Public information

The Commissioner General of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reports that makeshift structures of plastic sheeting have mushroomed everywhere around Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, as people are displaced by the hostilities.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Hiroyuki Saito of Japan as Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Dakar. He assumed his new duties on 12 January 2024.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said today that 65 journalists have been killed in the line of duty in 2023, compared with 88 in 2022. The Head of UNESCO said that this drop conceals an alarming phenomenon: an increase in the number killed in conflict zones and more is online.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today released its annual Adaptation Gap Report, which finds that progress on climate adaptation is slowing on all fronts. The adaptation finance needs of developing countries are 10 to 18 times as big as international public finance flows.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, observed on 2 November:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Internet Governance Forum, in Kyoto today:

The World Food Programme (WFP) has begun rolling out food distributions to nearly 900,000 refugees in Ethiopia following a full revamp of the safeguards and controls at its refugee operations, with refugee camps across five regions receiving food parcels for the first time since WFP paused food distributions in June.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the opening of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Digital Day, in New York today:

In Pakistan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today warned that, one year after the historic floods that devastated the country, millions of children continue to need humanitarian assistance and access to essential services.

The United Nations team in the Federated States of Micronesia has launched a new joint programme, financed by a $3.8 million grant from the UN Joint SDG Fund, to help small island developing States in the Pacific pool resources, expertise and networks, spur economic activities and strengthen climate change resilience.