Yemen

Significant progress in implementing recent agreements in Yemen represents an opportunity for that country to move away from the “logic of war” towards one of peace, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that heavy rains and cyclones have caused an outbreak of desert locusts in Sudan and Eritrea that is rapidly spreading to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, potentially causing a major threat to agricultural production and food security.

The United Nations refugee agency, International Migration Agency (IOM) and their partners today launched the 2019 response plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis.  It seeks to raise $920 million to meet the needs of over 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and over 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in host communities.

The United Nations refugee agency and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called upon European countries and regional organizations today to take urgent action to ensure no child is born, or remains, stateless in Europe.  In 2017, some 2,100 children were registered as “stateless”, a four-fold increase over 2010.

The Government of the Philippines declared a major outbreak of measles last week in Metro Manila and Central Luzon, which has now expanded to other areas, according to humanitarian affairs officials.  More than 4,300 suspected cases of measles have been reported since January, with at least 70 deaths.

Efforts to find and treat an additional 1.5 million undiagnosed, unreported and untreated tuberculosis patients by the end of 2019 have been showing signs of success, according to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, driven by six Asian countries bearing the world’s highest TB burdens.

The United Nations and Libya’s Government of National Accord launched the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan for that country today, seeking $202 million to provide health support, protection, water and sanitation, as well as shelter and education in support of more than 550,000 vulnerable people.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Anatolio Ndong Mba (Equatorial Guinea):

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Cameroon visited the Goura refugee site, which is hosting 35,000 Nigerian refugees following clashes between non-State armed groups and the Nigerian military.  The 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan for Cameroon seeks nearly $300 million to assist 2.3 million vulnerable people.

In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Oxfam have installed the largest human waste treatment facility ever built in a refugee settlement, in Cox’s Bazar, which is home to nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees.