Syria

Donors pledged $1.4 billion to respond to the drought in the Horn of Africa – the worst in the region in four decades – that has left more than 15 million people severely food insecure in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  Of the total, $1 billion will go towards immediate and life-saving aid, such as food.

The United Nations Environment Programme today released a report saying sand, the world’s second most exploited resource, must be recognized as a strategic resource and its extraction from rivers and marine ecosystems and its use must rethought, as they can cause erosion and threaten livelihoods.  

Senior United Nations officials today urged the Security Council not to forget about the dire humanitarian situation in Syria in light of other conflicts, as members discussed the recent conclusion of the seventh session of the Constitutional Committee and diverged over appropriate modalities for providing life-saving aid.

As Ramadan begins, the soaring cost of food staples in import-dependent Middle Eastern and North African countries is creating ever greater challenges for millions of families already struggling to keep hunger at bay, the World Food Programme said, warning that millions will struggle to buy even basic foods.

In Tajikistan, the United Nations is mobilizing $40 million to help authorities address the needs of over 14,000 refugees and asylum seekers, nearly all of them from Afghanistan.  The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is coordinating the effort, with over 30 humanitarian and development partners.

The committee tasked with drafting a new Syrian constitution resumed its difficult deliberations this week, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy told the Security Council today, calling for urgent compromise to pave a peaceful path forward as the country marks 11 years of gruesome conflict.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today released a report that says that groundwater, which accounts for 99 per cent of all liquid freshwater on Earth, is being undervalued, mismanaged and even abused.

More than 70 per cent of South Sudan’s people will struggle to survive the peak of the 2022 lean season, amid unprecedented food insecurity due to conflict, climate shocks, COVID-19 and rising costs, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.  WFP says 8.3 million people could face extreme hunger within months.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ statement on Syria today: