A sharp escalation in fighting in Syria’s Aleppo Governorate has displaced thousands and caused heavy civilian casualties, prompting urgent warnings from senior UN officials about the growing humanitarian crisis and threat to regional stability.
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On the Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for decisive global action to eliminate chemical weapons, warning that their resurgence threatens decades of hard-won progress.
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday reiterated its call for Russia to halt attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, adding that those responsible must be held to account.
The final repatriation flight for Brazilians escaping the conflict in Lebanon touched down at São Paulo’s Guarulhos Air Base early Wednesday, as a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
As families uprooted by the war in Lebanon begin to return home following a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah militants, UN humanitarians warned that needs remain "staggering" for devastated communities. The situation is dire in Gaza too, where the enclave's people are struggling to survive "relentless bombardment and deprivation", says the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. Meanwhile at UN Geneva, a special meeting has been taking place to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. UN News app users can follow here.
Madam President,
Only last week, Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo, on behalf of the Secretary-General, recounted the horrific toll the 1,000 days of Russia’s full-scale invasion have brought to the people of Ukraine. The invasion that was launched in gross violation of the UN Charter and international law.
Yet, in recent days we have seen alarming signs of further escalation in this already explosive war.
The latest developments follow the already disturbing reports of troops from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea being deployed to the conflict zone.
On 21 November, the Ukrainian city of Dnipro was hit by a ballistic intermediate-range Russian missile. The location hit was reportedly an industrial area southwest of Dnipro city.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, the missile was equipped with six warheads, each with six sub-munitions, and took only 15 minutes to arrive from the launch site in the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation, some 1,000 kilometers away from Dnipro city.
Hours after the strike, the President of the Russian Federation confirmed that Russia had tested a new conventional intermediate-range missile called “Oreshnik”. He said that the strike was launched in response to the use of Western supplied long-range missiles by the armed forces of Ukraine against the territory of the Russian Federation.
He further stated that Russia would continue testing the new missile in combat.
Yesterday, Russian authorities signaled the likelihood of further such strikes, following additional reported Ukrainian strikes on Russian military targets using the above-mentioned long-range missiles.
The United Nations does not have additional details on these incidents, including on the type of weapons used. However, the use of ballistic missiles and related threats are a very dangerous escalatory development.
Under international humanitarian law, parties are required to “take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and methods of attack with a view to avoiding, and in any event to minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects”.
We condemn all attacks on civilian targets and critical infrastructure - irrespective of the weapons system used.
We urge all parties to take immediate steps to de-escalate and to refrain from any action or rhetoric that could further intensify this war, bring more suffering to the civilian population and gravely endanger regional and international peace and security.
Madam President,
Amid these concerning reports, systematic Russian aerial strikes have continued to wreak havoc across Ukraine.
Just yesterday, Russia reportedly launched 188 drones against seventeen regions of Ukraine. This was reportedly the record number of drones deployed in a single attack.
Since February 2022, at least 12,162 civilians have been killed and 26,919 injured in Ukraine, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In addition to civilian casualties, relentless attacks hitting residential areas continue to cause severe damage to civilian infrastructure, further deteriorating the living conditions for millions of Ukrainians.
Madam President,
The cost of this war is already too high for the people of Ukraine, and for the world – and it is growing by the day.
We must reverse the dangerous cycle of escalation.
This requires genuine political will and inclusive diplomatic efforts towards a just, lasting and comprehensive peace, in line with the UN Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions.
We stand ready to use our good offices and to make available all our tools and experience to this end.
Thank you.
Recent days have seen alarming signs of further escalation in the war in Ukraine, a senior UN official warned the Security Council on Wednesday, appealing for greater efforts to bring an end to Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.
The ceasefire agreement in Lebanon represents “the first ray of hope for peace” in the regional war “amidst the darkness of the last few months”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in Lisbon.
As the Lebanon ceasefire deal entered into force early Wednesday based on the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006) – facilitated by UN peacekeepers UNIFIL and bolstered by an international monitoring committee - UN humanitarians committed to supporting communities uprooted by the war that have already started returning home.
Recent days have seen alarming signs of further escalation in the war in Ukraine, a senior UN official warned the Security Council on Wednesday, appealing for greater efforts to bring an end to Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has filed an application for an arrest warrant against Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s armed forces and Acting President, alleging his involvement in crimes against humanity targeting the Rohingya population.
Ongoing hostilities across Syria are intensifying an already dire humanitarian crisis, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned, amid reports of a deadly airstrike at the Ad Dabousiyah border crossing with Türkiye.
As the security situation in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince rapidly worsens due to ongoing gang violence, the United Nations is adjusting its operations to ensure the continued delivery of critical humanitarian assistance.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk lent his weight to growing ceasefire calls in Lebanon on Tuesday, as senior Israeli cabinet members were reportedly due to meet on a deal to end more than a year of conflict with Hezbollah militants, sparked by the war in Gaza.
With all eyes on a possible ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, UN humanitarians have condemned the ongoing violence in Lebanon, Gaza, and Israel. Meanwhile, at UN Headquarters in New York, a special meeting was held to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. UN News app users can follow here.
With 2024 the deadliest year for aid workers on record, the Security Council must clearly condemn attacks against them and ensure accountability for perpetrators, a senior official with the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said on Tuesday.
As the security situation in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince rapidly worsens due to ongoing gang violence, the United Nations is adjusting its operations to ensure the continued delivery of critical humanitarian assistance.
Addressing the General Assembly on Tuesday, President Philémon Yang called for urgent collective action to address the humanitarian crisis in Sudan and stressed the shared responsibility of UN bodies to safeguard global peace and security.
The United Nations has welcomed the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
Heavy rainfall has caused severe flooding across displacement sites in Gaza, further compounding the humanitarian crisis, the UN has reported.
The United Nations remains concerned by the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon between Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Force (IDF), as well as the widespread destruction and death across the Blue Line, the Secretary-General’s Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said on Monday.
As Gaza teeters on the brink of collapse, a senior UN official on Monday renewed urgent calls for an immediate ceasefire and action to address the humanitarian crisis.
The number of children being recruited into armed groups across Haiti has increased by 70 per cent over the past year, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported. The unprecedented spike also reveals the alarming deterioration of child protection amid escalating violence in the Caribbean nation.
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The mpox outbreak continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on Friday following the conclusion of a meeting of its emergency committee convened in Geneva.
The past two months of intensifying Israeli bombardment in Lebanon have been the “deadliest and most devastating” in decades as communities uprooted from the front line flee continue to flee across the border to Syria, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
Myanmar has become the world’s deadliest country for landmine and unexploded ordnance casualties, with over 1,000 victims in 2023 alone, surpassing all other nations, according to separate studies by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
The crisis in Gaza, Lebanon and Israel continues unabated as people struggle to live in the midst of conflict. Follow this live blog for the latest updates from humanitarians on the ground, our colleagues in Geneva and at UN Headquarters in New York. UN News app users can follow here.
UN humanitarians warned on Thursday that one in four people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo suffers from “crisis or worse” levels of hunger that affects a staggering 25.6 million people.
