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.
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.
A tense political crisis, shrinking civic space and chronic development deficits are exacerbating dire humanitarian conditions in Haiti, the senior United Nations official in the country told the Security Council in a videoconference meeting today, while calling on international partners to support crucial elections scheduled for later in 2021.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has asked for $1.5 billion to fund its education, health, social services, infrastructure and other essential services, as well as emergency appeals and priority projects for 2021.
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 new Permanent Representative of Haiti to the United Nations, Antonio Rodrigue, paid a courtesy call on UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.
The Security Council today decided to extend for another 12 months the mandate of its one-year-old integrated office in Haiti, adopting a technical rollover that made no changes to its original mandate.
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.
Haiti’s political and socioeconomic future hinges on the ability of that country’s political and economic classes to resolve their differences without resorting to violence, the head of the United Nations special political mission there told the Security Council during a 5 October video teleconference meeting.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today said that they remain deeply concerned about the ongoing hostilities along the line of contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, calling on all sides to immediately end the fighting and respect international human rights and humanitarian law.
The new Permanent Representative of Haiti to the United Nations, Antonio Rodrigue, presented his credentials to the Secretariat today.
A group of regional United Nations entities launched a $2.5 million recovery fund to support Mauritius as it responds to the oil spill caused by a shipwreck off its coast in July, with efforts focused on the livelihoods impacted. United Nations regional directors for eastern and southern Africa have pooled $250,000 to kick-start the fund.
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.
In June, 921,000 people were forced to leave Burkina Faso, making it the site of one of the world’s fastest-growing displacement crises. Increased insecurity has also made humanitarian access more difficult, with the number of people in need of assistance jumping to 2.9 million people, from 2.2 million in January.
Amid protracted political, economic and institutional crises in Haiti, a strong response to COVID-19 is urgently needed to prevent an erosion of national stability, a top legal expert in the country told the Security Council in a 19 June videoconference meeting.
COVID-19 is has pushed nearly 4 million Haitians – about 1 in 3 people – into acute food insecurity, with 1 million people now in a situation of severe hunger, a Government study found. In the first four months of 2020, the World Food Programme reached 200,000 people, and restarted emergency food and cash distributions.
Political deadlock in Haiti, entering its second year, has paralysed national institutions, hobbled the economy and fuelled chronic insecurity amid spotty progress and ever-worsening living conditions for more than 4 million citizens, the Security Council heard today.
The United Nations Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) today called for the immediate release of Siham Sergewa, an elected member of the House of Representatives, who was seized at night from her home in Benghazi six months ago. Since her violent abduction, her fate remains unknown.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at a wreath laying ceremony marking the tenth anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, in New York today:
The Humanitarian Coordinator for the United Nations in Iraq expressed her strong concern today over the suspension in granting access letters to humanitarian actors carrying out critical missions in support of the country’s vulnerable people.
