Syria

As hostilities escalate in southern Syria, civilian deaths continue to be reported and up to 66,000 people have now been displaced.  Many who fled towards the Jordanian border remain stranded in the desert with little access to humanitarian help.  Planned aid convoys will proceed as soon as the security situation allows.

The number of children affected by armed conflict and the severity of grave violations affecting them increased in the past year, according to the Secretary‑General’s annual report on the issue, which was presented today by the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

The Special Envoy for Syria warned the Security Council today that a full-scale battle in the country’s previously calm south-west could engulf an area and population the size of eastern Ghouta and Aleppo combined, adding that events seemed to be moving in that direction.

A Bangladeshi peacekeeper from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan was killed today during an attack on a convoy delivering humanitarian aid to vulnerable civilians in Central Equatoria Province.  The Nepalese peacekeepers immediately returned fire and the assailants retreated into the forest.

UNHCR today released a report that shows a widening gap between the number of refugees in need of resettlement and the places available for them around the world.  It projects that some 1.4 million refugees will need a resettlement country in 2019, but the number of available resettlement places has dropped to just 75,000.

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

Lise Grande, Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, says cholera tops the list of concerns over Hodeidah, an epicentre of the 2017 outbreak, among the worst in modern history.  Meanwhile, 25 per cent of children in the city are suffering from acute malnutrition, and without nutritional support, 100,000 will be at risk.

A concert to benefit Rohingya refugees will be performed at the Baruch Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Monday, 25 June.  Masud Bin Momen, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, and Ninette Kelley, Director of the High Commissioner for Refugees New York Office, will attend.

Today is World Refugee Day, and the Secretary-General says in a message he is deeply concerned to see more and more situations where refugees are not receiving the protection they need and to which they are entitled.  Also, FAO and UNHCR launched a new handbook to help restore forests in displacement-affected areas.

The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process briefed the Security Council this morning and said that settlement activity has continued in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  He reiterated that all settlement activity is illegal under international law.