Guterres said this in Japan at a Peace Memorial Ceremony, marking the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

    “Nuclear weapons are nonsense. Three-quarters of a century later, we must ask what we’ve learned from the mushroom cloud that swelled above this city in 1945,’’ he said in a statement.

    The secretary-general warned that a new arms race is picking up speed and world leaders are enhancing stockpiles at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars with almost 13,000 nuclear weapons currently held in arsenals around the world.

    “…Crises with grave nuclear undertones are spreading fast — from the Middle East to the Korean peninsula, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine… Humanity is playing with a loaded gun,” he cautioned.

    Guterres called the ongoing Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in New York a ‘sign of hope’.

    “Today, from this sacred space, I call on this Treaty’s members to work urgently to eliminate the stockpiles that threaten our future, to strengthen dialogue, diplomacy and negotiation, and to support my disarmament agenda by eliminating these devices of destruction,” he said.

    He underscored that countries with nuclear weapons must commit to the “no first use” of them, and assure other states that they will not use –or threaten to use—nuclear weapons against them.

    “We must keep the horrors of Hiroshima in view at all times, recognising there is only one solution to the nuclear threat: not to have nuclear weapons at all,” the UN chief said.

    Guterres emphasised that leaders could hide from their responsibilities.

    “Take the nuclear option off the table — for good.  It’s time to proliferate peace. Heed the message of the hibakusha: “No more Hiroshimas! No more Nagasakis!”, he said, recognising that in 1945, two atomic bombs were detonated over the skies of Japan – first in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, and Nagasaki three days later, on Aug. 9.

    Guterres also sent a message to the young people urging them to finish the work that the hibakusha had begun.

    “The world must never forget what happened here. The memory of those who died — and the legacy of those who survived — will never be extinguished,” he said.

    The secretary-general also met five surviving victims of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, known as Hibakusha, and heard their stories.

    He expressed his admiration for them, acknowledging that they had suffered enormously but have overcome trauma with ‘enormous courage and resilience’.

    Guterres also called them an example for the world, and told the three women and two men reunited with him that they have the moral authority to tell leaders that ‘nuclear weapons are nonsense’.

    “The UN is committed to keeping the memory of what happened alive, and to make sure that your stories echo forever,” he said.

    The hibakusha told the UN chief how they had remained engaged in issues of peace and disarmament for most of their lives, noting that for example, one of them wrote a song to raise awareness and another illustrated her experiences in pictures.

    They all expressed their desire that young people also understand the crude reality of nuclear weapons.

    Guterres was also part of an informal dialogue session with young Japanese activists currently leading initiatives on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and other global issues.

    He spoke about the current state of the world, including the triple planetary crisis, the raging inequality, and widespread armed conflict.

  • IPOB demands unconditional release of Kanu from DSS custody

    IPOB demands unconditional release of Kanu from DSS custody

    The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has demanded the unconditional release of its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), Abuja, following threats by terrorists to take over Abuja and entire Nigeria.

    This was made known in a statement on Thursday, IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, reminded the Federal Government and the security agencies that the United Nations had mandated the unconditional release of Kanu.

    Powerful added that the appropriate compensation should be paid to him without delay “because he committed no crime against Nigeria and her sovereignty”.

    He said that the closure of public schools in Abuja showed that the Federal Government had lost control of security and can no longer guarantee the safety of Kanu in detention.

    He said, “The attention of the global movement and family of IPOB has been drawn to the sudden closure of all the government public schools operating in Abuja because of the threats from terrorists groomed by Fulani people to take over Abuja and entire Nigeria.

    “IPOB, therefore, demands the immediate release of the leader of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from the DSS dungeon in Abuja by the Federal Government and her compromised DSS.

    “We are reminding Nigeria and her security agencies that the world through UN rights group has mandated for the unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the appropriate compensation paid to him without delay because he committed no crime against Nigeria and her sovereignty.”

    The group pointed out that Abuja is no longer safe for Kanu because of the “Fulani terrorists” planned attack on the people.

    The statement read in part, “IPOB is neither bothered nor interested in the plan of the terrorists to overrun the Nigeria government which we have rejected, our concern is the safety of our leader.

    “We, therefore, demand that the Nigerian government must release the leader of IPOB now because he committed no crime as enunciated by the UN Right group.

    “As Nigeria is closing schools, businesses, and other activities because of terrorists’ threat to attack Abuja, it clearly shows that Abuja is no longer safe for people to live.

    “Hence our unequivocal demand for the unconditional release of Kanu before anything happens to him. We demand prompt and complete implementation of the UN directives on this matter.

    “Binta Nyako and her jurists should know that Kanu’s life is in danger while being detained in DSS custody Abuja. Again, she should know that these terrorists attacked Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna, War Training College Jaji in Kaduna, Kuje Prisons Abuja and other security facilities in Abuja, therefore DSS facility is not immune to attack by these state-sponsored terrorists.

    “We pity those Igbo leaders and politicians who commit crimes in Igboland and ran to Abuja thinking that nothing will happen. The narratives have changed and they will run to Lagos but Lagos will not be safe for them, then they will come back home soon and answer questions unless they run abroad.

    “One day all the evil and killer politicians from Biafra land will be held to account, and only the good ones will walk as free men and women. This is an opportunity to make peace with your people because the danger is approaching to Nigeria soon, the country has collapsed.”

  • Nelson Mandela was a healer, mentor to generations – UN Chief

    Nelson Mandela was a healer, mentor to generations – UN Chief

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres has hailed the late Nelson Mandela, the first black President of Post-Apartheid South Africa and racial justice icon for the outstanding legacy he left after his demise.

    Guterres described Mandela as a healer and mentor to generations, in a video message to mark Mandela International Day, commemorated on July 18 annually.

    “Nelson Mandela – or Madiba, the clan name he’s affectionately known by at home – was a healer of communities and a mentor to generations.

    “He walked the path to freedom and dignity with steely determination – and with compassion and love.”

    According to him, Mandela is “a giant of our time”, who remains a “moral compass” for us all.

    Guterres further described the champion of a free and democratic South Africa who spent nearly three decades in prison resisting the racist Apartheid regime, as “a leader of unparalleled courage and towering achievement; and a man of quiet dignity and deep humanity.”

    He demonstrated through his life that everyone has the ability – and responsibility – to build a better future, the UN chief said.

    “Our world today is marred by war; overwhelmed by emergencies; blighted by racism, discrimination, poverty, and inequalities; and threatened by climate disaster.

    “Let us find hope in Nelson Mandela’s example and inspiration in his vision.”

    In addition, the UN chief that the best way to honour his legacy is by taking action, amid a rising in hate speech around the world, everyone has the duty to speak out.

    “Everyone has the duty to speak out and stand up for human rights, by embracing our common humanity – rich in diversity, equal in dignity, united in solidarity.”

    “Together and by following Madiba’s example, we can make our world, “more just, compassionate, prosperous, and sustainable for all,” the secretary-general said.

    Newsmen reports that Mandela died on Dec. 5, 2013, in Johannesburg.

    He was 95 years.

  • Nigerian elected as African rep on UN anti-corruption board

    A Nigerian, Mr Umar Yakubu has been elected to represent African Sub-Saharan region on the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) Coalition Board.

    Yakubu who is the Executive Director, Center for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch (CeFTIW), was elected in the third round of the preferential vote in a highly competitive process.

    A statement issued on Thursday by Mr Victor Agi, Public Affairs Manager, CeFTIW, stated that the Centre had over the years championed advocacies to entrench the culture of transparency and integrity in the nation’s public sector.

    The Centre had also deployed technological solutions to promote accountability in the nation’s fight against corruption and strengthening of the criminal justice system.

    Agi stated that Yakubu’s election would bolster CeFTIW resolve to combat corruption and promote good governance in the country and across the sub-Saharan African sub-region.

    “The Center looks forward to working with other board members and global anti-corruption crusaders in the fight against corruption in whatever form, especially in the region”.

    On Yakubu’s new place of assignment (UNCAC), Agi stated that it is a global network of over 350 Civil Society organisations (CSOs) in over 100 Countries committed to promoting the ratification, implementation and monitoring of the UN Convention against Corruption.

    With headquarters in Vienna, the Coalition was established in August 2006 to mobilise civil society actions for UNCAC at international, regional and national levels.

    In his new role, Yakubu is expected to take part in providing policy coordination and oversight of the work of the Secretariat.

    He will also take part in overseeing the development and implementation of the coalition’s strategy and promoting its activities and projects as well as  helping to identify funding opportunities.

    He will also be part of the team communicating positions of the UN coalition to wider public audiences within sub-Saharan Africa.

  • DR Congo: UN calls on militants to ‘immediately cease’ civilian attacks

    The UN on Saturday called for an immediate cessation of attacks on civilians by multiple armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

    Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the UN was “concerned over the deteriorating security situation…and the increase of attacks against civilians.

    Dujarric said UN was worried over increased attacks by the Cooperative for Development of the Congo (CODECO) and the M23 as well as the on-going presence of other foreign armed groups.

    He said the organisation was also concerned by the presence of foreign armed groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Red Tabara and the Forces Démocratique pour la libération de Rwanda (FDLR), which continued to pose a threat to regional stability.

    The FDLR is a largely Rwandan Hutu armed group operating inside DRC, some of whose members took part in the 1994 genocide, and Rwanda had reportedly alleged that the Congolese army was collaborating with it, in the border area.

    He urged armed militants to end violence and to begin participating “unconditionally” in the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Community Recovery and Stabilisation Programme (P-DDRCS) and called on “foreign armed groups to immediately disarm and return to their countries of origin”.

    “We reaffirm our strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the DRC and strongly condemn the use of proxies,” Dujarric said in a statement.

    The increase in attacks across the volatile region was the focus of a Security Council meeting at the end of May.

    The brutal M23 rebel group – which began as a renegade force of army mutineers in 2012 committing many atrocities and war crimes – have launched their biggest offensive against government forces in a decade, according to news reports.

    Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Peace Operations, Martha Pobee, said it was “imperative” for the Council to throw its full weight behind efforts to defuse the uptick in violence, in particular by the M23 group, which had seen thousands displaced, many fleeing across the border to Uganda.

    “We welcome and support ongoing national and regional political efforts to accompany the disarmament of armed groups, including by President Félix Tshisekedi of the DRC and President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya through the Nairobi process,” Dujarric said.

    He stressed that the UN peacekeeping Mission in DRC, MONUSCO was also working closely with the Office of the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, to promote non-military measures for the disarmament of foreign armed groups.

    The Spokesperson also welcomed the nomination of President João Lourenço of Angola by the African Union (AU), “to defuse tensions” between the DRC and Rwanda.

    According to him, the UN fully supports these political efforts.

    He noted that in the restive provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, MONUSCO was “impartially and robustly protecting civilians and helping to neutralise armed groups, as mandated by the Security Council.”

    In delivering on its protection of civilians mandate, MONUSCO is continuing to maintain its support to the Congolese Armed Forces, while ensuring that it was in strict compliance with the UN Human Rights Due Diligence Policy.

    “This is to ensure that the Mission’s support to non-United Nations security forces is consistent with the organisation’s purposes and principles as set out in the Charter of the United Nations and obligations under international law,” Dujarric said.

    “We are deeply concerned about reports of increased hate speech in the country against some particular communities, including in the context of the M23’s resurgence. Hate speech must be confronted proactively.”

    He noted MONUSCO and the UN Country Team in DRC had consistently and unconditionally condemned hate speech in the public square.

  • Terrorist groups ‘exploiting power vacuums’, UN chief warns

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that while the number of deaths from terrorism has declined, the overall threat is far from over particularly in Africa as they exploit power vacuums.

    Guterres said this while addressing the latest meeting of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact, which brings together UN agencies, Member States and other partners in New York on Wednesday.

    The terrorism threat to Africa is increasing, he told participants.

    Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 48 per cent of deaths attributed to terrorist groups globally inn 2021.

    “Groups like Al-Qaida, Da’esh and their affiliates are continuing to grow in the Sahel and make inroads into Central and Southern Africa.

    “They are exploiting power vacuums, longstanding inter-ethnic strife, internal weaknesses and state fragilities,” he said.

    In conflict-affected countries, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya and Somalia, terrorism has intensified cycles of violence, fuelling further instability, undermining peace efforts, and setting back development goals.

    Meanwhile, in largely peaceful countries, such as Mozambique and Tanzania, terrorists are now seeking to exploit and manipulate societal grievances and mistrust in governments.

    Despite these challenges, Guterres was convinced that progress is possible, based on his visit to Borno State in northern Nigeria in May.

    Formerly a stronghold of the extremist group Boko Haram, the region is now on the road to reconciliation and reintegration.

    “I was so impressed by the meeting I had with former fighters in one of the centres, with the meetings I had with victims and with this sense that Boko Haram, that was born in Borno State, is now clearly losing ground.

    “It is losing ground because the people have assumed largely, themselves, the capacity to undermine the work and the terrorist actions of Boko Haram,” he said.

    The secretary-general stressed that the international community cannot effectively address terrorism without tackling the conditions conducive to its spread, such as weak institutions, inequalities, poverty, hunger, and injustice.

    The UN’s Counter Terrorism Strategy takes an integrated and holistic approach to the issue, which calls for investing in health, education, protection, gender equality and justice systems accessible to all.

    “It means creating truly democratic systems and processes, so every person can have a voice in the future of their communities and countries – and trust that their voices will be heard and reflected.

    “It means placing human rights and rule of law as the foundation of our work,” he said.

    Guterres said the UN Counter-Terrorism Compact would continue to support countries in their counter-terror efforts, including through technical assistance, capacity-building, and in helping to build institutions that focus on people and are grounded in human rights and the rule of law.

    The Compact is the largest coordination framework across the UN’s three pillars of work: peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights and humanitarian affairs.

    It was developed following the establishment of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) in June 2017, considered the Secretary-General’s first major institutional reform after taking office that January.

  • UN now recognises the Republic of Turkey as “Turkiye” – Spokesperson

    The United Nations has approved the change of name request from the Republic of Turkey which now wants to be known and addressed as “Türkiye”, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has confirmed.

    Dujarric said the country’s name change became effective from the moment the letter was received.

    The government had been pushing for the country to be recognised as Turkiye (pronounced tur-key-ye) as it is spelt and pronounced in Turkish since December. It is the name the country called itself when it gained independence in 1923.

    In a letter addressed to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, requesting the use of “Türkiye” instead of “Turkey” for all affairs which was received on Wednesday from the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the country said the new name better represents Turkish culture and values, allowing them to determine how the country is seen.

    Turkish ministers started using it in official documents last year and “Made in Turkey” on exported products has also been ordered to change to “Made in Türkiye”.

    RT World, a Turkish news channel, explained in an article earlier this year that googling “turkey” shows a “muddled set of images, articles and dictionary definitions” that confuses the country with the “bird native to North America”.

    It added, the Cambridge dictionary defines Turkey as “something that fails badly” or “stupid or silly person”.

    Earlier this year the Turkish government released a promotional video showing tourists from around the world saying “Hello Turkiye” at famous destinations.

    The Turkish presidency’s directorate of communications said it launched the campaign “to promote more effectively the use of ‘Turkiye’ as the country’s national and international name on international platforms”.