DEPUTY SECRETARY GENERAL
On Thursday afternoon, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, departed for Nairobi, Kenya, to attend the African Union’s first African Women Leaders Network Intergenerational Retreat on Leadership in Africa, which began on Friday. She will also meet with UN entities, the country team and senior Government officials.
The Deputy Secretary-General will return to New York on the morning of 19 August.
 
SECURITY COUNCIL
The Security Council discussed the situation in India and Pakistan in closed consultations on Friday morning.
Council members received a briefing from Oscar Fernández-Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding, on the recent developments in Kashmir. Gen. Carlos Humberto Loitey, the UN Military Adviser, also briefing the Council on the work of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).
 
LIBYA
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya, Ghassan Salame, condemned in the strongest terms what he described as a clear pattern of ruthless attacks against health workers and facilities. 
“Intentionally targeting health workers and health facilities and ambulances is a war crime, and when committed as part of widespread or systematic attacks directed against any civilian population, may constitute a crime against humanity,” the Special Representative reiterated.
“We will not stand idly by and watch doctors and paramedics targeted daily while risking their lives to save others. We will spare no efforts to ensure that those responsible will face justice,” he added.
Since the beginning of the offensive on Tripoli in early April, more than 37 attacks have been registered against health workers and facilities, including hospitals, field hospitals and civilian and military ambulances. These attacks have resulted in 11 deaths and injuries to more than 33 persons, although the actual number may be significantly higher.
 
DRC
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has said that in the last two months violence forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern province of Ituri.
In the last three weeks of June alone, more than 145,000 newly displaced people sought safety and assistance in displacement sites across Ituri, while 215,000 more are estimated to have fled to neighboring areas.
Difficulties with access in some places, and the large area from which people have fled, means the real figure is difficult to verify.
The Agency also stressed that the most urgent needs are for shelter, water, sanitation, healthcare and food and said that overcrowded conditions are putting women and girls at high risk of sexual and gender-based violence.
 
BURKINA FASO
The World Food Programme (WFP) today warned that Burkina Faso, which has a population of over 19 million, is facing a humanitarian emergency due to a rise in insecurity in parts of the Sahel.
WFP said that nearly 688,000 people were estimated to be food insecure in the country during the lean season between June and September.
Fighting has led to a five-fold increase in displacement between December 2018 and now, with nearly 240,000 people having fled their homes. Insecurity has also led to health centres and schools closing, the latter affecting nearly 330,000 children.
WFP is increasing its food assistance, having supported more than 100,000 internally displaced people between January and July of this year.
WFP is planning to help nearly 700,000 people and will continue to provide nutritional support to prevent and treat malnutrition.
WFP stressed the need to tackle the root causes of the crisis in the Sahel, including poverty, climate change and social exclusion.
The Executive Director of WFP, David Beasley, visited Burkina Faso this week and met with authorities, including the President Roch Marc Kabore, the Prime Minister, and other ministers. Mr. Beasley pledged WFP support to people affected by the challenges, especially in the north of the country, and discussed the need to work for enhanced access to reach the most vulnerable and assist those who are displaced.
 
SUDAN
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that heavy rains over the past week have killed 33 people in Sudan, mainly due to collapsed roofs and electrocution. Some 55,000 people were affected and more than 5,000 houses destroyed in nine states, according to authorities and humanitarian partners.
The UN and humanitarian organizations are supporting the Government-led relief efforts, particularly in the areas of health, water and sanitation, emergency shelter, non- food items, and response coordination.
This year, the Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan appeals for $1.1 billion targeting 4.4 million people, but it is only 30 per cent funded so far.
 
ROHINGYA/U.N.I.C.E.F.
Frustration and despair are overwhelming young Rohingya refugees in southeastern Bangladesh, according to a new report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which called for urgent investment in education and skills development opportunities in and around the vast camps where most of the refugees live.
Two years since the arrival of around 745,000 Rohingya civilians fleeing extreme violence in Myanmar, the overall education sector has provided non-formal education to 280,000 children aged 4 to 14. However, this leaves more than 25,000 children who are not attending any learning programmes, and an additional 640 learning centres are needed. Further, 97 per cent of children aged 15 to 18 years are not attending any type of educational facility.
“For the Rohingya children and youth now in Bangladesh, mere survival is not enough,” said UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore. “It is absolutely critical that they are provided with the quality learning and skills development that they need to guarantee their long-term future.”
More formal teaching and learning materials are being progressively rolled out for younger refugee children studying in camp learning centres. UNICEF and other agencies are calling on the Governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh to allow the use of national educational resources – for example, curricula, learning and training manuals and assessment methods – to help provide more structured learning for Rohingya children.
The report says that without adequate opportunities for learning, adolescents can fall prey to traffickers who offer to smuggle desperate young Rohingya out of Bangladesh, and to drug dealers who operate in the area.
 
CANADA/PEACEKEEPING
Canada and the United Nations have signed an agreement in which Canada will provide tactical airlift support out of Entebbe, Uganda, for UN peacekeeping missions for the next 12 months.
Canada will supply an airplane to help transport troops, equipment and supplies to the UN Missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in South Sudan.
Atul Khare, the Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support, said that the agreement with Canada provides support for the UN in a predictive and structured manner, expanding the capacity and capability of the UN Missions to address operational requirements more efficiently.
He welcomed the continued engagement of the Government of Canada in support of peacekeeping through this agreement.
 
MEXICO
The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, today condemned the killing of three journalists in Mexico, Edgar Alberto Nava López, Rogelio Barragán Pérez, and Jorge Ruiz Vázquez.
The three journalists were killed between 30 July and 2 August. All three had previously reported intimidation or threats on their lives due to their work.
She called on the authorities to investigate these killings and bring their perpetrators to trial. She also urged the authorities to reinforce measures to protect media workers as they play an essential role in safeguarding democracy and rule of law.
 
MIGRANTS
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said that Americas’ migratory routes reached a grim milestone with over 500 deaths so far in 2019.
In total, at least 514 people have lost their lives compared with 384 recorded through this point in 2018, an increase of just over one-third.  Nearly half of all deaths have been recorded on the US-México border. According to IOM, the turmoil in Venezuela, where over four million migrants have left the country since 2015 may account for much of 2019’s surge in recorded fatalities. 
 
HUMANITARIAN DAY
On Monday, 19 August, the United Nations marks the tenth anniversary of World Humanitarian Day. This year, the UN and partners are launching the #WomenHumanitarians global campaign to honour the life-saving contributions of women humanitarians around the world. The campaign is meant to raise awareness of and support for women humanitarians who are often on the front lines in some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous places.
At 10:00 a.m. the United Nations Staff Union will host a wreath-laying ceremony in remembrance of the UN personnel who lost their lives in the bombing of the Canal Hotel, Baghdad, Iraq. The event will take place by the Memorial Wall in the Visitors Lobby, outside the Meditation Room. The Deputy Secretary-General and the President of the Staff Union will deliver brief remarks.