In Geneva, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is having its annual conference to strengthen global wildlife trade rules. The Conference received 56 proposals to change the levels of protection for wildlife species.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed what it called important and positive steps by authorities in Yemen to ensure food aid reaches the most vulnerable in Government-controlled areas. WFP will resume food distributions after the Eid Al-Adha festival for 850,000 people in Sana’a City.
The Senior Humanitarian Adviser to the Special Envoy for Syria said today that it is deeply regrettable that the cessation of hostilities announced on Monday has collapsed and that a new wave of violence is again threatening the lives of millions of civilians in the Idlib area, more than a million of whom are children.
United Nations humanitarian officials in the Philippines report that the Government declared a national dengue epidemic yesterday. There have now been more than 146,000 reported cases of dengue fever and 622 confirmed fatalities since the beginning of 2019, mostly affecting children between 5 and 9 years old.
The United Nations welcomed the decision by the Government of Colombia to grant nationality to Venezuelan refugee children born in the country to Venezuelan parents. The measure will benefit more than 24,000 children born since August 2015 who were at risk of statelessness.
Aware of the Syrian Government’s announcement this morning on the resumption of military operations in the country’s northwest, the United Nations continues to call on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure at all times.
The Secretary-General takes note of the signing of a cessation-of-hostilities agreement by President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique and opposition leader Ossufo Momade of the Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (RENAMO), a step towards a signing a definitive peace agreement next week.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) launched a new website to identify laws and policies related to response efforts, featuring an interactive map with data from 140 nations and covering such areas as a country’s ability to diagnose HIV among babies and whether people are prosecuted for carrying condoms.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan today welcomed the reduction in civilian casualties over the 1 January-30 June period, but still views the harm done to civilians as shocking and unacceptable. The latest United Nations update, released today, documents 3,812 civilian casualties in the first half of 2019.
The United Nations Children’s Fund announced a partnership to build a first-of-its-kind factory to convert plastic waste in Côte d’Ivoire into modular plastic bricks, which will be used to build classrooms. Côte d’Ivoire needs 15,000 classrooms; 500 will be constructed through the partnership in the next two years.