Lebanon

The Head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) met Thursday at the UNIFIL base in Ibl el-Saqi with the mayors and religious authorities of south-eastern towns to discuss local needs and the UN’s humanitarian support to impacted communities, including to restore stability along the Blue Line.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugeess (UNHCR) today launched its Climate Resilience Fund, seeking to raise $100 million by 2025 to boost the protection of refugees and displaced communities who are most threatened by climate change.

In Haiti, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to reach hundreds of thousands of people with critical assistance. The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that more than 18,000 people were reached with cash transfers and, again yesterday, 210,000 children received a meal in their schools across the country.

In Democratic Republic of the Congo, UN peacekeepers there responded to an alert this morning about shots fired by CODECO combatants near the area of Tata Hill, in Ituri province. The peacekeepers established a presence in the area, including between a hospital, the local church and market, to deter further threats.

In Haiti, the United Nations and its partners continue to provide emergency assistance to people impacted by the crisis in Port-au-Prince. Yesterday, the World Food Programme (WFP) supplied more than 30,000 hot meals to displaced people in the capital.

The United Nations is planning a mission to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city to help people receive medical attention and to assess the state of the hospital. This comes following reports that the Israel Defense Forces have vacated the premises of the hospital.

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

In Malawi, the United Nations and its partners are supporting the Government to respond to severe drought, which has prompted national authorities to declare a state of emergency in 23 of the country’s 28 districts. Nearly 2 million farming families and over 40 per cent of Malawi’s agricultural land has been impacted.

A report released today by the International Labour Organization (ILO) shows that forced labour in the private economy generates $236 billion in illegal profits per year. ILO notes that the total amount of illegal profits from forced labour has risen by $64 billion since 2014.

In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs reports that an attack earlier today hit residential areas of Odesa, a city with a population of some 1 million people, causing destruction and multiple civilian casualties.