Following Sunday’s demonstrations in Sudan, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on the authorities to lift restrictions on the Internet and launch proper independent investigations into allegations of excessive use of force, specially attacks on hospitals.
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Noon Briefings
The World Food Programme is scaling up its relief operation for conflict-displaced people in north-east Democratic Republic of the Congo, where renewed inter-ethnic violence has forced tens of thousands from their homes. The country faces the world’s second-largest hunger crisis after Yemen, with 13 million people food insecure.
More than 1.4 million refugees in over 60 host countries will need resettlement in 2020, the High Commissioner for Refugees finds in its report, “Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2020”. Those most at risk include refugees from Syria (40 per cent), South Sudan (14 per cent) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (11 per cent).
The World Meteorological Organization said today the Earth is set to experience its five warmest years on record from 2015-2019. Increasing greenhouse gas concentrations will fuel the global heat – and accompanying ice melt, glacier retreat, sea level rise, ocean heat and extreme weather for generations to come.
Today is Micro-, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Day. Under the theme “Big Money for Small Business: Financing the SDGs”, it focuses on how small businesses can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, those related to promoting innovation, creativity and decent work for all.
The International Organization for Migration says intercommunal violence and floods in the Mopti region of Mali are aggravating a fragile humanitarian situation for 50,000 internally displaced people while 210,000 others are food insecure and only 2 per cent of communities can access safe drinking water.
Today is the Day of the Seafarer. This year’s theme, “I Am on Board with Gender Equality”, focuses on the importance and value of women within the professional ranks of the maritime world. The theme is also in line with this year’s theme for World Maritime Day: “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community”.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the detention of 55,000 suspected Da’esh fighters and their families in Syria and Iraq, held in substandard conditions, is among issues before the Human Rights Council’s forty-first session, adding that fair trials protect societies from future radicalization.
More than 1.3 million people in north-west and south-west Cameroon need humanitarian assistance, up from 160,000 in 2018. Non-State armed groups banned education, 80 per cent of schools are closed and 74 schools were destroyed. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says half of those in need are children.
Today is World Refugee Day. Events, recognizing that close to 70.8 million people around the world are fleeing war, persecution and conflict, include a social media takeover of the Secretary-General’s Youth Envoy accounts by a young Syrian refugee who now lives in Za’atari camp, in Jordan.