Some 150 foreign nationals, involved in a protest since 8 October outside UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s office in Pretoria, South Africa, have forced their way into the compound this morning. The group may include refugees and asylum-seekers. The majority of our staff were safely evacuated out of the building.
Category Archives: Press Releases
South Africa: families flee deadly attacks against foreigners in Durban
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is extremely concerned over the violent attacks targeting foreign nationals, including refugees and asylum-seekers in the Durban area in KwaZulu-Natal Province.
#FightRacism this Human Rights Day
UNIC/PR/2019/03/19
Pretoria, South Africa – The United Nations in South Africa will join South Africans in commemorating Human Rights Day on Thursday, 21 March 2019 in Sharpeville and participate in the Human Rights Festival at the Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. The day is of special importance to the UN and the global community as it also marks the International Day for the Elimination for Racial Discrimination, which was adopted in honour of the victims who lost their lives in the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. Continue reading
African Union launches 2019 Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced People
ADDIS ABABA, 12 February 2019: The African Union (AU), at a top level summit meeting in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa this week, formally launched 2019 as the “Year of Refugees, Returnees and IDPs: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa.”
Statement: Take action to eliminate female genital mutilation by 2030
Mary Oloiparuni was 13 when she was mutilated. Restrained in a doorway early one morning in her home, she was cut, bled profusely and experienced agonizing pain. The scarring she endured then continues to cause her pain today, 19 years later. It has made giving birth to each of her five children an excruciating and harrowing experience.
Zimbabwe wins the United Nations All Africa Games with South Africa as the runner-up
Pretoria, South Africa – The Zimbabwean team won this year’s United Nations All Africa Games which ended over the weekend at Ingwenyama Conference and Sports Resort in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.
Zimbabwe, which was led by the UN Resident Coordinator in Zimbabwe, Bishow Parajuli, was the overall winner of the tournament, having won several in competitions including athletics and soccer. This is the country’s third consecutive year as winners. The host country, South Africa—which was led by the UN Resident Coordinator in South Africa, Nardos Bekele-Thomas—was the runner-up in the contest and Kenya finished third.
United Nations All Africa Games kick off in South Africa on 31 August
Pretoria, South Africa – The 11th United Nations All Africa Games kick off on Friday, 31 August 2018 at Ingwenyama Conference and Sports Resort in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The tournament is being hosted by the United Nations in South Africa.
The purpose of the UN Games is to promote a culture of peace and tolerance, mutual respect among staff and to emphasize the importance of UN’s ‘Delivering as One approach’. The UN recognizes the value of sports towards public health and as a tool for raising awareness on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Press Release: Countries embrace efforts to achieve SDGs amid mounting global challenges: UN Report
New York, 20 June – A fast-changing climate, conflict, inequality, persistent pockets of poverty and hunger and rapid urbanization are challenging countries’ efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to a UN report launched in New York today.
Press Release: Forced displacement above 68m in 2017, new global deal on refugees critical
Pretoria, 19 June 2018: Wars, other violence and persecution drove worldwide forced displacement to a new high in 2017 for the fifth year in a row, led by the crisis in Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan’s war, and the flight into Bangladesh from Myanmar of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees. Overwhelmingly it is developing countries that are most affected.
PRESS RELEASE: United Nations joins South Africans to observer the Human Rights Day
Pretoria, South Africa: The United Nations in South Africa joins all South Africans in commemorating the Human Rights Day (21 March), which is also the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The day was borne when, on that day, in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration in Sharpeville, against the apartheid “pass laws”.