UN News Today 13 January 2025 |

Top UN aid official Tom Fletcher pledges solidarity with Ukraine

The UN’s top aid official has travelled to Ukraine where he’s expressed his solidarity with the country’s people, who continue to come under attack from Russian forces.

Speaking from Zaporizhzhya on the front line in eastern Ukraine, Tom Fletcher reported that air strikes continue to “kill and cause huge civilian damage”.

The destruction is such above ground, that schools have been rebuilt metres underground, to protect children and teachers from the ongoing war, he said.

Speaking from a destroyed building targeted in a Russian attack, Mr. Fletcher said that Ukrainian communities have rallied round to support each other, just as the international community should do.

Last year, UN aid teams and hundreds of partners reached more than eight million people with humanitarian assistance.

By November, this included nearly 364,000 people who received winter-related relief that included support for winter energy, non-food winter supplies and health care.

Mpox outbreak: New travel-related cases identified

To the ongoing mpox outbreak, and the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that although the clade 1b mpox virus continues to circulate mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Uganda, new travel-related cases have been recorded.

In an update on the spread of the virus, WHO reported that infections from the new strain have been identified in Germany, Belgium, China and France; these cases are “directly or indirectly linked to travel to affected countries in Central Africa”, the UN health agency said.

Kosovo has seen its first case of mpox but no information was immediately available about which variant is involved. WHO said that a total of 11 countries outside Africa have detected mpox clade 1b infections.

Travel-related cases have previously been reported from Zambia and Zimbabwe and likely Tanzania.

To date, more than 260 people are confirmed to have died from mpox globally and more than 125 countries have reported cases.

WHO has emphasized the need for “strengthened surveillance and timely reporting to improve global monitoring and prevent international spread” of the disease, which causes blisters and swelling on the skin.

Child rights panel meets at UN against backdrop of conflict and economic woes

The Committee on the Rights of the Child reconvened in Geneva on Monday where it heard that youngsters the world over continue to be profoundly impacted by economic downturns, climate change, public health emergencies and armed conflict.

The committee’s independent rights experts are mandated by the UN General Assembly to review countries’ progress in promoting and protecting children’s rights, in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

They are not UN staff nor are they paid for their work.

Andrea Ori, Representative of the UN Secretary-General, noted that one in six children live in regions “plagued by violent conflict”.

Every day, he said, they are victims of “killing, maiming, recruitment into the armed forces, attacks on schools or hospitals, rape or sexual violence, abduction, and denial of humanitarian access”.

Faced with these challenges, Mr. Ori urged all governments to honour their commitments under the convention and protect young people, in particular by ensuring that those who harm them face accountability:

“Children have voiced their opinions about what access to justice and effective remedy mean for them, highlighting the importance of being safe, feeling respected and fairly treated regardless of who they are, and receiving proper support. Many children said that they feel a sense of satisfaction when serious action is taken in response to violating their rights, when the wrongful act is not repeated, and when the person violating children’s rights learns from their mistakes.”

Committee Chair Ann Marie Skelton, insisted that children’s rights continue to be violated across the world, particularly in conflict zones.

In Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, wartime sexual violence against children has been widespread, she noted.

In Gaza, meanwhile, children constitute a significant portion of the casualties and grave violations against children continued to be witnessed daily, said Ms. Skelton.

The committee is in session until the end of January. Under review are Ecuador, Eritrea, The Gambia, Honduras, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Slovakia.

Daniel Johnson, UN News

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