The General Assembly today adopted — by an overwhelming majority, though short of the near-unanimous support seen in previous years — a resolution calling for an end to the decades-old United States embargo against Cuba, before turning its attention to the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the complex challenges it faces in an increasingly divided world.
As the Caribbean region prepares for the devastation that will be caused by Hurricane Melissa, speakers at the General Assembly’s annual meeting about the embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba highlighted its impact on ordinary citizens’ lives in that country.
In Haiti, as the security situation deteriorates, essential UN personnel from agencies and its political mission remain in Port-au-Prince, ensuring continued delivery of critical humanitarian programmes and assistance and political support to assist Haitian-led efforts to successfully carry out the political transition.
The just released UN Environment Programme’s Adaptation Gap Report says that nations must dramatically increase climate adaptation efforts and urgently close the $187-359 billion per year gap that exists between adaptation finance needs and current international public adaptation finance flows.
In Lebanon, the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Public Health opened a new Trauma and Burn Management Unit at the Turkish Trauma and Emergency Hospital in Sidon and a humanitarian convoy successfully delivered one month of medical supplies, medicine and hygiene kits to the Primary Healthcare Centre in Labweh.
Following Hurricane Oscar that hit Cuba, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has released $3.5 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to address urgent needs for shelter, health, food and water and a $33 million Action Plan will launched tomorrow.
The General Assembly today reiterated its call on the United States to end its economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba, as Cuba’s Minister for Foreign Affairs called the blockade against his Government “commercial warfare” and “a crime of genocide”.
Consistent with the solidarity demonstrated over the past three decades, delegates at the General Assembly today added yet another feather of support to multilateralism’s cap regarding the lifting of the United States’ 62-year-old economic, commercial and financial sanctions against the Government and people of Cuba.
In Sudan, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today that access constraints there are hindering the ability to deliver supplies and protection to the most vulnerable communities, and effectively monitor the delivery of aid to ensure that it reaches the intended recipients.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) says that one year into the Gaza war, the humanitarian crisis has reached a catastrophic level — with unprecedented casualties, widespread destruction and severe food insecurity.
