Intense fighting in besieged eastern Ghouta had claimed thousands of lives in the last few months alone, the top United Nations humanitarian official told the Security Council today, as he pressed parties to the wider conflict in Syria to implement resolution 2401 (2018) and allow unimpeded aid delivery throughout the country.
The Secretary-General was shocked at reports of remarks attributed to Myanmar Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. He urges all leaders in Myanmar to take a unified stance against incitement to hatred and to promote communal harmony.
The UN Central Emergency Response Fund has released over $9 million in funding to coverprovide for the immediate needs of those affected by a strong earthquake that recently struck Papua New Guinea. The event follows a February earthquake that had left some 270,000 people needing assistance..
Humanitarian operations for over 800,000 people have resumed in Rann town, in Nigeria’s Borno State following several United Nations security assessments, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. However, aid workers have not yet been authorized to stay overnight.
The Global Report on Food Crises, published today, sounded an alarm regarding surging levels of acute hunger. Some 124 million people in 51 countries were affected by acute food insecurity in 2017 — 11 million more than in 2016.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Since 11 March, the United Nations estimates that more than 50,000 people have left eastern Ghouta, Syria. Amid visits from United Nations teams in recent days, most of the existing shelters do not have the capacity or infrastructure to accommodate the large number of people arriving in rural areas near Damascus.
The situation in the Central African Republic was deteriorating, with violence spreading fast and record numbers of people displaced, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs told Member States after a recent visit, emphasizing that existing urgent and critical needs were deepening.
The Security Council today failed to hold a public meeting on the human rights situation in Syria — which would have featured a briefing by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein — following a procedural vote on the matter called by the Russian Federation.
Humanitarian needs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have doubled over the last year, with 13 million people in need of assistance, in a context of persistent insecurity and bureaucratic impediments, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council today after a visiting mission.
