Relief News Updates
UN News - Humanitarian Aid
UN News - Humanitarian Aid
Decade of conflict triggering ‘slow tsunami’ across Syria, Security Council hears
Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:56:19 -0500
After a decade of conflict, economic collapse compounded by COVID-19, corruption and mismanagement, the UN Syrian envoy told the Security Council on Wednesday that “a slow tsunami” is now “crashing across Syria”.
‘Complex’ emergency unfolding in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado, warn UN agencies
Wed, 20 Jan 2021 09:42:44 -0500
UN agencies voiced deep concern on Wednesday over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, where attacks by armed groups have forced more than 565,000 to flee their homes.
East African countries better prepared, but desert locust threat ‘not over’
Tue, 19 Jan 2021 16:39:47 -0500
Action to control unprecedented desert locust infestations in the Horn of Africa last year has protected crops and livelihoods, but funding is needed to sustain operations against new incursions, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Tuesday.
‘Swift action’ needed in Tigray to save thousands at risk, UNHCR warns
Tue, 19 Jan 2021 12:27:51 -0500
Two months after conflict forced humanitarian workers to withdraw from the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), on Tuesday, stressed the need for “swift action” to restore safe access to “save thousands of lives at risk”.
Deadly earthquake hits Indonesia: Dozens killed, hundreds injured
Fri, 15 Jan 2021 11:43:01 -0500
At least 35 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the West Sulawesi Province of Indonesia on Friday morning, according to the UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA).
Ethiopia: Safe access and swift action needed for refugees in Tigray
Thu, 14 Jan 2021 17:58:39 -0500
The head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on Wednesday expressed his deep concern over the humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, including its impact on Eritrean refugees hosted there.
Insecurity and bureaucracy hampering aid to Ethiopia’s Tigray region
Wed, 13 Jan 2021 16:37:47 -0500
Nearly three months after the start of conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, hundreds of thousands of people have yet to receive assistance, the United Nations reported on Wednesday, citing information from its humanitarian coordination agency, OCHA.
Humanitarian crisis looms in Madagascar amid drought and pandemic
Tue, 12 Jan 2021 11:11:23 -0500
In southern Madagascar, “famine-like conditions” have doubled the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance compared with last year, to more than 1.3 million. Successive droughts and a lack of jobs linked to COVID-19 restrictions are to blame, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.
Humanitarians seek $1.3 billion to help millions in war-weary Afghanistan
Tue, 12 Jan 2021 06:14:42 -0500
The UN and humanitarian partners in Afghanistan are seeking $1.3 billion to assist almost 16 million people in need of life-saving assistance as a result of decades of conflict, recurrent natural disasters, and the added impact of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
Serious repercussions likely to follow US plan to designate Yemen combatants terrorists, UN warns
Mon, 11 Jan 2021 15:53:56 -0500
The United States government’s decision to designate Ansar Allah, more commonly known as the Houthi rebel group in Yemen, as terrorists, is likely to have “serious humanitarian and political repercussions”, the UN spokesperson said on Monday.
Central African Republic: Post-election violence triggers mass displacement
Fri, 08 Jan 2021 12:27:45 -0500
Amidst post-election violence in the Central African Republic (CAR), more than 200,000 people have fled for their own safety, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.
Food for Mozambicans struggling amidst violence and COVID-19, ‘will be compromised’ without more funding: WFP
Thu, 07 Jan 2021 12:18:39 -0500
Despite increased insecurity and limited funding, the UN food relief agency is continuing to supply food for hundreds of thousands of people affected by conflict in northern Mozambique.
FROM THE FIELD: The genocide survivor helping others avoid starvation
Thu, 07 Jan 2021 00:00:06 -0500
During the 1994 Genocide Against The Tutsi In Rwanda, Liberee Kayumba avoided starvation thanks to emergency rations from the World Food Programme (WFP). Today, she is helping to ensure that Burundian refugees in the country have enough to eat.
Deadly car bomb attacks ‘tragic reminder’ of price civilians pay in Syria
Wed, 06 Jan 2021 15:57:53 -0500
The killing of civilians in separate car bomb attacks in northern Syria on Saturday has been condemned by top UN humanitarian officials for the country.
FROM THE FIELD: Port explosion which ‘burnt hearts’ of Beirut residents
Wed, 06 Jan 2021 10:11:55 -0500
Five months on from the devastating port explosion that killed over 200 people, and injured thousands more, the UN has invited Beirut residents to share their hopes and fears for the future of the city, and for Lebanon, which remains in crisis.
UNHCR relocates victims of Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict to new site in Sudan
Tue, 05 Jan 2021 12:44:53 -0500
A second refugee camp has opened in Sudan for people fleeing violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region carrying “little more than the clothes on their backs”, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), said on Tuesday.
Millions of children in crisis hotspots ‘on the brink of famine’, warns UNICEF
Wed, 30 Dec 2020 07:05:06 -0500
More than 10 million children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeast Nigeria, the Central Sahel, South Sudan and Yemen will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday, warning that without urgent action, the numbers could rise further.
COVID-19 threatening development gains in Cape Verde: a UN Resident Coordinator blog
Tue, 29 Dec 2020 10:00:04 -0500
Progress made towards sustainable development by the Atlantic Ocean nation, Cape Verde, is under serious threat due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to the United Nations’ most senior official in the country. In this blog, UN Resident Coordinator Ana Patricia Graça, explains how the UN is supporting the small island country to rebound from the impact of the virus.
25,000 refugees in unsettled Tigray region receive urgent UN food supplies
Mon, 28 Dec 2020 11:07:09 -0500
Some 25,000 Eritrean refugees, sheltering in two camps in the unsettled Tigray region of Ethiopia, have received desperately needed food aid for the first time since mid-October.
2020: ‘Biggest international challenge’ ever taken on by UN humanitarians
Sun, 27 Dec 2020 04:00:06 -0500
The COVID-19 pandemic has been the “biggest international challenge” since the Second World War, according to the United Nations and has been the focus of the work of the UN’s humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, throughout 2020.
FROM THE FIELD: Warlords and warehouses; reflections of retired Myanmar WFP staffer
Sat, 26 Dec 2020 04:30:05 -0500
Negotiating with warlords in Somalia and rebels in the South Sudanese bush, and salvaging food from the chaos of the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, was once routine for a retired staff member of the World Food Programme (WFP) from Myanmar.
Central African Republic: Pre-election violence ‘must stop’ – UN envoy
Thu, 24 Dec 2020 13:11:01 -0500
Days before Sunday’s election, armed clashes in the Central African Republic (CAR) have prompted the “serious concern” of the UN aid coordinator in the country.
Uganda: UN food assistance programme hit as COVID-19 dries up funding
Wed, 23 Dec 2020 03:35:47 -0500
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) will have to further reduce food rations and cash assistance for more than 1.2 million refugees in Uganda due to a funding shortfall, the agency has said, calling for urgent resources to sustain aid efforts.
Mozambique: 250,000 displaced children facing deadly disease threat
Tue, 22 Dec 2020 11:34:33 -0500
A lack of safe water, sanitation and hygiene services have put approximately 250,000 children, displaced by escalating crises in a northern province of Mozambique, at risk from deadly diseases, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned.
Tigray: Hundreds of civilians reported killed in artillery strikes, warns UN rights chief
Tue, 22 Dec 2020 09:53:19 -0500
Reports of artillery strikes on civilians and mass killings of non-combatants in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, must be investigated and full access granted to independent investigators, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday.
Conflict, floods and COVID-19 push South Sudanese into extreme hunger
Fri, 18 Dec 2020 12:35:05 -0500
Driven by insecurity, the effects of COVID-19, an on-going economic crisis, and the impact of flooding on livelihoods, three UN agencies called on Friday for immediate humanitarian access to eastern South Sudan’s Pibor county, where people are facing catastrophic levels of hunger.
Fighting displaces over 500,000 in northern Mozambique, reports UN refuge agency
Fri, 18 Dec 2020 10:43:07 -0500
Attacks by armed groups in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Zambezia and Niassa provinces have displaced more than 530,000 people, many of whom have been forced to move multiple times, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.
UN releases emergency funding for civilians in Ethiopia’s Tigray, as Africa’s battle against COVID-19 intensifies
Thu, 17 Dec 2020 14:18:40 -0500
The UN has released $36.6 million for civilians caught up in the conflict that has roiled Ethiopia’s Tigray region since early last month, in order to secure water, sanitation and lifesaving medical supplies.
Funding needed to halt ‘life threatening crisis’ facing refugees in Kenya
Thu, 17 Dec 2020 11:55:48 -0500
Amidst a “critical shortage” of resources, hundreds of thousands of refugees in Kenya will lack food unless new funds are swiftly received, the UN’s food relief agency warned on Thursday.
Syria: Millions displaced, impoverished and traumatized, Security Council hears
Wed, 16 Dec 2020 13:14:56 -0500
As the end of another year of war looms, “families in Syria remain without respite after almost a decade of conflict”, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Wednesday.
