29 June 2017 – Citing attacks against aid workers in Syria, the removal of live-saving supplies from convoys and bureaucratic impediments restricting access, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator has called for ensuring immediate and safe humanitarian access to save lives that are dependent on assistance.

Briefing the Security Council today, Stephen O’Brien, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, also underlined the need for a sustained reduction in fighting to ease the burden on civilians and create an environment conducive for assistance.

“Now is the time. Any delay will mean further death. The clock is ticking,” he warned.

The Syrian conflict, now into its seventh year, has taken a terrible toll on the country’s population: hundreds of thousands have been killed, more than 13.5 million left in need of humanitarian assistance, about 6.3 million displaced within the country, and some 5.1 million forced to flee as refugees outside its borders.

The situation is particularly dire in Raqqa, where the Syrian Democratic Forces, supported by coalition forces, launched an offensive to take the city from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), and in the last days fully encircled it.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least 173 people have been reportedly killed in air and ground strikes. Although about 25,000 have reportedly fled the city since the latest phase of operations, as many as 100,000 civilians could still be trapped there, said Mr. O’Brien.

Multitude of challenges for aid workers

On relief operations in Syria, Mr. O’Brien said that the work of humanitarians remains extremely difficult and bureaucratic restrictions on top of attacks and removal of relief supplies has made their operating space incredibly complex and complicated.

Bureaucratic restrictions, he said, delay convoys and often force them to abort their missions or turn around, leaving relief workers vulnerable to attacks.

In one such incident, a driver of a truck was hit by sniper fire from unknown gunmen after his convoy had to turn back to avoid travelling at night. The convoy had been stopped for several hours at a Government checkpoint. A bullet also grazed a second driver.

Those who deliberately direct attacks against humanitarian workers are committing war crimesStephen O’Brien, Emergency Relief Coordinator

The injured driver survived and is in stable condition, said Mr. O’Brien.

“I condemn such acts in the strongest terms, and call for accountability for those responsible,” he stressed. “Those who deliberately direct attacks against humanitarian workers are committing war crimes.”

However, over half a million people still remain at these locations, “trapped and desperate for assistance,” said Mr. O’Brien. Collectively, about 4.5 million Syrians are estimated to remain in the besieged and hard-to-reach areas across the country. He also updated the Council of recent deployments of trucks from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) from Aleppo, through Menbij and to Qamishly in Hassakeh governorate, allowing delivery of aid at scale to north-east Syria, where people had been short of supplies since the closure of a cross-border access point with Turkey in December 2015.

“This is particularly important with growing needs in the north- Syria due to anti-ISIL operations in the area,” said Mr. O’Brien.

This route is also much cheaper than relief air drops from Damascus, resulting in savings that are equivalent to providing food aid for 100,000 people for one year.

Savings by moving the mode of delivery from air to land are equivalent to providing food aid for 100,000 people for one yearStephen O’Brien, Emergency Relief Coordinator

Mr. O’Brien said that he looked forward to next week’s meeting in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on de-escalation and hope that it would bring a sustained reduction of fighting, and along with that improved and unhindered humanitarian access.

“I repeat my call for this Council to act now to protect civilians,” he urged, while also calling on the parties to the conflict and those with influence over them to prioritize protection of civilians. “These are legal obligations under the laws of war, and they cannot be bent, broken or avoided.”

Humanitarians have persisted at great costs – UN regional relief official

Also on Syria, Kevin Kennedy, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, told journalists in New York of the scale of the suffering in the war-torn country.

Perhaps the most egregious feature of the conflict, he said, was the persistent bombing of hospitals and medical facilities.

If you are a doctor or nurse […] you work in a building with a big bullseye [target mark] on its roofKevin Kennedy, regional relief coordinator

In the first six months of this year, at least 96 such bombings have been reported, of which 60 have been confirmed by the UN. Fifteen doctors and nurses have lost their lives and dozens more have been injured.

“If you are a doctor or nurse – working particularly in opposition-held area – and go to work in a hospital or clinic, then you work in a building with a big bullseye [target mark] on its roof,” said Mr. Kennedy, who is finishing up his assignment.

Praising the efforts of UN, international and national non-governmental humanitarian workers, he said that they have stood their ground.

“[They] have stayed there despite being bombed, shot at, mortars landing around them on a weekly basis […] and despite suffering casualties […] and carried on at a great sacrifice,” he stated.

29 June 2017 – The majority of the world’s most vulnerable communities are in the Tropics, and will be most affected by environmental threats, the United Nations today said, marking the first ever observance of the International Day of the Tropics.

“Loss of biodiversity is greater in the Tropics than in the rest of the world,” according to the Day’s official website, which noted that the region hosts some 80 per cent of the world’s biodiversity and much of its language and cultural diversity.

The UN has projected that by 2050, the region will host most of the world’s people and two-thirds of its children.

The Day “celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the tropics while highlighting unique challenges and opportunities nations of the Tropics face,” according to the website.

For example, nearly 95 per cent of the world’s mangrove forests by area are in the Tropics.

Mangroves – ecosystems located on the interface of land and sea in tropical regions – can play an important role in reducing vulnerability to natural hazards and increasing resilience to climate change impacts, by acting as a form of natural coastal defence.

However, mangroves are disappearing three to five times faster than overall global forest losses, with serious ecological and socio-economic impacts, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Today’s focus on the Tropics is meant to provide “an opportunity to take stock of progress across the Tropics, to share tropical stories and expertise and to acknowledge the diversity and potential of the region,” according to the Day’s website.

Thousands of people have tweeted photos and shared stories under the official hashtags of #WeAreTheTropics and #TropicsDay.

The Tropics stretch from the tropic of Cancer – which runs north of the Equator through Mexico, northern Africa and the Middle East, South and South-East Asia – to the circle of latitude known as the tropic of Capricorn, which runs through South America, the southern part of Africa and Australia.

One of the key characteristics of the region is the prevalence of rain – which is highly affected by climate change.

The Tropics have just over half of the world’s renewable water resources, roughly 54 per cent, the UN said, yet almost half their population is considered vulnerable to water stress.

29 June 2017 – The United Nations refugee agency is alarmed by a fresh incident of forced returns of refugees from Cameroon into northeast Nigeria due to an absence of conditions to make such movements safe and sustainable.

&#8220The involuntary return of refugees must be avoided under any circumstances,&#8221 said UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi in a press release issued today by his Office (UNHCR).

&#8220In addition, returns to Nigeria put a strain on the few existing services and are not sustainable at this time. A new emergency, just as the rainy season is starting, has to be avoided at all costs,&#8221 he added.

In March, UNHCR raised concerns over incidents of forced return from the border areas. More recently, the agency warned that large numbers of refugees were returning from Minawao camp to conditions dangerously unprepared to receive them.

In the latest incident happened on 27 June, some 887 Nigerian refugees, most of them children, were rounded up and forcibly removed to Banki in Nigeria in desperate conditions. They were repatriated in six trucks provided by the Nigerian military and Cameroonian police from the Kolofata border site. This happened after Cameroon gave the refugees seven days’ notice on June 19 to return.

Inside Nigeria, insecurity is preventing refugees from returning to their places of origin. UNHCR has repeated its appeal to the authorities in Cameroon to allow newly arrived Nigerian refugees to reach Minawao camp, where some 58,000 are currently being hosted, with another 33,000 living in nearby villages.

UNHCR has renewed its call on Cameron and Nigeria to refrain from further forced returns, urging both to take urgent steps to convene a meeting of the Tripartite Commission, established under a recent agreement with UNHCR to ensure a facilitated voluntary return process in line with international standards.

Northeast Nigeria has been plagued by violent attacks carried out by the Boko Haram terrorist group.

28 June 2017 – On the opening day of the Conference on Cyprus, a senior United Nations official expressed hope that the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders as well as the guarantors – Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom – have the determination to overcome the challenges and resolve the issues before them.

“This is an historic opportunity to solve a problem that has been there for decades,” Jeffrey Feltman, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told reporters after the opening of the Conference, which is being held in the Swiss town of Crans-Montana.

Mr. Feltman is representing Secretary-General António Guterres at the Conference, which the UN chief is expected to attend later in the week.

Speaking alongside Mr. Feltman, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, told the media that the Conference had gotten off to a constructive and good start.

“I am encouraged with what I heard so far,” he said, adding that the “hard work will remain” and that everyone was prepared to hold discussions in larger as well as smaller groups and to “do what is possible” to facilitate an outcome.

“But at the end of the day, of course, it is the responsibility of the Conference participants to go that final mile, to think outside the box, to try out some new ideas so that we finally [leave with] a plan.”

Earlier this month, the Secretary-General held a meeting with the Greek Cypriot leader, Nicos Anastasiades, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, at UN Headquarters in New York, after which he announced the reconvening of the Conference on Cyprus.

In addition to the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders and the guarantor powers, the European Union also participated, as an observer, in the Conference.

28 June 2017 – Education leaders from around the world convened today at the United Nations to discuss ways to advance action on Sustainable Development Goal 4, which aims to “ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.”

“Inclusive, equitable and quality education goes to the heart of the 2030 Agenda as a key enabler of sustainable development,” said Peter Thomson, President of the General Assembly, in his opening remarks at the High-level SDG Action Event on Education.

General Assembly President Peter Thomson. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Mr. Thomson pointed out that education taps the Earth’s greatest asset, namely the inherent potential of the world’s people.

“Access to quality education is not only a goal in itself, but a fundamental building block to creating a better world of sustainable peace, prosperity and development,” he underscored.

He went on to explain that education holds the key to fuelling sustainable growth, building social cohesion and stability, and promoting human rights and equality – calling it “the golden thread that runs through all 17 SDGs.”

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed dubbed education as “the cornerstone of sustainable development.”

Ms. Mohammed maintained that the world can only be shaped by quality and relevant education, stressing the importance of investments to ensure a strong framework.

“We know when we deliver education to a young person, we’re not only delivering the knowledge and skills they will need to chart their own future — we’re preparing them to lend their hands, their mind, and their heart to shaping a more peaceful, prosperous future for their society, and indeed, for the world,” she said.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed addresses the General Assembly High-level Action Event. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

The UN deputy chief focussed specifically on the five interrelated areas of finance, innovation, girls’ education, lifelong learning, and education in humanitarian contexts.

Noting that the wealthiest children enjoy up to 18 times more public education financing than the poorest, she exhorted, “This injustice must be reversed.”

“There is no better investment in the future peace and resilience of a society than in the education of its citizens,” she stated.

For her part, Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), emphasized education as a basic human right and the foundation for inclusive sustainable development.

Irina Bokova, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), addresses the General Assembly High-level Action Event. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

“Education is a transformational force that cuts across all of the Sustainable Development Goals, making progress sustainable across the board,” said Ms. Bokova.

Citing UNESCO’s regular global monitoring reports, she noted that 264 million children, adolescents and youth were out of school – most of them girls.

“Girls and women face the steepest challenges. Two-thirds of the more than 750 million illiterate adults in the world are women,” stressed Ms. Bokova, adding that they are often discriminated against, prevented from enrolling or continuing their education, dropping out of secondary education and facing strong barriers.

“If we do not move these barriers away… we will not achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4,” she underscored.

“If all adults completed secondary education, 420 million people could be lifted from poverty, reducing the number of poor people by more than half globally, by almost two-thirds in Sub-Saharan Africa, in South Asia… and yet, aid to education has fallen for the sixth consecutive year,” Ms. Bokova indicated. “This can simply not go on.”

As experts discussed how to advance SDG 4, the event also highlighted innovations in education through a panel discussion and a “marketplace” that showcased solutions to delivering low-cost or free learning resources to students and educators.

Today’s event, which also featured musical performances, was the last in a series of SDG action events convened by the Office of the President of the General Assembly. Others focussed on sustainable peace, climate action, financing and innovation.