A recap of Monday’s top stories: Someone dies by suicide every 40 seconds says new report; UN rights chief highlights climate change threat, and “devastating toll” on Venezuela; deputy chief Amina Mohammed says halting desertification is a key part of climate action; health agency pledges millions to Hurricane Dorian response.
A recap of Thursday's stories: 'No end in sight' to massive movement of Venezuelan migrants and refugees; 'Dramatic resurgence' of measles threatens Europe; Report from nuclear test site in Kazakhstan; UN expert welcomes new Colombian law for persons with disabilities; Security Council concerned over violent spams in Yemen.
There is “no end in sight” to the massive movement of Venezuelan migrants and refugees, now at around 4.3 million in number, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) shared on Thursday.
Our main stories today cover: Scaled-up assistance for Venezuelans; Ebola vaccinations for Burundi health workers; reports of civilian deaths following an Afghan-sponsored security operation; agrochemical spray probe urged in Paraguay; Libya violence abates during truce, and disarmament conference’s first woman chief urges Governments to “overcome their differences”.
The United Nations humanitarian wing launched a new Response Plan (HRP) on Wednesday, that aims to help around 2.6 million people in Venezuela through to the end of the year, almost half of whom are youth.
A new set of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Venezuela this week prompted the concern of the United Nations’ top rights official on Thursday, who said in a statement that she feared they would have a “potentially severe impact” on the human rights of the South American nation’s “long-suffering” people.
The UN migration agency, IOM, has welcomed Colombia’s decision on Monday to grant nationality status to more than 24,000 Venezuelan babies born inside the country after their parents fled across the border.
A “continued flow” of Venezuelans out of their country is to be expected, UN humanitarians said on Friday, highlighting the many risks faced by families on the move, such as begging, child labour and even so-called survival sex. In an interview with UN News’s Samuel Mungai, UN refugee agency spokesperson Liz Throssell, explains that one in two families have encountered problems on their perilous journeys.
