Children

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports it is providing supplies such as mosquito nets, solar lamps, and blankets for 36,000 people in Somalia’s Puntland region who have been affected by Cyclone Gati, the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the country, which made landfall in November.

The head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan told the Security Council that Afghanistan and the Taliban made genuine progress in peace talks, agreeing to rules and procedures; forming a working committee to discuss the agenda; and presenting each other initial lists of topics for negotiations.

As Tropical Cyclone Yasa has intensified into a Category 5 storm and is expected to make landfall in Fiji on Friday morning, the United Nations office in Suva reports that it is liaising closely with the Government and stands ready to support national emergency response efforts.

Ethiopia is facing dire shortages of food, water, fuel, cash and electricity, as well as telecoms services in the Tigray region, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  More than 63,000 people are recorded as internally displaced in Tigray, including some who fled towards Afar and Amhara.

The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the second report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Nigeria (S/2020/652), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon reports that a contingent of the Mission’s Force Commander Reserve unit distributed 4,000 educational kits to 30 schools and started renovations to school buildings in southern Lebanon.  Also delivered were 1 million masks, half a billion N95 masks with respirators and almost 50 ventilators, among other items.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today issued its largest ever emergency funding appeal, seeking $6.4 billion to reach 300 million people, including more than 190 million children.  An estimated 36 million children, more than ever before, are living in displacement due to conflict, violence and disaster.

The Mission in South Sudan deployed a Nepalese Quick Reaction Force Team to Cueibet to support local police protecting civilians from a potential conflict between armed groups, following the killing of a young man.  The peacekeepers intercepted the groups and remained in the area until the situation was stable. 

Humanitarian partners in Honduras launched a flash appeal for $69.2 million to help the Government respond to the needs of 450,000 vulnerable people affected by Hurricane Eta, which caused catastrophic damage.  Given the recent new tropical storm Iota, the plan will be updated following assessments of its impact.

Following is the text of Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s message to the International Web-Forum for the Commemoration of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Convention on the Right