Leading the response to the regional refugee crisis related to the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration have launched regional appeals of $46 million and $32 million respectively to help Governments and host communities.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The Food and Agriculture Organization today warned that Fall Armyworm could threaten the livelihoods of millions of small‑scale farmers in Asia — where it’s been found for the first time — as this invasive pest is highly likely to spread further from India.
A new United Nations report has urged Somalia to build on the significant gains made in its peace process over the last five years and to ensure that future elections are not marred by the human rights violations and abuses seen during the 2016-2017 electoral process. It notes that, to date, only 2 of the 44 documented killings during that time have been investigated and prosecuted.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is ramping up assistance to Ecuador, which declared a state of emergency in three provinces on Wednesday due to the influx of Venezuelans, some 547,000 of whom entered the country through the Colombian border. About 30,000 Venezuelans entered at a rate exceeding 4,000 per day in the first week of August.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says it is gravely concerned about reports of Zambia’s forced return of a Zimbabwean asylum-seeker to his home country. A senior Zimbabwean politician expressed his intention to seek asylum at the border yesterday, but Zambia reportedly handed him over to Zimbabwe authorities today despite a court order to the contrary.
Emergency fuel stocks at a number of critical health, water and sanitation facilities in the Gaza Strip have almost run out, creating enormous risks for the population, according to United Nations humanitarian personnel. The immediate lack of fuel is due to Israeli restrictions on imports, which also apply to United Nations‑procured emergency fuel.
The United Nations refugee agency said today that more than 2,000 Somalis have returned home from Yemen since 2017, as part of an assistance programme carried out jointly with the International Organization for Migration and authorities in Yemen and Somalia. Yemen currently hosts more than 270,000 refugees, the vast majority of them Somalis.
United Nations humanitarian officials say violent protests in Ethiopia’s Somali region have led to at least 29 deaths, and that houses of worship, homes and businesses have been attacked and destroyed. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that some 22,000 households were already provided with emergency supplies, but more than 150,000 still need assistance.
UNHCR says that more than 1,500 refugees and migrants have lost their lives attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in the first seven months of 2018. The bleak milestone was confirmed after more than 850 lives were lost in June and July alone, marking the Mediterranean crossing as the world’s deadliest sea route.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that volcanic activity on Vanuatu’s Ambae Island, which has a population of more than 10,000 people, has intensified in the last few weeks. The Vanuatu Council of Ministers has called for the immediate compulsory evacuation of Ambae residents to the neighbouring island of Maewo.