Dominica

The new Permanent Representative of Dominica to the United Nations, Philbert Aaron, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the parties to the Syrian conflict to allow badly needed food and medical supplies to get into Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, where at least 350,000 civilians remain besieged.

Marking World Day against the Death Penalty, the Secretary-General said that the barbaric practice had no place in the twenty-first century and called on countries who continued to use it to stop executions.  He also praised progress made, noting some 170 countries had either abolished or stopped using the death penalty.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres left Antigua and Barbuda on Sunday, 8 October, for Dominica, to visit the island struck by Hurricane Maria.

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that it would cut food rations by 30 per cent for the 420,000 refugees living in Dadaab and Kakuma camps in northern Kenya due to insufficient funding.  WFP urgently needs $28.5 million to adequately cover the food assistance needs for the refugees over the next six months.

UNICEF in Nigeria said today that the crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in north-east Nigeria has left more than 57 per cent of schools in Borno State closed as the new [school] year begins.  UNICEF and partners have enrolled nearly 750,000 children and established more than 350 temporary learning spaces.

About the response to the cholera outbreak in Yemen, medicines procured by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for the treatment of 30,000 patients have been airlifted to Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, for transfer across the Red Sea to the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.