Ukraine

The United Nations team in Afghanistan today urged the international donor community to maintain critical support for the people of Afghanistan. With 22.9 million men, women and children in need of assistance in 2025, the country is today the world’s second-largest humanitarian crisis.

In South Sudan, the head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) continues to be engaged in intensive high-level political efforts to de-escalate the current tensions and convince the parties to preserve the peace deal they all agreed to.

In response to the earthquake in Myanmar, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees rushed emergency supplies from Yangon to some 25,000 earthquake survivors in the Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw areas. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners have also begun delivering emergency supplies.

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

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is worsening, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as she both welcomed diplomatic progress and expressed deep alarm over rising attacks on civilians and severe cuts to global humanitarian funding.

The International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA, today released new figures showing that renewables accounted for over 90 per cent of total power expansion globally in 2024. As in previous years, most of the increase occurred in Asia, with the greatest share being contributed by China.

In Ecuador, a UN team arrived on 24 March to support authorities to respond to the environmental emergency caused by a major oil spill. The spill in the Esmeraldas Province, in the country’s north-west, has contaminated key water sources, leaving half a million people without access to safe water and sanitation.

As the new school year starts today in Afghanistan, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that an additional 400,000 girls there are being deprived of their right to education, bringing the total number of girls without access to this essential right to 2.2 million.

In Sudan, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has condemned in the strongest terms the looting of vital humanitarian supplies from Al Bashair Hospital in Jabal Awlia in Khartoum. These supplies are intended to support malnourished children and provide critical healthcare to mothers and newborns.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that a surge in violence in Ituri province is harming civilians and hindering relief efforts.