Humanitarian issues

High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said today that broad sectoral sanctions should urgently be re-evaluated in countries facing the COVID-19 pandemic.  Such measures could have a potentially debilitating impact on the health sector and human rights, she added. 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees airlifted emergency relief items to Chad on 19 March, responding to the humanitarian needs of some 10,000 Sudanese refugees.  Clashes in Sudan’s West Darfur region since late 2019 have forced more than 16,000 people, mostly women and children, to cross the border into Chad.

In north-east Nigeria, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 7.9 million people — more than 1 out of every 2 people in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States — need aid in 2020.  With an upsurge in attacks in the area over the past year, aid agencies have been forced to scale down their work.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees today said it is deeply saddened by reports of the deaths of at least 20 people during a stampede for food and cash in Niger’s Diffa region on Sunday.  The number of victims could rise as more information is received.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for World Humanitarian Day, observed today:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the International Donors Conference in Beira, Mozambique, today:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ statement on Cyclone Idai:

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the pledging conference for Yemen, in Geneva today: