Syria

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report today that maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has come to a near halt, with a 95 per cent drop in daily ship transits over the past month, according to UNCTAD report released today. UNCTAD forecasts a drop in world GDP to about 2.6 per cent by the end of the year.

Data released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) suggests the military escalation in the Middle East may cost economies in the region from 3.7 to 6 per cent of their collective gross domestic product (GDP). This represents a loss of $120-194 billion and exceeds the cumulative regional GDP growth achieved in 2025.

In Somalia, fuel prices doubled in recent days, from $0.60 to $1.50 per litre — a more than 100 per cent jump — due mainly to the impact of the escalation in the Middle East, authorities and UN partners report. These rising costs are driving up prices of food and water, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs finds.

The alarming escalation in the Middle East is spilling into Syria, driving cross-border displacement and civilian casualties, United Nations officials told the Security Council today, warning that Damascus’s “steady but fragile recovery” could be derailed.

The Special Representative on Violence against Children presented her annual report to the Human Rights Council earlier today, highlighting the alarming trends in cyberbullying and the urgent need for the entire online ecosystem to act faster and together to protect children.

Syria’s past chemical-weapons programme came under further scrutiny today as the Security Council examined new findings indicating that, in addition to the 26 declared sites, more than 100 other locations may have been involved in the previous Government’s chemical-weapons-related activities.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for urgent funding to scale up life-saving aid in Burundi. The country is under intensifying humanitarian pressure as it hosts over 90,000 refugees who have escaped conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the past three months.

The Peacebuilding Fund has allocated $2.5 million for an initiative in Togo’s northern Savanes region to support peaceful relations, stronger community ties and help prevent the spread of violence from the Sahel.

Welcoming a comprehensive agreement reached between the Syrian Government and the Syrian Democratic Forces two weeks ago, UN experts and Council members encouraged that country to stay on the path of inclusive political transition, with full participation for women and the Kurdish minority.

In Haiti, amid continued violence and mass displacement, recruitment and use of children by armed groups rose 200 per cent in 20025, according to a report published today by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Children account for over half of the 1.4 million people internally displaced in the country.