The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration announced today that the number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela around the world has reached 3 million.  A little more than a million are in Colombia and Peru is hosting half a million.

UNICEF has warned that many children traveling in Mexico with the migrant caravan are showing signs of anguish and psychosocial distress, with some expressing fear of violence or separation from their families.  Other children are finding it difficult to play and engage in recreational activities.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said more than 2,000 people have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea this year — a sharp increase over 2014 death toll — in large part due to reduced search and rescue capacity in the area.  The agency called for action to address this situation.

The World Food Programme (WFP) entered into a partnership with global e‑commerce company Alibaba to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (zero hunger).  Alibaba Cloud will support the creation of a digital World Hunger Map to monitor global hunger and enhance the efficiency of WFP operations.

Briefing the Security Council yesterday, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs said that there has been little progress in talks to end the fighting in Ukraine, with the conflict now in its fifth year.  She said that the Minsk Agreements form the only agreed framework for a negotiated peace in east Ukraine.

Nearly one month after the deadly earthquake and tsunami that struck Sulawesi, Indonesia, UNICEF says that some 375,000 children still need life-saving supplies and services.  More than 2,000 were killed, and key services for children – such as schools and health centres – have been rendered inoperable.

As part of this year’s United Nations Day observance the Department of Public Information has organized a photo exhibition in the New York Headquarters Visitors’ Lobby called “People on the Move”, with more than 50 stunning images portraying refugees, migrants and internally displaced people over seven decades.

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.

To stem the growing threat of famine in Yemen, the international community must act urgently to unblock imports, ensure distribution of aid and counteract a lack of foreign exchange in the war-torn gulf nation, the United Nations top humanitarian affairs official told the Security Council this afternoon.

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.