Children

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) caution that the threat from explosive ordnance has increased significantly in the country since 2020. The Mission says that they recorded more than 190 incidents since 2020, including 78 last year alone.

Presented with data pointing to a spike in warring parties intentionally depriving life-saving humanitarian assistance to children living in conflict zones worldwide, speakers in the Security Council today proposed solutions to ensure aid reaches children in need, including in Gaza.

A new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), Save the Children and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) shows that globally, 1.4 billion children from the day they are born to the age of 15 lack any form of social protection, leaving them vulnerable to disease, poor nutrition and poverty.

The Commissioner General of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reports that makeshift structures of plastic sheeting have mushroomed everywhere around Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, as people are displaced by the hostilities.

In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is concerned about the plight of civilians during the winter as, yet again today, there was another wave of attacks in the Kherson and Odesa regions. These attacks damaged critical civilian infrastructure, including homes, a hospital and a school.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) launched a $1.59 billion regional plan to support the needs of refugees and migrants from Venezuela, as well as their host communities, across 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

As fighting in Myanmar between ethnic armed organizations and the Myanmar Armed Forces expands, and humanitarian access is blocked, UN partners on the ground are still providing life-saving assistance wherever possible. The Humanitarian Response Plan for Myanmar, only 28 per cent funded, needs an urgent injection of funding.

In Nepal, UN agencies continue to provide life-saving assistance to meet the most pressing humanitarian needs of thousands of people affected by the earthquake. The UN and its partners have now reached some 21,000 people with water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, and about 20,000 children with education materials.

The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the fourth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Mali (S/2022/856), agreed to address the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:

The Syrian Government has extended permission for the UN to use Bab al-Salam and Al Ra'ee crossings to deliver humanitarian from Türkiye to north-west Syria for three months, until 13 February 2024. Each month, about 2.5 million people are reached with critical assistance and protection services.