UN responds to the ‘dramatic, catastrophic humanitarian emergency’ in Lebanon

As crises mount, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has told UN News there needs to be greater openness and accountability, warning that the world faces a critical turning point in the fight for human rights.While human rights mechanisms have played a crucial role in preventing conflicts and atrocities, he expressed deep concern over the speed of escalation, emphasising that it is not rights themselves that are in crisis, but a lack of political leadership to enforce them.In an interview with UN News’s Nargiz Shekinskaya at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Türk discussed the impact of current crises, including the erosion of international law, the role of technology and rising authoritarianism.

The recent series of incidents targeting the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, alongside daily bombing in the region, is a major threat to the safety and security of the peacekeepers deployed there.Despite the difficulties the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, is committed to remaining along the “Blue Line” of separation with Israel, in keeping with its UN Security Council mandate, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said, speaking to UN News’s Vibhu Mishra.From Beirut, he described the operational challenges the “Blue Helmets” are facing and how they have been dealing with the attacks on UN positions along the line of separation in recent days. 

Augustina Tufuor is a healthy snacks entrepreneur from Ghana who’s on a mission to help rural food producers make a better living and it’s working a treat.Her business is thriving now, but it wasn’t like that at all when she was starting out, a) because she’s a woman and b) because farming is seen as a big risk by lenders, she says.Thankfully, the Food and Agriculture Organization has tailor-made projects and training programmes to help businesses like Augustina’s overcome these systemic barriers so they can grow – as Lauren Phillips, FAO’s Deputy Director of the Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, explains to Daniel Johnson.

Across Southern Africa, one of the worst droughts in living memory has left millions facing hunger.According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), nearly six and a half million people are starving there. A staggering 21 million children are malnourished, after crops failed and livestock perished, amid last year’s El Niño climate phenomenon.A record five countries have declared a national disaster because of the drought and requested international assistance – Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe – but Angola and Mozambique have been hit hard, too.But this is just the start of the emergency, because October marks the beginning of the lean season, as WFP’s Tomson Phiri tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.

UN agencies and partners have launched the second phase of a mass campaign to vaccinate some 540,000 young children in Gaza against polio.Teams have all the necessary supplies to carry out the campaign, including cold chain storage for the vaccine doses and finger markers to indicate a child has been inoculated, said Hamish Young, Senior Emergency Coordinator for Gaza with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). However, what they need most is access, he said, particularly when the campaign heads to northern Gaza next week, given the new evacuation orders issued by Israel and the escalation in hostilities. Mr. Young spoke to UN News’s Khaled Mohammed about some of the surprises from the first day, the challenges that lie ahead, and why Israel must adhere to its commitment to ensure teams can safely vaccinate all children amid the ongoing war. 

Despite deadly new devastating strikes on public shelters in Gaza, UN aid teams confirmed that the second and final round of a mass polio vaccination campaign got off to a successful start on Monday.Just hours into the operation, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said that thousands of children under 10 in the centre of the enclave had already been given another dose of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2); the first oral shot was administered last month.The success of the campaign is bittersweet, though, after an UNRWA school in Nuseirat that was due to be used as a vaccination base was hit by a deadly strike on Sunday night that left 22 dead.Elsewhere, a pre-dawn strike at Al Aqsa hospital courtyard in Deir Al Balah set tented shelters ablaze and rescue workers searching for survivors among charred and mangled metal frames, as UNRWA spokesperson Louise Wateridge explains to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.

Five UN “Blue Helmets” serving with the interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have been injured as Israeli forces continued to inflict damage on UN positions close to the “Blue Line” of separation between south Lebanon and Israel through the weekend.UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday denounced the attacks and said they "may constitute a war crime, " calling on all warring parties to respect international humanitarian law.UNIFIL Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told UN News’s Nancy Sarkis in Geneva on Monday that all the parties “have the obligation to protect peacekeepers and ensure the safety and security of our troops.”

The recently adopted Pact for the Future has been hailed as a significant milestone in global efforts to promote a disaster risk-informed approach to sustainable development worldwide.As the world marks International Day for Disaster Reduction on Sunday, Kamal Kishore, the UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction is emphasising the crucial need for ongoing disaster-risk assessments with up-to-the-minute data, particularly in regions vulnerable to rising sea levels.In an interview with UN News’ Sachin Gaur, Mr. Kishore outlined some successful strategies that have helped significantly reduce cyclone-related deaths in countries like Bangladesh and India, adding that they could provide a blueprint the future.

A ceasefire is chief among the most compelling needs now in Lebanon, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the country, Imran Riza, said on Thursday.It is estimated that more than a million people have been affected by ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, which have escalated in recent weeks.While most are Lebanese citizens, Palestinian and Syrian refugees who have found shelter there, as well as migrants, have also been impacted.UN News’s Khaled Mohammed asked Mr. Riza about the crisis, the UN’s response, and challenges facing humanitarian teams on the ground. 

300 million children have been affected by online sexual exploitation and abuse over the past 12 months. That’s one shocking revelation from a new report being launched by the UN’s Special Representative working to end violence against children, marking the beginning of the mandate 15 years ago.More and more young children are getting online but that’s also true for predators and sexual offenders, said Najat Maalla M’Jid, adding that the lack of child safety online needs to be urgently addressed. In an interview with UN News’s Khaled Mohamed, Ms. Maalla M’Jid highlighted that violence against children is increasing in all fronts, from cyberspace to child labour.