Middle East

The United Nations resident coordinator’s team in Peru is responding to ongoing heavy rains and floods, which have left more than 500,000 people in need of aid. The World Food Programme (WFP) is also providing emergency cash transfers and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is treating cases of acute malnutrition.

​​​​​​​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 World Health Organization’s new report on the effect of COVID-19 on people living with non-communicable disease said such people had difficulty accessing routine medicines and experienced disrupted treatments, thus underlining the importance of including such treatment and care into national preparedness plans responses.

With the converging Ramadan, Easter and Passover holidays now beginning, the senior United Nations official for Middle East peace urged Palestinians and Israelis to promptly crystalize agreements reached at two recent diplomatic meetings — their first direct talks in years — as he briefed the Security Council today about ongoing violence, expanded settlement activity and escalating rhetoric on both sides.

On International Women’s Day, the Secretary-General, celebrating all women and girls around the world, called for gender equality in innovation and technology, as well as for the digital gender divide to be closed and women and girls’ representation in science and technology be increased.

In Iraq, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair reports that is has launched a humanitarian transition overview to encapsulate critical residual humanitarian needs and help donors and agencies prioritize support in 2023.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed is in Niger for the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Government of Niger. As Africa Regional Coordination Platform Chair, she will also meet with United Nations regional directors and coordinators.

Today, 53 trucks crossed from southern Türkiye into north-west Syria, carrying food commodities from the World Food Programme; shelter, hygiene and other items from the International Organization for Migration; and supplies from the UN Refugee Agency for over 5,000 people, to assist those impacted by the recent earthquake.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the opening of the 2023 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in New York today:

As news came in of an Israeli security forces operation in Nablus that killed 10 Palestinians, speakers at the first formal meeting of the Palestinian Rights Committee in 2023 appealed for an immediate end to the deadly cycle of violence.