South Sudan

Officials at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) say locust swarms linked to climate change remain a serious threat to food security in parts of East Africa, India and Pakistan.  United Nations agencies are helping affected areas by providing data on weather, climate and the desert locust life cycle. 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s 2020 Multidimensional Poverty Index reveals progress in tackling poverty before the onset of COVID-19, with 65 out of 75 countries showing significant reductions.  However, experts warn the pandemic now threatens to set back development gains by up to 10 years.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Christoph Heusgen (Germany):

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme today jointly warned that funding shortages, conflict and disasters — as well as supply chain challenges, rising food prices and loss of income due to COVID-19 — threaten to leave millions of refugees across Africa without food.

In June, 921,000 people were forced to leave Burkina Faso, making it the site of one of the world’s fastest-growing displacement crises.  Increased insecurity has also made humanitarian access more difficult, with the number of people in need of assistance jumping to 2.9 million people, from 2.2 million in January.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that it is providing tents, water, tanks and toilets to the more than 3,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo that arrived in north-western Uganda last week during a temporary opening of two border crossing points.

For the Syria crisis response, the international community has pledged $5.5 billion to support humanitarian, resilience and development activities in 2020, plus $2.2 billion in 2021 and beyond, demonstrating a clear commitment to continue supporting those most affected and ensuring aid agencies are able to plan ahead.

In the biggest humanitarian undertaking in its history, the World Food Programme (WFP) plans to assist up to a record 138 million people.  WFP estimates the number of hungry people in the countries where it operates could reach 270 million by year’s end, up 82 per cent from before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned in a new report that millions of children in Yemen could be pushed to the brink of starvation due to huge shortfalls in humanitarian aid funding amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  So far, the COVID-19 response is only 10 per cent funded, as UNICEF appeals for $53 million.

Despite some recent positive developments on the political front, South Sudan is facing the twin threat of COVID-19 and escalating violence that can no longer be described as intercommunal, David Shearer, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission in that country, told the Security Council during a 23 June videoconference meeting.