Afghanistan, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Horn…

The Secretary-General has recently arrived in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, where he is set to meet the President of Moldova, Maia Sandru.  Earlier today, the Secretary-General traveled to Odesa, Ukraine’s main Black Sea port, where he was greeted by Oleksandr Kubrakov, the country’s infrastructure minister. Tomorrow, the Secretary-General will fly to Istanbul to visit the Joint Coordination Centre for the Black Sea Grain Initiative. He will return to New York late tomorrow night.  

In a statement issued yesterday evening, the Secretary-General expressed his deep concern over a series of explosions in Afghanistan that have killed and injured more than 250 people this month, including children.   

In a statement yesterday, UN agencies working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said that they and their partners take seriously allegations of funding terrorism and the Israeli designations of seven Palestinian organizations as “terror organizations” and/or “unlawful”. 
 
In the Horn of Africa, the World Food Programme is expanding its assistance as levels of hunger rise after back-to-back droughts. 

Staying in the Horn of Africa, in Somalia, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has released $10 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to ramp up emergency aid in the country, which is looking into the abyss after its worst drought in 40 years. 

In Zambia, our UN team, led by Resident Coordinator Beatrice Mutali, is bolstering efforts to support authorities to tackle multiple shocks, including the spike in costs of living, climate change and the pandemic impacts.  
 
And in Haiti, Martin Griffiths has allocated $5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to help meet humanitarian needs caused by gang violence in Haiti. 

The World Health Organization has published today its first guideline for Ebola virus disease therapeutics, with new strong recommendations for the use of two monoclonal antibodies.  

The Secretary-General is very concerned by the severe closure of democratic and civic space in Nicaragua and recent actions against civil society organizations, including those of the Catholic Church.   
 
Today is World Humanitarian Day.