The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and humanitarian colleagues express concern about persistent forced displacement of indigenous people and farming communities in rural Colombia. Since 19 January, violence in Caceres has displaced at least 822 people; in Bajo Cauco murders have increased.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the World Food Programme today said it is energizing two key elements of its emergency operation to prevent famine in war-ravaged Kasaï: cash distributions to the most vulnerable and specialist support to check acute malnutrition in women and young children.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have agreed with the United Nations on the modalities to transfer, by the end of March, $930 million in support of the 2018 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, according to Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock.
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has received four allegations of misconduct, including three allegations of sexual exploitation. These allegations involve military peacekeepers.
The World Food Programme is warning today that the twin scourges of another prolonged dry spell and an invasive crop-eating worm are set to sharply curtail harvests across southern Africa, driving millions of people into severe hunger.
On 26 January 2018, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo held an open briefing on the midterm report of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (S/2017/1091). The meeting was held in pursuance of paragraph 31 of resolution 2360 (2017), by which the Security Council encouraged the Chair to hold regular briefings for all interested Member States.
Emergency fuel for critical facilities in Gaza will become exhausted within 10 days, the acting United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory warned today. Currently, the nearly 2 million Palestinian residents there receive electricity for no more than eight hours a day.
Civilian returns to Iraq’s newly accessible areas continue to increase since the conclusion of major counter‑Daesh military operations late last year; 3.2 million previously displaced people have now returned home, surpassing the total number of displaced in the country for the first time since the crisis began four years ago.
On 1 February 2018, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo added the following individuals to the List of Individuals and Entities subject to the measures reaffirmed by paragraph 2 of resolution 2360 (2017):
The World Health Organization’s first release of surveillance data on antibiotic resistance reveals high levels of resistance to several common, serious bacterial infections in both high- and low-income countries.