Yemen

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

Emergency fuel stocks at a number of critical health, water and sanitation facilities in the Gaza Strip have almost run out, creating enormous risks for the population, according to United Nations humanitarian personnel.  The immediate lack of fuel is due to Israeli restrictions on imports, which also apply to United Nations‑procured emergency fuel.

United Nations humanitarian officials say violent protests in Ethiopia’s Somali region have led to at least 29 deaths, and that houses of worship, homes and businesses have been attacked and destroyed.  The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that some 22,000 households were already provided with emergency supplies, but more than 150,000 still need assistance.

UNHCR says that more than 1,500 refugees and migrants have lost their lives attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in the first seven months of 2018.  The bleak milestone was confirmed after more than 850 lives were lost in June and July alone, marking the Mediterranean crossing as the world’s deadliest sea route.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that volcanic activity on Vanuatu’s Ambae Island, which has a population of more than 10,000 people, has intensified in the last few weeks.  The Vanuatu Council of Ministers has called for the immediate compulsory evacuation of Ambae residents to the neighbouring island of Maewo.

The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Yemen told the Security Council today that he plans to invite parties to the conflict in that country to Geneva on 6 September for consultations on a potential framework for talks, confidence‑building measures and plans for moving the peace process forward.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has found that children make up nearly 30 per cent of all identified victims of human trafficking.  In regions such as sub‑Saharan Africa and Central America and the Caribbean, the proportion is more than 60 per cent.

At the Global Disability Summit in London, the Deputy Secretary-General said that Governments’ commitments often does not translate into major improvements for the 1.5 billion persons with disabilities across the world, adding that the United Nations has launched a review of its approach, institutionally and operationally, to disabilities.

The United Nations migration agency said today that it assisted more than 72,000 migrants to return home voluntarily in 2017.  This represents a 27 per cent decrease compared to 2016, when some 98,000 migrants were provided with return and reintegration support.

Thousands of Rohingya people continue fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine State and describe continued violence and human rights abuses, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, told the Human Rights Council yesterday, warning that the international community will not forget the outrages committed.