South Sudan

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria launched the Syrian-led, Syrian-owned inclusive Constitutional Committee in Geneva today, bringing together for the first time Government and opposition nominees, with women making up 30 per cent of the 150 participants, following a nearly nine-year-long conflict.

The Government of Zambia, the United Nations and partners launched a response plan after the poorest rainfall in decades is expected to leave 2.4 million severely food insecure.  Meanwhile, humanitarian partners in Somalia and South Sudan are scaling up responses to severe seasonal flooding that affected 1 million.

Given the increased cooperation between Sudan and South Sudan on a host of issues, it is time for the parties to finally make progress on the status of the disputed area of Abyei, the Under‑Secretary‑General for Peace Operations told the Security Council today.

Lack of funding threatens humanitarian programmes for millions of children in areas affected by conflict and disaster, UNICEF reports.  Executive Director Henrietta Fore said that while the agency needs additional donor support to meet children’s most basic needs in Pakistan, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Venezuela.

Close to 2,000 irregular migrants who made the journey from Africa to Europe — over 90 per cent — would do it again, according to a new United Nations Development Programme survey.  The report finds that getting a job was not their only motivation to move and that not all were “poor” or had little education.

The United Nations Human Rights Office on Ecuador says a small team will visit the country Ecuador from 20 October to 8 November to look into allegations of human rights violations and abuses committed in the context of the recent protests.  The mission will be conducted at the invitation of the Government.

The head of United Nations Peace Operations called upon the Security Council today to help the Government of Sudan and armed movements in Darfur to seize the opportunities for building comprehensive peace arising from recent political change in the country.

The Security Council decided today to renew until 15 November the support provided by the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism of Sudan and South Sudan.

Marking the one‑year anniversary of the signing of South Sudan’s latest peace agreement, the Security Council reaffirmed today the importance of that pact for sustained peace and stability in the country, calling for accelerated progress towards its implementation.

While the situation for many people in South Sudan remains bleak, a year of relative peace has kick-started a process of transformation that is improving lives, with one-time enemies coming together to chart the way forward for the world’s youngest nation, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in that country told the Security Council today.