Myanmar

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.

With Bangladesh expecting its first monsoon of the year in the coming weeks, the United Nations refugee agency is ramping up emergency preparations and training of Rohingya refugees as first responders.  Last year, more than 740,000 refugees fleeing Myanmar into Bangladesh experienced their first monsoon.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Nicholas Koumjian of the United States as Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said today that it is concerned that, according to its preliminary findings, an airstrike by international forces against the Taliban carried out overnight between Friday and Saturday in Kunduz killed 13 civilians, 10 of whom were children.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is concerned about armed clashes in the southern Philippines between the army and non-State armed groups that have uprooted more than 47,000 people.  The United Nations and humanitarian partners are helping the Government deliver aid to nearly 35,000 displaced people.

A record $7 billion to support millions of people in need of humanitarian aid in Syria, as well as for refugees and host communities in neighbouring countries, was pledged at the donors’ conference in Brussels on 14 March.

Since 11 March, 30 deaths have been recorded and more than 93,000 households have been impacted by heavy rains and flooding in Malawi, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which stands ready to support Malawi authorities as they respond to humanitarian needs.

An estimated 30,000 refugees have returned to the north-eastern Nigerian town of Rann from Cameroon since Wednesday and are in dire need of aid, according to humanitarian colleagues.  International and national humanitarian organizations have not returned to Rann since 17 January due to ongoing insecurity.

Fragility, tensions and violence in Myanmar — including, but not limited to, the recent crisis in Rakhine State — risk jeopardizing important strides made in that country’s peace process, the top United Nations official in Myanmar warned the Security Council today, urging the 15-member organ to continue to lend support.

The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Mamadou Diallo, and Prime Minister Jean-Henry Céant have launched the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti.  It seeks $126 million to provide critical humanitarian assistance and protection services for 1.3 million Haitians.