Syria

Some 1.47 million refugees will be in need of resettlement in 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced today.  The agency said that, despite the coronavirus pandemic, wars and conflict continue to rage across the world, displacing millions and barring many from returning home.

A new World Health Organization (WHO) report calls for immediate, binding action to protect children, adolescents and expectant mothers at risk from exposure to toxins in discarded electrical or electronic devices, or e-waste.  As many as 12.9 million women and some 18 million young people work in the informal waste sector.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it has received alarming reports of clashes between insurgent groups and Nigeria’s Armed Forces in Dikwa in Borno state, as well as those involving armed groups and military personnel attacking and harassing internally displaced people living in camps.

More than 271,000 people have been impacted and over 26,000 displaced by monsoon-related flash floods and landslides in south-western Sri Lanka, humanitarian affairs officials say.  The impacts of the south-west monsoon come as Sri Lanka works to mitigate the environmental impact of a sinking cargo ship near Colombo.

Syria has yet to fulfil its obligations under the international instrument prohibiting the use of chemical weapons, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, pointing to documented instances of Syrian forces engaging in that type of warfare while members sparred over the objectivity of the investigative process used to substantiate those claims.

Despite a decline in the numbers of migrants arriving in Europe via the central Mediterranean route in recent years, hundreds — including at least 632 so far in 2021 — continue to die, finds a new report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Office, which cites risks created by policy decisions.

The tragic irony of Syria is that humanitarian suffering is increasing, despite the relative calm, compared with earlier years of the conflict, the Security Council heard today from high-level officials of the Organization who made a strong appeal for continued aid to the country.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that in Niger’s western Tillabery region, 10,000 people have fled their homes since 14 May, following attacks by non-State armed groups in the Anzourou district, near the border with Mali.  The number of internally displaced persons in Tillabery has nearly doubled in 18 months to 102,000.

The confidence of the international community in eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons production depends on its Government’s swift action to resolve all new and outstanding issues in light of fresh reports and a recent decision at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs told the Security Council today during a videoconference meeting.

The United Nations team in Madagascar is helping authorities to address record-high food insecurity and surging severe acute malnutrition caused by droughts, sandstorms and caterpillar plagues in the south of the island.  Authorities and the United Nations launched a flash appeal in January for nearly $76 million.