World news in brief: Burkina Faso, refugees and climate change, Afghan women deserve seats in Doha: CEDAW
United Nations spokesman Stephané Dujarric said on Friday that more than six million people across the country – about a third of the population – need humanitarian assistance and protection.
“The United Nations and humanitarian partners are supporting the Government’s efforts to meet the immediate needs of the people,” he told reporters in New York.
“Through the Humanitarian Response Plan, aid organizations have assisted more than 730,000 people across Burkina Faso by 2024. While this is a good start, it represents only 19 percent of the 3.8 million people we aim to assist,” he added.
However, by mid-year, $935 million Humanitarian Response Plan for 2024 is only 17% funded – at $157 million.
Fully funded, the scheme aims to reach around 3.8 million of the most vulnerable people with support, including women, children and people with disabilities.
Multifaceted crisis
Disasters caused by climate change combined with a severely worsening security situation have led to a complex, multifaceted crisis in this landlocked West African country.
From last November to April, nearly 1,800 people were was reported to have been killed in Burkina Faso, allegedly carried out by both armed groups and state actors.
In one particularly disgusting incidentMore than 220 civilians, including 56 children, were reportedly killed by uniformed troops in two northern villages in a single day in late February.
The country has been under military rule since early 2022 amid a radical militant uprising that sparked a series of coups and counter-coups.
Severe flooding in southern Brazil last month claimed at least 170 lives, displaced more than 600,000 people and affected a total of about 2.39 million people.
Among those affected are 43,000 refugees and others in need of international protection, including Venezuelans, Haitians and Cubans, according to the UN refugee agency. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugeeswarned on Friday that extreme weather events and devastating disasters are displacing communities and forcing them to start from scratch.
As the frequency, intensity and scale of climate disasters are expected to increase, UNHCR Special Adviser on Climate Action Andrew Harper has called for the inclusion of refugees and displaced populations. other relocations into government social protection programs.
He said risk mitigation, reconstruction, contingency and adaptation plans are also essential.
Floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and catastrophic heatwaves have devastated migrant communities in Africa, the Americas, Asia and elsewhere – and there is no end in sight, Harper explained.
Focus on Africa
In East Africa and the Great Lakes region, hundreds of thousands of people are still struggling with the severe impacts of devastating floods that swept through the region from April to May this year, he added.
And in the worst-affected countries – Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Somalia – many refugees’ homes have been destroyed and critical infrastructure damaged.
Mr Harper warned that the risk of flooding was also high in Sudan and South Sudan, where heavy seasonal rains were affecting areas where thousands of people have fled the deadly year-long conflict in Sudan.
The UNHCR official also highlighted serious weaknesses in Chad, which has welcomed 600,000 Sudanese refugees since the start of the war, and where heavy rains are now damaging shelters and infrastructure. fragile layer of refugees in the east.
As the situation is expected to worsen during the year, UNHCR has launched a campaign Stunning on Friday for nearly $40 million to assist and protect 5.6 million refugees, returnees, internally displaced persons and local communities in Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda, South Sudan and Sudan.
Afghan women and girls should have a seat at the negotiating table in Doha
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on Friday expressed “deep concern” over the apparent “exclusion” of women and girls from the upcoming United Nations-hosted meeting on the future of Afghanistan, scheduled to begin later this week in Doha, Qatar.
The Commission is calling for the active and direct participation of women in these discussions as Afghan women are suffering from the most serious women’s rights crisis in the world.
CEDAW members said that failure to ensure participation would only further silence Afghan women and girls, who are facing increasing violations of their rights. in a press statement.
“The Committee has repeatedly expressed concern about the deteriorating situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, which is causing grave and irreparable harm to present and future generations,” the statement said.
“Continued denial of education and employment, restrictions on movement and limited presence in public places have increasingly excluded women from public life since the Taliban came to power in August 2021.”
The loss of power continues
The Commission stressed that the recent decision by the government to de facto reduce the salaries of female civil servants who are banned from working, regardless of experience or qualifications, reflects a deliberate and harmful act of disenfranchisement.
“Failure to include Afghan civil society, including women human rights defenders, as meaningful participants in the discussions in Doha will undermine the rights of women and children. Girls are not handled satisfactorily.”
Excluding women and girls from these discussions would only undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the Doha meeting, members said.
The Committee monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The body is composed of independent human rights experts, elected by secret ballot by Member States. They are not employees of the United Nations and are not paid.
