Ukraine

In Côte d’Ivoire, the United Nations continues to support authorities to improve the well-being and livelihoods of communities in the country’s northern region. Since the end of May, Côte d’Ivoire has registered around 4,000 refugees fleeing from neighbouring Burkina Faso, including 2,200 children.

Ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and the onset of frigid winter temperatures portend danger and worsening hardships for millions of Ukrainians, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, urging all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law.

The International Labour Organization, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and Gallup released a joint analysis showing that more than 1 in 5 people have experienced violence and harassment at work, whether it is physical, psychological or sexual.

In Haiti, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has increased their cholera treatment centres from 49 to 62. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations Development Programme (United Nations Development Programme), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have launched cholera and health activities in the Port-au-Prince area focusing on women and girls impacted by gang violence there.

In Ethiopia, the Government, United Nations and non-governmental organizations aid deliveries have been begun arriving in Tigray, with more than 450 trucks carrying food aid, medical supplies and agricultural supplies. As well, humanitarian flights for staff have also resumed for Mekelle and have started for Shire.

The World Food Programme’s Executive Director went to Venezuela, where he met with President Nicolas Maduro and visited the Araya peninsula in Sucre state, where the Programme has been providing school meals since July and where over 430,000 children and their families receive food rations delivered to schools in eight states.

Hours after the Russian Federation launched a barrage of missile and drone strikes attacks against civilians and critical infrastructure across Ukraine overnight, a United Nations senior official condemned such attacks and demanded they stop, stressing to the Security Council that they are prohibited under international humanitarian law, as that 15-nation organ held an emergency meeting on the matter today.

In Argentina, the United Nations joined many in the country and across the region to mourn the passing of Hebe de Bonafini, a human rights activist who co-founded the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo movement to search for missing people, including children, during the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.

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.