UNICEF reports that 894 children — including 106 girls — were released today from the ranks of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a local militia that helps the Nigerian security forces in the fight against insurgency in the country’s north‑east. UNICEF says more than 3,500 children were recruited between 2013 and 2017.
In progress at UNHQ
Nigeria
The Secretary-General continues to follow the developments in Sudan very closely and reiterates his call for calm and utmost restraint by all. The Secretary‑General reaffirms that the United Nations stands ready to support the Sudanese people as they chart a new way forward.
The flooding caused by Tropical Cyclone Idai has caused at least 122 deaths and affected more than a million people in both Mozambique and Malawi, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Close to 83,000 people are displaced in Malawi and more than 17,000 in Mozambique, OCHA says.
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.
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.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released a new report today which presents mounting evidence that the biodiversity underpinning global food systems is disappearing, putting the future of food, livelihoods, health and environment under severe threat, according to information from 91 reporting countries.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that heavy rains and cyclones have caused an outbreak of desert locusts in Sudan and Eritrea that is rapidly spreading to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, potentially causing a major threat to agricultural production and food security.
The United Nations refugee agency, International Migration Agency (IOM) and their partners today launched the 2019 response plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. It seeks to raise $920 million to meet the needs of over 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and over 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in host communities.
The Government of the Philippines declared a major outbreak of measles last week in Metro Manila and Central Luzon, which has now expanded to other areas, according to humanitarian affairs officials. More than 4,300 suspected cases of measles have been reported since January, with at least 70 deaths.
In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Oxfam have installed the largest human waste treatment facility ever built in a refugee settlement, in Cox’s Bazar, which is home to nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees.