VIENNA, 5 October — The 2017 International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East opened in Vienna today, with journalists, diplomats, academics and civil society representatives sharing views on the status of peace efforts, ways to end the occupation — now in its fiftieth year — and media narratives about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that over 509,000 Rohingya refugees have fled into Bangladesh from Myanmar. Noting the “horrific” living conditions of the refugees, the Emergency Relief Coordinator and UNICEF’s Executive Director called for urgent funding to scale up the response.
About the response to the cholera outbreak in Yemen, medicines procured by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for the treatment of 30,000 patients have been airlifted to Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, for transfer across the Red Sea to the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that the number of Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh has surpassed 700,000, with 480,000 arriving since late August. The United Nations continues to provide aid, but the massive influx of refugees is outpacing the capacity to respond.
Israel had moved forward with illegal settlement activity at a high rate since late June further dashing hopes for a two-State solution, the United Nations top envoy for the Middle East peace process told the Security Council today.
The number of Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar and arrived in Bangladesh in the past month has reached 436,000. Aid agencies have reached more than 80 per cent of these people with food aid and are scaling up their support.
The Secretary-General spoke at a high-level meeting on reform of the United Nations. He stressed that the true test will be measured through tangible results in the lives of the people the Organization serves — and the trust of those who support its work through their hard-earned resources.
The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees released a report today showing a decline in the number of refugees and migrants arriving in Europe, but warned that many migrants still risk death, serious abuses or both by continuing to resort to smugglers and trafficking networks.
Against the backdrop of heightened tensions and multiple violent incidents in and around Jerusalem — as well as a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip — the top United Nations political affairs official today urged the parties to the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict to recommit to ending the occupation of Palestinian lands and realizing a two-State solution.
In Ethiopia, the fifth round of food distributions has reached 330,000 of the targeted 3.3 million people in the Somali region, where successive failed rains have exacerbated the food insecurity crisis. The ongoing distributions are expected to be completed by mid-September.
