In a wide-ranging briefing to journalists in Geneva, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini reiterated calls for a ceasefire and addressed misinformation targeting the agency, including claims that aid is being diverted. He said he has also received reports of UN schools being used “for military purposes”. Commitment in crisis During the briefing, Mr. Lazzarini said he had received...
The task of transferring a million barrels of oil from the stricken supertanker Yemen, will take some 19 days – preventing what would be the fifth largest spill in history, were the rusting tanker to break apart. But this process will not end with the oil transfer, because the FSO...
The 19-day operation will pump more than one million barrels out of the rusting vessel, the Safer, which was abandoned over eight years ago, to a nearby replacement vessel. Secretary-General António Guterres said the UN has taken on the delicate operation as a spill would spell environmental catastrophe for the...
In a statement from his spokesperson on Monday, Mr. Guterres affirmed that all military operations must be conducted with full respect for international humanitarian law. The incursion follows another operation in the camp on 19 June, which left four Palestinians killed and 91 others injured. Rising death toll The UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office...
That’s according to a fact-finding report from the UN human rights office (OHCHR) released on Friday, on what the Malian authorities had described as an anti-terrorist military operation against an al-Qaeda-affiliated group known as Katiba Macina. The UN rights chief, Volker Türk, called the findings “extremely disturbing” and stressed that “summary executions,...
Ten days of fighting between rival military forces have had a devastating impact on the country’s population. The UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) warned that people are lacking food, water, medicines and fuel, power is limited, and the prices of essential items as well as transport have skyrocketed. OCHA spokesperson...
Overall, more than 14 million people in Syria require assistance amid a dire situation in which infrastructure has crumbled and economic activity halved due to conflict, regional financial crises, sanctions, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The international community has helped avoid a total collapse in Syria. But the only way to...