A total of 36 donors at yesterday’s pledging event for Yemen pledged nearly $1.3 billion, only 30 per cent of the roughly $4.3 billion required for an efficient and effective response to the humanitarian crisis. Unprecedented funding shortages are forcing reductions and closures of life-saving aid.
Mozambique
Malawi confirmed its first polio case in 30 years on 16 February, which was also Africa’s first polio case in in more than five years. So far, there has been no further spread of the disease, thanks to swift and concerted efforts by the national authorities, with support from the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
On Myanmar, nearly one year after the takeover, the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the international community to intensify pressure on the military to stop its campaign of violence against the people of the country and to insist on the prompt restoration of civilian rule.
At a meeting today on the Sahel region, the Emergency Relief Coordinator for the United Nations said that nearly 15 million people in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso will need humanitarian assistance in 2022. This is 4 million more than one year ago.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today said that food commodity prices in the international market rose for the fourth consecutive month in November. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 134.4 points in the month, the highest level since June 2011 and 1.2 per cent higher than during October.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said today it urgently needs $27 million to continue providing emergency shelter for internally displaced people in Tigray. With more than 2.1 million people internally displaced, some have fled Ethiopia and sought refuge in neighbouring Sudan, the agency reported.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is warning today that, without urgent funding, the displacement crisis in the north of Mozambique could become a hunger emergency. Displacement has left at least 730,000 people in Cabo Delgado without access to their land and no means of earning a living.
Clashes in northern Mozambique are driving one of the world’s fastest-growing displacement crises, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), says with the number of people who have fled their homes in Cabo Delgado having surged by nearly 650 per cent in 2020, and more than 732,000 people currently displaced.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet warned today that a further escalation in violence is unfolding across Myanmar, saying there appear to be no efforts towards de-escalation, but rather a build-up of troops in key areas, contrary to commitments the military made to end the violence.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it continues to receive reports of systematic forced return of Mozambican families from the United Republic of Tanzania. The Agency urged Mozambique’s neighbours to respect access to asylum for those fleeing widespread armed conflict in the northern part of the country.