Feb62017

Press release: New safety measures for A47 in Norfolk

HM Government
image_pdfimage_print

A new trio of safety measures is being installed on Norfolk’s main trunk road this month.

The improvements, to the A47 Acle Straight as the road passes through The Broads, are due to begin on Monday 13 February, and come ahead of consultations into major upgrades elsewhere on the A47 that will start in the spring.

The safety work taking place this month consists of:

  • improving traffic signs, road markings and kerb alignment at the A47 and A1064 roundabout
  • improving warning signs, road markings, and hazard posts at farm accesses around Wherryman’s Way
  • improving advance direction and warning signs at the Halvergate junction

Highways England project sponsor Steve Cox said:

Highways England is committed to improving driver safety across all of our roads, and the work we are doing on the A47 show that safety is our priority both in Norfolk and across the East of England. We believe these safety measures will deliver real benefits to help address a history of collisions on this stretch of road and right turns at the Halvergate junction.

Highways England is delivering £15 billion of Government investment between 2015 and 2020 to improve England’s trunk roads and motorways, including £400 million worth improvements on the A47.

This will include:

  • dualling of the A47 between Norwich and Dereham
  • improving the A11 and A47 Thickthorn junction
  • dualling the A47 between Norwich and the Acle Straight
  • improving junctions throughout Great Yarmouth, including reconstructing the Vauxhall roundabout

There will be six weeks of consultations on these works for the public to share their views on this work will be taking place shortly, with details to follow.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

Feb62017

UN renews call for protection of Afghan civilians, after casualty figures spike in 2016

UN – Top News Stories
image_pdfimage_print

6 February 2017 – Attacks in Afghanistan by the Taliban, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) and pro-Government troops killed or injured more children and other civilians in 2016 than at any other time since the United Nations began keeping records, it was announced today.

According to the new UN report, some 11,418 civilian casualties were confirmed last year – including 2,589 children – an increase of 24 per cent since the previous high in 2015.

Releasing the casualty figures at a press conference in the Afghan capital of Kabul, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Tadamichi Yamamoto, called the killing and maiming of thousands of Afghan civilians “deeply harrowing and largely preventable.”

“All parties to the conflict must take immediate concrete measures to protect the ordinary Afghan men, women and children whose lives are being shattered,” said Mr. Yamamoto, who is also the head of the UN Assistance Mission in the country (UNAMA).

A breakdown of the figures shows that 3,498 people were killed, among them 923 children, and 7,920 civilians were injured, including 2,589 children.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said the casualty figures painted a picture of the most vulnerable sectors of society paying the highest price.

Source: UNAMA Annual Report 2016 Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict

“Children have been killed, blinded, crippled – or inadvertently caused the death of their friends – while playing with unexploded ordnance that is negligently left behind by parties to the conflict,” Mr. Zeid said. His Office, known by the acronym OHCHR, works annually with UNAMA to produce the report.

In addition to figures, the report includes excerpt of interviews with survivors of violence.

One of the interviews is with a mother who survived a mortar attack during a ground engagement in the Bala Buluk district of Farah province, in the western part of Afghanistan.

Aftermath of an explosion in the centre of Kabul, Afghanistan, on the corner of Passport Lane and the Indian Embassy. Photo: UNAMA/Jawad Jalali (file)

“It was the day before Ramadan when a number of Taliban entered my village,” she told UNAMA during a telephone interview in June 2016. “While we were walking to my husband’s tricycle, a mortar shell landed nearby. My mother-in-law and I hit the ground injured and my newborn baby was hit by shrapnel in the chest. He died after a few minutes.”

UN investigators found that anti-Government forces, mainly the Taliban, were responsible for almost two-thirds of the casualties, while pro-Government forces were responsible for almost one-quarter. In addition, casualties caused by airstrikes carried out by Afghan and international forces nearly doubled since 2015.

AUDIO: Civilian casualties in Afghanistan reached record levels last year, according to the UN Mission there, UNAMA. Credit: UN News