In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, people continue being displaced in areas along the so-called “Yellow Line” in Gaza, as Israeli troop advancement shrinks the area that families can still inhabit. So far, just over a quarter of the $4.1 billion needed for aid operations in the Territory this year has been secured.
Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, has allocated $10 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund for an urgent response to food insecurity and to mitigate a risk of famine in Somalia.
A United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) analysis finds that Afghanistan risks losing up to 20,000 women teachers and 5,400 healthcare workers by 2030 as restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment continue. Such restrictions are already costing $84 million annually in lost economic output.
In the Central African Republic, UN peacekeepers are helping prepare for this Sunday’s legislative elections and by-elections, delivering nearly 29 metric tons of electoral material to date, transporting personnel to polling stations and airlifting defence and security forces to particularly sensitive area.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report today that maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has come to a near halt, with a 95 per cent drop in daily ship transits over the past month, according to UNCTAD report released today. UNCTAD forecasts a drop in world GDP to about 2.6 per cent by the end of the year.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) XVI Conference, in Geneva today:
In the Central African Republic, the UN Mission there continues to support the country’s peace process, including through the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process. From 16 to 20 October, it facilitated the disarmament and demobilization of ex-combatants in Bangui and in Mobaye.
The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that over 1 million people in Myanmar will be cut off from food assistance, starting in April, due to critical funding shortages. The cuts will also impact almost 100,000 internally displaced people in Rakhine, who will have no access to food without WFP assistance.
In Somalia, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that drought conditions are looming in several areas of the country due to prolonged extreme dry conditions, with hundreds of thousands of families likely to be impacted.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) today launched a $1.4 billion humanitarian appeal to address the unique needs of women and girls trapped in, or uprooted by, the wave of emergencies occurring around the world.
