Humanitarian issues

The World Health Organization reported that weekly deaths from COVID-19 in Africa reached a record peak in the week ending 1 August, with more than 6,400 deaths recorded — the highest seven-day toll since the onset of the pandemic in Africa.  South Africa and Tunisia accounted for more than 55 per cent of the fatalities.

A United Nations report details today the worsening human rights situation in the Central African Republic in the past year, attributing responsibility for 54 per cent of the documented incidents to armed groups, and the remainder to national defence and security forces, bilateral personnel and private military contractors.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the International Conference in Support of the Lebanese People, held virtually today:

A new report by the United Nations Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights stresses the need to prevent torture in places of detention in Iraq, including the Kurdistan region.  “No circumstances, however exceptional, justify torture,” said Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Special Representative in the country.

In Myanmar, at least 930 people, many of them women and children, have been killed at the hands of security forces since 1 February, while thousands more have been injured, the United Nations team there reports.  At least 3,000 remain under detention, as the protracted crisis impacts humanitarian access to people in need.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) say in a new report that conflict, coronavirus and the climate crisis are likely to increase hunger in 23 countries in the next four months.  Ethiopia and Madagascar are the world’s newest “highest alert” hunger hotspots, the report states.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) reports that yesterday, peacekeepers repelled two attacks against its patrols, the first in Kidal and the second north of Douentza, in the Mopti Region.  MINUSMA has seen 15 attacks against its peacekeepers in the past three weeks.

The United Nations refugee agency said today it is deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of six Rohingya refugees following heavy monsoon rains and strong winds which pelted refugee sites in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, causing flash floods and landslides.  More than 12,000 refugees have been affected, initial reports say.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that half a million people in parts of Balochistan province in Pakistan are facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity.  Another 100,000 people need immediate life-saving assistance due to severe drought-like conditions.

The World Food Programme and the United Nations Children’s Fund say that as drought worsens in Madagascar, malnutrition rates are expected to quadruple among children in the South, where at least half a million under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished, including 110,000 in severe condition.