U.N. Security Council Adopts Resolution on Human Trafficking
The U.N. Security Council urged countries to do more to end human trafficking in its first such resolution tackling the practice.
UNSC Resolution 2331, sponsored by Spain, calls on countries to “investigate, disrupt and dismantle” human trafficking networks and better identify, protect and care for trafficking victims.
“The problem of trafficking is international in nature – and only an international response can succeed,” U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said at the Security Council meeting.
The outgoing U.N. chief warned that trafficking provides a source of revenue for militant groups such as the so-called Islamic State, Boko Haram and al-Shabaab. Traffickers thrive in situations of conflict, he said, urging strategic leadership to end wars and prevent new conflicts.
“If conflict gives oxygen to traffickers, human rights and stability suffocate them,” Ban said.
Thousands Flee Fighting in North Myanmar
Worsening conflict in northern Myanmar has prompted up to 15,000 people to flee over the border into China in the past month, the U.N. says.
Fighting has intensified in Kachin and Shan states since rebel ethnic groups carried out coordinated attacks on military and police targets on Nov. 20. A further 2,400 people have been internally displaced in Shan state, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
“Humanitarian access to conflict areas in Kachin and Shan states is currently worse than at any point in the past few years,” OCHA spokesman Pierre Peron told Reuters. “This has seriously affected the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide life-saving aid to tens of thousands of (internally displaced) and other conflict-affected people.”
The exodus in northern Myanmar comes amid a growing crisis in the country’s western Rakhine state. The U.N. says some 30,000 people have been displaced since militant attacks in October. Amnesty International this week accused Myanmar’s military of deliberately killing civilians, as well as rape and the razing of Rohingya villages.
Lebanon Appoints First Minister of Refugee Affairs
When Lebanon formed a new government this week after two years of political impasse, it included several new ministerial posts, including a minister of refugee affairs.
The remit of the first refugees minister, Mouin Merhebi – a lawmaker from Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future Movement – and his state secretariat for refugees is not yet clear.
Lebanon hosts more than 1 million refugees and has the largest number of Syrians relative to its population in the world.
Refugees told Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper they hope the new minister will address their living conditions, ability to get residency and work and reduce discrimination against the refugee population.
Recommended Reads:
- The Guardian: ‘I Was Prosecuted for Helping Syrian Refugees’
- The Economist: The Other Kind of Immigration
- Devex: Forced Displacement and Resilience in an Age of Mobility
- Al Jazeera: Life in Tunisia’s Closed Refugee Camp: ‘I Lost My Mind’
- CNN: The Other Migrant Crisis: Thousands Risk Journey Through Latin America