State of Palestine

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees welcomed today Somalia’s ratification of the Kampala Convention to protect internally displaced people in Africa as a “landmark achievement for the country and the African continent”.  Somalia became the thirtieth African Union member State to ratify it since 2009.

Today is World Mental Health Day.  This year’s theme focuses on preventing suicide, which claims the lives of nearly 800,000 people annually – or one every 40 seconds, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is asking people to join in “40 seconds of action” to raise awareness about the problem and help prevent it.

Following a sea tragedy on Tuesday off Djibouti’s Red Sea coast, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that 16 survivors have been recovered, as well as the remains of 43 victims.  IOM staff have been helping the Djibouti authorities patrolling the shorelines in search of other survivors.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said global trade in creative goods and services, including the fashion, design, media and software industries, is expanding mostly because of China, doubling from $208 billion in 2002 to $509 billion in 2015.  India, Singapore, Turkey, Thailand and Mexico also stimulated that growth.

The Emergency Relief Coordinator today released $30 million from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund to urgently scale up relief efforts in the Sahel, where an acute drought, combined with exceptionally high food prices and worsening insecurity, has escalated humanitarian needs.

The following statement was issued today by UN Secretary‑General António Guterres:

Ending a two-day mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock and Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag called on the international community to urgently tackle the crisis in the country, where over 13 million people need humanitarian aid.

Civilian returns to Iraq’s newly accessible areas continue to increase since the conclusion of major counter‑Daesh military operations late last year; 3.2 million previously displaced people have now returned home, surpassing the total number of displaced in the country for the first time since the crisis began four years ago.

United Nations humanitarian flights to Yemen resumed on 25 November, with two commercial vessels having arrived in Hodaidah carrying 35,020 metric tons of wheat and flour.  Three vessels carrying nearly 65,000 metric tons of food have been cleared by the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism and are awaiting permission from the Saudi Arabia-led coalition to enter the port.

Following is UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ message, delivered by Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, marking the seventieth anniversary of General Assembly resolution 181 at the Queens Museum, in New York today: