Today is World Refugee Day, and the Secretary-General says in a message he is deeply concerned to see more and more situations where refugees are not receiving the protection they need and to which they are entitled. Also, FAO and UNHCR launched a new handbook to help restore forests in displacement-affected areas.
In progress at UNHQ
Yemen
The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process briefed the Security Council this morning and said that settlement activity has continued in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. He reiterated that all settlement activity is illegal under international law.
The Chef de Cabinet to UN Secretary-General António Guterres read out a message on his behalf to the third Review Conference on the Programme of Action on Small Arms, telling the delegates that every year, over half a million people are killed violently around the world, mostly through small arms fire.
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said he is increasingly concerned by the situation in the Sahel, where nearly 6 million people are struggling to meet their daily food needs. The crisis has been triggered by scarce rainfall in 2017, which resulted in acute water, crop and pasture shortages and livestock losses.
Humanitarian organizations in South Sudan are responding to urgent needs of the estimated 50,000 people displaced in Leer, Mayendit and Koch Counties in Unity state amid a sharp escalation in fighting between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), SPLA-in-Opposition and armed groups.
A humanitarian coordination team of 60 experts from United Nations agencies and aid partners is traveling to Guatemala today to assess the immediate humanitarian needs of more than 1.7 million people impacted by the eruption of volcano Fuego two days ago.
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan condemned the attack today that killed and injured religious scholars gathered in Kabul who were there to promote peace in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released a study that found nearly half of Afghan children are missing out on school.
The United Nations mission in the Central African Republic says investigations are ongoing in Bria (in Haute Kotto prefecture), where United Nations police arrested an anti‑Balaka leader suspected of involvement in an attack on a Formed Police Unit patrol that resulted in the death of a peacekeeper last December.
The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today that 14 May was a day of tragedy for the people of Gaza. He said that there is no justification for the killing, and there is no excuse.
The Central Emergency Response Fund allocated $1.26 million for Gaza today to support the rapid procurement of essential medical supplies and their distribution to critical hospitals providing trauma care.