Regina De Dominicis – who additionally heads the company’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Workplace – issued her plea for motion after one other small boat sank off the coast of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on New 12 months’s Eve.
“Among the many seven survivors is an eight-year-old little one whose mom is amongst these unaccounted for. The boat reportedly sank because it approached the shore,” she mentioned.
The deaths comply with one other lethal incident off the island earlier in December which left an 11-year-old woman as the only survivor.
2,200 deaths within the Mediterranean
“The demise toll and variety of lacking individuals within the Mediterranean in 2024 have now surpassed 2,200, with almost 1,700 lives misplaced on the central Mediterranean route alone,” mentioned Ms. De Dominicis.
“This contains a whole bunch of kids, who make up one in 5 of all individuals migrating by means of the Mediterranean. The bulk are fleeing violent battle and poverty.”
The UN kids’s company is looking on all governments to make use of the Migration and Asylum Pact to prioritise safeguarding kids, which incorporates guaranteeing protected, authorized pathways for cover and household reunification.
The Pact additionally calls for the establishing of coordinated search and rescue operations, protected disembarkation, community-based reception, and entry to asylum providers.
“We additionally urge elevated funding in important providers for youngsters and households arriving by way of harmful migration routes, together with psychosocial assist, authorized help, healthcare, and schooling,” she continued.
“Governments should deal with the basis causes of migration and assist the mixing of households into host communities, guaranteeing kids’s rights are protected at each stage of their journey.”
Simply days forward of the inauguration of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, prime unbiased rights investigators have urged the nation’s authorities to permit peaceable protests to go forward “with out concern of reprisal”.
The attraction from the Truth-Discovering Mission on Venezuela, which reviews to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, follows the violent repression of demonstrators after final July’s Presidential elections that returned Mr. Maduro to energy.
“We remind safety forces answerable for sustaining public order that they need to adhere to the strictest worldwide requirements on the usage of drive,” mentioned Marta Valiñas, Chair of the Truth-Discovering Mission.
Echoing her assertion, fellow human rights knowledgeable Francisco Cox warned that Venezuela’s “repressive equipment stays absolutely operational”.
Mr. Cox mentioned that within the 5 months to final December, the authorities had detained not less than 56 political opposition activists, 10 journalists and one human rights defender.
‘Legal accountability’
“Those that order arbitrary detentions and the imposition of torture or different ill-treatment, in addition to those that carry them out, bear particular person prison accountability,” he mentioned.
In line with the Venezuela Public Prosecutor’s Workplace, round 1,300 of the greater than 2,500 people detained throughout the post-electoral safety round-up had been launched – though the Truth-Discovering Mission famous that these figures couldn’t be corroborated.
The Mission’s specialists mentioned that in accordance with the non-governmental group Foro Penal, “1,849 individuals stay in detention for political causes, dealing with a number of irregularities and restrictions affecting their rights to meals, well being, and entry to important authorized ensures in ongoing authorized processes”.
New Safety Council members take their seats
5 elected members of the Security Council formally started two-year phrases on Thursday, with 5 others leaving the world’s premier physique for peace and safety.
The incoming members are Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia, chosen to serve by the UN Basic Meeting final June.
The outgoing members are Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland. There are 10 elected members of the Council who serve alongside the 5 everlasting members – China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.
The flags of the international locations who will serve throughout 2025 and 2026 had been put in throughout a particular ceremony exterior the chamber.
The Safety Council president for the month of January, Algeria’s Ambassador Amar Bendjama, thanked the outgoing members and warmly welcomed the newcomers, describing it as an “immense privilege” to serve in addition to “an enormous accountability”.
“The world is dealing with many challenges which can be threatening worldwide peace and safety. The state of affairs within the Center East is extremely regarding,” he mentioned.
He urged all Council members to work tirelessly and successfully “and to uphold the values of multilateralism”.
UN Assistant Secretary-Basic Khaled Khiari from the UN political and peacebuilding affairs division mentioned membership of the Council was a “solemn accountability” and mirrored the belief positioned on them by the bigger membership and organisation.
He praised the more and more outstanding position being performed by elected members to reshape the working strategies of the Council.