Bangladesh

The Secretary-General arrived in Dhaka, Bangladesh on the afternoon of 13 March.

In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that, today and over the weekend, attacks have caused dozens of civilian casualties, including among children. Homes, schools and energy facilities have also sustained damage, impacting electricity supplies.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that over 1 million people in Myanmar will be cut off from food assistance, starting in April, due to critical funding shortages. The cuts will also impact almost 100,000 internally displaced people in Rakhine, who will have no access to food without WFP assistance.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its monthly Food Price Index today, and the benchmark for global food commodity prices rose in February, propelled by price increases for sugar, dairy and vegetable oil. Another FAO report states that 45 countries currently require external assistance for food.

High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, visited Bangladesh and called for sustained support and solutions for the Rohingya refugees. He went to Cox’s Bazar and met with refugees and the host community, urging the international community to provide sustained financial support for them.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN, its humanitarian partners and the Congolese Government today launched in Kinshasa, the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan seeking $2.5 billion to provide life-saving assistance and protection for more than 11 million people, including 7.8 million internally displaced.

The UN Human Rights Office today released a report which says that Bangladesh’s former Government, security and intelligence services, as well as violent elements associated with the Awami League party, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during last year’s student-led protests.

The new Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that another wave of deadly attacks struck Ukraine today. In Lviv — a regional centre in western Ukraine and home to many displaced people — that city suffered one of the deadliest attacks since the escalation of the war.

In Bangladesh, which has suffered from flash floods, triggered by heavy rainfall and upstream water flows from India, the United Nations team on the ground are providing water purification tablets, hygiene kits and food.