On Wednesday, 11 March, the Secretary-General arrived in Ankara to begin his Ramadan solidarity visit. On Thursday morning, 12 March, he visited the Ankara Provincial Directorate of Migration Management, which assists refugees and asylum seekers in Türkiye. Following that, he met with representatives of non-governmental organizations supporting refugees. The engagements highlighted the importance of collaboration between NGOs and Government institutions to assist refugees.
In Iran, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that between 600,000 and 1 million Iranian households are now temporarily displaced inside their country as a result of the ongoing conflict. This is a preliminary assessment and that adds up to about 3.2 million people.
The Special Representative on Violence against Children presented her annual report to the Human Rights Council earlier today, highlighting the alarming trends in cyberbullying and the urgent need for the entire online ecosystem to act faster and together to protect children.
In Madagascar, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that another cyclone is expected to make landfall tomorrow. This comes on the heels of Tropical Cyclone Fytia, which touched down on 31 January. The Central Emergency Response Fund has released $3 million to help pre-position staff and supplies.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Oxford University’s Poverty and Human Initiative released today a report showing that nearly 8 in 10 people living in multidimensional poverty — this is 887 million people out of 1.1 billion globally — are exposed to climate hazards such as extreme heat, flooding and drought.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), more than half of all infants in Sudan, 880,000 babies and toddlers, missed last year their first doses of vaccines to protect against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. This is the lowest immunization rate in the country in over 40 years.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN, its humanitarian partners and the Congolese Government today launched in Kinshasa, the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan seeking $2.5 billion to provide life-saving assistance and protection for more than 11 million people, including 7.8 million internally displaced.
The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, today allocated $6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to address the humanitarian needs of refugees fleeing conflict in Sudan to Egypt, in support of the ongoing response there, which has become host to some 1.2 million Sudanese refugees since last April.
The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Pascale Christine Baeriswyl (Switzerland):
The latest report of the Secretary-General on women, peace and security says that the effects of war and conflict on women and girls are worsening. In 2023, the proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled compared to 2022 and four out of every 10 people who died because of conflict in 2023 were women.
