Ethiopia

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres departed New York for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Thursday evening, 6 February.  He arrived on Friday evening.

The Government of Ethiopia, the United Nations and humanitarian partners today called for $1 billion to help 7 million of the 8.4 million people in the country identified as requiring humanitarian aid due to conflict, disease outbreaks, rain shortfalls and floods.

The United Nations refugee agency today welcomed El Salvador’s new law that will help protect internally displaced people.  The legislation opens the doors for tens of thousands of victims of forced displacement in the country to gain access to life-saving humanitarian assistance and to have their basic rights restored.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has launched a four-year Global Strategy for Sustainable Energy to promotes the transition to clean, renewable energy at refugee camps and hosting sites, where more than 90 per cent of refugees have limited access to electricity.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the launch of the Ethiopian chapter of the African Women Leaders Network, in Addis Ababa today:

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

The International Organization of Migration today launched a $10 million appeal to support recovery efforts in the Bahamian islands of Abaco and Grand Bahamas, which were hit by Hurricane Dorian in September.  The funds will be used to assist shelters, provide non-food items and track missing persons.

Today is World Mental Health Day.  This year’s theme focuses on preventing suicide, which claims the lives of nearly 800,000 people annually – or one every 40 seconds, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is asking people to join in “40 seconds of action” to raise awareness about the problem and help prevent it.

The Emergency Relief Coordinator completed a two-day visit to Ethiopia, calling for additional funding to support the Government-led response to the displacement crisis and humanitarian need brought on by drought, flooding, disease outbreak and inter-ethnic violence that has forced millions of people to flee their homes.

The United Nations recorded fewer human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the first half of 2019, a High Commissioner for Human Rights report found, describing the 3,039 violations as an improvement.  However, the number of violations committed until June remains higher than two years ago.