Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher allocated $1 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for an urgent response to the cholera outbreak declared last month in the Central African Republic. More than 400 suspected cases and 36 deaths have been recorded. Children under age 10 account for 44 per cent of all reported cases.
The General Assembly today resumed consideration of the United States’ decades-long economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba, adopting an urgent proposal by Havana to re-open debate amid the “unprecedented actions of an extreme extraterritorial nature” being undertaken against the island nation by Washington, D.C.
The Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs reports that following missile attacks towards Israel since last night, the Israeli authorities closed the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing today, which has been the only crossing into Gaza that had been operational for cargo over the past two weeks.
In Cuba, an ongoing energy crisis driven by United States sanctions, compounded by hurricanes and other disasters, is severely disrupting essential services like water, sanitation, food production and healthcare. Over 100,000 surgeries have been postponed. The United Nations and partners have a plan to assist up to 2 million people.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, has allocated up to $60 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to expedite the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the wider region. A first tranche of $10 million has just been released for activities.
After 14 weeks of intensive negotiations under UN auspices in Amman, the parties to the conflict in Yemen agreed to release over 1,600 conflict-related detainees — the largest such release deal since the start of the conflict, and a profound relief for thousands of Yemenis enduring long, painful waits for family members.
In Cuba, the humanitarian situation continues to worsen as the energy crisis deepens, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports, noting that healthcare, waste collection, water deliveries to remote areas, food distribution and other essential services are being heavily disrupted.
Cuba’s energy crisis has had cascading effects on essential services. The restructured $94 million Plan of Action aims to assist 2 million people — one in five nationwide. To date, $26 million has been received, leaving a funding gap of $68 million.
The Secretary-General’s report on measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse covering 2025 has been issued. It notes that addressing sexual exploitation and abuse requires a collective commitment to tackling root causes, including inequality and power imbalances within and beyond our institutions.
