With danger mounting amid military activity in Iraq, the United Nations today repeated its call for the parties to shield innocent people from the impact of the fighting.
While the United Nations steps up its relief effort in various parts of Iraq, people displaced from their homes have been returning to some of the country's northern governorates, a spokesman for the world body reported today.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan will meet top United Nations humanitarian officials next week in New York to discuss the coordination of all future aid to the Iraqi people, a UN spokesman said today.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today the United Nations will do whatever it can to bring assistance and support to the Iraqi people and called on all parties in the conflict to scrupulously observe the requirements of international humanitarian law.
With war looming over Iraq today top United Nations humanitarian officials rallied to appeal for respect for human rights, protection for children – “the most vulnerable population” – and open borders for refugees fleeing the conflict.
Despite having withdrawn their international staff from Iraq, United Nations humanitarian agencies continued working inside the country today with local personnel.
With the prospect of war in Iraq looming over Security Council deliberations on the key remaining disarmament issues for Baghdad to resolve, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to the international community today to do "everything we can to mitigate the imminent disaster" of the humanitarian crisis facing the Iraqi people.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) issued a stark warning today that the most vulnerable of Iraq's children may not have the strength to survive the impact of war.
With war in Iraq perhaps mere days away, the head of the United Nations refugee agency has urged the international community not to forget the fear, destruction, loss of innocent lives and desperation faced by those fleeing their homes.
The withdrawal of United Nations personnel from Iraq was completed today, with workers that had been monitoring Iraqi oil exports evacuated with the full cooperation of the country's authorities, according to a UN spokesman.
