Bangladesh

As hostilities escalate in southern Syria, civilian deaths continue to be reported and up to 66,000 people have now been displaced.  Many who fled towards the Jordanian border remain stranded in the desert with little access to humanitarian help.  Planned aid convoys will proceed as soon as the security situation allows.

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process briefed the Security Council this morning and said that settlement activity has continued in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  He reiterated that all settlement activity is illegal under international law.

The Human Rights Office published the United Nations first-ever report on the human rights situation in Kashmir today, which states that past and ongoing human rights abuses must be urgently addressed, and details violations committed by security forces with impunity.

Heavy rains marking the start of the monsoon season in Bangladesh have impacted nearly 2,500 families in the Rohingya refugee settlements in the Cox’s Bazar district, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which is continuing aid distribution and prepositioning more supplies.

In a report published today, the United Nations Human Rights Office and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya say violence continues to have a devastating impact on health care in the country with hospitals and other medical facilities bombed, shelled and looted; medical personnel targeted; and patients attacked.

A peacekeeper from the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) was killed and eight others injured this morning in the southern part of the country.  The contingent from Mauritania was escorting a convoy to the town of Alindao when it was attacked by presumed members of the anti-Balaka.

Recounting the haunting stories of Rohingya refugees they met during a recent mission to Bangladesh and Myanmar, Security Council members today described mass rapes, attacks on children and the razing of entire villages, stressing that the visit had “awakened their collective conscience” into robust and concerted action.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Joanna Wronecka (Poland):

In Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, the first monsoon rains are affecting hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees.  The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is rushing more aid, including thousands of tents to give emergency shelter, for some 60,000 refugees in areas at risk of landslides and flooding.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan is warning today that a surge in violent clashes in Unity, Jonglei and Central Equatoria States is having a devastating impact on thousands of civilians and on humanitarian agencies.