The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says they are alarmed by statistics revealing a surge of the number of Rohingya refugees dying or going missing while taking risky boat journeys in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) today launched their Global Annual Appeal for 2024. They called for $7.9 billion to support their operations and help create a system that realizes migration’s promise as a force for good throughout the world.
The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti released today seeks $674 million to help 3.6 million people across the country, where the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate.
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.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that ongoing attacks and hostilities across Ukraine in recent days have led to further deaths, damage and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that since 2023, 13 Eastern and Southern African countries, particularly Zimbabwe and Zambia, have battled one of the worst cholera outbreaks in years. As of 15 January 2024, more than 200,000 cases, including some 3,000 fatalities, have been reported.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General informed that the first phase of the disengagement of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from South Kivu has begun, with a plan to complete its withdrawal from the area by June 2024.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) officially confirmed in a statement today that 2023 was the warmest year on record — by a huge margin — as the annual average global temperature approached 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. WMO will issue its final “State of the Global Climate” report for 2023 in March.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed today its deep concern over the recent arbitrary arrests and detentions of women and girls by the country’s de facto authorities because of their alleged non-compliance with the hijab decree.
One in three Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from as communities brace for a harsh winter, the World Food Programme warns. The agency can only reach the most desperate families due to a huge funding shortfall and urgently needs $670 million to reach 15.2 million people.