This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
$2.5 billion appeal for 39 million children in Middle East and North Africa
The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said on Monday that a record $2.5 billion is needed for lifesaving assistance for 39 million children in the Middle East and North Africa next year.
This includes an increase of nearly half a billion dollars to continue responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, amid a surge in cases.
The funding is needed for several emergencies, such as Syria, where 4.8 million children are in need of assistance after nearly a decade of war.
In Yemen, 12 million children - or almost every child - in the war-torn country is in need of support, UNICEF said.
In Sudan, the agency warned that more than five million youngsters face “a multitude of challenges”, including devastating and recurring floods, political transition and an economic crisis.
In Lebanon, UNICEF reported that economic collapse, an increase in COVID-19 cases and the Beirut explosion in August had made nearly 1.9 million children dependent on assistance.
The largest portion of funds requested in UNICEF’s appeal is to keep children in education, followed by water, sanitation, health and nutrition along with pyschosocial support, to address mental health issues.
Self-immolation and suicide: Afghan law ‘still fails sex crime victims’
Afghanistan’s justice system has failed female victims of violence and sex crimes, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet has said, highlighting a significant number of victims who have committed suicide out of an apparent lack of faith in the courts.
In comments accompanying a UN report, Ms. Bachelet said it was “heart-breaking and appalling” that girls and women victims of attacks were ending their lives, sometimes by self-immolation.
The report - published on Monday by the High Commissioner’s office and the UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) - examined 303 reports of crimes between September 2018 and February 2020; it found that only half of them ended up in court.
Out of 16 cases of child marriage cited by the authors, only one ended in a conviction.
And in 40 cases, victims of violence resorted to self-immolation or committed suicide, suggesting that they did not have faith in the justice system.
Although Ms. Bachelet acknowledged the efforts made by the Afghan authorities to ensure that the justice system was fair, she said that these were “clearly not enough”.
Guterres spotlights ‘critical role’ of aviation in pandemic recovery
The United Nations Secretary-General has called for critical support for aviation, which has been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, to allow it to weather the global crisis.
Describing the industry as “an important engine of our world”, António Guterres said that it would play a key role in helping our recovery from the coronavirus.
“Let us ensure it receives the support it needs to keep the world’s nations connected and united,” Mr Guterres said, in a message commemorating International Civil Aviation Day, on Monday.
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialized UN agency, passenger seat capacity is down 51 per cent and economic losses this year total $390 billion.
Daniel Johnson, UN News.
