“Syria remains in a profound and active state of war and division,” Najat Rochdi, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria told the Security Council today, during its monthly briefing on the political and humanitarian situation in the country, as speakers echoed her calls for the protection of civilians, a de-escalation of hostilities and re-engagement in dialogue towards a long-overdue political settlement of the nearly 14 years of war and conflict.
In Sudan, the World Food Programme (WFP) reports that since the war began 19 months ago there, the first domestic UN flight travelled today from Port Sudan to Kassala. The WFP-managed flights will now offer regular flights to transport aid workers and light humanitarian cargo from Port Sudan to Kassala once a week.
In Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that access to North Gaza Governorate is still extremely limited. It is worried about the fate of Palestinians remaining there, as the siege continues, and calls on Israel to open up the area to humanitarian operations at the scale needed.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Pascale Christine Baeriswyl (Switzerland):
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today released its annual Emissions Gap report. This year’s report says that nations must deliver dramatically stronger ambition and action in the next round of nationally determined contributions or the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal will be gone within a few years.
The latest report of the Secretary-General on women, peace and security says that the effects of war and conflict on women and girls are worsening. In 2023, the proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled compared to 2022 and four out of every 10 people who died because of conflict in 2023 were women.
“Syrians need today the urgent protection provided by de-escalation and the support needed to face crises upon crisis,” the UN’s senior mediator told the Security Council today, underscoring the need for a restoration of the country’s sovereignty and a resumption of the long-stalled UN-facilitated political process, amid a spiralling of regional tensions and conflicts..
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative today released the 2024 Multidimensional Poverty Index, which finds that 1.1 billion people across 112 countries live in multidimensional poverty. Over half of the 1.1 billion poor (584 million) are children under the age of 18.
In Sudan, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says that due to the intensifying conflict in Darfur, nearly 25,000 people have arrived in Chad in the first week of October. According to UNHCR, nearly 3 million refugees and returnees have now fled Sudan over the last 18 months, crossing borders to seek safety in neighbouring States.
In Myanmar, amid an expanding conflict, an estimated 1 million people are also suffering from the impacts of deadly flooding. To bolster emergency relief efforts, the Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, Joyce Msuya, allocated $4 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund at the end of September.
