Noon Briefings

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that four incidents of unexploded ordnance injured eight children in Syria on 4 November.  The United Nations called on all parties to the conflict to allow clearance and education activities, given that 11.5 million people live in affected areas.

The first flight of humanitarian aid organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) arrived in Somalia today to help more than 20,000 people cut off by the worst flooding in years.

Heavy rains and flooding have affected 2.5 million people in South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Uganda, forcing people to flee their homes and resulting in the loss of property, crops and livestock.  Higher-than-usual rainfall is expected to continue in eastern African this month and next.

In Somalia, Beletweyne district and other areas have been severely affected by unusually heavy rains and flooding.  Humanitarian needs are dire.  The World Food Programme is working with the Federal Government and with sister United Nations agencies to coordinate the response and reach the hardest-hit people.

A record 45 million people across southern Africa will be severely food insecure in the next six months, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme, who are calling for funding to prevent a major hunger crisis.

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria launched the Syrian-led, Syrian-owned inclusive Constitutional Committee in Geneva today, bringing together for the first time Government and opposition nominees, with women making up 30 per cent of the 150 participants, following a nearly nine-year-long conflict.

In Central America, subsistence farmers and some larger-scale farming operations in “the Dry Corridor” have lost 50 to 75 per cent of their crops due to irregular weather conditions, including high temperatures, below average rain and long dry spells.  The 2018 drought affected more than 2 million people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

The Government of Zambia, the United Nations and partners launched a response plan after the poorest rainfall in decades is expected to leave 2.4 million severely food insecure.  Meanwhile, humanitarian partners in Somalia and South Sudan are scaling up responses to severe seasonal flooding that affected 1 million.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has launched a four-year Global Strategy for Sustainable Energy to promotes the transition to clean, renewable energy at refugee camps and hosting sites, where more than 90 per cent of refugees have limited access to electricity.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and “Education Cannot Wait”, the first global, multilateral fund for education in emergencies started a strategic partnership to ensure children and youth in emergencies have access to education opportunities.