Mauritania

In Syria, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports in the north-east of the country the UN carried out a cross-line inter-agency assessment mission to Al-Kisrah district in Deir-ez-Zor, and that is the first such mission since 2018.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Lila Pieters Yahia of Canada as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mauritania, with the host Government’s approval.  She took up her post on 7 November.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says 71 journalists have been arrested in Myanmar, with more than half of them still detained since the beginning of February.  Some 24 people have been charged for allegedly spreading fake news.

The new Permanent Representative of Mauritania to the United Nations, Sidi Mohamed Laghdaf, paid a courtesy call on UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

The new Permanent Representative of Mauritania to the United Nations, Sidi Mohamed Laghdaf, presented his credentials to the Secretariat today.

The United Nations is scaling up life-saving aid for north-west Syria, including health items to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic.  In May alone, it sent 1,781 trucks from Turkey, the highest number since cross-border operations began in 2014, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports.

The World Food Programme and the United Nations Children’s Fund are urging Governments to prevent devastating nutrition and health consequences for the 370 million children missing out on school meals as a result of school closures.  The daily lunch at school is the only food for millions of children around the world.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported today that an estimated 761,000 children were internally displaced by storms in the Caribbean between 2014 and 2018; that’s the hottest five-year period on record.  This is an increase of 600,000, compared to the 175,000 children displaced in the preceding five years.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the detention of 55,000 suspected Da’esh fighters and their families in Syria and Iraq, held in substandard conditions, is among issues before the Human Rights Council’s forty-first session, adding that fair trials protect societies from future radicalization.

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