The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the killing of a Cameroonian peacekeeper on Monday who was serving with the Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the killing of a Cameroonian peacekeeper on Monday who was serving with the Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).
Recent weeks have seen a steep increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine following an intensification of Russian attacks, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country, HRMMU, said in a new report issued on Tuesday.
The Israeli authorities have continued to block lifesaving aid from reaching northern Gaza 102 days since Hamas-led terror attacks triggered the war, UN humanitarians have insisted, just as UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “the long shadow of starvation” stalks the people of Gaza.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has emphasized the imperative of establishing “basic conditions” to facilitate safe and full-scale aid delivery to civilians in Gaza while stressing that only a ceasefire will prevent the crisis from escalating.
After more than 100 days of war in Gaza and no let-up in sight, senior UN humanitarians issued a rare joint appeal for greater aid access on Monday, expressing renewed fears of death due to famine and disease unless there is a “fundamental step change” in procedures.
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Je vous remercie, Monsieur le President [French Permanent Representative Nicolas de Rivière],
On 11 January, the military forces of the United States and the United Kingdom, supported by four countries, reportedly conducted over fifty air strikes and missile strikes on targets across Yemen including in Sana’a, Taiz, Hudaydah, Hajja, Sa’ada, Dhamar, and Ibb. According to the Houthis’, this resulted in five dead and six wounded fighters. The United Nations cannot independently verify these figures at this time. As of this afternoon, no UN staff or premises were reported as having been affected.
Yesterday’s strikes follow the continued Houthi targeting of vessels in the Red Sea, including what was reported as “the largest attack to date” on 9 January, which involved a combination of drones and missiles that were intercepted by the United States and the United Kingdom naval forces. Subsequent to the adoption of Security Council resolution 2722 (2024) on 10 January, the Houthis reportedly launched another attack using an anti-ship ballistic missile on 11 January. The former attack was claimed by the Houthis to be a “preliminary retaliation” for the killing of Houthi fighters by US naval forces in an incident reported on 31 December.
Monsieur le President,
We are witnessing a cycle of violence that risks grave political, security, economic and humanitarian repercussions in Yemen and the region. Recent humanitarian improvements in the country are fragile and could easily be reversed if there are further incidents, while progress on reaching a political settlement to end the war in Yemen could also be undermined, leaving the people of Yemen facing the impact of continued conflict.
These developments in the Red Sea and the risk of exacerbating regional tensions are alarming. The Houthis’ attack following the adoption of the Security Council resolution and yesterday’s events further demonstrate that the region is on a dangerous escalatory trajectory, which could potentially impact millions in Yemen, the region and globally.
In a statement issued today, the Secretary-General called upon all parties involved not to escalate even more the situation in the interest of peace and stability in the Red Sea and the wider region. All concerned parties must do their utmost to avoid further escalation, reduce tensions and exercise restraint. We also reaffirm the importance of ensuring the safety and security of maritime navigation in the region, as emphasized in resolution 2722 of this Council. In that regard, we also call for the immediate release of the “Galaxy Leader” which was seized by the Houthis on 19 November and the release of her crew.
Monsieur le President,
We call on this Council to continue its efforts in actively engaging with all concerned parties to prevent further escalation from exacerbating regional tensions or undermining regional peace, security, or international trade.
Je vous remercie.
As the Gaza conflict approaches the 100-day mark, an immediate ceasefire is “more urgent than ever”, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday.
Israel strongly rejected accusations by South Africa of genocidal intent against Palestinians on Friday at the United Nations’ highest court, insisting that it was engaged “in a war it did not start and did not want” in Gaza.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged countries to avoid an escalation in the situation in the Red Sea, where Houthi rebels in Yemen have been attacking commercial vessels amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
The UN Security Council met on Friday for briefings on the worsening situation across the Middle East, looking first at threats of forced displacement from Gaza and then the escalating conflict in and around the Red Sea – all as the war in Gaza approaches the 100-day mark.
South Africa addressed the UN's highest court on Thursday in a bid to end the mass killing of civilians in Gaza, accusing Israel of carrying out genocide against Palestinians there – a claim that Israel has strongly denied as "baseless".
Recent developments in Colombia have highlighted the need to move forward in implementing the 2016 peace agreement signed by the Government and the FARC-EP militia group, UN Special Representative Carlos Ruiz Massieu told the Security Council on Thursday.
Russian strikes have continued to “wreak havoc” on Ukrainian cities, causing death and destruction and leaving millions of civilians without access to vital services, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) said on Thursday.
West Africa has seen shifting political sands throw up contrasting challenges over the past six months, revealing a stark contrast in the region’s journey towards democracy, the UN envoy for the region said on Thursday.
Recurring denials and severe access constraints continue to paralyze aid teams trying to respond to the immense needs in northern Gaza, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, has warned.
Thank you, Mr. President,
The new year has brought no respite to Ukraine. On the contrary, in recent weeks, the country has been suffering some of the worst attacks since the beginning of the illegal war.
Over the holiday period, Russian missiles and drones targeted numerous locations across the country, including in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Cherkasy, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.
In Kherson, apartment buildings and a medical facility, as well as a railway station packed with more than a hundred civilians awaiting evacuation, were struck. Similarly, almost daily shelling has been reported across part of the Kharkiv region.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has verified 29,522 civilian casualties: 10,233 people killed, including 575 children, and 19,289 injured, including 1,260 children.
Just between 29 December and 2 January, OHCHR recorded 519 civilian casualties – 96 people killed and 423 injured.
On 29 December alone, 58 civilians were killed and 158 injured in country-wide Russian drone and missile strikes. This was the highest number of civilian casualties in a single day in all of 2023.
Meanwhile, on 30 December, in the city of Belgorod in the Russian Federation, at least 25 civilians were reportedly killed, and more than 100 others injured in strikes attributed to Ukraine. Cross-border attacks have reportedly continued in recent days prompting some civilians to evacuate from Belgorod.
On Saturday, 7 January, 11 civilians, including five children, were reportedly killed in a missile strike in the town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities attributed the attack to Russian armed forces.
Civilians in frontline communities bear the heaviest burden of the missile, drone and artillery barrages. Sixty-nine per cent of all civilian casualties are recorded in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.
The impact of the war on children is particularly appalling. Since the start of the war, nearly two-thirds of Ukrainian children were forced to flee their homes – some of them alone, making them even more vulnerable. An estimated 1.5 million children are at risk of post-traumatic stress and other mental health conditions.
Mr. President,
In addition to killing, maiming and displacing thousands of people, missile and drone strikes in densely populated urban areas are causing severe damage to civilian infrastructure.
Recent Russian attacks damaged or destroyed at least eight schools and ten healthcare facilities, including a maternity hospital. In total, seven thousand schools remain inaccessible to children, restricting their right to education.
My colleague from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs will provide further details on the humanitarian situation in the country, emphasizing the urgent need for UN response to hundreds of thousands of people left without electricity and water supply in frigid weather.
We unequivocally condemn all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur and whoever carries them out.
Such acts violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately.
Mr President,
Even as the fighting rages, Ukrainians are working on rebuilding their lives and homes, investing in areas less exposed to direct hostilities.
The UN, in coordination with government partners, continues to support local recovery efforts, including in the energy sector, striving for durable solutions.
As the number of refugees from Ukraine reaches 6.3 million globally, with 5.9 million across Europe, the UNHCR surveys indicate that nearly 80 per cent hope to return to Ukraine.
However, security concerns and access to basic services, housing, and livelihoods remain paramount. Therefore, continued support for refugees in countries hosting them is crucial.
Mr. President,
Amid the nearly unrelenting grim news from the war, one recent development stood out as positive.
On 3 January, a long-awaited exhange of more than 200 prisoners of war on each side took place between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. This was the largest such exchange since February 2022.
As the Secretary-General noted, we commend the efforts of both parties and the third-party facilitation by the United Arab Emirates.
While acknowledging this positive development, we remain gravely concerned about the situation of the remaining prisoners of war.
All concerned parties must uphold international law, particularly international humanitarian law, in their treatment of prisoners of war.
Accountability for all human rights violations remains paramount, requiring adherence to international standards and a survivor-centred approach.
In areas of Ukraine under Russian control, impunity for serious human rights violations, including killings, disappearances, and torture, feeds a climate of fear.
Also in occupied territory, Ukrainian nationals, including children, are under pressure to acquire Russian citizenship after a new law classified them as foreigners in their own country.
Without a Russian passport, these Ukrainians face limits in accessing health care, social services, and employment.
We also remain deeply concerned about the well-being of Ukrainian children taken to the Russian Federation. We emphasize the urgent need for their immediate return to their families in Ukraine.
Mr. President,
The situation in and around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) remains gravely worrying. Since August 2022, the Plant has suffered eight instances of complete loss of off-site power.
A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to monitor the situation at the Plant. However, despite repeated requests to the Russian authorities, IAEA experts have not been granted access to all parts of the site.
At the Rivne, Khmelnitsky and South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plants and the Chernobyl site, IAEA experts continue to report that nuclear safety and security is being maintained, despite wide-ranging missile attacks nearby.
Attacks between 29 December 2023 and 2 January this year forced experts at the Khmelnitsky Plant to take shelter three times.
The denial of full access to IAEA experts and the danger caused by repeated attacks around nuclear sites are worrying and should concern us all.
Mr. President,
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, this Council has met more than 100 times in various formats to discuss the harrowing consequences of the war.
We have heard numerous testimonies about the horrors endured by Ukrainian civilians. We have consistently voiced clear warnings about the risks of further escalation and spill-over outside Ukraine’s borders and even beyond.
And yet, here we are, on the brink of the third year of the gravest armed conflict in Europe since the Second World War -- with no end in sight. The toll of this senseless war - in death, destruction and destabilization – is already catastrophic. It is terrifying to contemplate where it could lead us. It must stop.
Our commitment remains steadfast to support all meaningful endeavours aimed at a just, sustainable, and comprehensive peace – in line with the UN Charter, international law and the resolutions of the General Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Repeated refusals by Israeli authorities to allow UN aid teams to deliver desperately needed humanitarian relief inside Gaza have effectively cut off five hospitals in the north from access to “lifesaving medical supplies and equipment”, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) has warned.
The UN Security Council on Wednesday passed a resolution condemning “in the strongest terms” the multiple attacks by Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen which have disrupted global trade and raised fears of further spillover from the war in Gaza.
The UN remains concerned about the fate of personnel travelling on one of its helicopters in Somalia that reportedly was seized on Wednesday by al-Shabaab militants, though no details were provided.
The new year has brought no respite to Ukraine, with recent weeks seeing some of the worst attacks of the nearly three-year war, the UN political affairs chief told the Security Council on Wednesday.
The European climate agency on Tuesday reported that record global heat last year showed an overall increase of 1.48°C above pre-industrial levels – just a fraction below the 1.5-degree threshold laid out by the historic Paris Agreement on climate change.
The immediate priority in Gaza must be saving civilian lives said the President of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, as Member States gathered to debate the use of the veto by the United States in the Security Council last month.
With no let-up in fighting across Gaza, the UN health agency pleaded on Tuesday for better access across the enclave, where relief is arriving “too little...too late” to help civilians caught up in the ongoing conflict.
The UN human rights chief on Monday called on the newly elected Government of Bangladesh to take steps to renew the country’s commitment to democracy and human rights.
On day 93 of the war in Gaza, amid reports of relentless and heavy Israeli bombardment, UN humanitarians issued new reports of “significant casualties, particularly among women and children”, and pleaded for overwhelmed medical teams to be allowed to continue their lifesaving work.
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Hospitals in Gaza and other vital medical infrastructure have been attacked nearly 600 times since war erupted in the enclave in response to the Hamas-led terror attack in southern Israel, the UN health agency said on Friday.
Hospitals and other vital medical infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank have been attacked nearly 600 times since war erupted in the enclave in response to the Hamas-led terror attack in southern Israel, the UN health agency said on Friday.
The international community must take “decisive and immediate action” to bring nearly nine months of brutal civil war in Sudan to an end and boost humanitarian relief, the UN relief chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday.
In Ukraine, there was no respite from war over the holiday period, neither for the country’s citizens, nor the UN workers attempting to deliver aid and support, a senior official for the UN migration agency (IOM) told UN News.
Amid reports of continued Israeli airstrikes overnight in southern and central Gaza and more rocket fire into Israel from the enclave, UN teams said on Thursday they have been unable to deliver urgently needed aid to civilians beyond central areas and further north for the past three days.
In Ukraine, there was no respite from war over the holiday period, neither for the country’s citizens, nor the UN workers attempting to deliver aid and support, a senior official for the UN migration agency (IOM) told UN News.
Thank you, Mr President,
There have been further alarming developments in the Red Sea since the last briefing on the subject on 18 December 2023.
The United Nations continues to warn against the adverse political, security, economic and humanitarian repercussions of military escalation in the Red Sea and the risk of exacerbating regional tensions. Continued Houthi threats to maritime navigation coupled with the risk of further military escalation remains of serious concern and could potentially impact millions in Yemen, the region and globally.
Since this issue was last on the Council’s agenda on 18 December, the Houthis claimed responsibility for two attacks using naval missiles on the MSC United on 26 December and on the Maersk Hangzhou on 31 December. There have been reports of other intercepted Houthi attacks as well.
On 31 December, an armed intervention by the US forces against the Houthis in response to two distress calls from the Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-flagged container vessel, reportedly resulted in 10 deaths or missing according to the Houthis. As a result, Maersk has halted Red Sea shipping again until further notice on 2 January. On the same day, Hapag-Lloyd said it will continue to avoid Red Sea transits and reroute vessels around the Cape of Good Hope until 9 January in response to recent attacks. This is only one example of the risks of continued escalation of attacks against seagoing merchant vessels and the impact on global supply chains particularly increasing freight costs and lengthening delivery times.
We continue to share the concerns of the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) with respect to the need for the protection of the freedom of maritime navigation, and also about the potential impact of current attacks and disruptions to sea traffic in the Red Sea and environs on international trade. We reaffirm the importance of ensuring safety and security of maritime navigation in the region. In that regard, we also call for the immediate release of the “Galaxy Leader” and her crew which was seized by the Houthis on 19 November.
We reiterate that such incidents originating from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen must stop. No cause or grievance can justify continuation of these attacks against the freedom of navigation.
As to the overall situation in the region, we encourage all concerned parties to avoid further escalation and de-escalate tensions and threats. This is critical so that traffic through the Red Sea can return to its normal state and the risk of Yemen being dragged into a regional conflagration be avoided.
The continued assistance of this Council in actively engaging with all concerned parties who may be able to push for restraint remains extremely valuable so that through our combined efforts we can prevent further escalation in the Red Sea from exacerbating regional tensions or undermining regional peace, security, or international trade.
Thank you.
The UN Security Council on Wednesday held its first open meeting on the continuing attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, which are becoming an increasing threat to global trade and the stability of the entire region as the intense fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza continues.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday strongly condemned an attack in Iran which has reportedly killed more than 100 people taking part in a commemoration for a former top military general in the eastern city of Kerman.
Continuing airstrikes were reported across Gaza on Wednesday and “intense ground battles” between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters in refugee camps in central areas that have reportedly left many dead.
