Syria

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

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs launched its 2018 needs and priorities plan for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, seeking $111 million to assist 6 million of the most vulnerable people.  Undernutrition, a serious concern, continues to stunt more than one quarter of children in the country.

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

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that, in the last 48 hours, the largest United Nations medical shipment to have entered Gaza since the beginning of 2018 has provided hospitals there with lifesaving drugs and other supplies to meet urgent medical needs.  It will help respond to the needs of 100,000 children and mothers.

The Security Council, voting today on three separate draft resolutions in response to recent allegations of a chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma, failed to rally the votes needed to launch an “independent mechanism of investigation” into the incident, as delegates voiced frustration over the continued paralysis and the expanding rifts between nations.

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

A new report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in cooperation with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, warns that armed groups in that country, including those affiliated with the State, hold thousands of people in prolonged arbitrary and unlawful detention, submitting them to torture and other rights violations.

In an emergency meeting following claims of chemical weapons attacks against civilians in Douma, Syria, both Security Council members and officials briefing them voiced grave concern that the use of such weapons risked being normalized — and could contribute to rapidly escalating tensions between world Powers — for the first time since the end of the cold war.

Forces from the Central African Republic and the United Nations Mission in the country launched a joint disarmament and arrest operation targeting criminal groups in the PK5 neighborhood in Bangui, resulting in arrests and the seizure of arms, ammunition and drugs.  The joint efforts will continue until the criminal groups are dismantled.

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