The United Nations team, led by Resident Coordinator Stefan Priesner, is helping authorities in Malaysia launch a national COVID-19 vaccination programme. More than 500,000 people have registered to receive the vaccine, which aims to reach 80 per cent of the population, 24 million people, by March 2022.
Cabo Verde is among the first African countries to receive the first allocation of COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX facility, the United Nations team there reports. In the next few weeks, thanks to additional World Bank funding of $5 million, Cabo Verde will be able to buy vaccines for almost 35 per cent of the population.
The period following the start of Afghanistan’s peace negotiations in September 2020 has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of human rights defenders and media professionals killed in the country, a new report issued today by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says.
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.
The International Organization for Migration is calling today for urgent action by the European Union and its member States to end pushbacks, collective expulsions and the use of violence against migrants and refugees at the regional bloc’s external land and maritime borders.
The United Nations team in Indonesia is supporting efforts to vaccinate 80 per cent of the population, over 216 million people, against COVID-19. Work has begun to bring the country into the COVAX facility, and the World Health Organization helped finalize a vaccine introduction road map and guidelines.
The United Nations Humanitarian Response Plan for Niger, launched on 5 February, seeks $523.2 million in 2021 to assist 2.1 million people. The combined effects of conflict, chronic food insecurity and health emergencies, including COVID-19, have severely impacted the economy, as well as access to basic services, such as health and education.
The World Food Programme, with support from the United Kingdom, is accelerating global cooperation on the use of humanitarian drones. While calling for their ethical and responsible use, officials say drones can be a game-changer for fast, accurate, low-cost disaster assessment and response.
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 following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Clashes and administrative hurdles are limiting humanitarian access to Ethiopia’s Tigray region, including two refugee camps that have been inaccessible since November 2020, according to officials. United Nations personnel are working with the Government to ensure clearances for aid workers, many of whom are waiting with supplies in Addis Ababa.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports rising hunger and malnutrition in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where months of conflict have worsened a dire situation caused by COVID-19 and locusts. Nearly 80 per cent of hospitals in Tigray are not functional, according to the World Health Organization.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says the number of people displaced by violence in Africa’s Sahel region has reached 2 million. Officials warn that needs continue to surge, with multiple crises converging and the humanitarian response dangerously overstretched.
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.
From Madagascar, the United Nations is issuing a flash appeal for $76 million to support more than 1 million people in the south who face a potentially life-threatening lack of food, nutrition, water and sanitation, and health assistance due to the region’s worst drought in 10 years coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Jordan launched one of the world’s first COVID-19 vaccination drives for refugees on 14 January. An Iraqi woman in the city of Irbid was the first registered refugee to be vaccinated as part of Jordan’s national campaign.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is deeply concerned about the plight of hundreds of thousands of people in Ethiopia’s strife-torn Tigray region who have yet to receive life-saving assistance. The situation is particularly critical for newly displaced people and refugees.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index averaged 107.5 points in December 2020, 2.2 per cent higher than in November 2020, FAO said today. World food prices rose for the seventh consecutive month last month, an increase led by high demand for dairy products.
United Nations humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock has allocated $1.5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to the Food and Agriculture Organization for desert locust control operations in Kenya. Swarms could threaten livelihoods and food security of 3.6 million people across the region if they are not controlled.
Despite slightly improved humanitarian access into some areas of Tigray, the region remains critically challenged by the prevailing insecurity and bureaucratic constraints, United Nations humanitarian officials in Ethiopia report. Health facilities in major cities are working with limited supplies and without staff.
