United Nations officials in Mali welcomed the Government’s pledge to reintegrate 13,000 former combatants by the end of 2021 and additional 13,000 within the next three years. They also praised willingness of the Malian parties to proceed with the socioeconomic reintegration of ex-combatants that are already registered.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The World Health Organization (WHO) released the latest edition of its Mental Health Atlas, which cites a worldwide failure to provide people with the services they need. It comes as the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts continue to spotlight a growing need for mental health support in countries across the globe.
In Afghanistan, the World Health Organization reports that since 30 August, nine flights have arrived with health‑care supplies for 2.5 million people. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is also scaling up emergency aid due to the conflict, supporting nearly 4,500 internally displaced people.
Matthew Hollingworth, Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim in South Sudan condemned a letter, reportedly from a youth group in Pibor, demanding that at least 30 humanitarian workers leave the area within 72 hours. More than 80 humanitarian workers were relocated and non-life-saving aid activities suspended for 48 hours.
In northern Syria, a reported 5 million people lack reliable access to and suffer from insufficient levels of safe water due to low water levels and disruptions to water systems. The United Nations and aid partners have released a plan to target 3.4 million of those most affected by the water crisis in the next six months.
The Secretary-General spoke at the opening ceremony of the fifteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 15) in Barbados and repeated his call to donors and multilateral development banks to allocate at least 50 per cent of their climate support towards adaptation and resilience.
The United Nations team and its partners in Haiti are responding to the needs of some 500,000 people affected by the August earthquake. Despite constraints, 13 emergency medical teams have been established, over 35 metric tons of supplies have been deployed and $330,000 in emergency cash has been transferred.
In Afghanistan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that its first aircraft carrying life‑saving medical supplies arrived yesterday in Kabul through the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations Airbridge. It will cover the needs of 100,000 children and women for the next three months.
The humanitarian crisis in Tigray, Ethiopia is spiralling out of control, with 5.3 million people requiring food aid and 400,000 in famine-like conditions, according to United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths. In the past week, 79 trucks carrying aid arrived in Tigray, but 100 truckloads are needed daily.
Marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, the Secretary-General told the General Assembly high-level event that the nuclear threat has reached its highest level in close to 40 years and urged States to support the goals of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.