Syria

After a long journey across the seas, youth climate activist Greta Thunberg is arriving this afternoon in New York.  The United Nations will be there to welcome her with a flotilla of 17 sailboats, each branded with a sustainable goal.  Ms. Thunberg is scheduled to attend the Secretary-General’s climate summit.

The sixty-eighth United Nations Civil Society Conference kicked off in Salt Lake City, Utah, today under the theme “Building Inclusive and Sustainable Cities and Communities”.  Up to 5,000 representatives of civil society from more than 100 countries will take part, with about 40 per cent being under the age of 32 years.

UNICEF appealed today for more than $70 million to provide life-saving humanitarian aid to 900,000 children across Venezuela until the end of 2019.  The agency says it is stepping up efforts to help children and families facing food shortages and limited access to health care, safe water and education.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that in Libya at least 90 civilians have been killed and more than 200 injured in and around the southwest town of Murzug since fighting escalated earlier this month.  The United Nations and aid agencies are responding with emergency supplies.

The Senior Humanitarian Adviser to the Special Envoy for Syria said today that it is deeply regrettable that the cessation of hostilities announced on Monday has collapsed and that a new wave of violence is again threatening the lives of millions of civilians in the Idlib area, more than a million of whom are children.

United Nations humanitarian officials in the Philippines report that the Government declared a national dengue epidemic yesterday.  There have now been more than 146,000 reported cases of dengue fever and 622 confirmed fatalities since the beginning of 2019, mostly affecting children between 5 and 9 years old.

Owing to vetoes and excuses by some of its members, the Security Council has so far “utterly failed” tens of thousands of people arbitrarily detained, abducted or disappeared in Syria, stressed civil society representatives today, as they demanded information about detainees’ whereabouts and support for grieving families.

The United Nations welcomed the decision by the Government of Colombia to grant nationality to Venezuelan refugee children born in the country to Venezuelan parents.  The measure will benefit more than 24,000 children born since August 2015 who were at risk of statelessness.

Aware of the Syrian Government’s announcement this morning on the resumption of military operations in the country’s northwest, the United Nations continues to call on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure at all times.