Ukraine

The United Nations refugee agency said today it is deeply concerned about the fate of at least 21 Venezuelans missing after their boat sank yesterday morning on the way to Trinidad and Tobago.  It was carrying at least 25 people, and the Trinidad and Tobago authorities said four were rescued.

Amid flaring tensions in eastern Ukraine, delegates in the Security Council today urged all parties to the conflict — now in its fifth year — to avoid unilateral actions that could exacerbate tensions, and to uphold their commitments, under the Minsk Protocol agreements to bring peace to the region’s 3.5 million beleaguered people in need of humanitarian assistance.

A measles and rubella vaccination campaign in Yemen led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has now reached nearly 12 million children, including in high-risk areas, marginalized communities and camps for internally displaced people.

There is no alternative to a peaceful settlement of the five-year conflict in Ukraine, with deployment of a United Nations-mandated peacekeeping operation there being an effective tool to bring peace, speakers told the General Assembly today.

The United Nations refugee agency says it is seeing a surge in refugee arrivals from South Sudan into the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  In the past few days, an estimated 5,000 refugees have arrived in several border villages near the town of Ingbokolo in north-eastern Ituri Province, according to local village chiefs.

While the 2015 Minsk agreements are the only agreed framework for a negotiated peace in eastern Ukraine, they remain largely unimplemented, senior United Nations and other officials told the Security Council today, urging all parties to the conflict to uphold their commitments to uphold a permanent ceasefire.

At least 34 United Nations and associated personnel were killed in malicious attacks while on duty in 2018, according to the annual report of the UN Staff Union’s Standing Committee for the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service. It is among the lowest casualty rates of the last five years.

The UN mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) is conducting an operation to restore order in Bambari, Ouaka Prefecture, in coordination with the country’s security forces.  The operation is in response to attacks by Union pour la paix en Centrafrique against the local population and peacekeepers.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine continues to take a toll on civilians, with more than 5 million people affected and 3.5 million people in need of aid.  The 2018 response plan is only 38 per cent funded and disbursement of $162 million urgently needed for 2019 is now crucial as winter temperatures drop.

The Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced today that the first ever multi-drug trial for the treatment of Ebola has begun.  World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it an important step to finding a treatment that will save lives.