Yemen

The Qatar Fund for Development and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees signed an agreement yesterday under which Qatar will contribute $20.7 million to support Palestine refugees’ access to basic services in Syria.  This contribution brings the Qatar Fund’s total support to the Agency to $40 million.

Following earthquakes that struck Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina this morning, two United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination technical support members will be deployed to Albania.  The United Nations stands ready to provide assistance if required, and is in contact with local authorities.

Parties to the conflict in Yemen – still home to one of the world’s most brutal conflicts and its worst humanitarian crisis – have reached several key compromise agreements, which has led to a dramatic drop in the tempo of war, the senior United Nations official in the country reported today, as he urged the Security Council to do everything possible to sustain that crucial momentum.

More than 210,000 people in Chad have been affected by widespread flooding following heavy rains over the past few months and need food, shelter and non-food items, according to the Chadian Red Cross.  The United Nations and humanitarian partners plan to scale up the aid response, but have very limited resources.

An estimated 60,000 young refugees and migrants, who arrived in Italy between 2014 and 2018 as unaccompanied children, still require support to ensure their successful transition into adulthood, a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund and the High Commissioner for Refugees finds.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Karen Pierce (United Kingdom):

The first flight of humanitarian aid organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) arrived in Somalia today to help more than 20,000 people cut off by the worst flooding in years.

Lack of funding threatens humanitarian programmes for millions of children in areas affected by conflict and disaster, UNICEF reports.  Executive Director Henrietta Fore said that while the agency needs additional donor support to meet children’s most basic needs in Pakistan, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Venezuela.

With signs of hope appearing on the horizon in Yemen, warring parties must cease hostilities, facilitate food and fuel distribution and relaunch talks aimed at ending the world’s most severe humanitarian crisis, United Nations officials said today as they briefed the Security Council on recent developments.

Figures released today by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan show record-high levels of civilian casualties in the country during the third quarter of 2019, including 2,563 killed and 5,676 injured, a 42 per cent increase from the same period in 2018.