Children

The UN Department of Peace Operations has launched its annual report on women, peace and security. The report highlights the work done by UN peacekeepers on gender equality, and it says that the rapid spread and intensity of armed conflicts and protracted crises has heavily impacted women and girls worldwide.

In Ukraine, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that attacks on Kharkiv, in the east of the country, continued over the weekend and today. Local authorities report civilian casualties, including among children, and damage to civilian infrastructure.

A report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) states that explosive weapons were responsible for nearly half of the more than 47,500 children killed or maimed in more than 24 different conflict zones between 2018 and 2022. The vast majority of these instances occurred in populated areas.

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.

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.

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.