An unprecedented education crisis is unfolding in Syria, an expert from a major international aid agency warned the Security Council today, as she described how unaffordable food prices, chronic malnutrition and years of living in unsafe, unhygienic camps — now during a pandemic — likely means that many children will never return to school in their lifetimes.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration today began preparing asylum seekers in the Matamoros camp for entry to the United States as the country ends a policy that forced some 25,000 people to wait in Mexico for their immigration hearings.
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.
Ten years into Syria’s crisis, humanitarian needs are deepening, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says, with an estimated 13.4 million people requiring protection and assistance, up more than 2 million people from 2020. Nearly 60 per cent of the population is food insecure.
In north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Nations vaccination teams are supporting the Ebola response by rehabilitating treatment centres and boosting contact-tracing capacity, and today began a four-day mission to Guinea to assess the situation in Nzérékoré, where the first Ebola case was reported.
Humanitarian officials are seriously concerned about the rapidly deteriorating food security situation in southern and eastern Madagascar, where more than 1.3 million people face severe hunger. The third drought in a row is compounding the effects of COVID-19 and the extremely limited access to essential services.
Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ramesh Rajasingham is in Burkina Faso, where, with Government and donor representatives, he launched the country’s 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan, which seeks $607 million to help 2.9 million people. The appeal targets 61 per cent more people than in January 2020.
The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the third report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Mali (S/2020/1105), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:
A report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan finds increasing reports of torture in that country’s detention facilities. Almost a third of those detained for security or terrorism-related offences reported torture or other ill-treatment.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the European Union have launched a programme to protect migrant children in Central America and Southern Africa. It will work with Governments and civil society groups to provide care alternatives to immigration detention.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, raised concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic’s adverse impact on children in conflict zones. In her annual report to the Human Rights Council, she urged States to incorporate child rights in virus containment plans and ensure that protection services continue to operate.
Pramila Patten, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict, today expressed great concern about serious allegations of sexual violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, including a high number of alleged rapes in the capital. She called for zero tolerance of sexual violence among all warring parties.
Violence in the Central African Republic is disrupting critical supply routes, according to the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Bangui. Following recent attacks on aid convoys and peacekeepers, more than 1,600 trucks carrying food and medicine are blocked at the border with Cameroon, as food prices spike.
Despite a significant drop in violations against children since the 2018 peace agreement was signed in South Sudan, continuing grave violations are mostly attributed to opposition and Government troops, including the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces, the latest report on children and armed conflict says.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warns that 250,000 children have been displaced by the crisis in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. UNICEF is concerned that safe water, sanitation and hygiene services are insufficient to meet the growing needs in overcrowded temporary accommodation centres and host communities.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports it is providing supplies such as mosquito nets, solar lamps, and blankets for 36,000 people in Somalia’s Puntland region who have been affected by Cyclone Gati, the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded in the country, which made landfall in November.
The head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan told the Security Council that Afghanistan and the Taliban made genuine progress in peace talks, agreeing to rules and procedures; forming a working committee to discuss the agenda; and presenting each other initial lists of topics for negotiations.
As Tropical Cyclone Yasa has intensified into a Category 5 storm and is expected to make landfall in Fiji on Friday morning, the United Nations office in Suva reports that it is liaising closely with the Government and stands ready to support national emergency response efforts.
Ethiopia is facing dire shortages of food, water, fuel, cash and electricity, as well as telecoms services in the Tigray region, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. More than 63,000 people are recorded as internally displaced in Tigray, including some who fled towards Afar and Amhara.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon reports that a contingent of the Mission’s Force Commander Reserve unit distributed 4,000 educational kits to 30 schools and started renovations to school buildings in southern Lebanon. Also delivered were 1 million masks, half a billion N95 masks with respirators and almost 50 ventilators, among other items.
