More than five months since the start of the violence that forced 688,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar into Bangladesh, a dangerous new crisis loomed, while restrictions on humanitarian access to the conflict areas posed a serious concern, the Security Council heard today, as it was briefed on the most recent developments in the region.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today that ongoing violence in the Central African Republic has pushed forced displacement to the highest levels since the start of the crisis in 2013. Data as of the end of December show that 688,700 people were displaced internally.
United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock today approved the largest-ever allocation by the Central Emergency Response Fund — $50 million — to rapidly bolster aid for Yemen. The humanitarian situation there has deteriorated despite recent progress in opening key Red Sea ports to food and fuel shipments.
The United Nations refugee agency evacuated 74 refugees, mostly children and women, from Libya to Niger. In the Central African Republic, voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees has begun; since Tuesday, 230 refugees have arrived in Sudan. Agency-chartered flights will bring some 1,500 refugees home by the end of 2017.
Describing “the most heartbreaking and horrific” accounts of sexual atrocities against girls and women in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, the Special Representative of the Secretary‑General for Sexual Violence in Conflict told the Security Council today that every woman or girl she had spoken with had either endured brutal assault or had witnessed sexual violence, including seeing women literally being raped to death.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan dispatched a patrol to Abier, Cuei-Cok and Abiriu, in the northwest of Lakes region, on 9 December following an attack by armed youth last week in which more than 60 people were killed and 70 injured. During the patrol, the Mission interviewed witnesses, visited the wounded and cautioned against retaliatory attacks.
At the annual Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) Pledging Conference, the Secretary-General called for a $1 billion CERF to help bolster contingency financing, noting that, since 2005, humanitarian needs have increased from $5.2 billion to over $24 billion today, with more people than ever on the brink of disaster.
The Secretary-General is meeting for the first time with his High-level Advisory Board on Mediation, established to help his efforts to build stronger partnerships in preventing and resolving crises. The Secretary-General emphasized in his remarks the experience and knowledge of Board members and the critical role they could play in preventive diplomacy.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the number of Rohingya refugees having fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since 25 August has now reached 621,000. As of this morning, the Rohingya Refugee Crisis Response Plan has received nearly $140 million, or 32 per cent of requirements. Donors had pledged $360 million for the October response.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights report having noted an increase in murders and threats against human rights defenders and community leaders in the country’s Pacific Coast region. In most cases, the victims are from indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.
