20 February 2017 – Famine has been formally declared in parts of South Sudan, the United Nations said today, warning that war and a collapsing economy have left some 100,000 people facing starvation there and a further 1 million people are classified as being on the brink of famine.

&#8220Famine has become a tragic reality in parts of South Sudan and our worst fears have been realised,&#8221 said Serge Tissot, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Representative in South Sudan, in a news release issued jointly with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

&#8220Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive,&#8221 he stated, explaining that these people are predominantly farmers who have lost their livestock, even their farming tools.

Famine is currently affecting parts of Unity State in the northern-central part of the country. A formal famine declaration means people have already started dying of hunger.

Famine has become a tragic reality in parts of South Sudan

The situation is the worst hunger catastrophe since fighting erupted more than three years ago between rival forces &#8211 the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) loyal to President Salva Kiir and the SPLA in Opposition backing First Vice-President Riek Machar.

The three UN agencies warned that urgent action is needed to prevent more people from dying of hunger.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) update released today by the government, the three agencies and other humanitarian partners, 4.9 million people – more than 40 percent of South Sudan’s population – are in need of urgent food, agriculture and nutrition assistance.

The total number of food insecure people is expected to rise to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July if nothing is done to curb the severity and spread of the food crisis.

&#8220More than one million children are currently estimated to be acutely malnourished across South Sudan; over a quarter of a million children are already severely malnourished. If we do not reach these children with urgent aid many of them will die,&#8221 said Jeremy Hopkins, UNICEF Representative a.i in South Sudan.

&#8220We have also warned that there is only so much that humanitarian assistance can achieve in the absence of meaningful peace and security, both for relief workers and the crisis-affected people they serve,&#8221 said WFP Country Director Joyce Luma.

20 February 2017 – Across Africa, some two million refugees are facing critical shortages in food assistance, the United Nations warned today.

Refugee operations in 10 African countries have experienced cuts affecting the quantity and quality of food assistance for approximately two million refugees, according to a joint press release from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

&#8220Millions of refugees depend on WFP food and our work to treat and prevent malnutrition to stay alive. But in Africa they are in danger of being overshadowed by large humanitarian crises elsewhere,&#8221 WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said in the release.

Food rations have been dramatically cut &#8211 in some cases by up to 50 per cent &#8211 in large operations including Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Mauritania, South Sudan and Uganda.

Refugees in Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Burundi and Ethiopia have had specific commodities cut including micronutrient fortified blended foods, needed to ensure an adequate quality diet.

RELATED: Famine hits parts of South Sudan, UN warns

&#8220We can’t imagine how difficult life is for thousands of refugee families with no food, and often denied the possibility to work or provide for themselves in other ways,&#8221 said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. &#8220Refugees are extraordinarily resilient, but cuts in food assistance &#8211 sometimes as high as 50 per cent &#8211 are having a devastating impact on the health and nutrition of thousands of families.&#8221

The number of refugees in Africa nearly doubled from 2.6 million in 2011 to nearly five million in 2016, the release said. While donor funding for refugee assistance increased during this period, it did not keep pace with rapidly rising needs. As a result, the humanitarian response is significantly underfunded.

20 February 2017 – Highlighting that many around the world are left out from being able to benefit from global prosperity dividends and that even flourishing societies are seeing inequalities widen, the head of the United Nations labour agency today called for solutions that can bring economic growth combined with social progress.

In his message on World Day of Social Justice, UN International Labour Organization chief Guy Ryder also underlined that the feeling of absence of social justice: children without secure futures, parents without decent jobs and a general feeling of abandonment, have grave consequences not only for communities and societies, but for economies as well.

&#8220We need solutions that lead away from conflict and towards recovery, to economic growth with social progress, solutions that build institutions girded by labour standards that guarantee rights at work,&#8221 said Mr. Ryder.

&#8220In an interconnected world this is a global agenda and a global responsibility,&#8221 he added.

Marked this year with the theme ‘Preventing conflict and sustaining peace through decent work’ the Day calls upon the international community work towards eradicating poverty, promoting full employment and decent work, gender equity, and access to social well-being and justice for all.

Mr. Ryder also stressed that lack of decent jobs and the fear that aspirations for a better life will remain unfulfilled multiplies people’s worries, leaving young people without a &#8220stake in society.&#8221

Urging for the formulation of policies that can deliver the decent work opportunities given their importance for the stability and success of societies, he added: &#8220[The words] Si vis pacem, cole justatium: ‘If you seek peace, cultivate justice’ […] are as compelling today as they were when written nearly one hundred years ago when the world was emerging from the ravages of war.&#8221

RELATED: Responses to global ills must integrate peace and sustainable development, UN Member States told

In 2007, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 20 February as World Day of Social Justice, inviting Member States to promote national activities in accordance with the objectives and goals of the World Summit for Social Development and the twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly.

Also today, UN independent human rights experts underlined everyone’s right to a standard of living that ensures adequate health and well-being for themselves and their families, including access to food, clothing, housing, health care and social services.

&#8220The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which sets out these rights, also makes clear that all people are entitled to a social and international order in which their rights and freedoms can be fully realized,&#8221 said Alfred de Zayas, UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; and Idriss Jazairy, UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights.

They also underlined that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include commitments to eradicate poverty, provide clean, affordable energy, promote peaceful and inclusive societies, and implement nationally appropriate social protection systems for all, including social protection floors.

20 February 2017 – About 300 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) today arrived in central Colombia’s Agua Bonita zone, bringing the number to close to 6,900, to lay down their arms under United Nations verification, and to begin a transition to social, economic and political life, the UN Mission in the country said today.

&#8220In the past 19 days they rode cars, buses, boats or walked some 8,700 kilometres […] across the country, accompanied by over 860 [members] of the tripartite Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MVM),&#8221 read a news release from the UN Mission in Colombia.

The Mission’s Chief Observer and MVM coordinator, Major General Javier Pérez Aquino, called the day &#8220historic.&#8221

&#8220The UN Mission in Colombia and the MVM consider that the FARC-EP’s decision to move into the zones &#8211 in spite of the limited logistics in the majority of them &#8211 very positive,&#8221 he said.

&#8220This decision considerably reduces the possibility of armed contact […] and we also hope that their presence will accelerate the construction works in these camps, creating the appropriate conditions to continue with the process that will lead to their reinsertion into the social, economic and political life,&#8221 he added.

The Chief Observer also noted that despite limited logistics, the deadline for the completion of the laying down of arms &#8211 180 days after the Final Agreement, which came into force on 1 December &#8211 stands.

Working hand-in-hand so that ‘our children and grandchildren live in a conflict-free country’

In Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, as well as at eight regional and 26 local sites, FARC-EP and Government members, along with 350 UN observers, are working together to verify the parties’ commitments towards the ceasefire and cessation of hostilities.

&#8220We work together to implement the Final Agreement and I feel hopeful that this process will lead to a country with more social justice,&#8221 said 45-year-old Esperanza Fajardo, who jointed FARC-EP in the 1990’s, now working with Government and UN Mission counterparts.

Mayor Alejandro Cruz, from the Government, echoed: &#8220I feel very committed to this process because I want our children and grandchildren to live in a conflict-free country.&#8221

Mr. Cruz was twice injured in combat with the FARC-EP and bears a large scar on his chest while Ms. Fajardo joined the rebel group to escape the killings of left-wing Unión Patriotica political affiliates.

In early October 2016, Colombian voters narrowly rejected the historic peace accord between the Government and the FARC-EP. That deal led to a cessation of hostilities and agreements on key issues such as political participation, land rights, illicit drugs and victims’ rights and transitional justice. The two sides signed a new agreement in late November.