Peacekeeping

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today launched the Humanitarian Airfreight Initiative, with 15 leading airlines supporting the prioritization of the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and other critical supplies.

The period following the start of Afghanistan’s peace negotiations in September 2020 has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of human rights defenders and media professionals killed in the country, a new report issued today by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says.

United Nations peacekeeping operations are central to multilateralism, speakers told the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations at its first meeting of the 2021 session, expressing their commitment to further spur collective action through the Action for Peacekeeping initiative launched in 2018.

The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attack perpetrated on 10 February 2021 against MINUSMA near Douentza, which resulted in one peacekeeper from Togo killed and 27 peacekeepers injured.

Humanitarian officials are seriously concerned about the rapidly deteriorating food security situation in southern and eastern Madagascar, where more than 1.3 million people face severe hunger.  The third drought in a row is compounding the effects of COVID-19 and the extremely limited access to essential services.

The International Organization for Migration is calling today for urgent action by the European Union and its member States to end pushbacks, collective expulsions and the use of violence against migrants and refugees at the regional bloc’s external land and maritime borders.

At least 15 United Nations and associated personnel — 12 peacekeepers and three civilians — were killed in malicious attacks in the line of duty in 2020, according to the Standing Committee for the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service of the United Nations Staff Union.

A report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan finds increasing reports of torture in that country’s detention facilities.  Almost a third of those detained for security or terrorism-related offences reported torture or other ill-treatment.  

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the European Union have launched a programme to protect migrant children in Central America and Southern Africa.  It will work with Governments and civil society groups to provide care alternatives to immigration detention.

Clashes and administrative hurdles are limiting humanitarian access to Ethiopia’s Tigray region, including two refugee camps that have been inaccessible since November 2020, according to officials.  United Nations personnel are working with the Government to ensure clearances for aid workers, many of whom are waiting with supplies in Addis Ababa.