In Paris, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is having three days of events to mark World Philosophy Day, including a Night of Philosophy, a presentation of digitized philosophy archives and a talk about Barbara Cassin, initiator of the International Network of Women Philosophers.

The United Nations refugee agency today called upon countries to take faster and more resolute action to help end statelessness.  High Commissioner Filippo Grandi urged politicians, Governments and legislators around the world to take and support decisive action to eliminate statelessness globally by 2024.

The High Commissioner for Refugees is extremely concerned about the impacts of intensified conflict in Yemen’s Hodeidah Governorate on civilians and aid operations. In October alone, 94 civilians were killed and 95 injured.  The World Food Programme is dramatically scaling up to meet growing need throughout the country.

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.