Millions of displaced people in Sudan, already suffering from the devastating impact of a nearly 16-month-long war, are now grappling with worsening conditions due to heavy seasonal rains and flooding, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday.
The outgoing UN senior humanitarian official in Ukraine condemned a deadly Russian attack on Friday that killed and injured dozens in the eastern town of Kostiantynivka, in the Donetsk region.
The recent surge in violence and attacks in the Middle East is taking a shocking toll on young lives in the region, a senior official with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday in an appeal for de-escalation.
As the UN Security Council meets on Thursday to discuss the threat the ISIL/Da’esh terrorist group poses, a specialised UN agency has been helping nations on the ground to prepare for chemical terrorism attacks.
Thousands of people in Gaza have been fleeing west toward Al Mawasi after the Israel military issued a new evacuation order on Thursday, UN humanitarian partners on the ground have reported.
Islamic State (ISIL/Da’esh) and its affiliates have expanded their activities and finances in several parts of Africa, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, resulting in a major spike in attacks and civilian fatalities, a senior UN counter-terrorism official warned the Security Council on Thursday.
Madam President
I am most grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. I join my colleague, the Executive Director of UN Women, and express appreciation to Sierra Leone for bringing this issue to the floor.
Madam President and Distinguished Members of the Security Council
Consolidating peace dividends and gains is one of the fundamental concerns and objectives during transitions and drawdowns of peace operations. A key area where gains must be preserved is on Women, Peace and Security, in line with our shared commitments under resolution 1325.
Indeed as indicated by the Executive Director, peace operations have become instrumental in facilitating and promoting women’s leadership and agency; ensuring women’s meaningful participation in political and peace processes; and protecting women and girls from human rights abuses and violations. Missions’ transitions present challenges but also opportunities for stakeholders to consolidate gains in these critical areas and to sustain peace.
Since 2014, the UN has managed at least ten transitions in politically and operationally complex settings. In the last few years, UN peace operations have drawn down at an accelerated pace from Mali and Sudan. A phased disengagement from the Democratic Republic of the Congo is underway. In all these transition settings, the implementation of the WPS agenda has proved to be challenging.
Madam President,
Rushing through a transition process against a background of a tense political climate, persisting security threats and protection concerns, can jeopardize hard-won peace gains, including progress on gender equality. Indeed, national stakeholders could be unprepared to shoulder additional responsibilities, while support from international partners may not be readily available.
Unless transitions are well-structured, adequately-resourced and gender-responsive, women and girls will be at risk of setbacks. These could include losing access to essential services, being excluded from new decision-making processes, and becoming vulnerable to waves of fresh violence and insecurity, including conflict related sexual violence. Permit me to share a few examples:
Madam President,
To achieve more successful transitions, a forward-looking approach rooted in joint planning --involving national authorities, local civil society organizations, the United Nations peace operations and the Country Team, international partners and Council members -- is vital. Establishing a shared vision on Women Peace and Security can help prioritize United Nations support and direct capacity and resources in the right direction. In this regard:
Madam President,
In all ongoing and upcoming transitions – whether in the DRC, Iraq or Somalia, we must act early to ensure our planning, coordination and engagement with partners address the full range of Women, Peace and Security work.
United Nations peace operations and country teams, national governments, regional organizations, and civil society partners, and women networks need to specifically ensure that: i/ gender analysis is part of transition processes from inception to completion; and ii/ necessary gender expertise capacity and resources exist to sustain gains. Furthermore, Security Council periodic visiting missions must systematically engage with national authorities and partners on WPS agenda, particularly in transition contexts.
We must continue to do our utmost to support and enable women and girls to take the rightful place in their communities and to shaping in equal measure the destinies of their country.
I thank you for your kind attention.
Senior UN officials on Wednesday warned of the consequences for protection of women and their rights in conflict zones, amid recent decisions to close or shrink peacekeeping and special political missions.
With famine confirmed in the Zamzam displacement camp in Sudan’s North Darfur, there are growing concerns that similar crises may be unfolding in other nearby camps, an official with the UN emergency food relief agency (WFP) said on Wednesday, in an interview with UN News.
Recent developments in Gaza, the wider Middle East, and Sudan, have highlighted the complexities of emergencies in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) vast Eastern Mediterranean region, officials from the UN agency said during a virtual media briefing on Wednesday.
The UN Secretary-General called for nuclear disarmament on Tuesday as the world marked 79 years since the bombing of Hiroshima, promising that the UN will “spare no effort to ensure the horrors of that day are never repeated.”
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, has expressed horror at the escalating pattern of Israeli Defence Force (IDF) strikes on schools in Gaza, which have killed at least 163 internally displaced Palestinians, including children and women, in the past month.
The resignation and departure of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister after weeks of bloody protests has been met with “euphoria” alongside some concern over the government’s transition, the UN’s top official in Bangladesh said in an interview with UN News on Tuesday.
The UN said on Monday that nine staff working for its Palestine refugee agency UNRWA will be sacked because they may have been involved in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks against Israel.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Monday for an urgent de-escalation in the Middle East as tensions mount in the wake of recent deadly attacks linked to the war in Gaza, which is about to enter its 10th month.
The UN said on Monday that nine staff working for its Palestine refugee agency UNRWA will be sacked because they may have been involved in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks against Israel.
The United Nations has strongly condemned a suicide attack at a popular beachfront in the capital, Mogadishu, that claimed dozens of civilian lives.
The UN envoy for Somalia has strongly condemned a suicide attack on a popular beachfront in the capital, Mogadishu, that claimed dozens of civilian lives.
The top UN envoy in the Middle East called on Friday for urgent action to address the “growing risk” of regional escalation following recent deadly attacks in Lebanon, the Syrian Golan Heights and Iran linked to the war in Gaza.
The UN Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA, launched a programme on Thursday to get boys and girls in the Gaza Strip back to learning – and to just being children – amid the ongoing conflict.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his appeal for de-escalation in the Middle East in a phone call with a senior official in Iran, his Spokesperson reported on Thursday.
UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR POLITICAL AND PEACEBUILDING AFFAIRS ROSEMARY DI CARLO REMARKS TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL ON the situation in the middle east, including the Palestinian question
New York, 31 July 2024
Mr. President, Members of the Security Council,
Once again, the Council is holding an emergency meeting to discuss alarming developments in the Middle East. This is just a little over a week after I briefed on the Houthi attack on Tel Aviv and Israel’s strikes in response that targeted Hudaydah.
Earlier today, we all saw the news that Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas’ political bureau, was killed, together with a bodyguard in Tehran. Mr. Haniyeh had been in Tehran, at the invitation of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to attend the inauguration of the new president, H.E. Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian.
In a letter to the Security Council president today, Iran accused Israel of carrying out an attack that killed Mr. Haniyeh and claimed it was a “serious infringement” of Iran’s sovereignty and territory integrity and constituted a “blatant violation” of international law.
Iran’s Supreme Leader and other senior officials have vowed to avenge Mr. Haniyeh’s death, warning Israel of “harsh punishment… intended to instill deep regret in the perpetrator.” Various non-state armed groups aligned with Iran across the region have also threatened to retaliate against Israel.
In a live broadcast to the nation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had launched strikes against three fronts, including against Hamas, Hizbullah, and the Houthis, in recent days. He emphasized that Israel was fighting an existential war with Iran.
Mr. President,
Today’s strike in Tehran follows in the wake of several recent escalatory events in the region. While violence continues unabated in Gaza after months of relentless diplomatic efforts, the situation across the Blue Line and inside Lebanon is on an increasingly worrying path.
Since I last briefed you on 22 July, the negative trajectory has continued. In a tragic incident on 27 July, 12 children were killed, and dozens injured in an apparent strike on a soccer field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan.
According to Israel Defense Forces, an Iranian-made Falaq-1 rocket was fired by Hizbullah from north of Shebaa village in southern Lebanon. Hizbullah denied responsibility for the strike. The strike followed months of increasingly intense exchanges across the Blue Line with Lebanon and hundreds of aerial attacks toward Israel from various locations across the region that Israel has attributed to Iran-backed forces.
On 30 July, the Israel Defense Forces issued a statement claiming a “targeted strike” in Beirut on a Hizbullah commander allegedly responsible for the deaths in Majdal Shams.
Hizbullah confirmed that a senior commander, Fuad Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsin, was killed.
According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, at least five people were killed, including two children, and many more injured.
Mr. President,
The various attacks over the past few days represent a serious and dangerous escalation.
They take place amidst the ongoing war in Gaza, where Hamas continues to hold hostages abducted from Israel on 7 October, amid continued hostilities and a catastrophic humanitarian situation for the Palestinian population in the Strip.
Most recently on 27 July, a devastating Israeli strike, killing dozens, including children, took place on a school in Deir Al Balah where thousands of displaced Palestinians were sheltering. This was yet another reminder of the terrible toll of the war on civilians.
Earlier today, an Al-Jazeera journalist and his cameraman were killed reportedly by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza while they were reporting from Haniyeh’s home.
Mr. President,
Allow me to reiterate the Secretary-General’s words from today. The Secretary-General has “consistently called for maximum restraint by all. It is increasingly clear, however, that restraint alone is insufficient at this extremely sensitive time.”
Diplomatic efforts to change the trajectory and seek a path toward regional peace and stability are urgently needed. Communication by means of missiles, armed drones and other deadly attacks must end.
I echo the Secretary-General’s “call for all to vigorously work towards regional de-escalation in the interest of long-term peace and stability for all.”
The international community must work together to prevent any actions that could make the conflict much bigger and wider very quickly. We need swift and effective diplomatic efforts towards regional de-escalation. This Council plays a crucial role in this regard. The time is now.
Thank you, Mister President.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the international community to prevent escalation in the Middle East, following an Israeli strike on Lebanon’s capital and the reported killing of a top Hamas leader in Iran.
The United Nations has voiced grave concern over Israeli strikes in the densely populated southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, on Tuesday, which resulted in scores of civilian casualties.
A new UN report published Wednesday into alleged abuses carried out against thousands of Palestinians detained by the Israeli authorities since war erupted in Gaza last October has documented a range of serious violations that may amount to torture.
The UN’s top political affairs official reiterated the urgent need for de-escalation in the Middle East, appealing in the Security Council on Wednesday for “swift and effective diplomatic action”, as ambassadors met in an emergency meeting on the latest flare-up in hostilities.
The conflict in Sudan has led to a horrifying surge in violence against children, a new UN report has revealed, underscoring the need for urgent and tangible protection measures.
In response to questions about the strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, the Spokesperson has the following to say:
We express grave concern over the strikes by the Israel Defense Forces on the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, in the evening of 30 July, which resulted in scores of civilian casualties.
As we await further clarity on the circumstances, we again urge the parties to exercise maximum restraint and call on all...
The Secretary-General believes that the attacks we have seen in South Beirut and Teheran represent a dangerous escalation at a moment in which all efforts should instead be leading to a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all Israeli hostages, a massive increase of humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza and a return to calm in Lebanon and across the Blue Line.
Rather than that, what we are seeing are efforts...
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has joined the Secretary-General in voicing concern over the situation in Venezuela following the recent presidential election.
The UN Security Council on Tuesday lifted the arms embargo on the Central African Republic (CAR) government forces, while calling on all nations to take all necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply of all types of weapons and related materiel to armed groups operating there.
