Syria

The United Nations team and its partners in Haiti are responding to the needs of some 500,000 people affected by the August earthquake.  Despite constraints, 13 emergency medical teams have been established, over 35 metric tons of supplies have been deployed and $330,000 in emergency cash has been transferred.

The humanitarian crisis in Tigray, Ethiopia is spiralling out of control, with 5.3 million people requiring food aid and 400,000 in famine-like conditions, according to United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths.  In the past week, 79 trucks carrying aid arrived in Tigray, but 100 truckloads are needed daily.

Marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, the Secretary-General told the General Assembly high-level event that the nuclear threat has reached its highest level in close to 40 years and urged States to support the goals of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

With military front lines still largely frozen, the time is ripe to push for a political process that can help end the decade‑long war in Syria, the Secretary‑General’s Special Envoy for that country told the Security Council today, as speakers hailed news that negotiations aimed at crafting a fresh constitution look set to resume after an eight‑month hiatus.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) announced today a decision by the Secretariat to repatriate all Gabonese military units, effective immediately, following credible reports of sexual abuse by Gabon’s contingent deployed to the Mission.

Humanitarian needs in Syria are greater than ever, with an estimated 13.4 million requiring assistance, the highest number since 2017, the United Nations humanitarian chief told the Security Council today, as speakers welcomed a breakthrough cross-line delivery of food rations to the north-western city of Idlib by the World Food Programme (WFP).

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has declared an outbreak of meningitis in Tshopo Province, in the country’s north-east, with some 261 suspected cases, including 129 deaths.  National health authorities have deployed an initial emergency team and efforts are under way to quickly ramp up the response.

Nearly eight years after the Security Council mandated the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons programme, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) — tasked with ensuring that goal is achieved — is still not able to consider the file closed, the senior United Nations disarmament official told delegates today.

At least 527 civilians were killed, injured, abducted or just disappeared, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) says in its quarterly report on trends in human rights violations and abuses, an overall increase of more than 25 per cent from the first quarter.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the first day of school has been indefinitely postponed for 140 million first-time students around the world, due to the pandemic.  The consequences of school closures – notably learning loss, heightened risk of dropping out and child labour – will be felt by the youngest learners.