Pakistan

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that the voluntary repatriation of registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan has been suspended and it has closed several repatriation centres until further notice due to the Government’s precautionary steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres paid his first official visit as Secretary-General to Pakistan from 16 to 19 February, arriving from New York on Sunday, 16 February, for official meetings in advance of his participation in the International Conference on 40 Years of Hosting Afghan Refugees.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees today said it is deeply saddened by reports of the deaths of at least 20 people during a stampede for food and cash in Niger’s Diffa region on Sunday.  The number of victims could rise as more information is received.

The United Nations is alarmed by reports of an artillery shell explosion that injured up to 17 children at a school in Myanmar’s Rakhine State last Thursday.  The incident is part of an escalation of hostilities between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military across much of Rakhine.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks on “Future Challenges to Global Peace: The Role of the United Nations vis-à-vis Action for Peacekeeping (A4P)”, in Islamabad today:

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the high-level segment of the International Conference on 40 Years of Hosting Afghan Refugees in Pakistan: A New Partnership for Solidarity, in Islamabad today:

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks on sustainable development and climate change, in Islamabad today:

The World Health Organization (WHO) will convene a global research and innovation forum in Geneva tomorrow to mobilize international action on coronavirus, the agency announced today.  WHO has sent diagnostic kits to 14 countries and identified more than 160 laboratories with the technology to diagnose coronavirus.

Today, the World Food Programme unveiled the “HungerMap LIVE”, a new tool that monitors food security in more than 90 countries and issues predictions for areas from which data is limited.  The HungerMap presents data collected on a continuous basis, as well as metrics on conflict, climate shocks, population and weather.

The Humanitarian Coordinator for the United Nations in Iraq expressed her strong concern today over the suspension in granting access letters to humanitarian actors carrying out critical missions in support of the country’s vulnerable people.