The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said he is increasingly concerned by the situation in the Sahel, where nearly 6 million people are struggling to meet their daily food needs. The crisis has been triggered by scarce rainfall in 2017, which resulted in acute water, crop and pasture shortages and livestock losses.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
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.
Humanitarian organizations in South Sudan are responding to urgent needs of the estimated 50,000 people displaced in Leer, Mayendit and Koch Counties in Unity state amid a sharp escalation in fighting between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), SPLA-in-Opposition and armed groups.
The World Food Programme has begun distributing food rations to people affected by the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Equateur Province. The World Health Organization is helping the nine surrounding countries scale up national emergency preparedness and response capacities.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo welcomes the condemnations by the province’s leaders regarding recent ethnically motivated incidents, and calls upon authorities to intensify efforts to fight against impunity and bring perpetrators to justice.
A humanitarian coordination team of 60 experts from United Nations agencies and aid partners is traveling to Guatemala today to assess the immediate humanitarian needs of more than 1.7 million people impacted by the eruption of volcano Fuego two days ago.
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan condemned the attack today that killed and injured religious scholars gathered in Kabul who were there to promote peace in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released a study that found nearly half of Afghan children are missing out on school.
Staff of the Human Rights Office say they are appalled at the ongoing violence in Nicaragua, where at least 16 people are reported to have been killed this week and more than 100 injured amid anti-Government protests. They are also concerned at the reported arrest and detention of six human rights defenders.
The unemployment rate in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is now the highest in the world, peaking at 27.4 per cent in 2017, according to a report released by the International Labour Organization (ILO). It says women and young people are particularly affected, with almost half of women being unemployed.
In Syria, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent is delivering United Nations humanitarian aid for more than 92,000 people to Talbiseh in northern rural Homs and Tlul Elhomor in southern Hama. This is the first convoy to northern rural Homs since a convoy reached Dar al‑Kabira and surrounding areas on 4 March.