This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Karabakh emergency escalates with tens of thousands pouring into Armenia: UNHCR, UNICEF

Over 88,000 refugees from the Karabakh region have fled to Armenia in less than a week and humanitarian needs are surging, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.

Some 65,000 have already been registered at government-run centres where long lines have formed.

UNHCR is supporting the refugees with core relief items, said agency representative in Armenia Kavita Belani, who’s been on the ground since day one of the crisis:

“People are tired. This is a situation where they’ve lived under nine months of blockade. When they come in they’re full of anxiety, they’re scared, they’re frightened and they want answers as to what’s going to happen next.”

 Ms. Belani said that the most urgent needs included psychosocial support, medication and shelter for everybody, given the high volume of arrivals, as well as targeted support for the most vulnerable: the elderly and children. 

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told reporters in Geneva that 30 per cent of those arriving are minors and many have been separated from their families. 

Sharp rise in number of unaccompanied children crossing Mediterranean: UNICEF

The number of unaccompanied children crossing the Central Mediterranean Sea to Italy has increased by 60 per cent this year, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.

UNICEF said that more than 11,600 minors crossed the Central Mediterranean Sea to Italy without their parents or legal guardians between January and mid-September 2023, compared to 7,200 during the same period last year. Overall deaths and disappearances on the Central Mediterranean route tripled this summer compared to last.

Here’s Regina de Dominicis, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant Response in Europe:

“The Mediterranean has become a cemetery for children and their futures.  Policies today prevent effective, coordinated search and rescue at sea. Policies today have left countries and communities managing migration and asylum, alone. No country can manage this alone, nor should they.” 

 The tiny Italian island of Lampedusa is often the first port of call for people seeking safety in Europe. The number of arrivals there peaked this month with 4,800 people arriving on a single day.

UNICEF said that war, conflict, violence and poverty are among the main drivers for children fleeing their home countries alone. According to the UN Children’s Fund, unaccompanied children risk exploitation and abuse on every step of their journeys, with girls and children from sub-Saharan Africa the most likely to suffer abuse.

South Sudan and Sudan ‘most dangerous’ for aid workers

South Sudan and Sudan are the world’s most dangerous countries for aid workers today, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday. 

OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva that out of 71 aid worker deaths recorded so far this year, 22 had been working in South Sudan and 19 in Sudan.

The victims are overwhelmingly local humanitarians working on the front lines of the response, Mr. Laerke said.

He stressed that attacks on aid workers and aid facilities are violations of international humanitarian law and insisted that perpetrators must be held accountable. 

“Parties to conflict have an obligation to respect the laws of war without exceptions,” he said.

Mr. Laerke highlighted the dire humanitarian needs in both countries and the funding gaps. The humanitarian response plan for Sudan remains only 32 per cent funded while the response in South Sudan has received 53 per cent of what’s needed.

Vietnam: UN rights office calls for jailed environmental rights defenders to be set free

Viet Nam must release environmental human rights defenders who have been detained and prosecuted on seemingly “politically motivated” charges.

That’s the message from the UN rights office (OHCHR), which called on Viet Nam’s Government on Friday to “refrain from using criminal charges to curtail the exercise of fundamental freedoms”.

OHCHR said that on Thursday, Hoang Thi Minh Hong became the fifth of six environmental human rights defenders arrested in the past two years and sentenced after advocating for a transition to clean energy.

Ms. Hong was prosecuted on tax evasion charges and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and fined, after a trial lasting just three hours. The UN rights office said that Ms. Hong’s access to a defence counsel and her family has been “limited” throughout her detention.

Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer, UN News.