In Sudan, the United Nations is working with partners to provide life‑saving aid to 9 million vulnerable people. Operations must continue unimpeded to prevent the humanitarian situation there from deteriorating further. However, the 2021 response plan, which seeks $1.9 billion, remains only 30 per cent funded.
In Nigeria, the World Food Programme today warned that it might cut food aid as early as next month to more than 500,000 people in the north‑east unless it receives at least $55 million in urgent funding. The cuts come as severe hunger reaches a five-year high due to years of conflict and worsened by COVID-19.
In northern Syria, a reported 5 million people lack reliable access to and suffer from insufficient levels of safe water due to low water levels and disruptions to water systems. The United Nations and aid partners have released a plan to target 3.4 million of those most affected by the water crisis in the next six months.
At the opening of the United Nations Food Systems Summit, the Secretary‑General stressed that food systems can and must play a leading role in realizing the Sustainable Development Goals and called for a world where healthy and nutritious food is available and affordable for everyone, everywhere.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the High‑Level Dialogue of the Americas on Climate Action, held today:
The World Food Programme (WFP) is warning today that, without urgent funding, the displacement crisis in the north of Mozambique could become a hunger emergency. Displacement has left at least 730,000 people in Cabo Delgado without access to their land and no means of earning a living.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it continues to receive reports of systematic forced return of Mozambican families from the United Republic of Tanzania. The Agency urged Mozambique’s neighbours to respect access to asylum for those fleeing widespread armed conflict in the northern part of the country.
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message marking the entry into force of the Escazú Agreement, today:
The World Food Programme (WFP) said it will launch an operation to reach up to 2 million vulnerable people in Myanmar’s main cities and other areas where people have recently been uprooted. WFP estimates that 3.4 million more people will be hungry within the next six months, amid the ongoing effects of poverty, COVID-19 and political crisis.
The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, today released $14 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to provide shelter and emergency services to over 45,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh displaced by a devastating fire which destroyed critical infrastructure in Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar.
Delegates urged a reckoning today with how the past injustices of the transatlantic slave trade perpetuate present racial discrimination and inequality around the world, as the General Assembly held a meeting to commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
More than 3 billion people globally are at risk of disease because the quality of their rivers, lakes and groundwater is unknown due to a lack of data, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today. UNEP’s survey of over 75,000 bodies of water in 89 countries found more than 40 per cent severely polluted.
At least 14 civilians were killed in an attack by suspected combatants of the ADF on Sunday night in Bulongo village, east of Beni, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported. The Mission’s Force Intervention Brigade deployed to the area yesterday.
Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message for the R-SDG Forum segment on the “Presentation of the 2020 System-wide results report of the UN+ development system in Latin America and the Caribbean”, held today:
The number of civilians killed and injured in Afghanistan rose following the start of peace negotiations in September, according to report released today by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the Organization’s human rights office. The country remains among the deadliest for civilians.
Central America is bracing for another potentially catastrophic storm – named Iota – just two weeks after Hurricane Eta made landfall in the region, causing death and destruction. Ahead of Iota, the United Nations, alongside regional and national partners, is building on preparedness and response efforts for Eta.
The Acting Special Representative for Libya reported a breakthrough in the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum taking place in Tunisia, with participants reaching a preliminary agreement on a road map for ending the transitional period and organizing free, inclusive and credible parliamentary and presidential elections.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary‑General António Guterres:
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ opening remarks to the forty-first regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), held today:
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has put two reports online, one detailing violations in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, and the other warning that accountability for violations committed in the context of demonstrations remains elusive, despite promising steps by the Government of Iraq.
