Nigeria

An estimated 6.3 million children under the age of 15 died in 2017, mostly of preventable causes, according to new mortality estimates released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Division and the World Bank Group.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary‑General António Guterres:

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that volcanic activity on Vanuatu’s Ambae Island, which has a population of more than 10,000 people, has intensified in the last few weeks.  The Vanuatu Council of Ministers has called for the immediate compulsory evacuation of Ambae residents to the neighbouring island of Maewo.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

After decades of displacement, 93 refugees in Thailand have returned to south-eastern Myanmar with the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and its partners.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, reports that the situation in Bangui is calm following violence in the capital yesterday, but in a subsequent attack, two MINUSCA Military Staff Officers were wounded, one seriously, after a crowd pelted them with stones.

The World Food Programme today airlifted life-saving, nutrient-dense biscuits from its Humanitarian Depot in Dubai to Papua New Guinea.  The plane carried enough food to feed approximately 60,000 people.  More than 270,000 people require humanitarian aid since a devastating earthquake struck the country in February.

Humanitarian operations for over 800,000 people have resumed in Rann town, in Nigeria’s Borno State following several United Nations security assessments, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  However, aid workers have not yet been authorized to stay overnight.

A United Nations human rights office report issued today states there are strong grounds to believe that some of the people detained in Mexico in the early stages of the investigation into the 2014 disappearance of 43 students were arbitrarily detained and tortured and those serious violations were covered up.