In Mogadishu, Somalia, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, meeting with the diplomatic community and humanitarian partners, warned that without urgent funding, more aid programmes would close. Two million people in Somalia survive on one meal a day.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Claudia Mojica of El Salvador as his new Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia.
While hope for peace is alive in Colombia as the country prepares for presidential elections, the Security Council today heard that achieving it — and making it last — still requires the full implementation of a peace accord signed almost 10 years ago.
In Afghanistan, a humanitarian operation to deliver assistance to previously inaccessible areas of eastern Nuristan Province was launched today, coordinated by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Afghan Red Crescent Society, and supported by the UN, serving 136,000 people in Kamdesh and Barg-e-Matal.
In Haiti, a UN report details the human rights impact of violence perpetrated by gangs, security forces, private contractors and self-defence groups. According to UN-verified data, at least 5,519 people were killed and 2,608 injured between 1 March 2025 and 15 January 2026.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today issued a report detailing unrelenting violence against human rights defenders in Colombia over the past decade, with an average of just under 100 killed every year. The High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that the structural causes of this tragedy must be addressed.
In Somalia, fuel prices doubled in recent days, from $0.60 to $1.50 per litre — a more than 100 per cent jump — due mainly to the impact of the escalation in the Middle East, authorities and UN partners report. These rising costs are driving up prices of food and water, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs finds.
The Special Representative on Violence against Children presented her annual report to the Human Rights Council earlier today, highlighting the alarming trends in cyberbullying and the urgent need for the entire online ecosystem to act faster and together to protect children.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
In Colombia, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), with its partners and the Government, launched the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. Nearly 7 million people need aid this year — roughly one in every eight Colombians — amid conflict between non-State armed groups, which is present in 60 per cent of Colombia’s municipalities.
