Humanitarian issues

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Seventh Annual Brussels Conference “Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region”, today:

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ flagship annual report, Global Trends in Forced Displacement, noted that by the end of 2022, the number of people displaced by war, persecution, violence and human rights abuses stood at a record 108 million people, up 19.1 million people from 2021, the biggest increase ever.

The Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory warned of the imminent risk of forced eviction in the old city of Jerusalem. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at least 970 Palestinians, including 424 children, are at risk of forced eviction in East Jerusalem.

In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, along with five United Nations agencies and some non-governmental organizations, were in Kherson today to assess the impact of the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam and coordinate the humanitarian response with local organizations and authorities.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks, as delivered, at the Horn of Africa Pledging event, in New York today:

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ high-level pledging event on the Horn of Africa today raised $2.4 billion. The Secretary-General said action is urgently needed to prevent crises in the region — which are threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions of people — from turning into catastrophe.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today warned that at least 573,000 children under the age of five are at risk of suffering from malnutrition in Malawi. UNICEF noted that the country is still grappling with the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Freddy, with over 650,000 people internally displaced.

In Sudan, the World Food Programme says it has now reached over 300,000 people since restarting emergency food distributions there two weeks ago. Two cargo planes from the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service carrying critical supplies for United Nations agencies and aid partners have arrived in Port Sudan.

Amidst a steady influx of people to Vakaga prefecture from Sudan, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) is maintaining a temporary presence in the village of Tiringoulou following recent attacks against Central African defence forces.

While intensive discussions are ongoing to secure an extension and improvements to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, rising attacks on civilians are impacting humanitarian aid, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as speakers took stock of the ongoing fallout of the war on Ukraine which is inching past the fifteenth month mark.