United States

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it is concerned about the resurgence of insecurity in the Lac region in the west of Chad.  The situation has forced some aid agencies to suspend operations leaving tens of thousands of people without food and health services.

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

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that recent insecurity in several areas in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has forced tens of thousands of people to flee for safety and caused many humanitarian organizations to suspend or limit their activities.

Marking International Day of Rural Women, the Secretary-General said rural women and girls are crucial in building a prosperous, equitable and peaceful future.  He called on countries to take action to ensure that women and girls fully enjoy their human rights, including the rights of land and security of land tenure.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reports that it has managed, for the first time since civil war broke out in South Sudan almost five years ago, to send a food-assistance boat convoy up the Sobat River, a tributary of the White Nile in the Upper Nile region, with enough food to sustain 40,000 people for one month.

United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres spent Saturday, 23 June, in Washington, D.C.

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

Heavy rains marking the start of the monsoon season in Bangladesh have impacted nearly 2,500 families in the Rohingya refugee settlements in the Cox’s Bazar district, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which is continuing aid distribution and prepositioning more supplies.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Washington, D.C., from Belgium, on Wednesday evening, 16 May.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern over the murder of three human rights defenders working with indigenous and peasants’ rights organizations in Guatemala during the last 10 days, calling for a prompt investigation into those and other attacks against rights defenders, and accountability for the perpetrators.