This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

At least $160 million needed to help millions affected by Pakistan floods

Pakistan urgently needs a minimum of $160 million to get help quickly and at scale to the many millions of people affected by the worst flooding in decades, the UN said on Tuesday.

In a joint appeal with the Pakistan government, the UN aid coordination body OCHA said that an estimated 33 million people have been impacted and more than 1,000 have died, including hundreds of children.

Nearly 900 health centres have been damaged by the flood waters, according to Christian Lindmeier, from the UN World Health Organization (WHO):

“When we hear flooding, we very often just think about people drowning, but it's so much more to it. You have to crush injuries from the debris floating in the water. You have electrical shocks from wires… you have the lack of drinking water,” which is “not only a problem for the immediate situation, but for the medium situation as well”.

Nearly one million homes have been damaged and over 700,000 livestock have been lost, with southern provinces Sindh and Balochistan, particularly hard-hit.

The emergency plan aims to provide help to 5.2 million of the worst affected and most vulnerable people in Pakistan, for an initial six months.

Priorities for humanitarians include delivering lifesaving and livelihood assistance including health services, food, clean water and shelter.

Relief teams also want to prevent large outbreaks of communicable diseases such as cholera.

UN rights office condemns Israel’s visa veto for staff in Occupied Palestinian Territories

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday voiced frustration at Israel’s refusal to issue or renew visas for her staff trying to work in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

A lack of visa approvals in 2020 meant that the 15 international staff representing Ms. Bachelet’s Office there, “had no choice but to leave”, the High Commissioner said in a statement.

Subsequent requests for visas and visa renewals went unanswered “for two years”, Ms. Bachelet explained, adding that “Israel continues to refuse to engage” with her efforts to find a solution.

She maintained that the development was “part of a wider …trend to block human rights access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and that it “raises the question of what exactly the Israeli authorities are trying to hide”.

Donors urged to provide pledged funds for stricken oil tanker off Yemen coast

In Yemen, the UN team leading efforts to transfer more than a million tonnes of oil from a rusting tanker, issued a new appeal on Tuesday for funding to ensure that the salvage operation can go ahead.

To date, $66 million has been pledged towards the operation, but less than a sixth of that amount has been paid out.

Russell Geekie from the UN humanitarian team in Yemen said that “nothing works” on the stricken boat, the FSO Safer.

And he urged all donors to make good on their pledges as quickly as possible, and for other potential contributors to do so “as soon as possible”, or else risk an environmental catastrophe:

“This ship is in bad shape. They need to get aboard and make it safe, they need to pump inert gas into the fuel tanks….$80 million dollars isn’t a small amount of money, but compared to the cost if this thing breaks up, it’s really nothing, quite frankly.”

Mr. Geekie said that the Safer, which is moored around four kilometres off Yemen’s coastline, continues to decay and could break up or explode at any time.

The volatile currents and strong winds from October to December will only increase the risk of a disaster, the UN officer explained, adding that the cost of cleaning up the environmental disaster is estimated at $20 billion.

Katy Dartford, UN News.