State of Palestine

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today released the third edition of its World Wildlife Crime Report, which says that wildlife trafficking has not been substantially reduced despite two decades of concerted action.

During its resumed tenth emergency special session, the General Assembly adopted a resolution that — as of 10 September 2024 — upgrades Palestine’s rights at the United Nations as an observer State, urging the Security Council to favourably consider its full membership.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Pedro Comissário Afonso (Mozambique):

On Thursday, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem, while UNRWA and other UN agencies’ staff were on the compound. This is the second appalling incident against UNRWA in less than a week.

In Haiti, the UN and its aid partners are responding in the wake of recent attacks in the Port-au-Prince commune of Delmas, providing food, shelter and other supplies. This week, the World Food Programme distributed food to 264,000 schoolchildren and over 5,600 displaced people in the capital.

In Zambia, the UN and partners have launched an $228 million appeal to assist 4.6 million people this year after the Government there declared a national drought disaster at the end of February. The driest agricultural season in over 40 years has left over 9 million people, nearly half the population, food insecure.

Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Belize, Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

In a joint statement today, more than 190 organizations, including UN agencies, appealed for sustained support for the more than 18 million people in need in Yemen, warning that the 2024 humanitarian appeal for the country is only 16 per cent funded, with only $400 million received of the total $2.7 billion needed.

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

At least 11 United Nations personnel — seven military and four civilians — were killed in deliberate attacks in 2023, the UN Staff Union Standing Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service said today.