Venezuela

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issued protection guidance encouraging States to ensure that Venezuelans seeking asylum had access to territory and refugee procedures. Given the situation in Venezuela, the High Commissioner said it was crucial that people were not deported or forcibly returned.

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

The Governments of Brazil and Nigeria launched mass immunization campaigns to protect people against yellow fever.  With support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, an estimated 23.8 million people in Brazil, and 25 million people in Nigeria, are expected to be vaccinated.

The new Permanent Representative of Venezuela to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada Acosta, presented his credentials to United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres today.

The United Nations stands ready to support repair of Syrian Arab Red Crescent warehouses hit by two mortar shells in Quneitra, in southern Syria, and replenish the destroyed aid.  Some 13.1 million people in Syria require assistance, according to the 2018 humanitarian needs assessment released today.  

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned today that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached a level not seen in 800,000 years, rising at record speed in 2016.  The WMO’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reported that globally averaged carbon dioxide concentrations reached 403.3 parts per million in 2016, up from 400 parts per million in 2015 due to human activities and a strong El Niño.

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

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

The Secretary-General called on all national stakeholders in Kenya to renew their commitment to credible and peaceful elections, as well as their confidence in the institutions constitutionally mandated to conduct them.  He underlined the importance of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The United Nations has allocated $10.5 million to help people in need of life‑saving humanitarian assistance in north-east Nigeria.  The humanitarian crisis there and in the Lake Chad region is among the most severe in the world today, with 8.5 million in need of humanitarian assistance in the three worst‑affected Nigerian States of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.