Guatemala

In Afghanistan, humanitarian organizations in Herat City have started distributing food and non-food items to displaced people who have been affected by drought.  As part of the ongoing full-scale drought response, WFP and its partners reached nearly 287,000 affected people from 6 to 12 December with food and cash assistance.

The United Nations Population Fund’s annual State of World Population report “The Power of Choice: Reproductive Rights and the Demographic Transition” shows that the global trend towards smaller families and the power to choose the number, timing and spacing of children can bolster economic and social development.

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

Jamie McGoldrick, Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, called today for urgent funding to restore depleted supplies of emergency fuel for essential services in the Gaza Strip.  Within a week, Al Aqsa Hospital in the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip may have to shut down, and, without fuel, some 300,000 people will potentially be affected by serious public health concerns.

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

The Human Rights Office published the United Nations first-ever report on the human rights situation in Kashmir today, which states that past and ongoing human rights abuses must be urgently addressed, and details violations committed by security forces with impunity.

The World Food Programme has begun distributing food rations to people affected by the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Equateur Province.  The World Health Organization is helping the nine surrounding countries scale up national emergency preparedness and response capacities.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo welcomes the condemnations by the province’s leaders regarding recent ethnically motivated incidents, and calls upon authorities to intensify efforts to fight against impunity and bring perpetrators to justice.

A humanitarian coordination team of 60 experts from United Nations agencies and aid partners is traveling to Guatemala today to assess the immediate humanitarian needs of more than 1.7 million people impacted by the eruption of volcano Fuego two days ago.

The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan condemned the attack today that killed and injured religious scholars gathered in Kabul who were there to promote peace in Afghanistan.  Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released a study that found nearly half of Afghan children are missing out on school.