South Sudan

The High Representative for Disarmament Affairs briefed the Security Council today on the alleged chemical weapons attack in Khan Shaykhun, southern rural Idleb, Syria.  If confirmed, he said, this would be the largest single chemical weapons attack in Syria since the Ghouta attack in August 2013.

As the possibility of famine looms, more children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, cholera or acute watery diarrhoea in Somalia and the number receiving food aid more than doubled in January and February from the same period in 2016, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

During its informal consultations on 21 March 2017, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2206 (2015) concerning South Sudan was briefed by Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and Zainab Hawa Bangura, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

This week marks two years since the escalation of the conflict in Yemen, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien said last night.  Yemen is now on the brink of famine, with nearly 19 million people — more than two thirds of the population — in need humanitarian aid.

Today is World Tuberculosis Day, and UNAIDS is urging countries to do much more to reduce the number of tuberculosis (TB) deaths among people living with HIV.  The most common cause of death among people living with HIV, TB caused the deaths of 400,000 of the 1.1 million people who died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2015.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and the Government of Uganda jointly appealed urgently today for massive support for the thousands of refugees from South Sudan who continue to arrive in Uganda daily.  Uganda already hosts more than 800,000 South Sudanese refugees, including 572,000 new arrivals.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Security Council on South Sudan, in New York today:

Expressing its deep alarm at the situation in South Sudan, the Security Council today renewed its condemnation of fighting in that country, stressing that there was no military solution to the conflict.

The Secretary-General spoke at the General Assembly’s meeting this morning commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.  He expressed concern that migrants have become convenient scapegoats and that, far too often, hate speech, stereotyping and stigmatization are becoming normalized.

UNICEF says that a year after the Balkan border closures and the European Union-Turkey Statement meant to stop mass migration flows, refugee and migrant children face greater risks of deportation, detention, exploitation and deprivation.  More of them are embarking on even more dangerous and irregular routes with smugglers.