Niger: IOM calls for humanitarian corridor to help stranded migrants

Niger: IOM calls for humanitarian corridor to help stranded migrants

IOM Regional Director Christopher Gascon told reporters in Geneva that 4,800 migrants were hosted by IOM at seven transit centres in the country, awaiting voluntary return. They were primarily from western Africa: Mali, Guinea, Senegal and Nigeria, he said.  Charter flights Mr. Gascon said airport access was crucial to “organise charter flights in order to…

Read More
World Humanitarian Day highlights commitment to serve #NoMatterWhat

World Humanitarian Day highlights commitment to serve #NoMatterWhat

The grim forecast comes ahead of World Humanitarian Day, commemorated annually on 19 August. Since the start of the year, 62 aid workers have been killed, 84 have been wounded and 34 kidnapped, the UN said, citing provisional data from the independent research organization Humanitarian Outcomes.  Last year, the death toll reached 116. Under attack South Sudan remains the most dangerous place to…

Read More
Nearly 14 million children in Sudan need humanitarian support: UNICEF

Nearly 14 million children in Sudan need humanitarian support: UNICEF

Ted Chaiban of the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, and Edem Wosornu with the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, briefed journalists on their recent mission to the country and Chad, one of several neighbouring nations hosting some 900,000 people who fled the violence. Fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) recently…

Read More
WFP: ‘Urgent action is needed’ to end growing humanitarian crisis in Sahel

WFP: ‘Urgent action is needed’ to end growing humanitarian crisis in Sahel

The spillover will be devastating for both peace and stability in a region already experiencing political instability, climate extremes, food and water insecurity, and economic decline, the agency warned. Growing crisis “We are increasingly concerned about an overflow from the security crisis in the Sahel into coastal countries – particularly the Gulf of Guinea,” said…

Read More
Haiti: ‘Take urgent action now’ urges ECOSOC President

Guterres appeals for humanitarian, security and political action to end Haiti’s ‘living nightmare’

He said citizens of the Caribbean nation are “trapped in a living nightmare” as armed gangs encircle the capital, Port-au-Prince, blocking roads, controlling access to food and healthcare, and undermining humanitarian support. Mr. Guterres was speaking at UN Headquarters fresh from a visit to the country and a summit of regional leaders, held in Trinidad…

Read More
Myanmar: Military’s obstruction of humanitarian aid could be international crime

Myanmar: Military’s obstruction of humanitarian aid could be international crime

The chief of OHCHR’s Myanmar team, James Rodehaver, explained that since their February 2021 coup, the country’s military rulers have been instilling a “climate of fear” to subjugate the civilian population, restricting aid access and using “all means” at their disposal to clamp down on civil society. Brutal tactics He said the military’s tactics had…

Read More
Sudan: Displacement soars amid shrinking humanitarian access

Sudan: Displacement soars amid shrinking humanitarian access

“We’ve already seen over 560,000 people crossing into neighbouring countries…[and] nearly two million people displaced internally,” said Raouf Mazou, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, following a visit to Sudan. Since conflict erupted there on 15 April when rival militaries clashed, more than half a million people have reached neighbouring countries in a bid to escape…

Read More
Sudan’s Darfur spiralling into ‘humanitarian calamity’: UN aid chief

Sudan’s Darfur spiralling into ‘humanitarian calamity’: UN aid chief

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths warned in a statement issued late on Thursday night that conditions in the province were particularly dire: babies dying in hospitals, children and mothers suffering from severe malnutrition, camps for displaced persons burned down and sexual violence on the rise. He deplored spreading inter-communal violence in Darfur that threatens…

Read More