Regina De Dominicis – who also heads the agency’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office – issued her plea for action after another small boat sank off the coast of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on New Year’s Eve.
“Among the seven survivors is an eight-year-old child whose mother is among those unaccounted for. The boat reportedly sank as it approached the shore,” she said.
The deaths follow another deadly incident off the island earlier in December which left an 11-year-old girl as the sole survivor.
2,200 deaths in the Mediterranean
“The death toll and number of missing persons in the Mediterranean in 2024 have now surpassed 2,200, with nearly 1,700 lives lost on the central Mediterranean route alone,” said Ms. De Dominicis.
“This includes hundreds of children, who make up one in five of all people migrating through the Mediterranean. The majority are fleeing violent conflict and poverty.”
The UN children’s agency is calling on all governments to use the Migration and Asylum Pact to prioritise safeguarding children, which includes ensuring safe, legal pathways for protection and family reunification.
The Pact also demands the establishing of coordinated search and rescue operations, safe disembarkation, community-based reception, and access to asylum services.
“We also urge increased investment in essential services for children and families arriving via dangerous migration routes, including psychosocial support, legal aid, healthcare, and education,” she continued.
“Governments must address the root causes of migration and support the integration of families into host communities, ensuring children’s rights are protected at every stage of their journey.”
Just days ahead of the inauguration of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, top independent rights investigators have urged the country’s authorities to allow peaceful protests to go ahead “without fear of reprisal”.
The appeal from the Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, which reports to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, follows the violent repression of demonstrators after last July’s Presidential elections that returned Mr. Maduro to power.
“We remind security forces responsible for maintaining public order that they should adhere to the strictest international standards on the use of force,” said Marta Valiñas, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission.
Echoing her statement, fellow human rights expert Francisco Cox warned that Venezuela’s “repressive apparatus remains fully operational”.
Mr. Cox said that in the five months to last December, the authorities had detained at least 56 political opposition activists, 10 journalists and one human rights defender.
‘Criminal responsibility’
“Those who order arbitrary detentions and the imposition of torture or other ill-treatment, as well as those who carry them out, bear individual criminal responsibility,” he said.
According to the Venezuela Public Prosecutor’s Office, around 1,300 of the more than 2,500 individuals detained during the post-electoral security round-up were released – although the Fact-Finding Mission noted that these figures could not be corroborated.
The Mission’s experts said that according to the non-governmental organization Foro Penal, “1,849 people remain in detention for political reasons, facing multiple irregularities and restrictions affecting their rights to food, health, and access to essential legal guarantees in ongoing legal processes”.
New Security Council members take their seats
Five elected members of the Security Council officially began two-year terms on Thursday, with five others leaving the world’s premier body for peace and security.
The incoming members are Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia, selected to serve by the UN General Assembly last June.
The outgoing members are Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland. There are 10 elected members of the Council who serve alongside the five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The flags of the countries who will serve during 2025 and 2026 were installed during a special ceremony outside the chamber.
The Security 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 as well as “a huge responsibility”.
“The world is facing many challenges that are threatening international peace and security. The situation in the Middle East is highly concerning,” he said.
He urged all Council members to work tirelessly and effectively “and to uphold the values of multilateralism”.
UN Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari from the UN political and peacebuilding affairs department said membership of the Council was a “solemn responsibility” and reflected the trust placed on them by the larger membership and organisation.
He praised the increasingly prominent role being played by elected members to reshape the working methods of the Council.