Democratic Republic of the Congo

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

On 11 December 2017, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo received a briefing from the Coordinator of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the Group’s midterm report in pursuance of paragraph 6 of resolution 2360 (2017).

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is again calling urgently upon the Government of Australia to find humane solutions for the refugees and asylum-seekers abandoned on Manus Island, noting that about 800 people have remained in a precarious situation there since the “off-shore processing” facility was closed on 31 October.

The protection of civilians site in South Sudan, next to the United Nations base in Melut in the Upper Nile region, has been successfully closed in South Sudan after internally displaced families expressed the desire and confidence to return to their former homes.

Temperatures plummeted across Ukraine, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported, saying the distribution of aid, including clothing, fuel and cash to the most vulnerable people impacted by the conflict in eastern Ukraine.  The aid will reach some 15,300 people, mainly single parents, elderly, families with many children and people with disabilities or chronic illnesses.

Today in Geneva, the 2018-2019 Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan concerning Syria was launched - an interagency, $4.4 billion plan designed to support over five million refugees from Syria and the vulnerable communities hosting them in the neighbouring countries of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey.

Following are UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ remarks on the attack on peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in New York today:

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Koro Bessho (Japan):

The number of people affected by dementia is set to triple in the next 30 years, from 50 million to 152 million by 2050, the World Health Organization reported. The $818 billion annual cost of dementia, equivalent to more than 1 per cent of global gross domestic product, is expected to reach $2 trillion by 2030.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Sebastiano Cardi (Italy):