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Month: December 2023

World News in Brief: Senior Humanitarian Coordinator for Gaza, cholera spreading in Sudan, aid for eastern Ukraine

Holland’s outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Sigrid Kaag will facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify aid consignments to the embittered enclave, in line with a recent Security Council resolution.

She will also establish a mechanism to accelerate humanitarian relief shipments through States that are not party to the conflict.

She is expected to take up the assignment on 8 January.

Wide-ranging experience

Ms. Kaag has a wealth of experience in political, humanitarian and development affairs, as well as in diplomacy. 

Most recently, she served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and first woman Finance Minister in the Dutch government since January 2022.  Prior to this, she was Minister for Trade and Development Cooperation from October 2017 to May 2021, and Minister for Foreign Affairs until that September.

Her other achievements include being elected leader of the social liberal party D66 in September 2020, which she led to victory in elections held the following  March.

Ms. Kaag has held a wide range of senior positions in the UN system. She served as Special Coordinator for Lebanon from 2015 to 2017, and before this was the Special Coordinator of the Joint Mission of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the UN in Syria. 

Her other posts have included Assistant Secretary‑General with the UN Development Programme from 2010 to 2013, and Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from 2007 to 2010.  

Prior to that, Ms. Kaag served in several senior positions with UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA. 

On Friday, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2070 which, among other points, demands immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to Palestinian civilians throughout the Gaza Strip.

The resolution requested the Secretary-General to appoint a Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator and called for the “expeditious” establishment of the UN mechanism to ramp up aid distribution.

Fighting hampers cholera response in Sudan

The conflict in Sudan continues to block efforts to respond to a deadly cholera outbreak that continues to spread across the country, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said on Tuesday.

The number of suspected cases has increased by more than 100 per cent over the past month, with nearly 8,300 suspected cases and more than 200 deaths reported in nine states as of 23 December, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Sudan’s Ministry of Health.

This includes more than 1,800 suspected cholera cases in Al Jazirah state, where intense clashes this month between the Sudanese army and a rival military group known as the Rapid Support Forces have displaced at least 300,000 people.

OCHA said humanitarians have been working to support the detection and treatment of cholera cases, as well as vaccination campaigns, but the ongoing fighting continues to hamper response efforts and disrupt access to basic public health services.

Roughly two-thirds of Sudan’s population lacks access to healthcare, with more than 70 per cent of hospitals in conflict-impacted areas no longer functional.

Denise Brown (centre), UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine, visits Hroza, where a Russian strike killed 59 civilians as they gathered at a cafe on 5 October 2023.
© UNOCHA / Saviano Abreu

Denise Brown (centre), UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine, visits Hroza, where a Russian strike killed 59 civilians as they gathered at a cafe on 5 October 2023.

Ukraine: Winter support for civilians in Kharkiv Region

Meanwhile, the UN and humanitarian partners continue to support civilians in Ukraine who have been severely impacted by the Russian invasion, as the onset of winter heightens their suffering.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, led an aid convoy to the Kharkiv Region, located in the east, on Monday – Christmas Day.

The trucks brought food, blankets, winter clothes, hygiene kits, and home repair supplies to nearly 1,500 civilians in Kivsharivka, a front-line town that has been devastated by the war.

Whilst there, Ms. Brown reported hearing the constant sound of explosions and artillery fire.

Residents and local authorities reported that ongoing shelling has disrupted their access to critical services and supplies, deepening their reliance on humanitarian assistance. Many of those remaining in Kivsharivka are older people, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups.  

On Christmas Eve, Ms. Brown and a group of aid workers visited the rural village of Hroza, where an attack on 5 October killed 59 people, roughly 20 per cent of the population. 

Ms. Brown spoke with some of the survivors she first met while visiting Hroza the day after the attack. In the immediate aftermath, the UN and humanitarian partners delivered household items, hygiene supplies, and home repair materials, as well as cash assistance and psychological support to civilians.  

This year, the humanitarian community has provided life-saving assistance to more than 970,000 people in the Kharkiv Region and to more than 10.5 million overall across Ukraine. 

Gaza health workers pushed to the limit amid airstrike ‘carnage’

World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Teams coordinator Sean Casey said that “100-plus patients” had been brought into Al-Aqsa Hospital on Monday in the space of 30 minutes, following reported blasts, including near Al-Maghazi refugee camp. 

All of them needed urgent treatment for serious wounds, the WHO official told UN News, while “about 100” more lifeless bodies were brought into the hospital at around the same time.

Trapped under the rubble

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, also expressed deep concern on Tuesday at the ongoing “intense” bombing of central Gaza involving more than 50 strikes by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Attacks have killed more than 100 Palestinians since 24 December, OHCHR reported, adding that this was particularly concerning given that Israeli forces had “ordered residents from the south of Wadi Gaza to move to Middle Gaza and Tal al-Sultan in Rafah”. 

Three refugee camps were hit, OHCHR spokesperson Seif Magango said in a statement, naming Al Bureij, Al-Nuseirat and Al-Maghazi. “Two strikes hit seven residential buildings in Al-Maghazi camp, killing an estimated 86 Palestinians and injuring many more,” he said. “An unknown number of people are still believed to be trapped under the rubble.”

Tedros ire

In a social media post on X (formerly Twitter), WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned the “carnage” caused by Israeli airstrikes in retaliation for Hamas’s 7 October terror attacks on communities in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people were slaughtered and another 240 taken hostage.

“WHO is extremely concerned about the unbearable strain that escalating hostilities are putting on the few hospitals across Gaza that remain open  – with most of the health system decimated and brought to its knees,” the WHO chief said on Monday.

In a social media post, WHO’s Mr. Casey described the situation in Al-Aqsa Hospital as a “bloodbath”. He pointed to a boy of nine, Ahmed, who lay dying on the floor of the facility after sustaining terrible blast injuries as he crossed the street near Nuseirat. 

‘It’s a bloodbath’ 

“We’ve seen children, women, young men, old men and women, people bleeding out,” he said, noting that patients could not easily be referred elsewhere for lifesaving treatment.

“There’s blood everywhere in these hospitals at the moment. We’re seeing almost only trauma cases come through the door, and at a scale that’s quite difficult to believe. It’s a bloodbath as we said before, it’s carnage.”

The development follows a joint WHO and UN aid coordination office (OCHA) Christmas Day visit to Al-Aqsa Hospital to assess needs after strikes in Gaza’s central area at the weekend.

Although Al-Aqsa Hospital has medical supplies and fuel to run generators, Mr. Casey confirmed that the facility was taking in far more patients than its bed capacity and staff could handle, meaning that many injured patients would not survive the wait for treatment.

This situation was happening up and down the Gaza Strip, the WHO official continued, speaking from the UN Joint Humanitarian Operations Centre in Rafah in the south, that also doubles as a medical facility.

Fighting all night long

“There’s nowhere actually safe in Gaza,” he continued. “Right now in Rafah outside the door of this building, 50 metres from where I am sitting right now, there’s a camp of thousands of people who have been settled here…They’re in plastic shelters, plastic sheeting shelters right outside the door. And last night, we heard fighting almost all night long with reports coming in during the day today of many, many injuries presenting to the hospitals here in the south.”

Hospital capacity in Gaza is about 20 per cent of what it was before the 7 October escalation but “almost all” hospital services have stopped functioning, the WHO officer explained. “Either because the facilities themselves have been affected, because the staff have been forced to flee, because they’ve run out of power or they’ve run out of medical supplies, or staff have not been able to access them.”

Waiting to die

Providing an update about gravely ill patients in northern Gaza who he said previously were “waiting to die” in a church in the grounds of one hospital, Mr. Casey said that many were still “sleeping on pews” on Monday. The level of destruction “is so incredible, is so significant the roads are full of rubble”, he continued, highlighting the logistical difficulties of reaching the most vulnerable.

“We still need to do more to try to move these patients, but the options are becoming more and more limited as health facilities become less accessible, as health workers themselves are displaced,” he said.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, around 20,000 people are believed to have been killed in the latest escalation to date.

And in a related development, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the number of Palestinian properties demolished and related displacement in the nearby occupied West Bank have reached record levels.

Latest data from OCHA indicates that 1,094 structures have been razed so far this year with 2,127 people uprooted, a record high matched only in 2016, when more than 1,500 people were displaced.

 

 

2023 marked by achievements and 'avoidable suffering': WHO chief

Reflecting on 2023, which also marked the UN agency’s 75th anniversary, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted key achievements and set out objectives for the coming year.

“In May, I declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern. This marked a turning point for the world following three years of crisis, pain, and loss for people everywhere. I am glad to see that life has returned to normal,” he said in a video message.

New vaccines 

Dr. Tedros also pointed to other achievements, such as the end of the mpox outbreak as a global health emergency and the approval of new vaccines for dengue, meningitis and malaria which threaten millions worldwide, mainly the most vulnerable.

Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Belize achieved malaria-free status, and progress was made in eliminating some tropical diseases in various countries, including sleeping sickness in Ghana; trachoma in Benin, Mali, and Iraq, and lymphatic filariasis in Bangladesh and Lao. 

“The path to eradicating another vaccine-preventable disease – polio – has reached its last mile. Thirty more countries introduced the HPV vaccine, advancing our goal to eliminate cervical cancer,” he said. 

Climate impacts

2023 also saw increased attention to the health impacts of the climate crisis, he added.  Health issues featured prominently on the agenda of the COP28 conference in Dubai, where a global declaration on climate and health was issued, emphasizing the intersection of environmental and public health challenges. 

Additionally, in September, Heads of State at the United Nations General Assembly committed to advancing universal health coverage, ending tuberculosis, and protecting the world from future pandemics. 

“Each of these achievements, and many more, demonstrated the power of science, solutions and solidarity to protect and promote health,” he emphasized. 

‘Immense and avoidable suffering’

Tedros also acknowledged the “immense and avoidable suffering and threats to health” over the past year.  

The Al Shifa hospital's neonatal department is lacking power to operate incubators (file).
© UNFPA/Bisan Ouda

The Al Shifa hospital’s neonatal department is lacking power to operate incubators (file).

He said the barbaric attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October left around 1,300 people dead and over 200 taken hostage, while reports of gender-based violence and mistreatment of hostages were deplorable.

The devastating attack on Gaza that followed has killed more than 20,000 people – mainly women and children – and injured over 53,000, he continued. 

No peace, no health

The WHO chief expressed deep concern over the impact on healthcare infrastructure, noting that “as of 22 December, only nine of 36 health facilities in Gaza were partially functional, with only four offering the most basic of services in the north.” He once again called for an immediate ceasefire. 

The global landscape was also marked by conflict and insecurity in countries such as Sudan, Ukraine, Ethiopia and Myanmar.

“Without peace, there is no health, and without health, there can be no peace,” said Tedros.

He noted that in addition to conflict-related challenges, issues like poverty, lack of access to clean water and hygiene, contributed to the spread of infectious diseases. The resurgence of cholera, with over 40 outbreaks worldwide, raised particular concern. 

Looking ahead 

Looking to 2024, the WHO chief highlighted the opportunity to address gaps in global pandemic preparedness. 

He said Governments, are currently negotiating the first-ever global agreement aimed at enhancing collaboration, cooperation, and equity in responding to pandemics of the future. 

“The Pandemic Accord and plans to strengthen the International Health Regulations represent monumental actions by governments to create a safer and healthier world,” Tedros affirmed. 

The WHO Director-General concluded his message by expressing gratitude to health workers, partners and colleagues, underscoring the shared journey to achieve Health for All. 

 

 

Good morning, Mogadishu! Preserving Somalia’s cultural history, one tape at a time

Sitting in a small, windowless room in a government building in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, Mohamed Yusuf Mohamed loops another audio tape onto the dilapidated machine and presses a few buttons.

He’s beginning a time-intensive process to digitize some seven decades of unique historical recordings belonging to the government-run Radio Mogadishu.

One down, a couple of hundred thousand to go

After a few clicks, the antiquated device starts to whir, and its wheels spin. One tape down and another couple of hundred thousand or so to go. In the adjoining room, there are shelves more than three metres high which teeter under a layer of dust and thousands of audio reels.

Given the decrepit equipment and limited staffing at hand, the project Mr. Mohamed and other colleagues are embarking on will take many decades to complete.

“I arrive here at 8am and work until 4pm, digitizing around 30 to 40 audio tracks per day with very limited equipment,” he said.

Much of Radio Mogadishu's analogue archive is in a poor state.
UN Photo/Mukhtar Nuur

Much of Radio Mogadishu’s analogue archive is in a poor state.

First broadcaster

At stake are the only remaining audio recordings of much of Somalia’s history, with thousands of reels of music, poetry, religious texts, political speeches and drama shows going all the way back to the station’s creation in 1951. Much of it is in a poor state.

“I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in improving the history of my country,” he said, adding that he is conscious of the task’s importance.

Radio Mogadishu was established during the period when Somalia was held under the trusteeship of the United Nations and administered by its former colonial power, Italy.

It began broadcasting news in Italian, and Somali programming followed soon afterwards.

In the 1960s, Radio Mogadishu was modernized with assistance from the Soviet Union, and began broadcasting in Amharic, Oromo, Somali and Italian.

War breaks out

The station closed soon after the start of Somalia’s civil war in 1991, and its premises fell into the hands of warring factions. Two years later, the archives sustained some damage during clashes between one of the factions and international peacekeepers deployed in the city at the time.

The violence that engulfed the country led to the destruction of much of Somalia’s cultural heritage. Museums were stripped of their collections, with items destroyed or sold on the black market, and the material in Radio Mogadishu’s vaults was targeted.

The majority of the magnetic, reel-to-reel tape recordings in the Radio Mogadishu archives – made up of Somali-language tapes, records and limited manuscripts – survived the war, although most of its foreign language collection was not so fortunate.

Digitizing analog recordings is painstaking and time-consuming work.
UN Photo/Mukhtar Nuur

Digitizing analog recordings is painstaking and time-consuming work.

Digital hopes

The introduction of digital technology has breathed new life into Radio Mogadishu, but its analogue archives have been rapidly deteriorating.

The fragile reel-to-reel tapes made from acetate, polyester or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are at risk of distortion and degradation, according to Daud Aweis, Somalia’s federal Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism.

“This is the only archive for this nation after the civil war,” he said. “As time passes, if we do not preserve it, it will only be seen in pictures.”

Radio Mogadishu’s director, Abdifatah Dahir Jeyte, echoed those concerns.

“Urgent action is imperative to safeguard the history, language, culture and literature of the Somali nation stored within these archives, considering the vastness of Radio Mogadishu’s archives, which contain around 225,000 tapes and vinyl records, the digital conversion is currently incomplete, covering less than 30 per cent of the total content,” he said.

Initial attempts at digitization began in 2013, with the support of the French government, African Union, United Nations and Somalia’s information ministry. Staff worked to preserve the collection and make the music, speeches, plays and prayers available to a generation who had never known how vibrant Somalia was prior to the war.

But, the attempt foundered, with less than a third of the items digitized.

Radio Mogadishu is now broadcasting using digital technology.
UN Photo/Mukhtar Nuur

Radio Mogadishu is now broadcasting using digital technology.

UN mission to preserve cultural treasure

Working with the Government’s information ministry, the UN in Somalia has been exploring options for a solution to the urgent digitization needs of Radio Mogadishu’s archives.

“The open-reel tape collection of Radio Mogadishu is a cultural treasure that all Somalis would benefit from,” said Kirsten Young, Chief of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia’s (UNSOM) Human Rights and Protection Group.

“Radio continues to play an important role in access to information in Somalia,” she said, “and having access to these rich archives would bring recent history into the homes of many Somalis.”

General Assembly approves $3.59 billion UN budget for 2024

In actions taken late evening on Friday, the 193-member General Assembly also adopted nearly $50 million in additional funding for decisions taken by the Human Rights Council, UN’s primary forum on human rights matters.

It also decided to establish the Peacebuilding Account, a dedicated multi-year special account, as a modality to finance the Peacebuilding Fund. Additionally, it approved $50 million of assessed contributions per annum to fund the Account, starting 1 January 2025.

The Peacebuilding Fund is the UN’s leading instrument to invest in prevention and peacebuilding efforts and supports joint responses to address critical peacebuilding opportunities, connecting development, humanitarian, human rights and peacebuilding pillars.

Secretary-General’s proposal

Back in October, the Secretary-General had presented a $3.3 billion budget proposal to the General Assembly, stressing to delegates at the Assembly’s main budget committee that “the role of the United Nations has never been more vital.”

In his presentation, the UN chief also voiced concern over the deteriorating liquidity situation of the Organization, urging countries to ensure timely and full payments.

Strengthening communications

The Assembly further adopted a resolution that includes provisions to expand the coverage of UN official intergovernmental meetings in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish languages.

The 20 positions, classified as general temporary assistance (GTA), includes editors, press officers and assistants working in the four languages.

General Assembly condemns killing of UNRWA staff

Also on Friday, the General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the killing of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff and the destruction of buildings under the UN flag, amidst the ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip.

As of Saturday, 142 UNRWA staff members have been killed and 123 installations damaged. Other UN agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) have also lost their personnel.

On Friday, Issam Al Mughrabi, a UNDP staff member alongside his wife, children and members of his extended family, were killed in an Israeli air strike.

INTERVIEW: Actor Natalie Portman celebrates women and girls’ voices

In an interview with UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming on the sidelines of SDG Summit 2023 held at UN Headquarters in New York in September, Ms. Portman discussed combatting violence against women and reframing masculinity to be less aggressive and more empathetic towards gender issues.

Melissa Fleming: The UN 2023 Gender Snapshot report painted a worrisome picture on how far away we are from reaching gender equality. What can we do to shift these trends?

Natalie Portman: Investing in women and girls’ education, safety and economic and social empowerment. More investment will accelerate the drive toward parity.

Melissa Fleming: Why is there under-investment in girls?

Natalie Portman: There is a deeply ingrained bias against women and girls that we really need to combat and obviously, education is a big part of that. The Spotlight Initiative that the UN launched [in partnership with the European Union and others] in 2017 is addressing a lot of the ingrained cultural biases that lead to the inequalities and injustices that we see.

It really is such a core part of women’s freedom to be free from the threat of violence. And until women and girls can feel safe walking down the street, going to school and going to work, nothing else can be achieved to the extent that we dream of.

Spotlight’s work has been really extraordinary at reaching many different countries to change laws, implement educational tools and change culture such that masculinity is reframed as empathy rather than aggression.

Young girls in the village of Danja in Niger hold signs in support of the Spotlight Initiative.
UNFPA/Olivier Girard

Young girls in the village of Danja in Niger hold signs in support of the Spotlight Initiative.

Melissa Fleming: We now have an online environment that has made a dangerous and threatening space for so many girls growing up in the social media age. Is that something you are concerned about?

Natalie Portman: Absolutely. The threat and danger that women and girls are subjected to in real life is just as bad, if not worse, online. I mean, it’s all different varieties of trying to silence us.

The more we can support and celebrate women and girls’ voices, the more we’re combating this horrible abuse of power.

Melissa Fleming: You were very much behind the Time’s Up movement supporting victims of sexual harassment. Why is it so important for women in Hollywood to raise their voices? Does this set an example for women in other industries?

Natalie Portman: Time’s Up was incredible because we gathered with women in other industries as well. We gathered with female farm workers, healthcare workers, journalists and women in tech and we noticed we were all facing the same sorts of challenges. Obviously in different locations or different flavours, but really the same threat.

The head of the Farm Workers Union, Monica Ramirez, said to me, “They tell us to shut up because we’re in the shadows and nobody cares about us and they tell you actresses to shut up because nobody cares.”

But, the common thread is that they’re trying to silence all our voices. That was really the power of Tarana Burke’s #MeToo movement. It was breaking out of that silence and it was empowering women. We need to make their voices heard and not feel shame around these experiences. We must recognize that these were extreme injustices and that perpetrators needed to be held to account.

I think that people are very aware now and there isn’t a sense that you can just abuse as you wish without facing any consequences. People are a lot more open about it now.

We still have a far way to go, of course, but I think the #MeToo movement really cracked open a door that is not going to be shut anymore.

UNDP's entrepreneurship development training programme is changing the lives of women in India.
UNDP India

UNDP’s entrepreneurship development training programme is changing the lives of women in India.

Melissa Fleming: Is there a difference for women and girls that live in developing countries?

Natalie Portman: I think women and girls around the world can relate to each other in regard to living under the threat of violence. That, unfortunately, is everywhere.

Of course, there are different manifestations of violence toward women and girls in different places. Some girls are threatened with violence for going to school which, in the United States, we do not experience. But, in the United States, the number one cause of death for pregnant women is being murdered by their intimate partner. In Iran, we’re seeing women who are being murdered for exposing their hair. 

So really the threat of women and girls being threatened and murdered exists everywhere.

Melissa Fleming: You mentioned the masculinity issue and educating men that masculinity is actually empathy. How does one do that?

Natalie Portman:I think that culture can play a big role in shaping that. I think when we see different models of masculinity on screen or in literature, we open up more possibilities for men. 

I think that film and television can absolutely help shape new forms of masculinity that are much more reflective of what we know to be the human soul and not just this very narrow kind of aggressive, macho-type that we see so deeply ingrained in our culture.

And then of course education as well, showing the effects of toxic masculinity.

It opens up boys and men’s worlds too, to have more options of how you can be and not this very narrow, prescriptive definition of masculinity.

Actor Natalie Portman co-founded the Angel City Football Club in Los Angeles to support women in professional sports.
© Angel City FC

Actor Natalie Portman co-founded the Angel City Football Club in Los Angeles to support women in professional sports.

Melissa Fleming: You are a part owner of the Angel City Football Club in Los Angeles that made their debut at the Women’s Soccer League last year. Can you tell us a bit more about why you got involved?

Natalie Portman: It was very much about seeing both women and men in different ways than we traditionally have seen them. When I saw my son watching the Women’s World Cup four years ago, I realized that he looked up to the women athletes the same way he looked up to the male athletes. I realized, “Why don’t we have this on at home?” 

What a different world it would be if all boys and girls could see women athletes given the value that they deserve, like the men are, so we started this women’s football club. We started playing two years ago and it’s just been an incredible thing to be a part of, to see the virtuosic athletes celebrated on a big stage.

SDG 5
United Nations

SDG 5

SDG 5: EMPOWER ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS

 

  • End all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls
  • Eliminate such harmful practices as early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation
  • Adapt and strengthen legislation to promote gender equality and empower women and girls
  • Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership in political, economic and public life
  • Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care

 

Globally, almost half of all married women currently lack decision-making power over their sexual and reproductive health and rights.

 

Humanitarian ceasefire only way to end Gaza 'nightmare': Guterres

Mr. Guterres was speaking at a press briefing at UN Headquarters shortly after the 15-member Council passed the resolution following days of negotiation.

He told journalists that there has been no significant change in the way the war has been unfolding in Gaza, with no effective protection of civilians.

He outlined devastation that includes more than 20,000 Palestinians reportedly killed and 1.9 million people, 85 per cent of the population, forced to flee their homes. The Gaza health system is on its knees, clean water is at a trickle and the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned of the threat of widespread famine.

“A humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end their ongoing nightmare,” he said.  “I hope that today’s Security Council Resolution may help this finally to happen but much more is needed immediately.” 

‘Massive obstacles’ 

Mr. Guterres said it was a mistake to measure the effectiveness of the humanitarian operation in Gaza based on the number of aid trucks that are allowed to enter the enclave.

“The real problem is that the way Israel is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza,” he said.

He stressed that an effective aid operation there requires four elements that currently do not exist, namely security, staff who can work in safety, logistical capacity, and the resumption of commercial activity.

Regarding security, he noted that the intense Israeli bombardment and active combat in densely populated areas threatens both civilians and aid workers. 

While humanitarian staff need to be able to live and work in safety, 136 personnel from the UN agency that assists Palestinians, UNRWA, have been killed since the start of the conflict, he said, adding that “nowhere is safe in Gaza.”  

Logistic constraints

Turning to logistics, he reported that every aid truck that comes through the two open border crossings with Gaza –  Kerem Shalom and Rafah – must be unloaded and then re-loaded for distribution across the enclave. 

“Many of our vehicles and trucks were destroyed or left behind following our forced, hurried evacuation from the north, but the Israeli authorities have not allowed any additional trucks to operate in Gaza. This is massively hampering the aid operation,” he said.

Furthermore, aid delivery in the north is extremely dangerous due to active conflict, unexploded ordnance, and heavily damaged road, he added, while frequent communications blackouts in Gaza make it virtually impossible to coordinate the distribution of aid and people’s access to it.  

Unity and action

Looking to the longer term, the UN chief also upheld the two-State solution between Israelis and Palestinians as “the only path to sustainable peace.”

He said spillover from the conflict is already being felt in the immediate region and beyond, posing a significant and growing threat to global peace and security.

“As the conflict intensifies and the horror grows, we will continue to do our part.  We will not give up,” the Secretary-General said.

“But at the same time, it is imperative that the international community speak with one voice: for peace, for the protection of civilians, for an end to suffering, and for a commitment to the two-state solution – backed with action.” 

 

Dengue spike fuels concerns of public health threat in previously untouched countries: WHO

The warning came as WHO reported more than five million dengue infections and 5,000 deaths from the disease worldwide this year.

Briefing journalists at the UN in Geneva, Dr. Diana Rojas Alvarez, WHO Team Lead on Arboviruses, said that the threat required “the maximal attention and response from all levels” of the UN health agency to support countries in controlling current dengue outbreaks and prepare for the upcoming dengue season. 

Global warming infection boost 

Dengue is the most common viral infection transmitted to humans bitten by infected mosquitoes. It is mostly found in urban areas within tropical and sub-tropical climates.  

The rise in the number of reported cases of dengue in more countries is explained by the fact that infected mosquitoes now thrive in more countries because of global warming associated with rising emissions.

“Climate change has an impact in dengue transmission because it increases rainfall, humidity and temperature,” said Dr. Alvarez. “These mosquitoes are very sensitive to temperature.”

Although four billion people are at risk from dengue, most of those infected are symptom-free and usually recover within one to two weeks.

A health worker fumigates a house in Guayaramerín, Bolivia, to protect against mosquito-borne diseases.
© UNDP Bolivia/Miguel Samper

A health worker fumigates a house in Guayaramerín, Bolivia, to protect against mosquito-borne diseases.

Shock tactics

However, severe dengue infections are marked by shock, severe bleeding or severe organ impairment, according to WHO.

It also highlighted that these dangerous symptoms often start “after the fever has gone away”, catching carers and medical professionals unawares. Warning signs to look out for include intense abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, bleeding gums, fluid accumulation, lethargy, restlessness and liver enlargement.

As there is no specific treatment for dengue, early detection and access to proper medical care is crucial, to lower the probability to die due to severe dengue.

“Since the beginning of this year, over five million cases and about 5,000 deaths of dengue have been reported worldwide and close to 80 per cent of those cases have been reported in the Americas, followed by Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific,” reported Dr. Alvarez.

She added that “it is also concerning that dengue outbreaks are occurring in fragile and conflict-affected countries in the eastern Mediterranean region such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.

The global prevalence of mosquitoes has changed in the last few years owing to the 2023 El Niño phenomenon which accentuated the effects of global warming temperatures and climate change, WHO said.

Home and Away

Both factors are associated with previously dengue-free countries such as France, Italy and Spain reporting cases of infections that originated at home – so-called autochthonous transmission – rather than abroad. The disease vector is the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is widely distributed in Europe and also more commonly known as the “tiger mosquito”.

“Usually, Europe reports imported cases from the Americas, from the Western Pacific, from the endemic regions”, said Dr. Alvarez. “But this year we saw limited clusters of autochthonous transmission. As we know, the summers are getting warmer”.  

World News in Brief: UN chief shocked by Czech mass shooting, UNICEF appeal for West and Central Africa, world leaders urged to heed climate science

At least 14 people were killed and 25 injured after a gunman opened fire in what some media called the worst shooting in the country’s history.

The gunman, reportedly a student at the university, also killed himself.

UN chief António Guerres was shocked and saddened by the incident, his Spokesperson said in a statement issued later on Thursday.

Mr. Guterres expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wished those injured a speedy and full recovery. 

A Sudanese mother and her children take refuge in a town in Chad across the border from Darfur in Sudan.
© UNICEF/Annadjib Ramadane Maha

A Sudanese mother and her children take refuge in a town in Chad across the border from Darfur in Sudan.

UNICEF: $1.89 billion appeal for West and Central Africa

The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, on Friday appealed for nearly two billion dollars to provide lifesaving assistance to more than 24 million boys and girls across West and Central Africa in 2024.

The agency warned that 46.7 million children in the region are projected to face another year of humanitarian need mainly due to ongoing conflict and insecurity, including in the central Sahel and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and massive displacement into Chad sparked by the war in Sudan.

“West and Central Africa is home to a large number of critically underfunded emergencies, and some of the most neglected humanitarian crises in the world for children,” said UNICEF Regional Director Felicité Tchibindat. 

The $1.89 million appeal aims to reach roughly 24.1 million children next year, up from 23.5 million in 2023. 

Aid will include lifesaving nutrition supplies, clean water, education and child protection services, as well as humanitarian cash transfers for households.

More than a third of the funding will be used to address malnutrition, as the prevalence of wasting in children under five remains high. The Sahel countries are most affected, with several areas of Burkina Faso, Mali and northwest Nigeria showing emergency levels of child wasting.

Time running out for global shift to green energy, outgoing WMO chief warns 

The outgoing head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has urged global leaders to heed scientific evidence on climate change and accelerate the shift to renewable energy sources. 

Petteri Taalas ended his tenure as WMO Secretary-General on Friday.  He assumed the post in 2016 and was at the helm of the UN agency over the warmest eight-year period in recorded history.

“The expertise and services of WMO and the scientific community have never been more necessary to tackle climate change, which represents humanity’s biggest challenge,” he said. 

He issued a request to world leaders, saying “please pay attention to the scientific evidence and listen to the United Nations which is committed to promoting the welfare of citizens worldwide.”

Mr. Taalas hailed the agreement reached at the recent COP28 climate change conference in Dubai as historic because it recognized the need to transition away from fossil fuels, marking a first.

“This is an important step in the right direction but not the final goal,” he said. 

“We urgently need to reduce our production and consumption of fossil fuels and speed up the transition to renewable energy. Time is running out.” 

Gaza crisis: Starvation must never be allowed to happen, says UN rights chief

“Starvation must never be a means or result of warfare,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Türk said, responding to an alarming food security report released on Thursday that confirmed repeated warnings of catastrophic hunger levels in the besieged enclave amid ongoing fighting. 

In a tweet, Mr. Türk urged Israel to act immediately to ensure that all those not involved in the clashes between Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas fighters “to facilitate humanitarian food deliveries commensurate with needs”.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report explained that famine could happen within the next six months if the current situation of intense conflict and restricted aid access persists. 

The entire population of Gaza – roughly 2.2 million people – is already living with crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity.

The IPC report stressed that although the threshold of famine has not been crossed, humanitarians are particularly concerned about malnutrition among children, pregnant and breastfeeding women and the elderly.

Ordeal for teenage girls

Highlighting the extent of the humanitarian crisis throughout the enclave, the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, has warned that more than 690,000 women and teenage girls barely have any access to menstrual hygiene products.

“UNRWA distributes sanitary napkins, but like everything else we distribute, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the needs of those in Gaza,” said spokesperson Tamara Alrifai in a tweet.

Meanwhile, UN aid coordination office OCHA reported heavy Israeli bombardments on Thursday from air, land, and sea across most of the Gaza Strip, along with Hamas rocket fire into Israel. 

“Intense ground operations and fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups continued, in most areas of Gaza, with the exception of Rafah. The firing of rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel continued,” according to the OCHA situation report.

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