Mexico

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration today began preparing asylum seekers in the Matamoros camp for entry to the United States as the country ends a policy that forced some 25,000 people to wait in Mexico for their immigration hearings.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Peter Grohmann of Germany as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mexico, with the host Government’s approval.

The period following the start of Afghanistan’s peace negotiations in September 2020 has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of human rights defenders and media professionals killed in the country, a new report issued today by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are helping the Government of Cambodia with distance learning programmes for the more than 3 million students who are out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first United Nations “Solidarity Flight” left Addis Ababa today to bring medical supplies and protective equipment to boost COVID-19 response on the African continent, with preparations being made to distribute to 32 countries and to facilitate medical evacuations.

A medical air bridge operation in Yemen coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and local authorities began today, bringing several Yemeni patients of an initial group of 30 from Sana’a to Amman, with more flights to follow.

The death toll from the measles epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has surpassed 6,000 people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.  The outbreak is currently the worst in the world.

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today the launch of Stop the Waste, a global campaign to raise awareness about the 4 billion tons of edible food that is discarded daily, costing the global economy nearly $1 trillion annually.  Top restaurateurs and celebrity chefs can join the movement through #StopTheWaste.

Today is World Refugee Day.  Events, recognizing that close to 70.8 million people around the world are fleeing war, persecution and conflict, include a social media takeover of the Secretary-General’s Youth Envoy accounts by a young Syrian refugee who now lives in Za’atari camp, in Jordan.

Two jailed Reuters journalists from Myanmar will share the 2019 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s press freedom prize.  Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone were reporting on alleged human rights violations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State when they were arrested in December 2017.