At its eighty-third meeting, on 30 July 2019, the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the fifth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Myanmar (document S/2018/956), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director General announced today he will reconvene the Emergency Committee on Ebola to assess the threat after yesterday’s confirmation of the first case in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. He also raised concerns about targeted attacks against the Ebola health response.
A new United Nations report on Afghanistan has found that continued focus and efforts are needed to advance the nation’s anti-corruption reforms. It describes how corruption there is eroding public trust and confidence in Government institutions and hindering efforts to bring peace and prosperity to the country.
As of yesterday, some 1,705 probable and confirmed cases of Ebola have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the outbreak was declared on 1 August 2018, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports. About 1,122 people, or two thirds of reported cases, have died since then.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a report today saying that the demand for sand has led to pollution, flooding, drought, beach erosion and reduced deposits in river deltas. With global demands at 40-50 billion tonnes a year, UNEP warned that sand is being used faster than it can be replenished.
In Libya, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ghassan Salamé, continues his outreach to interlocutors, meeting with Government officials, a group of elders and tribal leaders to offer the United Nations full support to help thousands of civilians affected by heavy fighting in southern Tripoli.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says most Ebola response activities have been relaunched in Butembo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province following a slowdown caused by the attack that left Cameroonian doctor Richard Valéry Mouzoko dead and two other people injured.
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.
