Humanitarian partners in Honduras launched a flash appeal for $69.2 million to help the Government respond to the needs of 450,000 vulnerable people affected by Hurricane Eta, which caused catastrophic damage. Given the recent new tropical storm Iota, the plan will be updated following assessments of its impact.
The Emergency Relief Coordinator reported that six humanitarian workers were lost in targeted attacks in Somalia, in two separate incidents in South Sudan, and in north-west Syria. “This cannot be tolerated,” he said, calling the attacks a violation of international law and an “obscene act against people working hard” to help the world’s vulnerable.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today it has been laying the groundwork for the rapid, safe and efficient delivery of the eventual COVID-19 vaccine by stockpiling syringes and other necessary equipment, in anticipation of delivering 1 billion syringes to support vaccination efforts in 2021.
Although hand-washing with soap is critical to anti-coronavirus efforts, millions of people around the world lack ready access to a place to wash their hands, UNICEF) warned today, reporting that, according to the latest estimates, only three out of five people worldwide have basic hand-washing facilities.
Growing numbers of indigenous peoples are succumbing to extreme poverty, amid a spike in land evictions and loss of traditional livelihoods brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations expert charged with assessing their wellbeing told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates raised questions and concerns about their plight.
To mark Space Week, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs will hold a webinar tomorrow on the KiboCUBE programme, a collaboration with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency giving developing countries an opportunity to deploy a satellite from Japan’s module of the International Space Station free of cost.
Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary‑General Amina Mohammed’s video message to mark World Teachers’ Day, observed on 5 October:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are helping the Government of Cambodia with distance learning programmes for the more than 3 million students who are out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A survey by the United Nations Children’s Fund found that 535,500 children in Burkina Faso under five years old are acutely malnourished, including 156,000 who suffer from severe acute malnutrition and are at imminent risk of death. Community health workers have been mobilized to screen and treat children in the most remote areas.
The Security Council today urged Member States to develop effective measures to prevent and address attacks and threats against schools, including by developing domestic legal frameworks.
Africa Amnesty Month begins today. Linked to the Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2020 initiative, the disarmament effort is designed to reduce the flows of illicit small arms and light weapons, allowing anyone to hand in illegal weapons throughout the month of September.
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.
Fighting in Afghanistan’s Kunduz Province has displaced 52,000 people since 16 August following attacks by a non-State armed group and responsive strikes by national security forces. A surge of United Nations staff is under way to boost humanitarian capacity in Kunduz and a joint assessment team was deployed.
The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the fifth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Somalia (document S/2020/174), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:
There is a real danger that the global health crisis will create a COVID-19 generation who lose out on schooling and see their opportunities permanently damaged, warned Gordon Brown, Special Envoy on Global Education, noting that an estimated 30 million children may never return to school, according to UNESCO.
The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the fourth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Colombia (document S/2019/1017), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:
Thérèse Gastaut, a former Spokeswoman for the United Nations in Geneva, passed away last night. She ably served the Organization for 37 years and held positions in the Department of Public Information in New York, Geneva and Brussels. Thérèse had the United Nations in her blood and in her heart.
Polio immunization campaigns have resumed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, months after COVID-19 left 50 million children without their polio vaccines, UNICEF said today. There is concern that up to 1 million children in Afghanistan could miss out as door-to-door vaccinations are not possible in some areas.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Hannan Sulieman of Sudan as Assistant Secretary-General to serve as the Deputy Executive Director, Management for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
A flight carrying ventilators, protective masks and other essential medical supplies landed in Papua New Guinea today, marking the start of the World Food Programme’s humanitarian air service for the Pacific, which aims to help the region’s countries and territories bolster the Covid-19 pandemic response.
