In his first time speaking before the Security Council as Secretary-General, António Guterres spoke about the importance of conflict prevention, saying that it had proved difficult to persuade decision-makers at national and international levels that prevention must be their priority.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) launched today two international emergency appeals totalling $813 million to meet the critical humanitarian needs of refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and those affected by the conflict in Syria.
Humanitarian colleagues in Iraq report that more than 133,000 people have been displaced due to ongoing operations in Mosul, which began in October. Some 87 per cent have sought shelter in camps for internally displaced people. To date, available camp space is still keeping pace with the rate of displacement.
Jan Egeland, the Special Adviser on the Humanitarian Task Force for Syria, stresses the need for access in Wadi Barada, which supplies most of the water to Damascus, Syria, where some 5.5 million people have no water. The United Nations has received reports of the displacement of at least 7,000 people from the Wadi Barada area north of the city due to recent fighting.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti, Sandra Honoré, and the other members of the “Core Group” today congratulated President-elect Jovenel Moïse on his election and encouraged all actors to respect the final results.
On 1 January, António Guterres took over as the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations. After taking office he issued a statement appealing for peace and asking that 2017 be a year for peace.
John Ging, Operations Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told the Security Council that the evacuation operation from eastern Aleppo, Syria, ended late last night, with more than 35,000 people evacuated, including 20,000 people since resolution 2328 (2016) was passed earlier this week.
The United Nations Headquarters Board of Inquiry report said the 19 September attack on the United Nations/Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian convoy could have been carried out only by aircraft of the international Coalition Forces or the Russian Federation and the Syrian Arab Air Force, and that Coalition involvement was highly unlikely.
Evacuations escorted by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) resumed today from eastern Aleppo, with United Nations teams at the Ramouseh Government checkpoint. ICRC estimates that more than 25,000 people were evacuated from the besieged areas from 15 to 20 December.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today that countries in the Horn of Africa are likely to see a rise in hunger and further decline of local livelihoods in the coming months, as farming families struggle with the knock-on effects of multiple droughts that hit the region this year.