Libya

Responding to urgent and growing humanitarian needs in northern Ethiopia, almost 40 trucks with food and other relief supplies from the United Nations and aid partners departed Monday for Tigray, the first convoy since mid-October, and the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service resumed flights to Mekelle.

The Security Council, through a presidential statement today, welcomed the Paris International Conference for Libya which was convened on 12 November 2021, as well as the Declaration issued by the participants and their commitment to the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement and supporting the United Nations-facilitated, Libyan-led and Libyan-owned political process.

In his first appearance in the Security Council today, the new Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court called for a more robust partnership between the two bodies towards ending impunity for atrocity crimes committed in Libya and elsewhere.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations peacekeeping mission reports that some 16,000 people fled to a camp located near its Temporary Operational Base, following deadly attack deadly attacks by the CODECO armed group in Drodro, Ituri province.  The mission has reinforced security in the area.

Following is the text of Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Paris Conference on Libya, today:

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Henrietta Fore voiced deep concern over reports that child marriage in Afghanistan is on the rise, with families offering daughters as young as 20 days old for future marriage in return for a dowry.  Some 28 per cent of Afghan women aged 15–49 were married before 18.

UNICEF released a report today showing there are nearly 240 million children with disabilities around the world, a new global approximation higher than previous estimates which considers symptoms of anxiety and depression, among other difficulties across several domains of functioning.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the situation in the northern part of Ethiopia is rapidly deteriorating, amid fighting in and around Dessie and Kombolcha in the Amhara region, which led to large-scale displacement and increasing humanitarian needs.  The two towns were already hosting a large number of displaced people from nearby areas.

On 25 October 2021, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1970 (2011) concerning Libya approved the addition of the entry specified below to its Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the measures imposed by Security Council resolutions 1970 (2011) and 1973 (2011) and adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says more children and women were abducted for ransom between January and August 2021 than during the entire 2020.  UNICEF estimates based on official sources say 71 women and 30 children were abducted in the first eight months of 2021, and 59 women and 37 children in 2020.