Syria

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the parties to the Syrian conflict to allow badly needed food and medical supplies to get into Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, where at least 350,000 civilians remain besieged.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that civilians continue to flee their homes in northern Iraq, with at least 166,000 people currently displaced, the majority from Kirkuk.  Aid workers are helping people in need where they have access, providing food, water, blankets and other supplies.

The Secretary‑General’s Special Envoy for Syria announced his intention to convene the eighth round of intra‑Syrian talks in Geneva on 28 November in his briefing to the Security Council today.

Humanitarian colleagues in Syria are deeply concerned about the situation for civilians in East Ghouta where children are reportedly suffering from severe acute malnutrition.  The last United Nations inter-agency convoy reached the besieged enclave on 23 September with assistance for 25,000 people.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is increasingly concerned by escalating displacement in several key regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 3.9 million people are internally displaced and the challenges of getting aid to people in need are growing fast.

Approximately 589,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since 25 August, with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) saying today that nearly 7,000 Rohingya refugees have been admitted to Bangladesh after being stranded at the border for up to four days.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged Australia to address the imminent humanitarian crisis for refugees and asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea, stressing his profound concern over the risks of “offshore processing” arrangements, for which Australia seeks to decrease support by the end of October.

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

Irina Bokova, Executive Director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, condemned today the killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta yesterday.  She welcomed the Prime Minister’s pledge to ensure justice in the crime against the right of free expression.

The Secretary-General, expressing his solidarity with the people of Somalia after the brutal attacks in Mogadishu, said he was disgusted by the unprecedented violence.  He urged all Somalis to unite in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism and work together in building a functional and inclusive federal State.