Pramila Patten, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict, today expressed great concern about serious allegations of sexual violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, including a high number of alleged rapes in the capital. She called for zero tolerance of sexual violence among all warring parties.
In progress at UNHQ
Ethiopia
From Madagascar, the United Nations is issuing a flash appeal for $76 million to support more than 1 million people in the south who face a potentially life-threatening lack of food, nutrition, water and sanitation, and health assistance due to the region’s worst drought in 10 years coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Jordan launched one of the world’s first COVID-19 vaccination drives for refugees on 14 January. An Iraqi woman in the city of Irbid was the first registered refugee to be vaccinated as part of Jordan’s national campaign.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is deeply concerned about the plight of hundreds of thousands of people in Ethiopia’s strife-torn Tigray region who have yet to receive life-saving assistance. The situation is particularly critical for newly displaced people and refugees.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index averaged 107.5 points in December 2020, 2.2 per cent higher than in November 2020, FAO said today. World food prices rose for the seventh consecutive month last month, an increase led by high demand for dairy products.
United Nations humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock has allocated $1.5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to the Food and Agriculture Organization for desert locust control operations in Kenya. Swarms could threaten livelihoods and food security of 3.6 million people across the region if they are not controlled.
Despite slightly improved humanitarian access into some areas of Tigray, the region remains critically challenged by the prevailing insecurity and bureaucratic constraints, United Nations humanitarian officials in Ethiopia report. Health facilities in major cities are working with limited supplies and without staff.
The World Food Programme today raised extreme concern that escalating violence and displacement in north Mozambique has led to more than 900,000 people facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity. Plans are in place to reach 750,000 in the area, but $117 million is needed over the next year to meet needs.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns that 250,000 children have been displaced by the crisis in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. UNICEF is concerned that safe water, sanitation and hygiene services are insufficient to meet the growing needs in overcrowded temporary accommodation centres and host communities.
The Food and Agriculture Organization said it is working to bolster the global response to the Fall Armyworm, considered one of the top 10 devastating plant pests, which places at risk up to 80 million metric tons of maize worth $18 billion per year in Africa, Asia and the Near East.