25 January 2018 – The Nigerian Government launched a mass vaccination campaign in alliance with the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday, aiming to immunize more than 25 million people before the end of this year.

This drive is part of a global effort to eliminate the risk of yellow fever epidemics by 2026, which should be possible if 90 per cent of the population can be reached. The preventive campaign will use vaccines funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and will also be supported by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The yellow fever virus is mosquito-borne, and the disease can cause jaundice due to liver damage.

Nigeria’s current yellow fever outbreak began in September, and by early January this year, a total of 358 suspected cases had been reported, with 45 deaths.

In late 2017, Nigeria vaccinated more than three million people in an initial emergency yellow fever campaign, with the aim of quickly containing the outbreak.

However, the virus continues to spread in parts of the country where people remain largely unprotected.

WHO is supporting the campaign by training thousands of healthcare workers, helping to track cases, and by providing coordination and logistical support.

“With a single dose of vaccine, an individual is protected for life against yellow fever,” Dr. Wondimagegnehu Alemu, WHO Representative in Nigeria, said on Wednesday. “This is a massive undertaking which took weeks of planning. Nearly 3000 vaccination teams are being deployed across the four states participating in the campaign.”

Bronwen Cowley of UN News spoke to WHO Spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, for the latest.

25 January 2018 – The United Nations, the Security Council and the wider international community all have fallen into a pattern of “managing, rather than resolving” the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the UN envoy on the Middle East peace process warned Thursday, saying it was time to end this paralysis, show political leadership and push for policies on the ground that rebuild trust.

“Twenty-five years after the Oslo Accords, we are at a critical point in the peace process,” said Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, at a Security Council briefing, referring to a set of agreements, the first of which was signed in 1993, establishing a timetable for achieving peace between the two sides.

The uncertainty and volatility of the current environment, he continued, is hardening positions and sharpening the rhetoric on all sides, “a situation that plays directly into the hands of extremists and increases the risk of another conflict.”

He said that absent a credible proposal that can become the basis of final status negotiations, the international community must continue to build the conditions necessary for a resumption of talks.

“We must also reaffirm the international consensus that the two-State solution remains the only viable option for a just and sustainable end to the conflict. We must be unwavering in this position,” he said.

The two-State solution means having Israel and Palestine as two separate States living side by side in peace, security and mutual recognition.

We must also reaffirm the international consensus that the two-State solution remains the only viable option for a just and sustainable end to the conflict. We must be unwavering in this position

Mr. Mladenov noted that there are those who believe that the conflict can be solved through peaceful bilateral negotiations and compromises, by addressing the final status issues of borders, security, refugees and the status of Jerusalem on the basis of prior agreements and relevant UN resolutions.

Some believe in malting unilateral moves that can only lead to a one-state reality that is incompatible with the aspirations of both peoples. And there are those who believe in violence, he said.

“We – the United Nations, the Security Council, the international community – have a responsibility to prove that those who believe in violence and confrontation are wrong,” he said.

With this year marking the 25th anniversary of the Oslo Accords, it is time to push for policies on the ground that rebuild trust; to engage on final status issues on the basis of international consensus; to show political leadership to remove the obstacles to a sustainable solution.

This paralysis has elicited a heavy price: continued violence and insecurity; Israel’s ever-expanding, illegal settlement enterprise; a persistent Palestinian political divide; and a deteriorating, unsustainable situation in Gaza under the control of Hamas. Taken together, these elements kill hope, breed frustration, and increase radicalization on the ground, he explained.

While the Accords’ “daring” vision for peace remains to be fulfilled, “now is not the time to give up on Oslo. The alternative is not a better deal, but a worsening reality of occupation and humiliation,” he stated.

25 January 2018 – More than 800,000 children have been forced from their homes by violence and armed clashes in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in what the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) calls “one of the world’s worst displacement crises for children.”

Inter-ethnic violence and clashes between the regular army, militia and armed groups in the provinces of Tanganyika and South Kivu have left some 1.3 million people displaced.

“Children in the eastern DRC continue to suffer devastating consequences as waves of violence destabilize the region,” said Tajudeen Oyewale, the acting head of UNICEF in the vast African nation said on Thursday.

They are being sexually abused and recruited to fight.

UNICEF and its partners have identified more than 800 cases of sexual abuse, although the true scale of sexual violence being perpetrated against children is believed to be much larger.

Recent UNICEF data shows that more than 3,000 children have been recruited by militias and armed groups over the past year, raising concern over how the fighting has impacted children’s health and nutritional wellbeing.

In 2017, the two provinces recorded 18,250 suspected cholera cases, twice as many as in 2016, and 18,000 suspected cases of measles. Today, numerous health centres are no longer functioning there.

“Hundreds of thousands of children in the region no longer have access to health care and education, while many have suffered atrocities at the hands of combatant,” added Mr. Oyewale.

Violence has also prevented many people from working the fields to raise crops, fuelling a heightened risk of food insecurity and raising the possibility that thousands of children could suffer from malnutrition due to the lack of food.

As part of its emergency response programme in Tanganyika and South Kivu, UNICEF is providing multi-sectoral support to the displaced population, including immunizing children against measles; cholera prevention and treatment; assisting malnourished children; and offering protection, treatment and psychosocial support for children affected by violence, along with those who are injured or unaccompanied.

To assist the affected children both provinces, the UN agency has appealed for $65 million in support of its response over the next six months.

UNICEF continues to call on all conflict parties to guarantee humanitarian access to people in urgent need of assistance.

“It is simply a brutal situation for children with no end in sight,” Mr. Oyewale stressed.

25 January 2018 – With people across Libya suffering amid the fallout from a protracted political crisis, outbreaks of violence and displacement, the United Nations humanitarian wing and its partners launched on Thursday a $313 million appeal to cover the basic needs of 940,000 who need assistance and protection.

“The difficulties people in Libya face in providing for their basic needs are real, and we all need to be aware of the human cost of inaction,” said the Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya, Maria Ribeiro.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian (OCHA) noted that the 2018 Libya Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) seeks $313 million to assist 940,000 people this year.

“In my interactions with Libyan men, women and children, I see people who want to feel safe, have their rights respected and know that they do not have to live from day to day,” explained Ms. Ribeiro.

The current crisis in Libya – which has been in conflict since a disputed election in 2014 following the 2011 toppling of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi – is the result of ongoing hostilities among rival factions, political instability and a vacuum of effective governance that has resulted in a further breakdown of functioning systems within the country.

The 2018 HRP – the third coordinated appeal in Libya – is being launched on behalf of the humanitarian community in partnership with the Libyan authorities. It will help to implement 71 projects by 22 organizations, including UN agencies as well as national and international non-governmental organizations.

The projects aim to assist with deteriorating living conditions by extending civilian protections, in accordance with international law, to ensure basic service access for internally the displaced, returnees and the most vulnerable non-displaced Libyans, including migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

The funds will also help to strengthen families’ capacities to cope with the continued pressures of instability, fragmentation and economic decline.

The UN releif wing has more on the Libya crisis here

25 January 2018 – Improved security and unimpeded humanitarian access in Myanmar are essential before Rohingya children can be returned from Bangladesh, a senior official of the United Nations children’s agency has said.

&#8220Some 58% of the refugees are children, many of whom are still traumatized by their experiences of violence,&#8221 said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Justin Forsyth on Wednesday, speaking from the Kutapalong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh.

&#8220It is critical that their rights and needs in terms of protection and aid are front and centre in any agreement to return families to Myanmar. Return of refugees to Myanmar must be voluntary, safe and dignified,&#8221 he added.

The vast Kutupalong camp shelters many of the 688,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled across the border from Myanmar’s Rakhine State following an outbreak of violence there in late August last year. More than half of the refugees are children.

Until the safety and wellbeing of any child returning to Myanmar can be guaranteed, talk of repatriation is premature

&#8220In just the last few days we have heard reports of fires and shooting in villages across the border. Until the safety and wellbeing of any child returning to Myanmar can be guaranteed, talk of repatriation is premature,&#8221 he stressed, while praising the leadership of Bangladesh for supporting these desperate people and helping avoid &#8220the worst potential consequences of this human calamity.&#8221

However, Mr. Forsyth pointed out that with the rainy season approaching, there were still huge challenges ahead.

&#8220Conditions in the camps here are undoubtedly harsh &#8211 the overcrowding, the shortages of clean water, sanitation, health care and education all carry a particular risk for children.&#8221

Working with partners, UNICEF has dug hundreds of water-bore wells, installed up to 16,000 toilets, helped immunize nearly a million children and adults against cholera, screened 335,000 children for malnutrition, and provided learning for nearly 80,000 children.

Even so, waterborne and other diseases are a constant threat in the overcrowded camps, which need to be urgently decongested to ensure basic facilities reach all inhabitants. Currently, up to 100 people must use a single latrine and water supplies often run short.

More must also be done to protect vulnerable children from traffickers and other dangers and to provide psychosocial care to those who are still traumatized by the experiences that drove them from their homes.

Learning and recreational spaces for children have been expanded rapidly, but still fall well short of the needs. Nearly 220,000 children are currently deprived of an education.

&#8220The longer these children remain without the chance to learn, the greater the risk that they will miss out on the chance to build a future for themselves and their families,&#8221 Mr. Forsyth warned.