Ukraine

In a report published ahead of World Children’s Day, marked on 20 November, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) noted that racism and discrimination against children based on their ethnicity, language and religion are rife in countries across the world.

The Secretary-General, welcoming the agreement by all parties to continue the Black Sea Grain Initiative to facilitate grain, foodstuffs and fertilizers export from Ukraine, said the United Nations is also fully committed to removing the remaining obstacles to exporting food and fertilizers from the Russian Federation.

Today is International Day for Tolerance. The resolution proclaiming the Day was adopted by the General Assembly in 1996, and among other things, the Day aims to foster mutual understanding among cultures and peoples.

Any further escalation must be prevented to avoid a potentially catastrophic spillover of the war in Ukraine, a United Nations senior official told the Security Council today, a day after an explosion that killed two people in Poland near the Ukrainian border, as speakers underscored the Russian Federation’s full responsibility for the war.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic facilitated a school’s reopening in the Haute-Kotto Prefecture. Deployed there to deter armed groups and help restore socioeconomic activities, peacekeepers also provided school supplies and have launched a community violence reduction project.

As part of its ongoing emergency special session on Ukraine, the General Assembly today recommended Member States create an international register of damage to serve as a record of evidence and claims information.

In Mozambique, the World Food Programme (WFP) warns it will be forced to suspend life-saving assistance, particularly in Cabo Delgado province, to 1 million people — at the peak of the hunger season in February — unless it urgently receives $51 million more in funding.

In Ukraine, the United Nations, NGOs and the entire humanitarian community continue to work to sustain aid operations and reach those impacted by the war with the life-saving support they need. Since February, aid workers have provided critical assistance to some 13.5 million people across all regions of Ukraine.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) reports that it is continuing to support the national authorities in preventing and reducing violence at the community level.

In Sri Lanka, the United Nations team’s revised Humanitarian Needs and Priorities Plan aims to help 3.4 million people, with immediate food assistance for 2.4 million food-insecure people and support 1.5 million people in agriculture and fishing to revive severely disrupted food systems.