Philippines

The Government of the Philippines declared a major outbreak of measles last week in Metro Manila and Central Luzon, which has now expanded to other areas, according to humanitarian affairs officials.  More than 4,300 suspected cases of measles have been reported since January, with at least 70 deaths.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President José Singer Weisinger (Dominican Republic):

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The High Commissioner for Human Rights calls on Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release human rights defender Nabeel Rajab and ensure that all Bahrainis are able to exercise their rights to freedom of opinion and expression without fear of arbitrary detention.  She urges Bahrain to stop criminalizing dissenting voices.

In Myanmar’s central Rakhine State, some 2,500 people were forced to flee fighting between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military that began last month.  The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs led a team to the area to look into what the uprooted people and host communities need.

Civilians continue to suffer high casualties, with the combined use of suicide and non-suicide improvised explosive devices by non-government fighters remaining the leading cause, according to the latest report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Over 1 million people remain affected by Typhoon Mangkhut, which hit the Philippines on 15 September and some 148,000 people remain in evacuation centres or with host families, humanitarian colleagues report. The United Nations and partners are working with the Government to assess and distribute emergency aid.

An estimated 6.3 million children under the age of 15 died in 2017, mostly of preventable causes, according to new mortality estimates released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Division and the World Bank Group.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

A new report released today says that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mobilized $25 million to increase resilience and restore more than 800 buildings for the most vulnerable people in Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda, which were hit by two powerful back-to-back hurricanes a year ago.