Relief News Updates
UN News - Humanitarian Aid
UN News - Humanitarian Aid
Bangladesh: Deadly flooding, landslides devastate Rohingya refugees
Wed, 28 Jul 2021 15:58:20 -0400
Three days of strong winds and heavy monsoon rain on sprawling refugee sites in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar have taken Rohingya refugee lives and wreaked havoc and destruction, the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday.
Gaza: Humanitarian response underway, but political solutions still needed
Wed, 28 Jul 2021 13:07:25 -0400
Although the international community is providing urgent assistance to Gaza in the wake of the most recent round of hostilities, a political solution is still needed to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, a senior UN official in the region said on Wednesday.
Child malnutrition expected to quadruple in Southern Madagascar
Mon, 26 Jul 2021 17:38:47 -0400
At least half a million children under five in drought-afflicted southern Madagascar are on the verge of acute malnourishment, two UN agencies warned on Monday.
Lebanon: Public water system on the verge of collapse, UNICEF warns
Fri, 23 Jul 2021 11:32:41 -0400
The public water system in Lebanon is “on life support” and could collapse at any moment, putting 71 per cent of the population, or more than four million people, at immediate risk of losing access to safe supply, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, warned on Friday.
Tigray: As famine looms, first WFP humanitarian flight arrives
Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:40:57 -0400
Lifesaving assistance arrived for the beleaguered Tigray region of Ethiopia on Thursday as the first UN World Food Programme (WFP) plane carrying humanitarian workers touched down in the capital Mekelle.
Gearing up humanitarian assistance for Palestine refugees
Sat, 17 Jul 2021 23:45:28 -0400
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will received an additional $135.8 million after signing an agreement with the United States on Saturday establishing shared goals in support of humanitarian assistance, development, and refugee protection.
UN deputy chief warns of ‘hurricane of humanitarian crises’
Fri, 16 Jul 2021 12:51:48 -0400
There is a “bloody surge” impacting humanitarian crises around the world, with civilians in conflict zones paying the highest price, the UN deputy chief told the Security Council on Friday.
UN appeals for faster passage for aid convoys to Ethiopia’s Tigray
Tue, 13 Jul 2021 10:34:38 -0400
UN humanitarians appealed on Tuesday for far quicker access to Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region, after the first aid trucks in days to reach the local capital, Mekelle, encountered multiple checks delaying their arrival.
Secretary-General welcomes Ethiopia’s pledge to allow humanitarian access to Tigray
Fri, 09 Jul 2021 14:13:49 -0400
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed Ethiopia’s commitment to ensuring aid workers can access the war-ravaged Tigray region, his Spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
Syria: UN chief welcomes Security Council extension of vital cross-border aid operation
Fri, 09 Jul 2021 13:26:36 -0400
The UN chief has welcomed a decision on Friday by the Security Council to extend the UN cross-border aid operation in northwest Syria for another 12 months, providing a lifeline for more than 3.4 million people in need, including some one million children.
Amid COVID job losses, ‘high food prices are hunger’s new best friend’, WFP warns
Thu, 08 Jul 2021 11:53:23 -0400
Job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic combined with high food prices are making it hard for millions of families to get enough to eat, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday.
UN appeals for resupply of aid and fuel in Tigray region
Tue, 06 Jul 2021 15:44:45 -0400
Humanitarian operations have been gradually resuming in the war-ravaged Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, but resupply of aid and fuel for civilians caught up in the fighting is urgently needed, the United Nations said on Tuesday, citing information from its emergency relief agency, OCHA.
South Sudan: UNICEF warns of ‘desperation and hopelessness’ for children 10 years after independence
Tue, 06 Jul 2021 10:36:54 -0400
Ten years after South Sudan achieved independence, more children there are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance than ever before, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said on Tuesday.
FROM THE FIELD: 4.4 million Nigerians facing ‘catastrophic food conditions’
Fri, 02 Jul 2021 23:20:05 -0400
Some 4.4 million people in Nigeria are facing what the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, is describing as “catastrophic food conditions”.
400,000 in Tigray cross 'threshold into famine', with nearly 2 million on the brink, Security Council told
Fri, 02 Jul 2021 19:53:15 -0400
Senior UN officials appealed on Friday for immediate and unrestricted humanitarian access to Tigray – and for an end to deadly attacks on aid workers - as the Security Council held its first open meeting on the conflict in the restive northern Ethiopian region.
‘Free, unfettered access’ needed to assist millions in war-torn Tigray
Fri, 02 Jul 2021 11:53:47 -0400
The World Food Programme (WFP) has resumed operations in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, after fighting halted the emergency response last week, although the agency warned on Friday that “serious challenges” continue to threaten the entire humanitarian response.
Hospitals barely functioning, famine still looming in Ethiopia’s Tigray region
Tue, 29 Jun 2021 08:52:38 -0400
UN humanitarians expressed concern on Tuesday at the uncertain situation in Ethiopia's conflict-ravaged Tigray region despite a ceasefire call from the Government, highlighting the ongoing famine-like conditions there and the potential for disease outbreaks.
Tigray: UN condemns murder of 3 MSF humanitarians as ‘appalling violation’ of international law
Sat, 26 Jun 2021 13:14:17 -0400
Three employees of the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) agency have been killed by unknown attackers in the restive Tigray region of Ethiopia, drawing swift condemnation from UN Secretary-General António Guterres who said on Saturday he was “deeply shocked” by the murders.
Syria’s last cross-border aid lifeline must stay open, insist UN humanitarians
Fri, 25 Jun 2021 11:35:39 -0400
The imminent closure of the last cross-border aid lifeline to northwest Syria must be postponed beyond the 10 July deadline, UN humanitarians said on Friday, noting that no cross-line supplies had reached Idlib from Damascus, in 11 months.
UN pushes for lasting ceasefire, more humanitarian deliveries in Gaza
Thu, 24 Jun 2021 12:57:27 -0400
The cessation of hostilities negotiated last month between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, remains “very fragile”, the UN envoy there told the Security Council on Thursday.
UN officials appeal for extension of lifesaving cross-border aid operations into Syria
Wed, 23 Jun 2021 17:04:46 -0400
Humanitarian convoys from Turkey that bring lifesaving aid into northwest Syria must continue, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Famine knocking at the door of 41 million worldwide, WFP warns
Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:05:06 -0400
Famine is already present in four countries but millions more people are at risk, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday, underscoring the need for urgent funding and humanitarian access to reach those in need.
Slow progress, stubborn cycles of violence, as South Sudan turns 10
Mon, 21 Jun 2021 16:22:04 -0400
South Sudan, the UN’s youngest Member State, is marking its tenth anniversary of independence amid languishing political progress and a range of humanitarian challenges, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative told Security Council members on Monday.
Famine risk spikes amid conflict, COVID-19 and funding gaps: WFP
Fri, 18 Jun 2021 10:08:25 -0400
The impact of conflicts old and new, climate shocks and COVID-19, in addition to a lack of funding, have left millions more on the verge of famine than six months ago, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
Yemen ‘a tale of missed and then lost opportunities’, outgoing envoy tells Security Council
Tue, 15 Jun 2021 17:13:07 -0400
Yemen’s warring sides have been unable to overcome their differences, dashing hopes for peace, the UN Special Envoy for the country said on Tuesday in his final briefing to the Security Council in the role.
Around 1.5 million Lebanese in need, top UN humanitarian official there warns
Mon, 14 Jun 2021 14:53:16 -0400
As Lebanon endures one of its worst financial and economic crises ever, the UN estimates that over the next eight months around $300 million is needed to provide vital aid to around 1.5 million Lebanese and 400,000 migrant workers living there.
Continuing Venezuela exodus and COVID-19 highlights need for global solidarity for most vulnerable
Fri, 11 Jun 2021 14:41:52 -0400
Vulnerable Venezuelan migrants and refugees who have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 health and socio-economic crisis, urgently need greater support from the international community, UN humanitarians said on Friday, ahead of a donor conference hosted by Canada next week.
UN agencies scale-up response to address looming famine ‘catastrophe’ in Tigray
Thu, 10 Jun 2021 13:16:38 -0400
The head of the World Food Programme (WFP) appealed on Thursday for immediate access to deliver lifesaving assistance to Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where ongoing fighting between government and regional forces has put some 350,000 people at risk of famine.
Nine in 10 African nations set to miss urgent COVID vaccination goal
Thu, 10 Jun 2021 09:32:45 -0400
Nine in 10 African nations look set to miss the September target of vaccinating 10 per cent of their populations against COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Thursday.
Volcanic eruption in DR Congo: UNICEF working to restore water supply amid cholera threat
Mon, 07 Jun 2021 17:04:24 -0400
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partners are working to restore water supply to roughly 200,000 people, including some 100,000 children, affected by the volcanic eruption last month in Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
