The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that, halfway into 2023, it has only received 20 per cent of the $54.8 billion needed to help the one in 22 people globally that require assistance. Further, unequal funding across emergencies has challenged the Office’s ability to respond to surging needs.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
In Syria, a United Nations cross-line convoy of 10 trucks carrying 220 metric tons of humanitarian assistance for 22,000 people crossed from Aleppo to Sarmada on 23 June. While an important complement, the cross-line operation cannot substitute cross-border aid that reaches 2.7 million Syrians each month.
The country team in Egypt is addressing food insecurity - worsened by disrupted grain exports from the Russian Federation and Ukraine – by supporting vulnerable groups through cash transfers, vouchers, and food distribution, and providing fertilizers, loans and training to improve livelihoods to some 4,600 smallholder farmers.
The Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Programme and the mine action partner Foundation Suisse de Déminage have launched a programme for farmers most affected by the war in Ukraine to support smallholder farmers with plots smaller than 300 hectares and rural families growing food for their own consumption.
Over the past four weeks, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has facilitated the movement of 438 trucks carrying some 17,000 tons of aid to different parts of Sudan. Fifty of those trucks moved during the first two days of the latest ceasefire.
According to a new report, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) revealed that families in Lebanon are barely able to meet their most basic needs despite cutting down drastically on expenses.
The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process today said that he was deeply concerned by the Government of Israel’s decision on 18 June to alter settlement planning procedures that have been in place since 1996, which is expected to expedite settlement expansion.
In Greece, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration are calling for urgent and decisive action to prevent further deaths at sea following the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean, the worst in several years.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ flagship annual report, Global Trends in Forced Displacement, noted that by the end of 2022, the number of people displaced by war, persecution, violence and human rights abuses stood at a record 108 million people, up 19.1 million people from 2021, the biggest increase ever.
An estimated 8 million people die annually in 137 low- and middle-income countries from poor-quality health care; that’s according to a new joint report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).