Speakers urged the Security Council today to prevent northern Gaza’s descent into famine amid relentless death and destruction, as the 15-member body convened an emergency meeting in response to experts’ warnings that immediate action is required within “days, not weeks” to avert the scourge.
In West and Central Africa, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the region continues to experience catastrophic flooding, with more than 7 million people impacted across 16 countries. Chad, Niger, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been the most affected.
The following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, in Geneva today:
The thirtieth United Nations International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East this afternoon resumed and concluded its activities, holding a session on the topic of Behind the Headlines of Gaza: Media Challenges and Perspectives.
Journalists, media experts, policymakers and scholars gathered for the opening of the thirtieth annual International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East today, held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
The following statement was issued today by the Bureau of the General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People:
The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) today reported that between July and September, over 1,200 people were killed there and more than 500 injured by gang violence, as well as in the fight against gangs. During the same period, the mission also documented 170 kidnappings for ransom.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Pascale Christine Baeriswyl (Switzerland):
The unrelenting violence in the Middle East is further diminishing the prospects for a sustainable resolution in the region, warned Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, as he urged all efforts to de-escalate the situation towards an immediate ceasefire and, ultimately, the two-State solution, as Member States joined the Security Council during its quarterly open debate on the situation in the region and the question of Palestine.
The UN Secretary-General has issued a statement of deep concern over the Israeli Knesset’s adoption Monday of two laws, which if implemented, would likely prevent the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from continuing its essential work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
