Humanitarian issues

In Sudan, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today that access constraints there are hindering the ability to deliver supplies and protection to the most vulnerable communities, and effectively monitor the delivery of aid to ensure that it reaches the intended recipients.

Sexual violence in conflict includes acts such as “shooting at genitalia”, “inserting foreign objects” into reproductive and sexual organs or “mutilating or electrocuting genitals”, an expert on torture told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, proposing more robust legal frameworks to protect victims and hold perpetrators accountable.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today released its annual Emissions Gap report. This year’s report says that nations must deliver dramatically stronger ambition and action in the next round of nationally determined contributions or the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal will be gone within a few years.

The latest report of the Secretary-General on women, peace and security says that the effects of war and conflict on women and girls are worsening. In 2023, the proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled compared to 2022 and four out of every 10 people who died because of conflict in 2023 were women.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) says that one year into the Gaza war, the humanitarian crisis has reached a catastrophic level — with unprecedented casualties, widespread destruction and severe food insecurity.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that an urgent request to access the Falouja area of Jabalya to help those trapped under the rubble was denied by Israeli authorities for the fourth consecutive day, and teams, in Gaza City, reported that shelter support is urgently needed.

This week, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), in its continuing support to the Government on demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration of ex-combatants, repatriated four ex-combatants from Rwanda along with a dependent woman.

Urgent action is needed to address the abject conditions and intolerable suffering in Gaza, a senior humanitarian UN official told the Security Council today, as delegates expressed horror at the recent strike on a hospital that killed displaced persons sheltering there, amidst Israel’s intensifying operations in northern Gaza.

In Sudan, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says that due to the intensifying conflict in Darfur, nearly 25,000 people have arrived in Chad in the first week of October. According to UNHCR, nearly 3 million refugees and returnees have now fled Sudan over the last 18 months, crossing borders to seek safety in neighbouring States.

In Lebanon, 12 UN trucks delivered bottled water, family hygiene kits and blankets, among other vital aid, to the Marjeyoun and Klayaa villages. This inter-agency mission is supported by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, World Food Programme, UN refugee agency, UNICEF and the UN Population Fund.