United Nations staff report that, despite recent improvements in humanitarian access, the situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray remains alarming, with conflict in some areas restricting humanitarian movement and response. Insecurity in Tigray’s east zone last week reportedly impacted the movement of more than 20 relief trucks.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
The World Food Programme (WFP) reached an agreement with Venezuela to begin operations to serve nutritious meals to the most vulnerable children, particularly in pre-primary and special education schools, reaching up to 185,000 children by year-end. WFP aims to provide daily meals to 1.5 million students by the end of the 2022-2023 school year.
United Nations humanitarian staff in Nigeria continue to receive alarming reports of clashes between insurgent groups and the armed forces in the town of Damasak in Borno State. Recently, they say, non-State armed groups have been searching house to house, reportedly looking for civilians identified as aid workers.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says 71 journalists have been arrested in Myanmar, with more than half of them still detained since the beginning of February. Some 24 people have been charged for allegedly spreading fake news.
Nearly half of women in 57 developing countries are denied the right to decide whether to have sex with their partners, use contraception or seek health care, according to the United Nations Population Fund’s 2021 flagship “State of World Population” report, released today.
The United Nations Children’s Fund warned today that Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province is facing a large and likely long-lasting humanitarian situation. The agency said it is concerned about the rising rate of malnutrition, and about cholera, which is not yet under control and is spreading to other provinces.
The United Nations team in Timor-Leste, led by Roy Trivedy, the Resident Coordinator, is supporting local authorities following floods that have impacted Díli and other parts of the country. The Government says there have been more than 30 deaths and over 13,500 people are living in evacuation sites.
After La Soufriere volcano erupted today in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the United Nations Emergency Technical Team for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries met to discuss the pre-positioning of relief items. The World Food Programme and the United Nations Children’s Fund are also readying supplies.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said today that, due to significant funding gaps, it is cutting food rations for refugees and internally displaced people in South Sudan. The cuts will affect nearly 700,000 of them and they will now receive 50 per cent of a full ration, down from 70 per cent.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that shelling yesterday damaged a power line near a main lift pumping station of the South Donbas Waterway in eastern Ukraine. It interrupted safe water supply for 1.1 million people in 50 nearby settlements on both sides of the “contact line”.